SB 4.29.17 · Srimad-Bhagavatam

Devanagari

यथा यथा विक्रियते गुणाक्तो विकरोति वा । तथा तथोपद्रष्टात्मा तद्वृत्तीरनुकार्यते ॥ १७ ॥

Verse text

yathā yathā vikriyate guṇākto vikaroti vā tathā tathopadraṣṭātmā tad-vṛttīr anukāryate

Synonyms

yathā yathā — just as ; vikriyate — is agitated ; guṇa — aktaḥ — associated with the modes of nature ; vikaroti — as it does ; vā — or ; tathā tathā — similarly ; upadraṣṭā — observer ; ātmā — the soul ; tat — of the intelligence ; vṛttīḥ — occupations ; anukāryate — imitates .

Translation

Formerly it was explained that the Queen is one’s intelligence. While one is awake or asleep, that intelligence creates different situations. Being influenced by contaminated intelligence, the living entity envisions something and simply imitates the actions and reactions of his intelligence.

Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

Whatever changes the intelligence undergoes during sleep or however it transforms the senses during waking state, the jīva, contaminated by the qualities of the intelligence, imitates the intelligence’s actions. This verse explains the description starting in SB 4.25.56. Whatever the Queen did the King followed. However the intelligence changes during a dream and whatever senses it transforms in the waking state, the ātmā contaminated by the qualities of that intelligence imitates its functions such as seeing or touching. The ātmā is simply a witness, and acts by force of the intelligence. The intelligence is the cause the jīva acting.

Purport

The queen of Puraṣjana is described herein as intelligence itself. Intelligence acts both in the dream state and in the waking state, but it is contaminated by the three modes of material nature. Since the intelligence is contaminated, the living entity is also contaminated. In the conditioned state, the living entity acts according to his contaminated intelligence. Although he simply remains an observer, he nonetheless acts, being forced by a contaminated intelligence, which in reality is a passive agent.