Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 10.54.47

janmādayas tu dehasya

vikriyā nātmanaḥ kvacit

kalānām iva naivendor

mṛtir hy asya kuhūr iva

SYNONYMS

janma-ādayaḥ — birth and so on; tu — but; dehasya — of the body; vikriyāḥ — transformations; na — not; ātmanaḥ — of the self; kvacit — ever; kalānām — of the phases; iva — as; na — not; eva — indeed; indoḥ — of the moon; mṛtiḥ — the death; hi — indeed; asya — of it; kuhūḥ — the new moon day; iva — as.

TRANSLATION

Birth and other transformations are undergone by the body but never by the self, just as change occurs for the moon's phases but never for the moon, though the new-moon day may be called the moon's "death."

PURPORT

Lord Balarāma here explains how the conditioned souls identify with the body and how this identification should be given up. Certainly every ordinary person considers himself or herself young, middle-aged or old, healthy or sick. But such identification is an illusion, just as the waxing and waning of the moon is an illusion. When we identify ourselves with the material body, we lose our power to understand the soul.

<<< >>>

Copyright © The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International, Inc.
His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Founder Ācārya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness
His Holiness Hrdayananda dasa Goswami
Gopiparanadhana dasa Adhikari
Dravida dasa Brahmacari