Bhagavad Gita 2.13

[Paramananda das]

Text 13

dehino ’smin yatha dehe kaumaram yauvanam jara tatha dehantara-praptir dhiras tatra na muhyati

Translation

As the embodied soul continuously passes, in this body, from boyhood to youth to old age, the soul similarly passes into another body at death. A sober person is not bewildered by such a change.

Commentary by Srila Prabhupada

Since every living entity is an individual soul, each is changing his body every moment, manifesting sometimes as a child, sometimes as a youth, and sometimes as an old man. Yet the same spirit soul is there and does not undergo any change. This individual soul finally changes the body at death and transmigrates to another body; and since it is sure to have another body in the next birth—either material or spiritual—there was no cause for lamentation by Arjuna on account of death, neither for Bhishma nor for Drona, for whom he was so much concerned. Rather, he should rejoice for their changing bodies from old to new ones, thereby rejuvenating their energy. Such changes of body account for varieties of enjoyment or suffering, according to one’s work in life. So Bhishma and Drona, being noble souls, were surely going to have spiritual bodies in the next life, or at least life in heavenly bodies for superior enjoyment of material existence. So, in either case, there was no cause of lamentation.

Any man who has perfect knowledge of the constitution of the individual soul, the Supersoul, and nature—both material and spiritual—is called a dhira, or a most sober man. Such a man is never deluded by the change of bodies.

The Mayavadi theory of oneness of the spirit soul cannot be entertained, on the ground that the spirit soul cannot be cut into pieces as a fragmental portion. Such cutting into different individual souls would make the Supreme cleavable or changeable, against the principle of the Supreme Soul’s being unchangeable. As confirmed in the Gita, the fragmental portions of the Supreme exist eternally (sanatana) and are called kshara; that is, they have a tendency to fall down into material nature. These fragmental portions are eternally so, and even after liberation the individual soul remains the same—fragmental. But once liberated, he lives an eternal life in bliss and knowledge with the Personality of Godhead. The theory of reflection can be applied to the Supersoul, who is present in each and every individual body and is known as the Paramatma. He is different from the individual living entity. When the sky is reflected in water, the reflections represent both the sun and the moon and the stars also. The stars can be compared to the living entities and the sun or the moon to the Supreme Lord. The individual fragmental spirit soul is represented by Arjuna, and the Supreme Soul is the Personality of Godhead Sri Krishna. They are not on the same level, as it will be apparent in the beginning of the Fourth Chapter. If Arjuna is on the same level with Krishna, and Krishna is not superior to Arjuna, then their relationship of instructor and instructed becomes meaningless. If both of them are deluded by the illusory energy (maya), then there is no need of one being the instructor and the other the instructed. Such instruction would be useless because, in the clutches of maya, no one can be an authoritative instructor. Under the circumstances, it is admitted that Lord Krishna is the Supreme Lord, superior in position to the living entity, Arjuna, who is a forgetful soul deluded by maya.

Commentary by Sri Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakur

"One's body becomes the object of affection as it is related to the soul (which is most dear to the self.) By relation with that body, one's sons, brothers or other relatives become objects of affection. And by relationship to them, even their sons also become objects of affection. So when their bodies perish, there will certainly be lamentation."

In answer to this, he speaks this verse. "In the body belonging to the jiva (dehinah) one attains stages such as boyhood. After boyhood is destroyed one attains youth. When youth is destroyed one attains old age. In the same manner, one attains another body. Just as (yatha) one does not lament for the destruction of the objects of affection in the form of boyhood and youth of the body which are related to the soul, so (tatha) one should also not lament for the destruction of the object of affection, the body, which is also related to the soul."

"But with the destruction of youth and attaining old age one does lament."

"With the destruction of boyhood and attainment of youth one rejoices. With the destruction of worn out bodies of Bhisma and Drona, they will attain new bodies and will also become joyful."

Another meaning is: Just as in one body one attains various states such as boyhood, the one jiva attains various bodies life after life.

