SB 11.22.51 — FolioCorpus

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 11.22.51

प्रकृतेरेवमात्मानमविविच्याबुध: पुमान् । तत्त्वेन स्पर्शसम्मूढ: संसारं प्रतिपद्यते ॥ ५१ ॥

prakṛter evam ātmānam

[prakriter evam aatmaanam]

avivicyābudhaḥ pumān

[avivichyaabudhah pumaan]

tattvena sparśa-sammūḍhaḥ

[tattvena sparsha-sammoodhah]

saṁsāraṁ pratipadyate

[samsaaram pratipadyate]

Word-for-word

prakṛteḥ — from material nature evam — in this way ātmānam — the self avivicya — failing to distinguish abudhaḥ — the unintelligent pumān — person tattvena — because of thinking (material things) to be real sparśa — by material contact sammūḍhaḥ — completely bewildered saṁsāram — the cycle of material existence pratipadyate — attains.

Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)

prakṛter evam ātmānam

prakṛteḥ

from material nature

evam

in this way

ātmānam

the self

avivicyābudhaḥ pumān

avivicya

failing to distinguish

abudhaḥ

the unintelligent

pumān

person

tattvena sparśa-sammūḍhaḥ

tattvena

because of thinking (material things) to be real

sparśa

by material contact

sammūḍhaḥ

completely bewildered

saṁsāraṁ pratipadyate

saṁsāram

the cycle of material existence

pratipadyate

attains.

An unintelligent man, failing to distinguish himself from material nature, thinks nature to be real. By contact with it he becomes completely bewildered and enters into the cycle of material existence.

Purport

A similar verse is found in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (1.7.5) :

yayā sammohito jīva ātmānaṁ tri-guṇātmakam paro ’pi manute ’narthaṁ tat-kṛtaṁ cābhipadyate

“Due to this external energy, the living entity, although transcendental to the three modes of material nature, thinks of himself as a material product and thus undergoes the reactions of material miseries.”

— A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda

Gauḍīya Ācāryas

Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura Gauḍīya

Translation

An unintelligent man, failing to distinguish himself in truth from the body made of prakṛti, by contact with it becomes absorbed in sense objects and enters into the cycle of material existence. The person lacking discrimination enters saṁsāra. Failing to distinguish himself from the covering of prakṛti, absorbed in sense objects, he enters saṁsāra.

Personal Guidance

Unintelligent persons fail to distinguish self from nature, think nature real, and become bewildered into material cycle. Failure to distinguish is the entry to bondage.

Reflection Questions

Where do I most blur self and nature?
What single distinction restores clarity?

📝 My note

Source: vedabase.io