SB 10.40.23 — FolioCorpus

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.40.23

भगवन् जीवलोकोऽयं मोहितस्तव मायया । अहं ममेत्यसद्ग्राहो भ्राम्यते कर्मवर्त्मसु ॥ २३ ॥

bhagavan jīva-loko ’yaṁ

[bhagavan jeeva-loko ’yam]

mohitas tava māyayā

[mohitas tava maayayaa]

ahaṁ mamety asad-grāho

[aham mamety asad-graaho]

bhrāmyate karma-vartmasu

[bhraamyate karma-vartmasu]

Word-for-word

bhagavan — O Supreme Lord jīva — of living entities lokaḥ — the world ayam — this mohitaḥ — bewildered tava — Your māyayā — by the illusory energy aham mama iti — based on the conceptions of “I” and “my” asat — false grāhaḥ — whose conception bhrāmyate — is made to wander karma — of fruitive work vartmasu — along the paths .

Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)

bhagavan jīva-loko ’yaṁ

bhagavan

O Supreme Lord

jīva

of living entities

lokaḥ

the world

mohitas tava māyayā

ayam

this

mohitaḥ

bewildered

tava

Your

ahaṁ mamety asad-grāho

māyayā

by the illusory energy

aham mama iti

based on the conceptions of “I” and “my”

bhrāmyate karma-vartmasu

asat

false

grāhaḥ

whose conception

bhrāmyate

is made to wander

karma

of fruitive work

vartmasu

along the paths .

Important Words

aham mama iti — thinking 'I' and 'mine'
The two-word disease of saṁsāra. Gauḍīyas trace every karmic wandering to this pair: ahaṅkāra ('I am this body') and mamatā ('this is mine'). Bhakti cures it not by erasing the I but by re-aiming it: ahaṁ tava — I am Yours.
asat-grāhaḥ — grasping at the unreal
Compound: asat (unreal) + grāha (grasping). Asat in Gauḍīya usage is not 'non-existent' but 'unstable, perishable'. The mistake is treating the perishable as one's permanent identity.
māyayā — by Your illusory energy
Bhagavān's own śakti. Gauḍīyas insist māyā is His servant, not an independent power — and that's why she can be revoked the moment He wills it (Gītā 7.14: mām eva ye prapadyante māyām etāṁ taranti te).
karma-vartmasu — on the paths of karma
Compound: karma (action/reaction) + vartman (road). Karma is not a moral system here but a road network — endless byways the jīva drives down looking for itself in passing scenery.

O Supreme Lord, the living entities in this world are bewildered by Your illusory energy. Becoming involved in the false concepts of “I” and “my,” they are forced to wander along the paths of fruitive work.

Gauḍīya Ācāryas

Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura Gauḍīya

Translation

O Supreme Lord, the living entities in this world are bewildered by Your illusory energy. Becoming involved in the false concepts of "I" and "my," they are forced to wander along the paths of fruitive work.

Commentary

After praising the lord, Akrura laments who do not worship the Lord but instead follow the path of karma under the influence of maya (bhramyate).

Jīva Gosvāmī Gauḍīya

Commentary

Though you appear as various avatāras to deliver the world, people having the influence of great offenses reject bhakti to you, being bewildered by your māyā, and take to other paths. Akrūra laments that in this verse. O Lord you are endowed with all six powers which defeat māyā (bhagavān)! After praising Kṛṣṇa, he reveals his sorrow. Repeatedly they practice the path of karma, not taking to bhakti to you.

Śrīdhara Svāmī Gauḍīya

Commentary

Though you appear as various avatāras to deliver the world, people having the influence of great offenses reject bhakti to you, being bewildered by your māyā, and take to other paths. Akrūra laments that in this verse. O merciful Lord (bhagavān)! You produce mercy. Or Lord with pastimes difficult to understand (bhagavān)! Though you are eager to deliver every by your form and pastimes, all jīvas (jīva-lokaḥ) are bewildered because you spread māyā to bewilder them. This is illustrated. They insist on thinking (grahaḥ) of their bodies as their self and their sons as their possessions because of lack of intelligence (asat) or because they are opposed to renunciation which is favorable to bhakti. They continually indulge in the path of karma, not bhakti to you.

Related values & verses

Related values

Anahankarah (Freedom from False Ego)Kshama (Forgiveness / Patience)Udyama (Industriousness / Effort)Asteya (Non-stealing / Honesty)Aparigraha (Non-possessiveness)

Personal Guidance

Living entities are bewildered by Your illusory energy and, caught in 'I' and 'mine,' are forced along paths of fruitive work. False ownership is the engine that drives compulsive activity.

Reflection Questions

Where is 'mine' currently driving you into activity you don't actually want?
What would dropping a single 'mine' free you from?

Analogy

Children play in a courtyard, certain that the toys and walls are theirs forever; they do not see that the courtyard belongs to a Person whose name they have forgotten. Bhagavān's māyā is exactly that forgetting — 'I' and 'my' fasten themselves to passing things and the karmic road begins to run beneath the feet of every jīva who has stopped looking up.

Stories

Bharata Mahārāja and the deer

Bharata renounced his kingdom for sādhana, but in the forest he saved an orphaned deer-fawn and grew so attached he could think of nothing else. At death he thought of the deer — and was born a deer (SB 5.7–14).

Akrūra's verse 23 names this exactly: aham mama iti asat grāhaḥ — false grasping in the categories of 'I' and 'my.' Even a renunciant can be caught; the cure is not technique but Kṛṣṇa Himself.

📝 My note

Source: vedabase.io