prakṛter evam ātmānam
avivicyābudhaḥ pumān
tattvena sparśa-sammūḍhaḥ
saḿsāraḿ pratipadyate
prakriteh -- from material nature; evam -- in this way; atmanam -- the self; avivicya -- failing to distinguish; abudhah -- the unintelligent; puman -- person; tattvena -- because of thinking (material things) to be real; sparsa -- by material contact; sammudhah -- completely bewildered; samsaram -- the cycle of material existence; pratipadyate -- attains.
An unintelligent man, failing to distinguish himself from material nature, thinks nature to be real. By contact with it he becomes completely bewildered and enters into the cycle of material existence.
A similar verse is found in Srimad-Bhagavatam (1.7.5):
yaya sammohito jiva
atmanam tri-gunatmakam
paro 'pi manute 'nartham
tat-kritam cabhipadyate
"Due to this external energy, the living entity, although transcendental to the three modes of material nature, thinks of himself as a material product and thus undergoes the reactions of material miseries."
