विषयाभिनिवेशेन नात्मानं यत्स्मरेत्पुनः ।
जन्तोर्वै कस्यचिद्धेतोर्मृत्युरत्यन्तविस्मृतिः ॥
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.”
Commentary
tataḥ kiṁ? ata āha—viṣayeti | karmopasthāpita-devādi-dehātyantābhiniveśena ātmānaṁ pūrva-dehaṁ punar na smared iti yat, saiva yātanā-dehābhiniveśena bhaya-śokāder devādi-dehābhiniveśena vā harṣa-tarṣāder hetoḥ pūrva-dehe’tyanta-vismṛtir ahaṅkāra-nivṛttis tad-abhimānino jantor jīvasya mṛtyur ucyate, na tu dehavan-nāśaḥ |
(Bhāvārtha-dīpikā)
“[Śrī Uddhava wonders:] ‘Then what [happens]?’ Thus, he says viṣaya … [i.e., thus Śrī Kṛṣṇa answers this query by speaking this verse]. That specifically on account of which one shall not remember again the body (ātmānam), that is, [one’s] previous body, as a result of complete absorption in a [new] body of a deva or otherwise [i.e., or human, animal, etc.] brought adjacent [to oneself] by [one’s] karma—the complete non-remembrance—cessation of identification (ahaṅkāra)—in regard to one’s previous body because of fear, sorrow, or otherwise as a result of absorption in a [new] body of suffering [i.e., in a body issued to those sent to a hellish realm for punishment by Yamarāja] or because of elation, desire, or otherwise as a result of absorption in a [new] body of a deva or otherwise [i.e., or a human, being, animal, etc.] is called the death of a living being (jantuḥ) who had a notion of self in relation to that [previous body], and not, rather, the destruction of the bearer of the body [i.e., death is not the destruction of the self who bears the body but rather the destruction of the self’s remembrance of one’s previous body].”
tataḥ kiṁ? ata āha—viṣayeti | karmopasthāpiteṣu devādi-deheṣu yātanā-deheṣu vā atyantābhiniveśena ātmānaṁ pūrva-dehaṁ punar mano na smared iti yat, sa mṛtyuḥ sthūla-deha-viyogaḥ | atyantā ātyantikī pūrva-deha-viṣayā vismṛtir yataḥ saḥ | kasyacid dhetoḥ prārabdha-karma-samāpter ity arthaḥ |
(Sārārtha-darśinī-ṭīkā)
“[Śrī Uddhava wonders:] ‘Then what [happens]?’ Thus, he says viṣaya … [i.e., thus Śrī Kṛṣṇa answers this query by speaking this verse]. That on account which the mind shall not remember again the body (ātmānam), that is, [one’s] previous body, as a result of complete absorption in a [new] body of a deva or otherwise [i.e., or human, animal, etc.] or a [new] body of suffering [i.e., in a body issued to those sent to a hellish realm for punishment by Yamarāja] is [called] death, that is, disconnection from a gross body. That on account of which complete (atyanta) non-remembrance the object of which is the previous body occurs [is called death]. ‘As a consequence of some cause’ (kasyacid dhetoḥ) means because of the termination of the commenced (prārabdha) karma [that was allocated for a particular body born by the self].”