गुणदोषविकल्पश्च भिदेव स्रजिवत्कृतः ॥३०॥
aviveka-ká¹›taḥ puá¹so
hy artha-bheda ivÄtmani
guṇa-doṣa-vikalpaś ca
bhid eva srajivat kṛtaḥ
aviveka-ká¹›taḥ - done in ignorance, without mature consideration; puá¹saḥ - of the living entity; hi - indeed; artha-bhedaḥ - differentiation of value; iva - like; Ätmani - in himself; guṇa-doá¹£a - of quality and fault; vikalpaḥ - imagination; ca - and; bhit - difference; eva - certainly; sraji - in a garland; vat - like; ká¹›taḥ - male.
As one mistakenly considers a flower garland to be a snake or experiences happiness and distress in a dream, so, in the material world, by a lack of careful consideration, we differentiate between happiness and distress, considering one good and the other bad.
The happiness and distress of the material world of duality are both mistaken ideas. In the Caitanya-caritÄmá¹›ta (Antya 4.176) it is said:
“dvaite†bhadrÄbhadra-jñÄna, saba — “manodharmaâ€
“ei bhÄla, ei manda†— ei saba “bhramaâ€
The distinctions between happiness and distress in the material world of duality are simply mental concoctions, for the so-called happiness and distress are actually one and the same. They are like the happiness and distress in dreams. A sleeping man creates his happiness and distress by dreaming, although actually they have no existence.
The other example given in this verse is that a flower garland is originally very nice, but by mistake, for want of mature knowledge, one may consider it a snake. In this connection there is a statement by PrabodhÄnanda SarasvatÄ«: viÅ›vaá¹ pÅ«rṇa-sukhÄyate. Everyone in this material world is distressed by miserable conditions, but ÅšrÄ«la PrabodhÄnanda SarasvatÄ« says that this world is full of happiness. How is this possible? He answers, yat-kÄruṇya-katÄká¹£a-vaibhavavatÄá¹ taá¹ gauram eva stumaḥ. A devotee accepts the distress of this material world as happiness only due to the causeless mercy of ÅšrÄ« Caitanya MahÄprabhu. By His personal behavior, ÅšrÄ« Caitanya MahÄprabhu showed that He was never distressed but always happy in chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahÄ-mantra. One should follow in the footsteps of ÅšrÄ« Caitanya MahÄprabhu and engage constantly in chanting the mahÄ-mantra — Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare RÄma, Hare RÄma, RÄma RÄma, Hare Hare. Then he will never feel the distresses of the world of duality. In any condition of life one will be happy if he chants the holy name of the Lord.
In dreams we sometimes enjoy eating sweet rice and sometimes suffer as if one of our beloved family members had died. Because the same mind and body exist in the same material world of duality when we are awake, the so-called happiness and distress of this world are no better than the false, superficial happiness of dreams. The mind is the via medium in both dreams and wakefulness, and everything created by the mind in terms of saá¹…kalpa and vikalpa, acceptance and rejection, is called manodharma, or mental concoction.
