FolioCorpusŚrīmad-Bhāgavatam

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 11.22.40

जन्म त्वात्मतया पुंस: सर्वभावेन भूरिद । विषयस्वीकृतिं प्राहुर्यथा स्वप्नमनोरथ: ॥ ४० ॥
janma tv ātmatayā puṁsaḥ
[janma tv aatmatayaa pumsah]
sarva-bhāvena bhūri-da
[sarva-bhaavena bhoori-da]
viṣaya-svīkṛtiṁ prāhur
[vishaya-sveekritim praahur]
yathā svapna-manorathaḥ
[yathaa svapna-manorathah]
janma — birth tu — and ātmatayā — by identification with oneself puṁsaḥ — of a person sarva-bhāvena — completely bhūri-da — O most charitable Uddhava viṣaya — of the body svī-kṛtim — the acceptance prāhuḥ — is called yathā — just as svapna — a dream manaḥ-rathaḥ — or a mental fantasy.
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
janma tv ātmatayā puṁsaḥ
janma
birth
tu
and
ātmatayā
by identification with oneself
puṁsaḥ
of a person
sarva-bhāvena bhūri-da
sarva-bhāvena
completely
bhūri-da
O most charitable Uddhava
viṣaya-svīkṛtiṁ prāhur
viṣaya
of the body
svī-kṛtim
the acceptance
prāhuḥ
is called
yathā svapna-manorathaḥ
yathā
just as
svapna
a dream
manaḥ-rathaḥ
or a mental fantasy.
O most charitable Uddhava, what is called birth is simply a person’s total identification with a new body. One accepts the new body just as one completely accepts the experience of a dream or a fantasy as reality.

Identification with one’s material body surpasses the mere affection and attachment one feels for the bodies of relatives or friends. The word sarva-bhāvena here shows that one totally accepts the material body to be oneself, just as one completely accepts the experience of a dream as real. Mere imagination without practical action is called a daydream; the mental concoction that occurs in a sleeping state is called a dream. Our identification with our own body and our blind acceptance of bodily relationships as permanent constitute a prolonged form of dreaming or fantasy in which one imagines oneself to be separate from the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The term birth, therefore, does not refer to the generation of a new entity but to the blind acceptance by the spirit soul of a new material body.

— A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda
Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura Gauḍīya
Translation
O most charitable Uddhava! What is called birth is simply a person’s total identification with a new body. One accepts the new body just as one completely accepts the experience of a dream or a fantasy as reality. Extreme identification, accepting as oneself the body given by karma, is called birth. Two examples are given of birth and death through identity alone—a dream and a fantasy. The dvandva compound is in the singular.
Birth is total identification with a new body — like accepting a dream or fantasy as reality. The new is taken in completely.
Reflection Questions
  • Where do I take a recent change in body or circumstance as my whole reality?
  • What helps me hold it less completely?
📝 My note

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