Srimad Bhagavatam — Saptama Skandha, Shloka 26
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
In delusion the living being mistakes body and mind for the self, calling some “mine” and others “strangers.” From this imagined dear and hateful arise union and separation, bondage to karma, and the ceaseless saṁsāra of birth and death; thus come creation and destruction, lamentation, folly, anxiety, and forgetfulness of true discernment—at times one understands rightly, and at times one falls again into error.
FAQs
This verse explains that the pure self has no material designations, yet the conditioned being imagines identities upon it; that misconception produces attachment and separation, which sustains karmic bondage.
In Canto 7, Chapter 2, Hiraṇyakaśipu instructs his demoniac associates on how conditioned life functions, framing bondage as arising from attraction and aversion rooted in misidentifying the self.
Practice seeing the self beyond labels (role, status, body), and reduce reactive “like/dislike” decisions; this weakens karmic entanglement and supports steady devotion and discernment.