दृश्यमाना विनार्थेन न दृश्यन्ते मनोभवाः ।
कर्मभिर्ध्यायतो नाना कर्माणि मनसोऽभवन् ॥२४॥

dṛśyamÄnÄ vinÄrthena
na dṛśyante manobhavÄḥ
karmabhir dhyÄyato nÄnÄ-
karmÄṇi manaso 'bhavan

 dṛśyamÄnÄḥ - being perceived; vinÄ - without; arthena - substance or reality; na - not; dṛśyante - are seen; manobhavÄḥ - creations of mental concoction; karmabhiḥ - by fruitive activities; dhyÄyataḥ - meditating upon; nÄnÄ - various; karmÄṇi - fruitive activities; manasaḥ - from the mind; abhavan - appear.


Text

These visible objects like wife, children and property are like dreams and mental concoctions. Actually what we see has no permanent existence. It is sometimes seen and sometimes not. Only because of our past actions do we create such mental concoctions, and because of these concoctions, we perform further activities.

Purport

Everything material is a mental concoction because it is sometimes visible and sometimes not. At night when we dream of tigers and snakes, they are not actually present, but we are afraid because we are affected by what we envision in our dreams. Everything material is like a dream because it actually has no permanent existence.

ÅšrÄ«la ViÅ›vanÄtha CakravartÄ« ṬhÄkura writes as follows in his commentary: arthena vyÄghra-sarpÄdinÄ vinaiva dṛśyamÄnÄḥ svapnÄdi-bhaá¹…ge sati na dṛśyante tad evaá¹ dÄrÄdayo ’vÄstava-vastu-bhÅ«tÄḥ svapnÄdayo ’vastu-bhÅ«tÄÅ› ca sarve manobhavÄḥ mano-vÄsanÄ janyatvÄn manobhavÄḥ. At night one dreams of tigers and snakes, and while dreaming he actually sees them, but as soon as the dream is broken they no longer exist. Similarly, the material world is a creation of our mental concoctions. We have come to this material world to enjoy material resources, and by mental concoction we discover many, many objects of enjoyment because our minds are absorbed in material things. This is why we receive various bodies. According to our mental concoctions we work in various ways, desiring various achievements, and by nature and the order of the Supreme Personality of Godhead (karmaṇÄ-daiva-netreṇa) we get the advantages we desire. Thus we become more and more involved with material concoctions. This is the reason for our suffering in the material world. By one kind of activity we create another, and they are all products of our mental concoctions.