jantur vai bhava etasmin
yÄá¹ yÄá¹ yonim anuvrajet
tasyÄá¹ tasyÄá¹ sa labhate
nirvá¹›tiá¹ na virajyate
jantuḥ - the living entity; vai - certainly; bhave - in worldly existence; etasmin - this; yÄm yÄm - whatever; yonim - species; anuvrajet - he may obtain; tasyÄm tasyÄm - in that; saḥ - he; labhate - achieves; nirvá¹›tim - satisfaction; na - not; virajyate - is averse.
The satisfaction of the living entity in a particular type of body, even if it is most abominable, is called illusion. A man in a higher position may feel dissatisfaction with the standard of life of a lower-grade man, but the lower-grade man is satisfied in that position because of the spell of mÄyÄ, the external energy. MÄyÄ has two phases of activities. One is called praká¹£epÄtmikÄ, and the other is called ÄvaraṇÄtmikÄ. Ä€varaṇÄtmikÄ means “covering,†and praká¹£epÄtmikÄ means “pulling down.†In any condition of life, the materialistic person or animal will be satisfied because his knowledge is covered by the influence of mÄyÄ. In the lower grade or lower species of life, the development of consciousness is so poor that one cannot understand whether he is happy or distressed. This is called ÄvaraṇÄtmikÄ. Even a hog, who lives by eating stool, finds himself happy, although a person in a higher mode of life sees that the hog is eating stool. How abominable that life is!