Shloka 19
Aditi’s Lament and Kaśyapa’s Instruction of the Payo-vrata (Milk Vow) to Please Keśava
क्व देहो भौतिकोऽनात्मा क्व चात्मा प्रकृते: पर: । कस्य के पतिपुत्राद्या मोह एव हि कारणम् ॥ १९ ॥
kva deho bhautiko ’nātmā kva cātmā prakṛteḥ paraḥ kasya ke pati-putrādyā moha eva hi kāraṇam
What is this material body, fashioned of the five elements? It is not the self. The ātman is beyond prakṛti—pure and eternal. Yet by attachment to the body one is called husband, son, and the like; such ties are mere illusion, born of delusion.
The spirit soul ( ātmā or jīva ) is certainly different from the body, which is a combination of five material elements. This is a simple fact, but it is not understood unless one is spiritually educated. Kaśyapa Muni met his wife, Aditi, in the heavenly planets, but the same misconception extends throughout the entire universe and is also here on earth. There are different grades of living entities, but all of them are more or less under the impression of the bodily conception of life. In other words, all living entities in this material world are more or less devoid of spiritual education. The Vedic civilization, however, is based on spiritual education, and spiritual education is the special basis on which Bhagavad-gītā was spoken to Arjuna. In the beginning of Bhagavad-gītā, Kṛṣṇa instructed Arjuna to understand that the spirit soul is different from the body.
FAQs
This verse states that the body is material and not the self, whereas the ātmā is beyond prakṛti (material nature); confusing the two is delusion.
In the context of Aditi’s distress, Kashyapa instructs her in spiritual discrimination, showing that worldly identities like “husband” and “son” are based on moha and not the eternal self.
Perform family and social duties responsibly, but remember they are temporary roles; reduce possessiveness and anxiety by grounding identity in the soul and devotion rather than bodily relations.