Srimad-Bhagavatam: Canto 5 - Chapter 1 - Verse 20

Sanskrit:

रहूगण त्वमपि ह्यध्वनोऽस्यसन्न्यस्तदण्ड: कृतभूतमैत्र: ।असज्जितात्मा हरिसेवया शितंज्ञानासिमादाय तरातिपारम् ॥ २० ॥

ITRANS:

rahūgaṇa tvam api hy adhvano ’syasannyasta-daṇḍaḥ kṛta-bhūta-maitraḥasaj-jitātmā hari-sevayā śitaṁjñānāsim ādāya tarāti-pāram

Translation:

My dear King Rahūgaṇa, you are also a victim of the external energy, being situated on the path of attraction to material pleasure. So that you may become an equal friend to all living entities, I now advise you to give up your kingly position and the rod by which you punish criminals. Give up attraction to the sense objects and take up the sword of knowledge sharpened by devotional service. Then you will be able to cut the hard knot of illusory energy and cross to the other side of the ocean of nescience.

Purport:

In Bhagavad-gītā Lord Kṛṣṇa compares the material world to a tree of illusion from which one must cut oneself free: “The real form of this tree cannot be perceived in this world. No one can understand where it ends, where it begins, or where its foundation is. But with determination, one must cut down this tree with the weapon of detachment. So doing, one must seek that place from which, having once gone, one never returns, and there surrender to that Supreme Personality of Godhead from whom everything has begun and in whom everything is abiding since time immemorial.” (Bg. 15.3-4)