viṣayābhiniveśena nātmānaṁ yat smaret punaḥ |
jantor vai kasyacid dhetor mṛtyur atyanta-vismṛtiḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 11.22.38)
“Complete non-remembrance as a consequence of some cause on account of which one shall not remember again the [previous] body [one had] as a result of absorption in objects of the senses [while in one’s new body] is [called] death.”
yeṣāṁ sa eṣa bhagavān dayayed anantaḥ
sarvātmanāśrita-pado yadi nirvyalīkam |
te dustarām atitaranti ca deva-māyāṁ
naiṣāṁ mamāham iti dhīḥ śva-śṛgāla-bhakṣye ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 2.7.42; cited in Dig-darśinī-ṭīkā on Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta: 2.4.86; Caitanya-caritāmṛta: 2.6.235)
“If those whom he, this Bhagavān, the Unlimited, may grace take shelter in his feet in all respects without duplicity, they will cross beyond his difficult to surmount, divine māyā [and come to know him], and they will have no notion of ‘my’ or ‘I’ in regard to that which is food for dogs and jackals [i.e., the material body].”
adhiṣṭhānaṁ tathā kartā karaṇaṁ ca pṛthag-vidham |
vividhāś ca pṛthak-ceṣṭā daivaṁ caivātra pañcamam ||
śarīra-vāṅ-manobhir yat karma prārabhate naraḥ |
nyāyyaṁ vā viparītaṁ vā pañcaite tasya hetavaḥ ||
tatraivaṁ sati kartāram ātmānaṁ kevalaṁ tu yaḥ |
paśyaty akṛta-buddhitvān na sa paśyati durmatiḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhagavad-gītā: 18.14–6)
“(1) The locus [i.e,, the body], (2) the doer [i.e., the jīva], (3) the different types of instruments [i.e., the senses], (4) the various different functions [e.g., those of the prāṇas], and (5) herein the fifth, the Divine [i.e., the Inner Regulator (Antaryāmī), Paramātmā]—whatever action a person undertakes with the body, speech, or mind, be it right or wrong [i.e., dharmic or adharmic, śāstric or non-śāstric], its causes are these five. This being so, one who sees only oneself as the doer in this regard is ignorant because of having an unrefined understanding and does not [actually] see.”
rājño jīvatu deho’yaṁ prasannāḥ prabhavo yadi |
tathety ukte nimiḥ prāha mā bhūn me deha-bandhanam ||
yasya yogaṁ na vāñchanti viyoga-bhaya-kātarāḥ |
bhajanti caraṇāmbhojaṁ munayo hari-medhasaḥ ||
dehaṁ nāvarurutse’haṁ duḥkha-śoka-bhayāvaham |
sarvatrāsya yato mṛtyur matsyānām udake yathā ||
devā ūcuḥ—
videha uṣyatāṁ kāmaṁ locaneṣu śarīriṇām |
unmeṣaṇa-nimeṣābhyāṁ lakṣito’dhyātma-saṁsthitaḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 9.13.8–11)
“[The sages pray to the devas for the sake of Mahārāja Nimi:] ‘May this body of the king live if you all are satisfied [with the sacrifice initiated by the king] and capable [of bringing the king’s body back to life].’ When, ‘So be it’ was said [by the devas in response to the sages’ prayer], Nimi [being situated then only in a subtle body] said, ‘Let me not be subject to the bondage of a [gross] body [again]. Sages who are agitated by fear of disconnection [from a gross body], who are endowed with wisdom related to Hari, and who worship the lotus feet [of Hari], do not desire connection with that [i.e. with a gross body]. [Thus,] I do not wish to don a [gross] body, which is a cause of suffering, sorrow, and fear, since its death, like that of fish [even] in water, can occur everywhere.’ [In reply to the sages] The devas said [with regard to Mahārāja Nimi]: ‘Bodiless [i.e., free from a gross body] and situated in a subtle body, at will let him be observed in the opening and closing [i.e., blinking] in the eyes of the embodied.’”