Rudra Vaisnava Sampradaya: Visnuswami Sridhara Swami's Commentary It may be argued that although it is certainly true that the Supreme Lord Krishna is not ever subject to birth and death being transcendental to the material manifestation what about the individual living entities who everyday are dying and being born. This is what is being answered in this verse. Even as the embodied living entity in the very same lifetime, possesses different physical bodies during different stages of life such as infancy, youth and old age; but always keeping the consciousness that one is the same individual despite these modifications presented in the form of the body. So it can be understood that on the destruction of the physical body the eternal soul is embodied in another physical body only due to the impressions one has accumulated in their subtle body and that the subtle body is real is observed at the birth of an infant who begins to suck the mothers breast immediately owing to past life impressions. The eternal soul does not perish when the physical body perishes; therefore the spiritually intelligent are not deluded by the birth or destruction of the body knowing that the eternal soul is not subject to birth or death.

Brahma Vaisnava Sampradaya: Madhvacarya Madhvacarya's Commentary This verse confirms that the soul is distinct from the body but by it being distinct does not make it independent. Only when the physical body is seen changing through infancy, childhood, youth etc. can this separate distinctness be perceived and thus confirmed until the soul giving up its present body acquires a new body and in some rare cases a living entity can recollect their past lives. The physical body is obviously not what has the experience of childhood, youth, etc as is evidenced when the body is dead. The body is just the container and when the soul has departed. The body has no further identification with the soul leading itself to experience that it is a human being or tiger or worm or whatever physical form it possessed as the case may be. But due to the fact that the soul remains within the physical body during deep sleep similar to the ego centered mind; it is possible to perceive the existence of the soul as an independent consciousness whereas the body is merely like a wooden box. This is verified by direct experience from the transcendental authority of the Vedas. It cannot be conceived by any mental or intellectual genius because it is beyond the scope of materialism. Nor can the Vedas reflect any vestige of human intellect or human endeavour within them because they come exclusively from the divine revelations of Krishna Dvaipayana Vyasa avatara an authorised incarnation of the Supreme Lord confirmed by name in the Vedic scripture known as Srimad Bhagavatam or Bhagavat Purana Without understanding that there is a transcendental source to the eternal Vedas, the establishment of statements regarding righteousness cannot be applicable for all eternity and if they are not accepted for all time then there would have been no reason for them to exist and they would not have been the basic foundation for the instruction of righteousness. Without the universality of these premises the denial of what is not truth would not have been possible. There would then have been no connection to eternality from any established source. Therefore the principles found in the eternal Vedas constitute what is real. Otherwise without superior guidance from an eternal source nothing in this life can be accepted as absolute evidence. Things that we have heard would have no relevance as they would have nothing to reference it to. Otherwise one would have no thoughts or response to this that you are now reading. It would appear as a figment of the imagination. It would then be a cause of misery unless one was due to self-realisation an exception to this. If activities are judged with reference to righteousness or unrighteousness then facades of being unaware are not valid and intention is automatically exposed. The transcendental statements found in the Vedas are eternal being established beyond the purview of time, hence the Vedas are self-evident and are to be known as absolute giving perfect knowledge of the Ultimate Truth. By the authority of the Vedas the wise are never deluded. Otherwise why would there be any sorrow thinking that the destruction of the physical body is the destruction of the soul. The soul cannot be destroyed. The soul is eternal thus the statement not that you were not. Not even by the destruction of the physical body. Hence the statement dehinah meaning the soul being the occupier of the deha which is the body. Even with the physical body changing its form as from infancy to childhood to youth etc. or being pitiful on account of old age etc. With the deterioration and demise of the body certainly comes the acceptance of another new body. Now begins the summation. The Supreme Lord Krishna to illustrate that there is no possibility of His having a physical body uses the word dehinah as an adjective to describe the plight of all embodied beings by stating: with the transmigration from one body to another. Therefore perceiving it as just a further modification of the body coming after old age there is no justification for sorrow.

