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TEXT 20
so ham vasann api vibho bahu-duhkha-vasam
garbhan na nirjigamise bahir andha-kupe
yatropayatam upasarpati deva-maya
mithya matir yad-anu samsrti-cakram etat
SYNONYMS
sah ahamI myself; vasanliving; apialthough; vibhoO Lord; bahu-duhkhawith many miseries; vasamin a condition; garbhatfrom the abdomen; nanot; nirjigamiseI wish to depart; bahihoutside; andha-kupein the blind well; yatrawhere; upayatamone who goes there; upasarpatishe captures; deva-mayathe external energy of the Lord; mithyafalse; matihidentification; yatwhich maya; anuaccording to; samsrtiof continual birth and death; cakramcycle; etatthis.
TRANSLATION
Therefore, my Lord, although I am living in a terrible condition, I do not wish to depart from my mothers abdomen to fall again into the blind well of materialistic life. Your external energy, called deva-maya, at once captures the newly born child, and immediately false identification, which is the beginning of the cycle of continual birth and death, begins.
PURPORT
As long as the child is within the womb of his mother, he is in a very precarious and horrible condition of life, but the benefit is that he revives pure consciousness of his relationship with the Supreme Lord and prays for deliverance. But once he is outside the abdomen, when a child is born, maya, or the illusory energy, is so strong that he is immediately overpowered into considering his body to be his self. Maya means illusion, or that which is actually not. In the material world, everyone is identifying with his body. This false egoistic consciousness of I am this body at once develops after the child comes out of the womb. The mother and other relatives are awaiting the child, and as soon as he is born, the mother feeds him, and everyone takes care of him. The living entity soon forgets his position and becomes entangled in bodily relationships. The entire material existence is entanglement in this bodily conception of life. Real knowledge means to develop the consciousness of I am not this body. I am spirit soul, an eternal part and parcel of the Supreme Lord. Real knowledge entails renunciation, or nonacceptance of this body as the self.
By the influence of maya, the external energy, one forgets everything just after birth. Therefore the child is praying that he prefers to remain within the womb rather than come out. It is said that Sukadeva Gosvami, on this consideration, remained for sixteen years within the womb of his mother; he did not want to be entangled in false bodily identification. After cultivating such knowledge within the womb of his mother, he came out at the end of sixteen years and immediately left home so that he might not be captured by the influence of maya. The influence of maya is also explained in Bhagavad-gita as insurmountable. But insurmountable maya can be overcome simply by Krsna consciousness. That is also confirmed in Bhagavad-gita (7.14): mam eva ye prapadyante mayam etam taranti te. Whoever surrenders unto the lotus feet of Krsna can get out of this false conception of life. By the influence of maya only, one forgets his eternal relationship with Krsna and identifies himself with his body and the by-products of the bodynamely wife, children, society, friendship and love. Thus he becomes a victim of the influence of maya, and his materialistic life of continued birth and death becomes still more stringent.
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