Srimad Bhagavatam — Dvadasha Skandha, Shloka 11
Ātmā’s Unborn Nature and Fearlessness at Death
Parīkṣit’s Final Instruction
अहं ब्रह्म परं धाम ब्रह्माहं परमं पदम् । एवं समीक्ष्य चात्मानमात्मन्याधाय निष्कले ॥ ११ ॥ दशन्तं तक्षकं पादे लेलिहानं विषाननै: । न द्रक्ष्यसि शरीरं च विश्वं च पृथगात्मन: ॥ १२ ॥
ahaṁ brahma paraṁ dhāma brahmāhaṁ paramaṁ padam evaṁ samīkṣya cātmānam ātmany ādhāya niṣkale
You should consider, “I am nondifferent from the Absolute Truth, the supreme abode, and that Absolute Truth, the supreme destination, is nondifferent from me.” Thus resigning yourself to the Supreme Soul, who is free from all material misidentifications, you will not even notice the snake-bird Takṣaka when he approaches with his poison-filled fangs and bites your foot. Nor will you see your dying body or the material world around you, because you will have realized yourself to be separate from them.
FAQs
This verse teaches contemplative absorption: by understanding the self’s spiritual identity and fixing the mind in the indivisible Absolute (Brahman), one becomes steady in transcendental realization.
As Parikshit approached death, Śukadeva gave the essence of liberation—how to withdraw the mind from bodily fear and rest it in the Absolute, the sure refuge at life’s end.
Practice daily inner recollection: reduce identification with the body and anxieties, and regularly fix the mind on the spiritual self through sacred study, prayerful remembrance, and meditation on the Absolute.