Sri Vaisnava Sampradaya: Ramanuja Ramanuja's Commentary Ramanuja. Bhagavad-Gita: chapter 2, verse 14 The qualities of sound, feeling, colour, taste and smell with their corresponding faculties known as the senses are called matras because they manifest from the basic fundamental elements of water, fire, earth, air and ether. Contact of the senses with these matrascause such physical perceptions of duality as cold and hot, hard and soft, bitter and sweet that are experienced as pleasure or pain. The use of cold and heat in this verse is symbolised as the summation of all external experiences. The Supreme Lord instructs Arjuna to tolerate them with courage while fulfilling ones duties to completion. As these external experiences come and go they should not be regarded as impediments to discharging one's responsibilities by men of courage. Also they are anitya or temporary, meaning that for whoever has achieved the termination of their karma as in the case of one who has attained muktior liberation, the dualities of physical sensations are not able to disturb or distract. Are these experiences of the duality of physical sensations causing the perception of pleasure and pain of any value? It will be discoursed in the next verse.

Kumara Vaisnava Sampradaya: Nimbaditya Kesava Kasmiri's Commentary Because of the traditional conception that a son is born of a father and and that the grandfather died and also due to there being an injunction by the authority of the Vedic books of law that a brahmana remains impure during the ten days following a birth or death in his immeadiate family; how is it possible that one can think of the soul as being birthless and deathless? And if one continues to think of the soul as being born and of dying how can one alleviate their grief when the physical body dies? Can the authority of the Vedic books of law be denied? To clarify such doubts Lord Krishna uses the word dehinah meaning attributed to the embodied soul. It is the embodied soul who occupies the physical body which is the vehicle to experience the consequences of all ones actions. The embodied soul allocated a particular body experiences infancy, childhood, youth and old age, each stage of life which possess its own distinct attributes at different time periods. But although there is a difference in the stages and a difference in the perception of identity there is absolutely no difference in the soul. This is because although the activities one experiences continuously reside in the compartment of the memory and because when one is experiencing these different stages there developes the conception of identifying with the bodily designation in the form of it was I who in a young body played upon a fathers lap and was fed by a mother in infancy and it is I who now in an old body experience various relationships with children and grandchildren in old age. Only the bodily conception has changed the soul remains the same. In the same way that the embodied soul experiences the changing physical body, the embodied soul changes physical bodies at the time of death. There is no difference in the soul during any of these modifications of the physcical body and there is no difference in the soul due to the natural process of receiving another new body. One who is spiritually intelligent realizes that there is no birth or death associated with the soul and is not deluded by the apparent disfunctiong of the physical body even in the death of a son or father. From this verse up until verse 30 beginning with dehi nityam avadhyo meaning the embodied soul can never be destroyed, the use of the singular is in the collective sense referring to all existing souls and this does not suggest that these embodied soul although of the nature of the Supreme Soul are on the same paltform with. This collectivity of the individual souls referred to is taught by the expert preceptor in the line of disciplic succession that the soul is eternal and never suject in any way to old age and death. Statements supporting the varieagatedness of attaining communion with the Ultimate Consciousnes can be found in almost all of the chapters of Bhagavad-Gita and this variegatedness is supported based on the context by which they are written. Statements such as those of great virtue whose sins have been dissolved, those being freed from the delusion of the dualities, those great souls who possess the divine nature offer exclusive worship to the Supreme Lord, with their minds and lives surrendered to the Supreme Lord, those free from pride and infatuation, those who have conquered the vice of attachment and those whose desires have completely dissapeared, This varieagatedness is delieanated for those whose nescience is completely dissolved, whose doubts have been dispelled by knowledge, whose minds are firmly established in God, whose are righteously engaged in promoting the welfare of all living entities whose sins have been washed away, who are free from lust and anger, who have controlled their minds and who have realised the Ultimate Truth. If this were not the case then accepting the conception of the oneness of all souls in all bodies would mean that we all would have a singular uniform experience. If we were all one soul then whether one were sleeping, another was waking and another fainting, all would experience the same sensations of pleasure pain simultaneously. Moreover there would be no difference in anyones perception due to the absence of any individuality and perceptions of you are and I am. But it is factually not like this in this world and this can be clearly understood by ones individual consciousness. Therefore it is established that those who propound oneness of the soul in all living entities are mistaken for even in the eternal soul there is also varieagatedness. So regarding death of the soul and other such fallacious arguements those with spiritual intelligence neither lament nor are deluded.

