kintu kÄhoá¹… 'kṛṣṇa' dekhe, kÄhoá¹… 'bhrama' mÄne
sthÄṇu-puruá¹£e yaiche viparÄ«ta-jñÄne
kintu - but; kÄhoá¹… - where; kṛṣṇa - Kṛṣṇa; dekhe - one sees; kÄhoá¹… - where; bhrama mÄne - mistakes; sthÄṇu-puruá¹£e - the dry tree and a person; yaiche - as; viparÄ«ta-jñÄne - by understanding one to be the other.
“But where they are seeing Kṛṣṇa is their mistake. It is like considering a dry tree to be a person.â€
The word sthÄṇu means “a dry tree without leaves.†From a distance one may mistake such a tree for a person. This is called sthÄṇu-puruá¹£a. Although ÅšrÄ« Caitanya MahÄprabhu was living in Vá¹›ndÄvana, the inhabitants considered Him an ordinary human being, and they mistook the fisherman to be Kṛṣṇa. Every human being is prone to make such mistakes. ÅšrÄ« Caitanya MahÄprabhu was mistaken for an ordinary sannyÄsÄ«, the fisherman was mistaken for Kṛṣṇa, and the torchlight was mistaken for bright jewels on KÄlÄ«ya’s hoods.
