Canto 7: The Science of GodChapter 15: Instructions for Civilized Human Beings

Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 7.15.23

ānvīkṣikyā śoka-mohau

dambhaḿ mahad-upāsayā

yogāntarāyān maunena

hiḿsāḿ kāmādy-anīhayā

SYNONYMS

ānvīkṣikyā — by deliberation upon material and spiritual subject matters; śoka — lamentation; mohau — and illusion; dambham — false pride; mahata Vaiṣṇava; upāsayā — by serving; yoga-antarāyān — obstacles on the path of yoga; maunena — by silence; hiḿsām — envy; kāma-ādi — for sense gratification; anīhayā — without endeavor.

TRANSLATION

By discussing spiritual knowledge one can conquer lamentation and illusion, by serving a great devotee one can become prideless, by keeping silent one can avoid obstacles on the path of mystic yoga, and simply by stopping sense gratification one can conquer envy.

PURPORT

If one's son has died, one may certainly be affected by lamentation and illusion and cry for the dead son, but one may overcome lamentation and illusion by considering the verses of Bhagavad-gītā.

jātasya hi dhruvo mṛtyur

dhruvaḿ janma mṛtasya ca

As the soul transmigrates, one who has taken birth must give up the present body, and then he must certainly accept another body. This should be no cause for lamentation. Therefore Lord Kṛṣṇa says, dhīras tatra na muhyati: one who is dhīra, or sober, who is learned in philosophy and established in knowledge, cannot be unhappy over the transmigration of the soul.

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