Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 4.29.65

tenāsya tādriśam rājan

lińgino deha-sambhavam

śraddhatsvānanubhūto 'rtho

na manah sprashtum arhati

SYNONYMS

tena — therefore; asya — of the living entity; tādriśam — like that; rājan — O King; lińginah — who has a subtle mental covering; deha-sambhavam — produced in the previous body; śraddhatsva — accept it as fact; ananubhūtah — not perceived; arthah — a thing; na — never; manah — in the mind; sprashtum — to manifest; arhati — is able.

TRANSLATION

Therefore, my dear King, the living entity, who has a subtle mental covering, develops all kinds of thoughts and images because of his previous body. Take this from me as certain. There is no possibility of concocting anything mentally without having perceived it in the previous body.

PURPORT

krishna-bahirmukha hañā bhoga-vāñchā kare

nikata-stha māyā tāre jāpatiyā dhare

(Prema-vivarta)

Actually the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krishna, is the supreme enjoyer. When a living entity wants to imitate Him, he is given a chance to satisfy his false desire to lord it over material nature. That is the beginning of his downfall. As long as he is within this material atmosphere, he has a subtle vehicle in the form of the mind, which is the stockpile of all kinds of material desires. Such desires become manifest in different bodily forms. Śrīla Nārada Muni requests the King to accept this fact from him because Nārada is an authority. The conclusion is that the mind is the storehouse of our past desires, and we have this present body due to our past desires. Similarly, whatever we desire in this present body will be expressed in a future body. Thus the mind is the source of different kinds of bodies.

If the mind is purified by Krishna consciousness, one will naturally in the future get a body that is spiritual and full of Krishna consciousness. Such a body is our original form, as Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu confirms, jīvera 'svarūpa' haya — krishnera 'nitya-dāsa': [Cc. Madhya 20.108] "Every living entity is constitutionally an eternal servant of Krishna." If a person is engaged in the devotional service of the Lord, he is to be considered a liberated soul even in this life. This is confirmed by Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī:

īhā yasya harer dāsye

karmanā manasā girā

nikhilāsv apy avasthāsu

jīvan-muktah sa ucyate

"One who engages in the transcendental service of the Lord in body, mind and words is to be considered liberated in all conditions of material existence." (Bhakti-rasāmrita-sindhu 1.2.187) The Krishna consciousness movement is based on this principle. We must teach people to absorb themselves always in the service of the Lord because that position is their natural position. One who is always serving the Lord is to be considered already liberated. This is also confirmed in Bhagavad-gītā (14.26):

mām ca yo 'vyabhicārena

bhakti-yogena sevate

sa gunān samatityaitān

brahma-bhuyāya kalpate

"One who always engages in the spiritual activities of unalloyed devotional service at once transcends the modes of material nature and is elevated to the spiritual platform." The devotee is therefore above the three modes of material nature and is even transcendental to the brāhmana platform. A brāhmana may be infected by the two baser modes — namely rajo-guna and tamo-guna. A pure devotee, who is free from all material desires experienced on the mental platform and who is also free from empiric philosophical speculation or fruitive activity, is always above material conditioning and is always liberated.

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His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Founder Ācārya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness