158 Srimad-Bhagavatam [Canto 6, Ch. 16
TRANSLATION

When a living entity, thinking himself different from Me,
forgets his spiritual identity of qualitative oneness with Me in eter-
nity, knowledge and bliss, his material, conditional life begins. In
other words, instead of identifying his interest with Mine, he be-
comes interested in his bodily expansions like his wife, children
and material possessions. In this way, by the influence of his ac-
tions, one body comes from another, and after one death, another
death takes place.

PURPORT

Generally the Mayavadi philosophers or persons influenced by
Mayavadi philosophers think themselves as good as the Supreme Per-
sonality of Godhead. This is the cause of their conditional life. As stated
by the Vaisnava poet Jagadananda Pandita in his Prema-vivarta:

krsna-bahirmukha hana bhoga varicha kare
nikata-stha maya tare j@patiya dhare

As soon as a living entity forgets his constitutional position and en-
deavors to become one with the Supreme, his conditional life begins. The
conception that the Supreme Brahman and the living entity are equal not
only in quality but also in quantity is the cause of conditional life. If one
forgets the difference between the Supreme Lord and the living entity,
his conditional life begins. Conditional life means giving up one body to
accept another and undergoing death to accept death again. The
Mayavadi philosopher teaches the philosophy of tat tvam asi, saying,
“You are the same as God.” He forgets that tat tvam asi applies in terms
of the marginal position of the living entity, who is like sunshine. There
is heat and light in the sun, and there is heat and light in the sunshine,
and thus they are qualitatively one. But one should not forget that the
sunshine rests on the sun. As the Lord says in Bhagavad-gita, brahmano
hi pratisthaham: “I am the original source of Brahman.” The sunshine
is important because of the presence of the sun globe. It is not that the
sun globe is important because of the all-pervasiveness of the sunshine.
Forgetfulness and misunderstanding of this fact is called maya. Because
