Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 1.4.4

tasya putro mahā-yogī

sama-dṛń nirvikalpakaḥ

ekānta-matir unnidro

gūḍho mūḍha iveyate

SYNONYMS

tasya — his; putraḥ — son; mahā-yogī — a great devotee; sama-dṛk — equibalanced; nirvikalpakaḥ — absolute monist; ekānta-matiḥ — fixed in monism or oneness of mind; unnidraḥ — surpassed nescience; gūḍhaḥ — not exposed; mūḍhaḥ — stunted; iva — like; iyate — appears like.

TRANSLATION

His [Vyāsadeva's] son was a great devotee, an equibalanced monist, whose mind was always concentrated in monism. He was transcendental to mundane activities, but being unexposed, he appeared like an ignorant person.

PURPORT

Śrīla Śukadeva Gosvāmī was a liberated soul, and thus he remained always alert not to be trapped by the illusory energy. In the Bhagavad-gītā this alertness is very lucidly explained. The liberated soul and the conditioned soul have different engagements. The liberated soul is always engaged in the progressive path of spiritual attainment, which is something like a dream for the conditioned soul. The conditioned soul cannot imagine the actual engagements of the liberated soul. While the conditioned soul thus dreams about spiritual engagements, the liberated soul is awake. Similarly, the engagement of a conditioned soul appears to be a dream for the liberated soul. A conditioned soul and a liberated soul may apparently be on the same platform, but factually they are differently engaged, and their attention is always alert, either in sense enjoyment or in self-realization. The conditioned soul is absorbed in matter, whereas the liberated soul is completely indifferent to matter. This indifference is explained as follows.

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His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Founder Ācārya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness