Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.54.43
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
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ātma-mohaḥ
—
the bewilderment about the self
Ātma (self) + moha (bewilderment). The original ignorance. Cf. CC Madhya 22.31: 'kṛṣṇa-bahirmukha hañā bhoga-vāñchā kare' — when the soul turns from Kṛṣṇa, ātma-moha begins. Balarāma names the disease at its root.
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deva-māyayā
—
by the illusory energy of the Supreme Lord
Deva (the Lord) + māyā (His energy). Crucial Gauḍīya formula: māyā is HIS energy, not an independent principle. Cf. BG 7.14, 'daivī hy eṣā guṇa-mayī mama māyā.' Māyā is not the Lord's enemy; she is His servant.
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suhṛt-durhṛt-udāsīnaḥ
—
friend, enemy, neutral
Triple compound. The three social positions one classifies others into. Cf. BG 6.9 where the yogi is praised as one who sees all three classes equally. Balarāma is teaching Rukmiṇī to dissolve the distinction by which she has been pleading.
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deha-ātma-māninām
—
for those who consider the body to be the self
Deha (body) + ātma (self) + mānin (considerer). Quadruple compound. The classic Bhāgavata diagnosis of saṁsāra (cf. SB 10.84.13 — 'yasy ātma-buddhiḥ kuṇape tridhātuke'). All other errors flow from this primary identification.
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kalpate
—
is effected / takes shape
Present passive of √kḷp. 'Is constructed.' The bewilderment is not native to the soul; it is constructed by māyā upon a deha-mānī. Take away the deha-māna and the moha collapses. Cf. CC's central pedagogy.
"I know that my brother is evil, but thought that is so, still I have some attachment as a relative. What can I do?" "Certainly for an elevated person like you, such bad judement is not proper. But for worldly people this is their natural tendency. For those who think that their bodies are themselves, there is such bewilderment, but not for the persons in knowledge."
One considers someone as a friend and someone as an enemy. And sometimes one person is considered a friend and sometimes an enemy. Another meaning is as follows. Those who do not experience Kṛṣṇa prema look for friendship elsewhere. That is explained in this and the next verse.
The illusion of the mind or the self produces notions that someone is a friend, someone is an enemy, or someone is neutral by the Lord’s māyā, because people think themselves to be the body. This is all illusion and difficult to surpass. Or this illusion of the self, produced by the Lord’s māyā, causes one to think someone is a friend and someone is an enemy. Mention of enemies and neutral parties is a general statement (not indicating Rukmiṇī’s mind).
Like a man wearing tinted glasses who insists the world is red, men under māyā take the body for the self and then classify others as friend, enemy, or stranger on that mistaken basis. The Vaiṣṇava answer is not to remove the classifications but to relocate them: friend, enemy, neutral, all are equally servants-of-Kṛṣṇa, equally to be wished well.
My note
Source: vedabase.io