Text 27
yad etad ātmani jagan
mano-vāk-prāṇa-saṁhatam
sarvaṁ māyeti tarkeṇa
sva-sthas tyaktvā na tat smaret
yat — which; etat — this; ātmani — in the Supreme Lord; jagat — universe; manaḥ — of the mind; vāk — speech; prāṇa — and life air; saṁhatam — formed; sarvam — all; māyā — material illusion; iti — thus; tarkeṇa — by logic; sva-sthaḥ — fixed in the self; tyaktvā — giving up; na — never; tat — that; smaret — one should remember.
One should logically consider the universe, which is situated within the Lord, and one’s own material body, which is composed of mind, speech and life air, to be ultimately products of the Lord’s illusory energy. Thus situated in the self, one should give up one’s faith in these things and should never again make them the object of one’s meditation.
Every conditioned soul considers the material world to be the object of his personal sense gratification and therefore considers the material body to be his actual identity. The word tyaktvā indicates that one must give up one’s false identification with the material world and the material body, since both are merely products of the illusory potency of the Lord. One should never again meditate on the material world and body as objects of sense gratification but rather should become situated in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Looking at things from the eternal point of view, this world is simply illusory. The material energy of the Lord is devoid of consciousness and thus cannot be the basis of actual happiness. The Supreme Lord Himself is the only absolutely conscious entity. He is absolutely self-sufficient, standing alone as Viṣṇu, the Personality of Godhead. Only Viṣṇu, and not the insignificant workings of material nature, can give us the actual perfection of life.