"We Must Surrender -- God or Dog"

74/06/18 Germany, Bhagavad-gita 2.13
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(Prabhupada chants om namo bhagavate vasudevaya and verse with devotees)

Prabhupada: So

dehino 'smin yatha dehe kaumaram yauvanam jara tatha dehantara-praptir dhiras tatra na muhyati [Bg. 2.13]

So dehinah. Dehinah means the one who possesses this body. That is meaning, the dehinah. Just like in Sanskrit word, guninah. Guninah means one who has got some special attributes. (child cries, Prabhupada chuckles, devotees laugh) He, she is understanding more than anyone else. (laughter) Yes, yes. So asmin dehe. (child cries again) Now... (laughter) You will create disturbance. Yes. So one profit, one loss. You get a child, and another side, you cannot hear. This is karma-kandiya. This is the material world. As soon as you get some profit here, another side loss. As soon as you want to construct a big skyscraper, another side, digging earth. (laughter) Otherwise, where you get? You cannot create. The stones and bricks, you cannot create. You have to dig from somewhere else and pile here. And that is advancement of civilization, to be engaged in digging and piling. (laughter) This is called advancement of civilization. The rascals, they do not think, "Why, uselessly, I am digging and piling? After all, maya will kick me out, and there will (be) no more digging and piling." But they are very much busy. They cannot come to hear Bhagavad-gita. They are very busy. This is called maya.

So dehinah. Dehinah means the possessor of the body. This simple thing, that there is a proprietor of this body, or possessor... If we don't... Actually, we are not proprietor. We are occupier. Just like a rented house. The proprietor is different man. (another child cries) Now again another. (laughter) Everyone is the, knows it, that if you rent a house, the proprietor is different man, and the tenant is the occupier, that much. No proprietorship. So I am the spirit soul. I am not proprietor. I am simply occupier. The, the rascal materialists, they do not know that the proprietor is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and He is giving me a particular apartment according to my capacity of paying rent. This is my position. Otherwise, why everyone does not get first-class body, king's body or rich man's body? A child born, immediately he is rich man. So there is no arrangement? And another child born in the same moment is very poor man. Why? This is called karma-kanda. This child is given a room, an apartment, according to his capacity of paying rent. And the other child is given another apartment, very luxurious apartment, according to his capacity of rent-paying. This is called karma-kanda. According to your karma, or work, you get a body, either as a king's son or a cobbler's son or a dog's son or a cat's son or a tree's son or a plant's son. This is the nature. This is to be understood. Krsna said in the last verse that "Don't think we did not exist in the past. We are existing at present, and we shall continue to exist in the future." Exactly like that, that we live in one apartment. Then, if I am able to pay more rent, I transfer to another apartment. Or if I cannot pay the present rent, then I'll have to move to another, less rented apartment. This is called: "I existed in one apartment, Now I am existing in one apartment, and I shall exist in another apartment." So I am eternal; I am simply changing my apartment or dress. This simple thing. Asmin dehe yatha. As kaumaram yauvanam jara, in this life I am experiencing that I changed so many apartments -- I was a child; that apartment I changed into boyhood; then again I changed that apartment into youthhood; then I am old man -- so when this apartment will be vacated, I'll have to accept another apartment. Where is the difficulty to understand? I must possess one apartment or body. The body is the apartment. Yasyatma-buddhih kunape tri-dhatuke [SB 10.84.13]. It is just like this apartment. This room is made of bricks, stone and cement. Similarly, this apartment is also made of this stone, brick, or cement. So what is this body? This body and this huge, gigantic..., what is the difference? No difference. Just like here, in the material, in your presence, you see so many rocks. So the bones are like rocks. And so many secretions within the abdomen. At least, we know, there is urine. That is water, just like there are sea water, ocean water. Similarly, if you examine scrutinizingly, the same thing, as the whole material manifestation is made of, this body is also made of. There is no difference. Simply a small quantity and big quantity. The ant's body is also made of the same ingredient, the elephant's body is also made of same ingredient, and this gigantic universe, so many planets, sun, moon and sky, that is also made of the same ingredients. It is only difference of big apartment and small apartment. That's all.

