BG 15.08 sariram yad avapnoti... cited

Expressions researched:
"grhitvaitani samyati" |"sariram yad avapnoti" |"vayur gandhan ivasayat" |"yac capy utkramatisvarah"

BG Chapters 13 - 18

BG 15.8, Translation and Purport:

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.

Here the living entity is described as īśvara, 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 Kṛṣṇa consciousness, he will be transferred to Kṛṣṇaloka in the spiritual world and will associate with Kṛṣṇa. 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 karṣati, or struggle for existence.

SB Canto 4

SB 4.28.20, Purport:

As explained in Bhagavad-gītā (15.7), manaḥ-ṣaṣṭhānīndriyāṇi prakṛti-sthāni karṣati. When the mind and senses are engaged in material activities, one has to continue his material existence and struggle to attain happiness. In each and every life one is engaged in the struggle to become happy. Actually no one in this material world is happy, but the struggle gives a false sense of happiness. A person must work very hard, and when he attains the result of his hard work, he thinks himself happy. In the material world people do not know what real happiness is. Sukham ātyantikaṁ yat tad buddhi-grāhyam atīndriyam (BG 6.21). Real happiness must be appreciated by one's transcendental senses. Unless one is purified, the transcendental senses are not manifest; therefore to purify the senses one must take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness and engage the senses in the service of the Lord. Then there will be real happiness and liberation.

It is stated in Bhagavad-gītā (15.8):

śarīraṁ yad avāpnoti

yac cāpy utkrāmatīśvaraḥ

gṛhītvaitāni saṁyāti

vāyur gandhān ivāśayāt

"The living entity in the material world carries his different conceptions of life from one body to another, as the air carries aromas." If the wind passes over a garden of roses, it will carry the aroma of roses, and if it passes over a filthy place, it will carry the stench of obnoxious things. Similarly, King Purañjana, the living entity, now passes the air of his life over his wife, a woman; therefore he has to accept the body of a woman in his next life.

1974 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- March 25, 1974, Bombay:

Dr. Patel:

mamaivāṁśo jīva-loke

jīva-bhūtaḥ sanātanaḥ

manaḥ ṣaṣṭhānīndriyāṇi

prakṛti-sthāni karṣati

(BG 15.7)

Prabhupāda: Karṣati.

Dr. Patel: Prakṛti-sthāni karṣati.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Dr. Patel: Śarīraṁ yad avāpnoti yac cāpy utkrāmatīśvaraḥ...

Prabhupāda: So... So they... Śarīram, śarīraṁ yad avāpnoti. They get different bodies. But they're individuals. They're individuals.

Dr. Patel: They are individuals till there is a salvation. And after, they are...

Prabhupāda: No, salvation means when they have ceased to accept the material body. That is salvation. Śarīraṁ yad avāpnoti. So avāpnoti means it was not, in the spiritual body there was no such thing, but they accept this material body.

Dr. Patel: This morning I read a very good thing from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, from Eleventh... (break)

Prabhupāda: ...every day say. Every day say. Every day I say that.

Morning Walk -- March 27, 1974, Bombay:

Dr. Patel: Jīva-bhūtaḥ sanātanaḥ (BG 15.7).

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Dr. Patel: Manaḥ ṣaṣṭhāni indriyāṇi...

Prabhupāda: So that the Māyāvādīs do not know. "Why aṁśa? I am the same. I am the whole." Manaḥ ṣaṣṭhānīndriyāṇi prakṛti-sthāni karṣati (BG 15.7). Therefore they are rotting in this material world, hard struggle for existence.

Dr. Patel: Śarīraṁ yad avāpnoti yac cāpy utkrāmatīśvaraḥ...

Prabhupāda: Ah. And that is going on, transmigration.

Chandobhai: ...gṛhītvaitāni saṁyāti vāyur gandhān ivāśayāt. How the body goes away?

Prabhupāda: Yes. According, according to the quality or the modes of nature, he has to change his body. This Māyāvāda philosophy has made the whole world atheist. They don't believe in God.

Dr. Patel: I think this, what do you call Māyāvāda philosophy is not... (break)

Prabhupāda: Māyāvādī was introduced...

Chandobhai: By Buddha.

Prabhupāda: ...by Śaṅkara.

Chandobhai: Śaṅkara and Jains mostly.

Prabhupāda: Māyāvāda...

Dr. Patel: Jains are, they are... They don't believe in God. Jains are... Their soul is as long as their body. If that leg is cut, the soul's leg is cut.

Prabhupāda: No. Without, without going to other philosophies, best thing is to stick to your own philosophy and try to understand.