Shloka 38
स यदजया त्वजामनुशयीत गुणांश्च जुषन् भजति सरूपतां तदनु मृत्युमपेतभग: । त्वमुत जहासि तामहिरिव त्वचमात्तभगो महसि महीयसेऽष्टगुणितेऽपरिमेयभग: ॥ ३८ ॥
sa yad ajayā tv ajām anuśayīta guṇāṁś ca juṣan bhajati sarūpatāṁ tad anu mṛtyum apeta-bhagaḥ tvam uta jahāsi tām ahir iva tvacam ātta-bhago mahasi mahīyase ’ṣṭa-guṇite ’parimeya-bhagaḥ
The minute soul, drawn by ajā—illusory material nature—embraces her and, relishing her guṇas, assumes forms made of those qualities. Then he loses his spiritual excellence and undergoes repeated deaths. You, however, cast off the material energy as a serpent abandons its old skin; glorious with the eight mystic perfections, You possess and enjoy opulences without limit.
Although the jīva is pure spirit, qualitatively equal with the Supreme Lord, he is prone to being degraded by embracing the ignorance of material illusion. When he becomes entranced by the allurements of Māyā, he accepts bodies and senses that are designed to let him indulge in forgetfulness. Produced from the raw material of Māyā’s three modes — goodness, passion and nescience — these bodies envelop the spirit soul in varieties of unhappiness, culminating in death and rebirth.
FAQs
This verse explains that the jīva, following māyā and enjoying the guṇas, takes on corresponding material identities and continues in that conditioned course up to death.
To emphasize the Lord’s absolute transcendence: māyā controls conditioned beings, but the Supreme Lord can cast her off effortlessly and remains fully independent.
Recognize guṇa-driven impulses as māyā’s influence, reduce indulgence in them, and anchor life in bhakti—hearing, chanting, and remembering the Lord—so consciousness rises beyond material identification.