But the proprietor or the occupier of the apartment is different. That is to be understood. He's changing apartments. So that is also explained here. Dehino 'smin yatha dehe kaumaram yauvanam jara [Bg. 2.13]. This kaumaram yauvanam... We say "This is child's body." "This is boy's body." So they are different apartments. And according to the apartment, one's intelligence or consciousness is developed, according to the body. When the living being, or the soul, gets a... That you'll see. A poor man living in a poor cottage or very unclean apartment, his mentality is different. Another gentle, respectable gentleman, he's living in a very nice house, nice apartment, his mentality is different. So according to the circumstances, the mental changes are there. But the poor man is also a human being, and the rich man is also human being. Similarly, these so many apartments, or different types of body, different 8,400,000 types of body, the occupier, the living being, or the soul, is the same quality, but according to the apartment, or body, he has occupied, he has developed different consciousness and mentality. Is it clear or not? Where is the difficulty? They, these rascals, they do not believe in the transmigration of the soul, but where is the difficulty to understand transmigration of the soul? That is very clearly stated. And who is stating? Krsna, the supreme authority. You cannot say, "I don't believe in the transmigration." You may believe or not believe, but this is the fact. This is the fact. What you are? You don't believe? So what is loss there? Or gain there, even if you believe or not believe? Nature's work will go on. You rascal, you believe or not believe. It doesn't matter. Nature's work will go on. If you have done nicely to occupy a first-class apartment, then nature will give you a nice body.

Therefore I say repeatedly... I am saying again that you Western people, Western boys, Western girls, or Western people, you are given very good chance by nature. Therefore, once upon a time the whole European people were dominating all over the world because they're very intelligent. So they have got good intelligence, good resources, good, nice body, beautiful body. Everything is very good. But don't spoil it; utilize it for understanding further good. Don't spoil it simply behaving like cats and dogs. That is our Krsna consciousness movement. Krsna consciousness movement means that you are misled and simply bodily conscious of life. Therefore fight. Germany's fighting Englishman. Englishman is fighting in France. France is fighting. Why this fighting? If you know that "I am not this body. I am spirit soul. Why I am falsely identifying myself with the land?" "I am, I am, I am a German because I am born in this land of Germany." That is also false. No land is Germany or France or England. Land is land. You have falsely named it: "This is Germany." What is the Germany? Say, two hundred years or three hundred years, there was no Germany. Just like America. There was no America. The land was there, but the name was not there. So you have, some Europeans, they have colonized. They accept: "It is America. It is..." So this is all designation.

Actual, the fact is the land belongs not to you, not to the Germans, not to the Englishman, not to the American, but it belongs to God. The land was created by God. So it is God's property. Where is the difficulty to understand? You did not create anything. You did not create even your own body. That proprietor is also Krsna. Because as soon as Krsna asks you, "Please vacate," you must vacate immediately. Can you remain in this body? The proprietor asks you to vacate somehow or other. You have to vacate. Or the proprietor does not repair it. Then you voluntarily vacate, that "This is not to be, no more useful." This is law, going on. And that is... How nicely it is explained. Dehinah asmin yatha dehe kaumaram yauvanam jara, tatha dehantara-praptih [Bg. 2.13]. As we have changed so many different types of body even in this duration of life... Now, how this change is taking place, that you cannot imagine. Therefore we say the same body. But actually it is not the same body. The body is different. It is changing. And because the person, the soul, is there, therefore it is changing. And as soon as the person is not there... Suppose in a child's body, a born baby, a dead body, it will not grow or it will not change. So long the soul is there, it will change. So Krsna said that "We existed in the past." This is authoritative statement. So it is to be understood that I existed in the past in different body. As I existed, say, seventy years before in a different body, I was jumping as a boy, now I cannot jump. Now I have to take the stick. This is a different body. So where is the difficulty to understand? If the same body had been, then I could jump like a boy. I remember that I jumped. But now it is not possible. I have to take help of three men. (laughter) So it is different body. Although imperceptibly it has changed, but the body is different. Body's different.