ādhyātmikādi maitreya jñātvā tāpa-trayaṁ budhaḥ |
utpanna-jñāna-vairāgyaḥ prāpnoty ātyantikaṁ layam |
ādhyātmiko’pi dvividhaḥ śārīro mānasas tathā |
śārīro bahubhir bhedair bhidyate śrūyatāṁ ca saḥ ||
śiro-roga-pratiśyāya-jvara-śūla-bhagandaraiḥ |
gulmārśaḥ-śvayathu-śvāsa-cchardyādibhir anekadhā ||
tathākṣi-rogātīsāra-kuṣṭhāṅgāmaya-saṁjñitaiḥ |
bhidyate dehajas tāpo mānasaṁ śrotum arhasi ||
kāma-krodha-bhaya-dveṣa-lobha-moha-viṣādajaḥ |
śokāsūyāvamānerṣyā-mātsaryādimayas tathā ||
mānaso’pi dvija-śreṣṭha tāpo bhavati naikadhā |
ity evam ādibhir bhedais tāpo hy ādhyātmikaḥ smṛtaḥ ||
mṛga-pakṣi-manuṣyādyaiḥ piśācoraga-rākṣasaiḥ |
sarīsṛpādyaiś ca nṛṇāṁ jāyate cādhibhautikaḥ ||
śīta-vātoṣṇa-varṣāmbu-vaidyutādi-samudbhavaḥ |
tāpo dvija-vara śreṣṭhaiḥ kathyate cādhidaivikaḥ ||
garbha-janma-jarājñāna-mṛtyu-nārakajaṁ tathā |
duḥkhaṁ sahasraśo bhedair bhidyate muni-sattama ||
(Viṣṇu Purāṇa: 6.5.1–9)
“O Maitreya, having understood the three miseries, [viz.,] ādhyātmikā and so forth, a wise person in whom knowledge (jñāna) and non-attachment (vairāgya) have arisen attains absolute dissolution [i.e., mokṣa]. Ādhyātmikā [misery], furthermore, is twofold: bodily and mental. The bodily [type] is divisible into many divisions. This too should be heared about. Misery produced by the body is divisible in various ways with names such as head diseases, colds, fevers, colic, fistula, splenomegaly, hemorrhoids, intumescence, asthma, vomiting, ophthalmia, dysentery, leprosy, rheumatism, and so forth. The mental [type of ādhyātmikā misery] is [also] befitting to hear of. O best of the twice-born, mental misery too occurs in various ways, such as that produced by lust, anger, fear, enmity, greed, delusion, and dejection, and that constituted of lamentation, detraction [i.e., attributing faults to others’ qualities], disrespect, hostility [i.e., non-forgiveness], envy [i.e., intolerance of another’s excellence], and so forth. In this way, ādhyātmika misery is known by many divisions. The ādhibhautika [misery] of human beings arises from animals, birds, [other] humans, piśācas, serpents, rākṣasas, reptiles, and so forth. Ādhidaivika misery is known by the exalted, O best of the twice born, as that produced by cold, wind, heat, rain, water, lightning, and so forth. O best of the sages, suffering produced by the womb, birth, aging, ignorance, death, and Naraka, is divisible in thousands of divisions.”
Bhārata Sāvitrī
Śrī Vedavyāsa’s final message to humanity in Mahābhārata.
Excerpted from the Svargārohana Parva, 5.47–51.
kuṭumbeṣu na sajjeta na pramādyet kuṭumby api |
vipaścin naśvaraṁ paśyed adṛṣṭam api dṛṣṭa-vat ||
putra-dārāpta-bandhūnāṁ saṅgamaḥ pāntha-saṅgamaḥ |
anu-dehaṁ viyanty ete svapno nidrānugo yathā ||
itthaṁ parimṛśan mukto gṛheṣv atithivad vasan |
na gṛhair anubadhyeta nirmamo nirahaṅkṛtaḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 11.17.52–54)
“Even a householder should not be attached to the household and should not be negligent. A wise person should see even the unseen, like the seen, to be transitory. The meeting of sons, wife, relatives, and friends is [just like] a meeting of wayfarers. They [i.e., sons and so forth] vanish after the body [dies] just as a dream does following sleep. Deliberating in this way and dwelling in houses like a guest, a detached person free from possessiveness and egotism will not become bound by houses.”
