Shloka 23
Hiraṇyakaśipu’s Wrath, the Assault on Vedic Culture, and the Boy-Yamarāja’s Teaching on the Soul
यथाम्भसा प्रचलता तरवोऽपि चला इव । चक्षुषा भ्राम्यमाणेन दृश्यते चलतीव भू: ॥ २३ ॥
yathāmbhasā pracalatā taravo ’pi calā iva cakṣuṣā bhrāmyamāṇena dṛśyate calatīva bhūḥ
De même que, par le mouvement de l’eau, les arbres de la rive reflétés à sa surface semblent bouger, ainsi, lorsque les yeux tournent à cause d’un trouble mental, la terre paraît elle aussi se mouvoir.
Sometimes, because of mental derangement, the land appears to be moving. A drunkard, for example, or a person with heart disease, sometimes feels that the land is moving. Similarly, the reflections of trees in a flowing river also appear to move. These are the actions of māyā. Actually the living entity does not move ( sthāṇur 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 Vaiṣṇava poet, Jagadānanda Paṇḍita, has said:
FAQs
This verse explains that due to a disturbed instrument of perception (like dizzy eyes), reality is misread—things appear to move though they are steady—showing how illusion arises from the perceiver, not from truth itself.
Prahlāda uses a clear analogy to show his father that the soul’s suffering and fear come from misperceiving reality under māyā; the problem is the conditioned vision, not the actual nature of the self and the world.
When emotions, stress, or ego “whirl the eyes,” we misjudge people and events; steadying the mind through devotion, reflection, and discipline helps us see more truthfully and respond wisely.