Srimad Bhagavatam — Saptama Skandha, Shloka 25
Hiraṇyakaśipu’s Wrath, the Assault on Vedic Culture, and the Boy-Yamarāja’s Teaching on the Soul
एष आत्मविपर्यासो ह्यलिङ्गे लिङ्गभावना । एष प्रियाप्रियैर्योगो वियोग: कर्मसंसृति: ॥ २५ ॥ सम्भवश्च विनाशश्च शोकश्च विविध: स्मृत: । अविवेकश्च चिन्ता च विवेकास्मृतिरेव च ॥ २६ ॥
eṣa ātma-viparyāso hy aliṅge liṅga-bhāvanā eṣa priyāpriyair yogo viyogaḥ karma-saṁsṛtiḥ
This is the soul’s inversion: within the ātman, which has no bodily mark, arises the notion of embodiment. From union and separation with the dear and the undear, the saṁsāra of karma proceeds. Hence come birth and destruction (death), lamentation, folly, and anxiety; sometimes true discernment is remembered, and sometimes one falls again into mistaken understanding.
FAQs
This verse explains that the living being misidentifies the self (which is actually beyond material labels) by superimposing bodily and mental designations, and that this mistaken identity becomes the root of samsara.
Because attachment to what is ‘pleasant’ and aversion to what is ‘unpleasant’ create repeated cycles of association and loss, which bind the jīva to karma and repeated birth and death.
Practice observing pleasure and pain without building identity around them—reduce “I am this body/mind” thinking, and cultivate devotion and discernment so reactions don’t create new karmic entanglement.