niṣeka-garbha-janmāni bālya-kaumāra-yauvanam |
vayo-madhyaṁ jarā mṛtyur ity avasthās tanor nava ||
etā manoratha-mayīr hānyasyoccāvacās tanūḥ |
guṇa-saṅgād upādatte kvacit kaścij jahāti ca ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 11.22.47–48)
“Impregnation, gestation, birth, childhood [up to five years], boyhood [up to sixteen years], youth [up to forty-five years], middle age [up to sixty years], old age, and death are the nine states of the body. Sometimes someone [i.e., a jīva] takes on these greater and lesser manifestations of another [i.e., of a material body], which are made of desire, as a result of attachment to the guṇas, and [sometimes someone] gives [them] up [as a result of Śrī Bhagavān’s grace].”
pañcīkṛta-mahābhūta-sambhavaṁ karma-sañcitam |
śarīraṁ sukha-duḥkhānāṁ bhogāyatanam ucyate ||
pañca-prāṇa-mano-buddhi-daśendriya-samanvitam |
apañcīkṛta-bhūtotthaṁ sūkṣmāṅgaṁ bhoga-sādhanam ||
(Śaṅkarācārya’s Ātma-bodha: 11–12)
“Constituted of fivefold gross matter (mahābhūta) [i.e., the five fundamental elements of space, air, fire, water, and earth] and amassed by karma, the [gross] body is the site of the experience (bhoga) of happiness and suffering. The subtle body, not born of fivefold [gross] matter and replete with the five prāṇas, mind (manas), intellect (buddhi), and ten senses, is the means of [that] experience (bhoga) [of happiness and suffering].”
yathā nabhasi meghaugho reṇur vā pārthivo’nile |
evaṁ draṣṭari dṛśyatvam āropitam abuddhibhiḥ ||
ataḥ paraṁ yad avyaktam avyūḍha-guṇa-vyūhitam |
adṛṣṭāśruta-vastutvāt sa jīvo yat punar-bhavaḥ ||
yatreme sad-asad-rūpe pratiṣiddhe sva-saṁvidā |
avidyayātmani kṛte iti tad brahma-darśanam ||
yady eṣoparatā devī māyā vaiśāradī matiḥ |
sampanna eveti vidur mahimni sve mahīyate ||
evaṁ janmāni karmāṇi hy akartur ajanasya ca |
varṇayanti sma kavayo veda-guhyāni hṛt-pateḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 1.3.31–35)
“As a mass of clouds is attributed [i.e., taken to be] to the sky or a particle of earth [is taken to be] to the air, so the visible [i.e., the body] is [taken to be] to the seer [i.e., the ātmā] by the unintelligent. Beyond this [i.e., the gross body] is the jīva [i.e., the subtle body], which is unmanifest [i.e., externally imperceptible] because of its being an unseen and unheard of entity not arranged by the guṇas to be developed [i.e., to have physical, visible limbs] and [because of its] undergoing rebirth. When these gross and subtle forms are negated [i.e., understood to not be the self] through full knowledge of the self, whereby they are recognized as being imposed upon the ātmā by ignorance (avidyā), then darśana [i.e., sākṣātkāra, direct experience] of Brahman occurs. When this supernatural māyā belonging to the Expert [i.e., Īśvara] in the form of thought [i.e., misunderstanding] becomes withdrawn, then one certainly becomes fortunate [i.e., endowed with experience of the bliss of Brahman] and exalted in one’s own greatness—this is known [to the wise]. In this [same] way, the wise describe the births and activities, hidden to the Vedas, of he who is a non-actor and unborn [i.e., Bhagavān, who is transcendental to saṁsāra], the Lord [situated] in the heart.”
