BHAGAVAD-GITA 15:8

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BHAGAVAD-GITA 15:8

 

sariram yad avapnoti

yac capy utkramatisvarah

grh itvaitani sam yati

vayur gandhan ivasayat

 

WORD FOR WORD

 

sariram--the body; yat--as; avapnoti--gets; yat--as; ca api--also;

utkramati--gives up; isvarah--the lord of the body; grhitva--taking;

etani--all these; samyati--goes away; vayuh--the air; gandhan--smells;

iva--like; asayat--from their source.

 

TRANSLATION

 

The living entity in the material world carries his different

conceptions of life from one body to another as the air carries

aromas. Thus he takes one kind of body and again quits it to take

another.

 

PURPORT

 

Here the living entity is described as isvara, the controller of his

own body. If he likes, he can change his body to a higher grade, and

if he likes he can move to a lower class. Minute independence is

there. The change his body undergoes depends upon him. At the time of

death, the consciousness he has created will carry him on to the next

type of body. If he has made his consciousness like that of a cat or

dog, he is sure to change to a cat's or dog's body. And if he has

fixed his consciousness on godly qualities, he will change into the

form of a demigod. And if he is in Krsna consciousness, he will be

transferred to Krsnaloka in the spiritual world and will associate

with Krsna. It is a false claim that after the annihilation of this

body everything is finished. The individual soul is transmigrating

from one body to another, and his present body and present activities

are the background of his next body. One gets a different body

according to karma, and he has to quit this body in due course. It is

stated here that the subtle body, which carries the conception of the

next body, develops another body in the next life. This process of

transmigrating from one body to another and struggling while in the

body is called karsati, or struggle for existence.

 

Copyright 1983 The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International. Used with

permission.