Verse 13.22

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration, Word-for-word and English translation of verse 13.22:

पुरुषः प्रकृति-स्थो हि भुङ्क्ते प्रकृति-जान् गुणान् ।
कारणं गुण-सङ्गोऽस्य सद्-असद्-योनि-जन्मसु ॥ २२ ॥

puruṣaḥ prakṛti-stho hi bhuṅkte prakṛti-jān guṇān |
kāraṇaṃ guṇa-saṅgo'sya sad-asad-yoni-janmasu || 22 ||

puruṣaḥ–the jīva; prakṛti-sthaḥ–being situated within material nature; hi–indeed; bhuṅkte–enjoys; prakṛti-jān–born of material nature; guṇān–the sense objects; kāraṇam–the cause; guṇa-saṅgaḥ–in association with the binding qualities of nature; asya–of the jīva; sat-asat-yoni–higher or lower species; janmasu–taking births.

Becoming situated within material nature, the living entity enjoys sense objects, which emanate from that nature. The cause of his birth in higher and lower species is his association with the three qualities of material nature, which bind him to material existence.

Commentary: Sārārtha-Varṣiṇī Ṭīkā

(By Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura; the innermost intention of the commentary named ‘the shower of essential meanings’)

The living entity considers the qualities of material nature, such as karttṛtva (the performer of action) and bhoktṛtva (the experience of happiness and distress) to be his own, because of the false knowledge born of ignorance that has existed since time immemorial. This is the reason for his bondage to the material world. The jīva is situated within the body, which is the effect of prakṛti, material nature, and he is fully absorbed in identifying the body as his own self. Due to his false ego, he considers experiences of the mind, such as lamentation, delusion and misery, which are generated by the modes of material nature, to be his own and suffers because of them. This is all because of guṇa-saṅgaḥ, association with the modes of material nature. This means that his identification with the body, which is made of the material modes, is an assumption based on ignorance, because the jīva is in fact free from this association.

Where does the living entity enjoy? Expecting this question, Śrī Bhagavān says, “In the species that have higher consciousness such as saintly persons and demigods–satīṣu–and in the species whose consciousness is low, such as animals and birds–asatīṣu.” He takes birth and experiences happiness and distress according to his good and bad karma.

Commentary: Sārārtha-Varṣiṇī Prakāśikā-vṛtti

(By Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Gosvāmī Mahārāja; the explanation that illuminates the commentary named Sārārtha-varṣiṇī)

Having turned their faces away from Kṛṣṇa, the living entities, who are marginal by nature, consider the body to be the self. They falsely see themselves to be the cause of the result of their activities and the enjoyers of inert matter. Thus they become bound to the material world and take birth in various species of life, thereby experiencing happiness and distress. Such living entities‚ who are deluded by māyā‚ have fallen into the cycle of birth and death. Consequently, they suffer worldly miseries, sometimes taking birth in the heavenly planets and sometimes in hell, some-times as kings and sometimes as subjects, sometimes as brāhmaṇas and sometimes as śūdras, and sometimes as worms, demons, servants or masters. Sometimes they are happy and sometimes distressed. The consciousness of the living entity is atomic, and although he is a servant of Bhagavān, he becomes overpowered by the external energy, which is close by. This is because he harbours sensual material desires, which are the result of his aversion to Kṛṣṇa. Just as the intelligence of a person who is possessed by a ghost becomes covered, similarly, the intelligence of the living entity who is overpowered by māyā becomes covered. By the mercy of Bhagavān and His devotees, he attains saintly association (sat-saṅga) and becomes free from the deluding external energy, or māyā. Becoming situated in his own svarūpa, he enjoys the bliss of service to Śrī Bhagavān.

kṛṣṇa bhūli’ sei jīva anādi-bahirmukha
ataeva māyā tāre deya saṃsāra-duḥkha
kabhu svarge uṭhāya kabhu narake ḍubāya
daṇḍya-jane rājā yena nadīte cubāya

Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta (Madhya-līlā 20.117–118)

Because he has forgotten Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the living entity has been absorbed in his attempts to enjoy the material energy since time immemorial. Therefore, Kṛṣṇa’s deluding potency awards the living entity the various sufferings of material birth and death. Sometimes he is elevated to the heavenly planets, and at other times he is thrown into hell. This can be likened to a man the king punishes by tying him to a wooden plank and dunking him in a river. Sometimes he is immersed till he nearly drowns, and sometimes he is released to experience a few moments of so-called happiness.