Shloka 47
The Lord’s Supervision of Embodiment: Fetal Development, Womb-Suffering, and the Jīva’s Prayer (Garbha-stuti) — and the Trap of Māyā
तस्मान्न कार्य: सन्त्रासो न कार्पण्यं न सम्भ्रम: । बुद्ध्वा जीवगतिं धीरो मुक्तसङ्गश्चरेदिह ॥ ४७ ॥
tasmān na kāryaḥ santrāso na kārpaṇyaṁ na sambhramaḥ buddhvā jīva-gatiṁ dhīro mukta-saṅgaś cared iha
Therefore one should not fear death, nor mistake the body for the self, nor exaggerate bodily enjoyment. Knowing the true course of the jīva, the steadfast person should move through this world free from attachment.
A sane person who has understood the philosophy of life and death is very upset upon hearing of the horrible, hellish condition of life in the womb of the mother or outside of the mother. But one has to make a solution to the problems of life. A sane man should understand the miserable condition of this material body. Without being unnecessarily upset, he should try to find out if there is a remedy. The remedial measures can be understood when one associates with persons who are liberated. It must be understood who is actually liberated. The liberated person is described in Bhagavad-gītā: one who engages in uninterrupted devotional service to the Lord, having surpassed the stringent laws of material nature, is understood to be situated in Brahman.
FAQs
This verse advises that by understanding the soul’s course (jīva-gati) through material life, one should give up fear, despair, and bewilderment, and live steadily with detachment.
Śukadeva Gosvāmī speaks this instruction while narrating the conditioned soul’s predicament and the remedy—sobriety and freedom from attachment.
Do your duties calmly, reduce obsessive identification with outcomes, and cultivate spiritual understanding so you can remain steady and less entangled by anxieties and material attachments.