Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 5.6.6

athaivam akhila-loka-pāla-lalāmo 'pi vilakshanair jadavad avadhūta-vesha-bhāshā-caritair avilakshita-bhagavat-prabhāvo yoginām sāmparāya-vidhim anuśikshayan sva-kalevaram jihāsur ātmany ātmānam asamvyavahitam anarthāntara-bhāvenānvīkshamāna uparatānuvrittir upararāma

SYNONYMS

atha — thereafter; evam — in this way; akhila-loka-pāla-lalāmah — the head of all kings and monarchs of the universe; api — although; vilakshanaih — various; jada-vat — as if stupid; avadhūta-vesha-bhāshā-caritaih — by the dress, language and characteristics of an avadhūta; avilakshita-bhagavat-prabhāvah — hiding the opulence of the Supreme Personality of Godhead (keeping Himself like an ordinary human being); yoginām — of the yogīs; sāmparāya-vidhim — the method of giving up this material body; anuśikshayan — teaching; sva-kalevaram — His own personal body, which is not at all material; jihāsuh — desiring to give up like an ordinary human being; ātmani — unto Vāsudeva, the original person; ātmānam — Himself, Lord Rishabhadeva, being an āveśa-avatāra of Lord Vishnu; asamvyavahitam — without intervention by the illusory energy; anartha-antara-bhāvena — Himself in the status of Vishnu; anvīkshamānah — always seeing; uparata-anuvrittih — who was acting as if giving up His material body; upararāma — ceased His pastimes as the King of this planet.

TRANSLATION

Lord Rishabhadeva was the head of all kings and emperors within this universe, but assuming the dress and language of an avadhūta, He acted as if dull and materially bound. Consequently no one could observe His divine opulence. He adopted this behavior just to teach yogīs how to give up the body. Nonetheless, He maintained His original position as a plenary expansion of Lord Vāsudeva, Krishna. Remaining always in that state, He gave up His pastimes as Lord Rishabhadeva within the material world. If, following in the footsteps of Lord Rishabhadeva, one can give up his subtle body, there is no chance that one will accept a material body again.

PURPORT

As Lord Krishna says in Bhagavad-gītā (4.9):

janma karma ca me divyam

evam yo vetti tattvatah

tyaktvā deham punar janma

naiti mām eti so 'rjuna

"One who knows the transcendental nature of My appearance and activities does not, upon leaving the body, take his birth again in this material world, but attains My eternal abode, O Arjuna."

This is possible simply by keeping oneself an eternal servant of the Supreme Lord. One must understand his constitutional position and the constitutional position of the Supreme Lord as well. Both have the same spiritual identity. Maintaining oneself as a servant of the Supreme Lord, one should avoid rebirth in this material world. If one keeps himself spiritually fit and thinks of himself as an eternal servant of the Supreme Lord, he will be successful at the time he has to give up the material body.

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