Å›rÄ«-uddhava uvÄca
naivÄtmano na dehasya
saá¹sá¹›tir draá¹£á¹á¹›-dṛśyayoḥ
anÄtma-sva-dṛśor Ä«Å›a
kasya syÄd upalabhyate
Å›rÄ«-uddhavaḥ uvÄca - ÅšrÄ« Uddhava said; na - there is not; eva - indeed; Ätmanaḥ - of the self; na - nor; dehasya - of the body; saá¹sá¹›tiḥ - material existence; draá¹£á¹á¹›-dṛśyayoḥ - of the seer or the seen; anÄtma - of that which is not spirit; sva-dṛśoḥ - or of him who has innate knowledge; Ä«Å›a - O Lord; kasya - of whom; syÄt - may be; upalabhyate - which is experienced.
Śrī Uddhava said: My dear Lord, it is not possible for this material existence to be the experience of either the soul, who is the seer, or of the body, which is the seen object. On the one hand, the spirit soul is innately endowed with perfect knowledge, and on the other hand, the material body is not a conscious, living entity. To whom, then, does this experience of material existence pertain?
Since the living entity is pure spirit soul, innately full of perfect knowledge and bliss, and since the material body is a biochemical machine without knowledge or personal consciousness, who or what is actually experiencing the ignorance and anxiety of this material existence? The conscious experience of material life cannot be denied, and thus Uddhava asks Lord Kṛṣṇa this question to elicit a more precise understanding of the process by which illusion occurs.
