SB 11.9.26 · Srimad-Bhagavatam

Devanagari

जायात्मजार्थपशुभृत्यगृहाप्तवर्गान् पुष्णाति यत्प्रियचिकीर्षया वितन्वन् । स्वान्ते सकृच्छ्रमवरुद्धधन: स देह: सृष्ट्वास्य बीजमवसीदति वृक्षधर्म: ॥ २६ ॥

Verse text

jāyātmajārtha-paśu-bhṛtya-gṛhāpta-vargān puṣṇāti yat-priya-cikīrṣayā vitanvan svānte sa-kṛcchram avaruddha-dhanaḥ sa dehaḥ sṛṣṭvāsya bījam avasīdati vṛkṣa-dharmaḥ

Synonyms

jāyā — wife ; ātma — ja — children ; artha — money ; paśu — domestic animals ; bhṛtya — servants ; gṛha — home ; āpta — relatives and friends ; vargān — all these categories ; puṣṇāti — nourishes ; yat — the body ; priya — cikīrṣayā — with a desire to please ; vitanvan — expanding ; sva — ante — at the time of death ; sa — kṛcchram — with great struggle ; avaruddha — accumulated ; dhanaḥ — wealth ; saḥ — this ; dehaḥ — body ; sṛṣṭvā — having created ; asya — of the living entity ; bījam — the seed ; avasīdati — falls down and dies ; vṛkṣa — the tree ; dharmaḥ — following the nature of .

Translation

A man attached to the body accumulates money with great struggle to expand and protect the position of his wife, children, property, domestic animals, servants, homes, relatives, friends, and so on. He does all this for the gratification of his own body. As a tree before dying produces the seed of a future tree, the dying body manifests the seed of one’s next material body in the form of one’s accumulated karma. Thus assuring the continuation of material existence, the material body sinks down and dies.

Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

A person with a desire to please the body expands himself and nourishes wife, children, money, animals, servants, house and relatives. In the end, the body, with its accumulating wealth, then dies with difficulty after creating karma for another body, like a tree which produces seeds and then dies. “The body, the best among all the gurus, giving bhakti-yoga, detachment and discrimination, though temporary, should be engaged in service with the greatest attachment. To do otherwise would be sign of ingratitude. Then why do you say you are unattached to the body?” That is true. But the body is an amazing guru since, served with great attachment, it does not at all teach discrimination and detachment. Rather the body then throws a person into the huge blind well of saṁsāra. This is expressed in two verses. By wanting to please his body, a person nourishes a wife, children, money etc. That body, with its accumulated money, becomes devoid of the wealth of discrimination. At the end of life, the body is destroyed while enduring great difficulties. It creates karma, the seed of the next body, by which the current of repeated birth takes place. It is like a tree which produces seeds and dies.

Purport

One might argue, “Among all the gurus mentioned thus far, the material body is certainly the best, since it awards the detachment and fine intelligence that enable one to engage in the devotional service of the Lord. Thus, we should serve the body, although it is temporary, with great attachment, or risk the offense of ungratefulness. How can detachment from the body be recommended when the body is endowed with so many wonderful qualities?” The answer is given in this verse. The body does not award detachment and knowledge in the manner of some benevolent teacher; rather, it causes so much pain and misery that any commonsense person cannot help being convinced of the uselessness of material life. Just as a tree produces the seeds of the next tree and then dies, the body’s lusty desires induce the conditioned soul to create a further chain of karma. Finally the body, having paved the way for unlimited suffering in material existence, drops dead. According to Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura, deha indicates both the gross body and the subtle, mental body. Those who do not clearly understand the difference between body and soul falsely think that body and soul are identical and that one can find perfect happiness in bodily sense gratification. But those who foolishly accept the temporary body as all-important cannot be compared with self-realized souls who intelligently understand the superiority of the eternal soul.