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Shloka 48

Hiraṇyakaśipu’s Wrath, the Assault on Vedic Culture, and the Boy-Yamarāja’s Teaching on the Soul

वितथाभिनिवेशोऽयं यद्गुणेष्वर्थद‍ृग्वच: । यथा मनोरथ: स्वप्न: सर्वमैन्द्रियकं मृषा ॥ ४८ ॥

vitathābhiniveśo ’yaṁ yad guṇeṣv artha-dṛg-vacaḥ yathā manorathaḥ svapnaḥ sarvam aindriyakaṁ mṛṣā

ဂုဏ်များနှင့် ထိုမှ ဖြစ်လာသည်ဟု ထင်ရသော ပျော်ရွှင်မှု‑ဒုက္ခကို အမှန်တကယ်ဟု မြင်၍ ပြောဆိုခြင်းသည် အကျိုးမရှိ။ နေ့ခင်းအိပ်မက်ဆန်သော စိတ်ကူးနှင့် ညအိပ်မက်ကဲ့သို့ အင်ဒြိယမှ ဖြစ်သော ပျော်‑ဒုက္ခလည်း မုသာသာ ဖြစ်သည်။

वितथ-अभिनिवेशःfalse fixation
वितथ-अभिनिवेशः:
Karta (कर्ता)
TypeNoun
Rootवितथ (प्रातिपदिक) + अभिनिवेश (प्रातिपदिक)
Formपुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा-विभक्ति, एकवचन; समासः—कर्मधारय (वितथः अभिनिवेशः = false absorption)
अयम्this
अयम्:
Karta (कर्ता)
TypeNoun
Rootइदम् (सर्वनाम-प्रातिपदिक)
Formपुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा-विभक्ति, एकवचन; सर्वनाम
यत्which
यत्:
Sambandha (सम्बन्ध)
TypeNoun
Rootयद् (सर्वनाम-प्रातिपदिक)
Formनपुंसकलिङ्ग, प्रथमा/द्वितीया-विभक्ति, एकवचन; सम्बन्ध-प्रयोग (relative)
गुणेषुin the qualities (guṇas)
गुणेषु:
Adhikarana (अधिकरण)
TypeNoun
Rootगुण (प्रातिपदिक)
Formपुंलिङ्ग, सप्तमी-विभक्ति (अधिकरण), बहुवचन
अर्थ-दृक्-वचःthe claim/speech of ‘seeing reality’
अर्थ-दृक्-वचः:
Karta (कर्ता)
TypeNoun
Rootअर्थ (प्रातिपदिक) + दृश् (धातु; कृदन्त ‘दृक्’) + वचस् (प्रातिपदिक)
Formनपुंसकलिङ्ग, प्रथमा-विभक्ति, एकवचन; समासः—तत्पुरुष (अर्थं पश्यति इति दृक्; अर्थ-दृक्-वचः = speech/claim that ‘sees’ reality)
यथाjust as
यथा:
Sambandha (सम्बन्ध)
TypeIndeclinable
Rootयथा (अव्यय)
Formअव्यय; उपमा/दृष्टान्त (as/just as)
मनोरथःa mental fancy
मनोरथः:
Karta (कर्ता)
TypeNoun
Rootमनस् (प्रातिपदिक) + रथ (प्रातिपदिक)
Formपुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा-विभक्ति, एकवचन; समासः—तत्पुरुष (मनसः रथः = fancy)
स्वप्नःa dream
स्वप्नः:
Karta (कर्ता)
TypeNoun
Rootस्वप्न (प्रातिपदिक)
Formपुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा-विभक्ति, एकवचन
सर्वम्everything
सर्वम्:
Karta (कर्ता)
TypeNoun
Rootसर्व (प्रातिपदिक)
Formनपुंसकलिङ्ग, प्रथमा/द्वितीया-विभक्ति, एकवचन
ऐन्द्रियकम्sense-based
ऐन्द्रियकम्:
Karta (कर्ता)
TypeAdjective
Rootइन्द्रिय (प्रातिपदिक) + अण् (तद्धित) → ऐन्द्रियक (प्रातिपदिक)
Formनपुंसकलिङ्ग, प्रथमा/द्वितीया-विभक्ति, एकवचन; विशेषणम् सर्वम्; तद्धितान्त (derived)
मृषाfalsely
मृषा:
Sambandha (सम्बन्ध)
TypeIndeclinable
Rootमृषा (अव्यय)
Formअव्यय; क्रियाविशेषण (adverb) ‘falsely’

The happiness and distress derived from the activities of the material senses are not actual happiness and distress. Therefore Bhagavad-gītā speaks of happiness that is transcendental to the material conception of life ( sukham ātyantikaṁ yat tad buddhi-grāhyam atīndriyam ). When our senses are purified of material contamination, they become atīndriya, transcendental senses, and when the transcendental senses are engaged in the service of the master of the senses, Hṛṣīkeśa, one can derive real transcendental pleasure. Whatever distress or happiness we manufacture by mental concoction through the subtle mind has no reality, but is simply a mental concoction. One should therefore not imagine so-called happiness through mental concoction. Rather, the best course is to engage the mind in the service of the Lord, Hṛṣīkeśa, and thus feel real blissful life.

P
Prahlāda
H
Hiraṇyakaśipu
V
Viṣṇu

FAQs

This verse says that sense-based experience and the ‘meaning’ we assign to material qualities are ultimately false—like dreams—because they arise from māyā and the changing guṇas.

Prahlāda instructs his father that his intense fixation on material power, status, and qualities is misplaced; such perception and speech are dreamlike and cannot give real security or truth.

Treat sense-driven anxieties and obsessions as temporary and dreamlike; redirect attention to lasting spiritual practice—especially hearing and remembering the Lord—rather than chasing validation through the senses.