Shloka 38
Kapila Describes Bhakti-Saturated Aṣṭāṅga-Yoga and Meditation on the Lord’s Form
देहोऽपि दैववशग: खलु कर्म यावत् स्वारम्भकं प्रतिसमीक्षत एव सासु: । तं सप्रपञ्चमधिरूढसमाधियोग: स्वाप्नं पुनर्न भजते प्रतिबुद्धवस्तु: ॥ ३८ ॥
deho ’pi daiva-vaśagaḥ khalu karma yāvat svārambhakaṁ pratisamīkṣata eva sāsuḥ taṁ sa-prapañcam adhirūḍha-samādhi-yogaḥ svāpnaṁ punar na bhajate pratibuddha-vastuḥ
এমন মুক্ত যোগীর দেহ ও ইন্দ্রিয় ভগবানের অধীন হয়ে ততক্ষণ কাজ করে, যতক্ষণ প্রারব্ধ কর্ম শেষ না হয়। তিনি স্বরূপে জাগ্রত হয়ে সমাধিতে স্থিত থাকেন এবং দেহের উপাদানকে নিজের বলে মানেন না; তাই দেহের ক্রিয়াকে স্বপ্নের দেহের ক্রিয়ার মতো গণ্য করেন।
The following questions may be posed. As long as the liberated soul is in contact with the body, why don’t the bodily activities affect him? Doesn’t he actually become contaminated by the action and reaction of material activities? In answer to such questions, this verse explains that the material body of a liberated soul is taken charge of by the Supreme Personality of Godhead. It is not acting due to the living force of the living entity; it is simply acting as a reaction to past activities. Even after being switched off, an electric fan moves for some time. That movement is not due to the electric current, but is a continuation of the last movement; similarly, although a liberated soul appears to be acting just like an ordinary man, his actions are to be accepted as the continuation of past activities. In a dream one may see himself expanded through many bodies, but when awake he can understand that those bodies were all false. Similarly, although a liberated soul has the by-products of the body — children, wife, house, etc. — he does not identify himself with those bodily expansions. He knows that they are all products of the material dream. The gross body is made of the gross elements of matter, and the subtle body is made of mind, intelligence, ego and contaminated consciousness. If one can accept the subtle body of a dream as false and not identify oneself with that body, then certainly an awake person need not identify with the gross body. As one who is awake has no connection with the activities of the body in a dream, an awakened, liberated soul has no connection with the activities of the present body. In other words, because he is acquainted with his constitutional position, he never accepts the bodily concept of life.
FAQs
This verse explains that as long as previously initiated karma (prārabdha) remains, the body continues under providence, while the realized person simply witnesses it without identification.
Kapila is teaching Devahūti the vision of samādhi: when one awakens to spiritual reality, the material experience is understood as dreamlike, so attachment and false identity do not return.
Do your duties while reducing identification with temporary roles and anxieties—observe the mind and body as changing phenomena, and anchor your identity in devotion and remembrance of the Lord.