SB 11.28.32 · Srimad-Bhagavatam

Devanagari

यदि स्म पश्यत्यसदिन्द्रियार्थं नानानुमानेन विरुद्धमन्यत् । न मन्यते वस्तुतया मनीषी स्वाप्नं यथोत्थाय तिरोदधानम् ॥ ३२ ॥

Verse text

yadi sma paśyaty asad-indriyārthaṁ nānānumānena viruddham anyat na manyate vastutayā manīṣī svāpnaṁ yathotthāya tirodadhānam

Synonyms

yadi — if ; sma — ever ; paśyati — he sees ; asat — impure ; indriya — artham — sense objects ; nānā — of their being based on duality ; anumānena — by the logical inference ; viruddham — refuted ; anyat — separate from true reality ; na manyate — does not accept ; vastutayā — as real ; manīṣī — the intelligent man ; svāpnam — of a dream ; yathā — as if ; utthāya — waking ; tirodadhānam — which is in the process of disappearing .

Translation

Although a self-realized soul may sometimes see an impure object or activity, he does not accept it as real. By logically understanding impure sense objects to be based on illusory material duality, the intelligent person sees them to be contrary to and distinct from reality, in the same way that a man awakening from sleep views his fading dream.

Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

Although a self-realized soul may sometimes see material objects, he does not accept them as real because he destroys them by the understanding that they are not different from their cause. The intelligent person considers nothing except ātmā to be real, in the same way that a man awakening from sleep does not consider dream objects to be real since they fade away. Moreover, if sometimes when breaking samādhi, he sees material sense objects, he makes them false by thinking that the effect is not different from the cause, just as cloth is not different from its threads. The wise man does not consider anything except ātmā to be real just as, waking from a dream, a person does not consider the dream objects which appeared by impressions to be real, since those objects disappear on their own.

Purport

A sane person can clearly distinguish between a dream experience and his real life. Similarly a manīṣī, or intelligent person, can clearly perceive polluted material sense objects to be creations of the Lord’s illusory energy and not factual reality. This is the practical test of realized intelligence.