Devanagari
यै: स्वदेह: स्मृतोऽनात्मा मर्त्यो विट्कृमिभस्मवत् ।
त एनमात्मसात्कृत्वा श्लाघयन्ति ह्यसत्तमा: ॥ ३७ ॥
Verse text
yaiḥ sva-dehaḥ smṛto ’nātmā
martyo viṭ-kṛmi-bhasmavat
ta enam ātmasāt kṛtvā
ślāghayanti hy asattamāḥ
Synonyms
yaiḥ
—
by sannyāsīs who
;
sva
—
dehaḥ — own body
;
smṛtaḥ
—
consider
;
anātmā
—
different from the soul
;
martyaḥ
—
subjected to death
;
viṭ
—
becoming stool
;
kṛmi
—
worms
;
bhasma
—
vat — or ashes
;
te
—
such persons
;
enam
—
this body
;
ātmasāt kṛtvā
—
again identifying with the self
;
ślāghayanti
—
glorify as very important
;
hi
—
indeed
;
asat
—
tamāḥ — the greatest rascals .
Translation
Sannyāsīs who first consider that the body is subject to death, when it will be transformed into stool, worms or ashes, but who again give importance to the body and glorify it as the self, are to be considered the greatest rascals.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Sannyāsīs who first consider that the body is not the self, that the body is subject to death, and is merely stool, worms or ashes, but who later think the body is the self and glorify it, are to be considered the most sinful.
The sannyāsī thinks that the body is not the soul. He understands the body is stool, worms and ashes at the end, and thus is equal to that even now. If such a person then takes the body as the soul, he is considered the worst sinner.
Purport
A
sannyāsī
is one who has clearly understood, through advancement in knowledge, that Brahman — he, the person himself — is the soul, not the body. One who has this understanding may take
sannyāsa,
for he is situated in the
“ahaṁ brahmāsmi
” position.
Brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā na śocati na kāṅkṣati
. Such a person, who no longer laments or hankers to maintain his body and who can accept all living entities as spirit souls, can then enter the devotional service of the Lord. If one does not enter the devotional service of the Lord but artificially considers himself Brahman or Nārāyaṇa, not perfectly understanding that the soul and body are different, one certainly falls down (
patanty adhaḥ
). Such a person again gives importance to the body. There are many
sannyāsīs
in India who stress the importance of the body. Some of them give special importance to the body of the poor man, accepting him as
daridra-nārāyaṇa,
as if Nārāyaṇa had a material body. Many other
sannyāsīs
stress the importance of the social position of the body as a
brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya
or
śūdra.
Such
sannyāsīs
are considered the greatest rascals (
asattamāḥ
). They are shameless because they have not yet understood the difference between the body and the soul and instead have accepted the body of a
brāhmaṇa
to be a
brāhmaṇa.
Brahmanism (
brāhmaṇya
) consists of the knowledge of Brahman. But actually the body of a
brāhmaṇa
is not Brahman. Similarly, the body is neither rich nor poor. If the body of a poor man were
daridra-nārāyaṇa,
this would mean that the body of a rich man, on the contrary, must be
dhanī-nārāyaṇa.
Therefore
sannyāsīs
who do not know the meaning of Nārāyaṇa, those who regard the body as Brahman or as Nārāyaṇa, are described here as
asattamāḥ,
the most abominable rascals. Following the bodily concept of life, such
sannyāsīs
make various programs to serve the body. They conduct farcical missions consisting of so-called religious activities meant to mislead all of human society. These
sannyāsīs
have been described herein as
apatrapaḥ
and
asattamāḥ
— shameless and fallen from spiritual life.