Shloka 62
ममैते मनसा यद्यदसावहमिति ब्रुवन् । गृह्णीयात्तत्पुमान् राद्धं कर्म येन पुनर्भव: ॥ ६२ ॥
mamaite manasā yad yad asāv aham iti bruvan gṛhṇīyāt tat pumān rāddhaṁ karma yena punar bhavaḥ
The jīva, deluded by bodily identity, thinks, “I am this, I am that; this is my duty, therefore I shall act.” Though these are but fleeting mental impressions, by the grace of Bhagavān, the Supreme Personality, he is given scope to enact his mind’s designs, and thus he attains another body.
As long as one is absorbed in the bodily conception, his activities are performed on that platform. This is not very difficult to understand. In the world, we see that every nation is trying to supersede every other nation and that every man is trying to advance beyond his fellow man. All these activities are going on under the name of advancement of civilization. There are many plans for making the body comfortable, and these plans are carried in the subtle body after the destruction of the gross body. It is not a fact that after the gross body is destroyed the living entity is finished. Although many great philosophers and teachers in this world are under the impression that after the body is finished everything is finished, this is not a fact. Nārada Muni says in this verse that at death one takes his plans with him ( gṛhṇīyāt ), and to execute these plans he gets another body. This is called punar bhavaḥ. When the gross body is finished, the plans of the living entity are taken by the mind, and by the grace of the Lord the living entity gets a chance to give these plans shape in the next life. This is known as the law of karma. As long as the mind is absorbed in the laws of karma, a certain type of body must be accepted in the next life.
FAQs
This verse states that identifying as “I am this” and claiming “this is mine” is a mental appropriation that becomes binding karma and leads to repeated birth (punar-bhava).
King Prācīnabarhi was inclined toward ritualistic, fruitive activity; Nārada instructs him that the root bondage is identification and possessiveness, which turns actions into causes of further saṁsāra.
Notice and reduce compulsive identity-claims (“I am only this role/body”) and possessiveness (“my status, my things”); act with duty and devotion while loosening ownership-mentality to reduce karmic entanglement.