Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.54.45
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
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dehaḥ
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the material body
From √dih, 'to smear, to plaster.' Etymologically: 'that which is smeared on.' The body is plaster over the soul. Gauḍīya readers love this etymology — it carries the doctrine in its root.
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dravya-prāṇa-guṇa-ātmakaḥ
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composed of elements, senses, and modes
Quadruple compound. Three constitutive categories of the material body in Sāṅkhya analysis. The Bhāgavatam frequently encloses Sāṅkhya within bhakti — uses its categories, refuses its conclusions.
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avidyayā
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by ignorance
Instrumental of avidyā. The cause of the body's imposition. Gauḍīyas read avidyā as māyā's specific function of forgetting Kṛṣṇa; remove the forgetting (via śravaṇa-kīrtana) and the body's imposition begins to dissolve.
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saṁsārayati
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causes to experience the cycle of birth and death
Causative of sam-√sṛ, 'to flow around.' Saṁsāra IS the flowing-around. The body causes the saṁsāra; the saṁsāra causes new bodies. A self-perpetuating wheel that only bhakti can stop (cf. SB 11.2.37).
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kḷptaḥ
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imposed / constructed
From √kḷp, 'to fashion.' The body is fashioned upon the self by avidyā — it is not the self's native form. Gauḍīya doctrine: the soul's native form is its svarūpa, its eternal Kṛṣṇa-related body in Vaikuṇṭha-Vraja.
The material body, composed of various material qualities, elements and so on, attracts and repels the conditioned soul and thus entangles him in material existence. Because of our attraction and repulsion for our own body and other bodies, we establish temporary relationships, dedicate ourselves to great endeavors and sacrifices, concoct imaginary religions, make noble speeches and thoroughly involve ourselves in material illusion. As Shakespeare said, “All the world’s a stage.” Beyond the somewhat absurd theater of material existence is the real and meaningful world of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, the liberated life of pure souls devoted in loving service to the Supreme Lord.
The body is also not the jiva. That which you think is to be protected because he is a relative, or to be killed because he is an enemy is simply the body which is subject to birth and death. That body has three aspects: adhibhuta (dravya), the senses or adhyatma (prana), and adhidaivam (guna). It is produced for the jiva by ignorance and causes the jiva to rotate in bodies, under the control of attraction and repulsion.
This is explained by Śrīdhara Svāmī. Dravya is the adhibhūta (tanmātrās or sense objects and gross elements). Prāṇa is the adhyātmā or senses. Guṇa means the adhidaiva or sense devatās. There is another explanation. Prāṇa refers to action. Guṇa refers to the sense objects like form and taste. Another meaning is that this verse explains the cause of absorption in the present circumstances. The body of Rukmī (eṣaḥ dehah) has a beginning and end etc.
“Since the body is unconscious, how can it have a peaceful nature? How does the jīva, an aṁśa of the Lord, attain saṁsāra by attaining bodies?” This body, visible with various changes, or this body made of five elements (eṣaḥ), is distinct from the spiritual body of the Lord’s associates. Qualities like peacefulness manifest because it possesses conscious senses. How can the senses be conscious? They are imposed on the self (ātmani): the senses are related to the ātmā which is conscious, which is basis of the senses. This body has birth and death. This body makes the jīva who thinks he is the body become subject to saṁsāra. This takes place by ignorance. Thus it is false.
- Where could clearly seeing the body as a temporary composite ease present grasping?
- What single grasp would loosen with this teaching?
The body is composed of physical elements, senses, and the three modes — and is imposed on the self by ignorance, like a coat thrown over a man in the dark which he then mistakes for his skin. Balarāma's anatomy lecture serves karuṇā: if Rukmiṇī sees Rukmī as a soul wearing a coat, her grief for the coat will loosen.
My note
Source: vedabase.io