Shloka 13
Gṛhastha-Dharma: How a Householder Attains Liberation by Offering All to Vāsudeva
कृमिविड्भस्मनिष्ठान्तं क्वेदं तुच्छं कलेवरम् । क्व तदीयरतिर्भार्या क्वायमात्मा नभश्छदि: ॥ १३ ॥
kṛmi-viḍ-bhasma-niṣṭhāntaṁ kvedaṁ tucchaṁ kalevaram kva tadīya-ratir bhāryā kvāyam ātmā nabhaś-chadiḥ
हे तुच्छ शरीर शेवटी कृमी, विष्ठा किंवा भस्म होणार—असा योग्य विचार करून पत्नीच्या देहावरील आकर्षण सोडावे. त्या देहातील रतीचे काय मोल? आणि आकाशासारखा सर्वव्यापी परम आत्मा किती महान!
Here also, the same point is stressed: one should give up attachment for his wife — or, in other words, for sex life. If one is intelligent, he can think of his wife’s body as nothing but a lump of matter that will ultimately be transformed into small insects, stool or ashes. In different societies there are different ways of dealing with the human body at the time of the funeral ceremony. In some societies the body is given to the vultures to be eaten, and therefore the body ultimately turns to vulture stool. Sometimes the body is merely abandoned, and in that case the body is consumed by small insects. In some societies the body is immediately burned after death, and thus it becomes ashes. In any case, if one intelligently considers the constitution of the body and the soul beyond it, what is the value of the body? Antavanta ime dehā nityasyoktāḥ śarīriṇaḥ: the body may perish at any moment, but the soul is eternal. If one gives up attachment for the body and increases his attachment for the spirit soul, his life is successful. It is merely a matter of deliberation.
FAQs
This verse calls the body insignificant because its end is decay—worms, excrement, ashes, or dust—so it should not be the basis of identity or life’s purpose.
In Canto 7 Chapter 14, Prahlada instructs householders to practice devotion with detachment; he exposes how bodily-based affection is temporary and tied to illusion, not the eternal soul.
Serve family members responsibly while shifting the center from bodily attraction to Krishna-centered duty—reducing possessiveness, increasing spiritual practices, and seeing everyone as souls.