Srimad Bhagavatam — Ekadasha Skandha, Shloka 3
Nondual Vision Beyond Praise and Blame
Dvandva-nivṛtti and Ātma-viveka
तैजसे निद्रयापन्ने पिण्डस्थो नष्टचेतन: । मायां प्राप्नोति मृत्युं वा तद्वन्नानार्थदृक् पुमान् ॥ ३ ॥
taijase nidrayāpanne piṇḍa-stho naṣṭa-cetanaḥ māyāṁ prāpnoti mṛtyuṁ vā tadvan nānārtha-dṛk pumān
ดุจดวงวิญญาณในกายที่สูญเสียสติภายนอกเมื่อประสาทสัมผัสถูกครอบงำด้วยมายาแห่งความฝันหรือด้วยหลับลึกดุจความตาย ฉันใด ผู้ที่เสวยทวิภาวะแห่งวัตถุก็ย่อมประสบมายาและความตายฉันนั้น
The material senses are described here as taijasa because they are born of false ego in the mode of passion. Impelled by false ego, one dreams of the material world without the Personality of Godhead and makes plans to lord it over nature, to exploit her resources. Modern atheistic scientists have developed this false ego to a fine art and imagine themselves great heroes conquering the obstacles of nature and moving forward toward inevitable omniscience. Such dreamy materialists are repeatedly stunned by the crushing reactions of the laws of nature, and their arrogant, agnostic civilizations are repeatedly annihilated by world wars, natural disasters and violent shifts of the cosmic situation.
FAQs
It explains that when awareness is covered—like a person asleep—one ‘enters’ māyā and becomes as if dead to spiritual reality; similarly, seeing many separate realities leads to bewilderment.
In the Uddhava Gītā, Krishna trains Uddhava in clear spiritual vision before departing from the world, using the example of sleep to show how consciousness becomes covered and how to rise beyond illusion.
Notice how distraction and unexamined habits ‘put us to sleep’ spiritually; cultivate steady awareness (through bhakti, remembrance, and discernment) to see a unified purpose—service to the Supreme—rather than fragmented goals.