Text 24] Hiranyakasipu, King of the Demons 85
times feels that the land is moving. Similarly, the reflections of trees in a
flowing river also appear to move. These are the actions of maya. Ac-
tually the living entity does not move (sthdnur acalo ’yam). The living
entity does not take birth or accept death, but because of the transient
subtle and gross bodies, the living entity appears to move from one place
to another or be dead and gone forever. As the great Bengali Vaisnava
poet, Jagadananda Pandita, has said:
pisaci pdaile yena mati-cchanna haya
maya-grasta jivera haya se bhava udaya
According to this statement from the Prema-vivarta, when a living entity
is conditioned by material nature, he is exactly like a person haunted by
a ghost. One should therefore understand the fixed position of the spirit
soul and how he is carried away by the waves of material nature to dif-
ferent bodies and different situations under lamentation and hankering.
One achieves the success of life when he understands the constitutional
position of his self and is undisturbed by the conditions created by ma-
terial nature (prakrteh kriyamanéni gunaih karmani sarvasah).
TEXT 24
aq Ta wahas: TAR |
aia TraPAT AR Ahea frgaTiTs UVM
evam gunair bhramyamane
manasy avikalah puman
yati tat-samyatam bhadre
hy alingo lingavan iva

evam—in this way; gunaih—by the modes of material nature;
bhramyamaéne—when shaken; manasi—the mind; avikalah—change-
less; pumén—the living entity; yati—approaches; tat-samyatam—the
same condition of agitation as the mind; bhadre—O my gentle mother;
hi—indeed; aliigah—without a subtle or gross body; liiga-van—
possessing a material body; iva—as if.
