SB 5.10.22

Devanāgarī

स्थाल्यग्नितापात्पयसोऽभिताप- स्तत्तापतस्तण्डुलगर्भरन्धि: । देहेन्द्रियास्वाशयसन्निकर्षात् तत्संसृति: पुरुषस्यानुरोधात् ॥ २२ ॥

Text

sthāly-agni-tāpāt payaso ’bhitāpas tat-tāpatas taṇḍula-garbha-randhiḥ dehendriyāsvāśaya-sannikarṣāt tat-saṁsṛtiḥ puruṣasyānurodhāt

Synonyms

sthāli—on the cooking pot;agni-tāpāt—because of the heat of fire;payasaḥ—the milk put into the pot;abhitāpaḥ—becomes hot;tat-tāpataḥ—because of the milk’s becoming hot;taṇḍula-garbha-randhiḥ—the center of the rice within the milk becomes cooked;deha-indriya-asvāśaya—the bodily senses;sannikarṣāt—from having connections with;tat-saṁsṛtiḥ—the experience of fatigue and other miseries;puruṣasya—of the soul;anurodhāt—from compliance due to being grossly attached to the body, senses and mind.

Translation

King Rahūgaṇa continued: My dear sir, you have said that designations like bodily fatness and thinness are not characteristics of the soul. That is incorrect because designations like pain and pleasure are certainly felt by the soul. You may put a pot of milk and rice within fire, and the milk and rice are automatically heated one after the other. Similarly, due to bodily pains and pleasures, the senses, mind and soul are affected. The soul cannot be completely detached from this conditioning.

Purport

This argument put forward by Mahārāja Rahūgaṇa is correct from the practical point of view, but it arises from an attachment to the bodily conception. It can be said that a person sitting in his car is certainly different from his car, but if there is damage to the car, the owner of the car, being overly attached to the car, feels pain. Actually, the damage done to the car has nothing to do with the car’s proprietor, but because the proprietor has identified himself with the interest of the car, he feels pleasure and pain connected with it. This conditional state can be avoided if attachment is withdrawn from the car. Then the proprietor would not feel pleasure or pain if the car is damaged or whatever. Similarly, the soul has nothing to do with the body and the senses, but due to ignorance, he identifies himself with the body, and he feels pleasure and pain due to bodily pleasure and pain.

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