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The Mirage Analogy for the World in the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam

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Kings who were imprisoned by Jarasandha were freed by Krishna. They do a stuti of Bhagavan.

मृगतृष्णां यथा बाला मन्यन्त उदकाशयम् ।
एवं वैकारिकीं मायां अयुक्ता वस्तु चक्षते ॥ ११ ॥

(श्रीमद्भागवतपुराणम्/स्कन्धः १०/उत्तरार्धः/अध्यायः ७३)
Just as those who lack discernment (viveka) mistake a mirage for a body of water, in the same way, the ignorant perceive this illusory world (māyā-prapañca) as real.
Therefore, the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam describes the world as being like a mirage (mṛgatṛṣṇā). The view is that māyā is not the ultimate reality (pāramārthika satya).

Śrīdhara Svāmī’s Commentary:

किञ्च अवस्तु सद्वस्तुतया पश्यन्तीत्याहुः – मृगतृष्णामिति । वैकारिकीं सृष्ट्यादिविकारापन्नाम् अयुक्ता अविवेकिनः |

People imagine something to exist when in fact it does not. This refers to māyā (or prakṛti), which appears as this manifest world, a product of the transforming Māyā.

In the Advaita literature there is this analogy extremely widely used to show the world to be mithya.


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