So in this way, if we try to understand, dhiras tatra na muhyati [Bg. 2.13]. Dhira, those who are intelligent and sober, they are called dhira, not disturbed mind, not rascals. Rascals cannot understand. Therefore the very word is used, dhira. What is the meaning, dhira? Dhira, "the sober," those who have got brain substance, not cow dung. You see? They can understand. Therefore one has to become intelligent, dhira. For spiritual understanding we have to create the favorable circumstances. Favorable circumstances... Just like to create healthy body, you have to remain in such a way that you'll not fall sick; similarly, dhira means if you try to remain just like cats and dogs, then you remain as a cats and dog, but if you want to remain as a human being, then you must remain as perfect human being. Therefore no illicit sex. The cats and dogs, they can have illicit sex, and if the human being also have the same process, then where is the difference between cats and dogs? Therefore you have to be cautious not to become cats and dogs, but to remain as human being. Then you'll be dhira, sober, not agitated. Therefore this very word is used. It is not understood by the cats and dogs. If I say to the cats and dog that, "You are not this body. You are simply possessing this body," it is useless because he has got a certain body that he cannot understand even instructing him for one thousand years, because he has got a different body, cats' and dogs' body. But in the human form of body there is possibility. That is the difference between cats' and dogs' body and human body.

So to become dhira means not to use this, I mean to say, very important, very useful body, human body, to pass as cats and dogs. That is very dangerous. It is a great loss. Prahlada Maharaja instructed this. Durlabham manusam janma. We have to (be) very, mean, intelligent to understand that "I have got this body. Must be after many, many births." That is the evolutionary theory. I can understand that this tree... That is also a living being, but it is standing there for thousands of years. Thousands of years, they are standing. So many Napoleons, so many Kaisers, so many Hitlers came and gone, but the tree is standing. That is a punishment. But that is also a living being. It is also growing. As your body is growing or changing, that body's also growing and changing, unless you pour water on the root of the tree, no eating, then it will die. Similarly, if you don't eat, you'll die. You'll die. There is no difference. It is the simply different methods of living. That's all. The cats and dogs living in a certain method. The human being is living in a certain method. The trees are living in a certain method. The fish in the waters, they are living in the certain method. But the eating, sleeping, mating, defending is there. Is there. So according to the different bodies, they're living differently.

So all living entities, as Krsna said, that "They existed," so existed in a different body. Now existing in a different body. This is called evolution or transmigration. This is... The evolution... Evolution theory is there. Not theory, fact. In the Padma Purana... It is not Darwin's invention. There is... Asatim caturam caiva jiva-jatisu. As clearly stated, the evolution theory is, evolution fact is there are 8,400,000 different species of life, and the living entity passing, transmigrating, from one, another, one, another. Therefore, when one comes to this human form of body, Prahlada Maharaja says, durlabham manusam janma: "It is very rarely... This human form of body is very..." Why it is so rare? Now arthadam adhruvam. We shall die also. We shall give up this body like the cats and dogs. But I can get a sublime knowledge in this body. The cats and dogs cannot get. Therefore we should utilize this. So to understand this importance of this body is explained here, that "I am not this body. I am a spirit soul. I have been given a type of body by the material nature under the order of Krsna and God." Prakrteh kriyamanani gunaih karmani sarvasah [Bg. 3.27]. This, these things are going on by the nature's law. The law is so perfect. Just like I have given several times that if you infect some disease, the nature's law is so perfect that you must suffer from that disease, unless you take precaution. Everyone knows that any infections disease... That is... You see in the SB.. (end)

>>> Ref. VedaBase => Bhagavad-gita 2.13 -- Germany, June 18, 1974

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