Shloka 28
Paramahaṁsa-Dharma: The Avadhūta-like Sannyāsī and Prahlāda’s Dialogue with the ‘Python’ Saint
इत्येतदात्मन: स्वार्थं सन्तं विस्मृत्य वै पुमान् । विचित्रामसति द्वैते घोरामाप्नोति संसृतिम् ॥ २८ ॥
ity etad ātmanaḥ svārthaṁ santaṁ vismṛtya vai pumān vicitrām asati dvaite ghorām āpnoti saṁsṛtim
अशा रीतीने देहाभिमानामुळे मनुष्य आत्म्याचा खरा स्वार्थ—कल्याण—विसरतो. असत्य भौतिक द्वैताच्या विचित्रतेत आसक्त होऊन तो भयंकर संसारचक्रात पडतो।
Everyone is trying to be happy because, as explained in the previous verse, sukham asyātmano rūpaṁ sarvehoparatis tanuḥ: when the living entity is in his original spiritual form, he is happy by nature. There is no question of miseries for the spiritual being. As Kṛṣṇa is always happy, the living entities, who are His parts and parcels, are also happy by nature, but because of being put within this material world and forgetting their eternal relationship with Kṛṣṇa, they have forgotten their real nature. Because every one of us is a part of Kṛṣṇa, we have a very affectionate relationship with Him, but because we have forgotten our identities and are considering the body to be the self, we are afflicted by all the troubles of birth, death, old age and disease. This misconception in materialistic life continues unless and until one comes to understand his relationship with Kṛṣṇa. The happiness sought by the conditioned soul is certainly only illusion, as explained in the next verse.
FAQs
This verse says that when one forgets the Lord as one’s real self-interest, one becomes absorbed in temporary dualities and therefore enters the fearful cycle of samsara.
In Canto 7, Chapter 13, Shukadeva is teaching renunciation and the path of spiritual clarity—warning Parikshit that attachment to the unreal dualities of the world perpetuates repeated birth and death.
Remember your highest welfare as devotion and inner God-consciousness, and treat worldly opposites (gain/loss, praise/blame) as temporary—reducing anxiety and increasing steady spiritual practice.