FolioCorpusŚrīmad-Bhāgavatam

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 11.22.39

विषयाभिनिवेशेन नात्मानं यत् स्मरेत् पुन: । जन्तोर्वै कस्यचिद्धेतोर्मृत्युरत्यन्तविस्मृति: ॥ ३९ ॥
viṣayābhiniveśena
[vishayaabhiniveshena]
nātmānaṁ yat smaret punaḥ
[naatmaanam yat smaret punah]
jantor vai kasyacid dhetor
[jantor vai kasyachid dhetor]
mṛtyur atyanta-vismṛtiḥ
[mrityur atyanta-vismritih]
Word-for-word
viṣaya — in (new) objects of perception abhiniveśena — because of absorption na — not ātmānam — his previous self yat — the situation in which smaret — remembers punaḥ — any more jantoḥ — of the living entity vai — indeed kasyacit hetoḥ — for any reason or other mṛtyuḥ — known as death atyanta — total vismṛtiḥ — forgetfulness.
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
viṣayābhiniveśena
viṣaya
in (new) objects of perception
abhiniveśena
because of absorption
nātmānaṁ yat smaret punaḥ
na
not
ātmānam
his previous self
yat
the situation in which
smaret
remembers
punaḥ
any more
jantor vai kasyacid dhetor
jantoḥ
of the living entity
vai
indeed
kasyacit hetoḥ
for any reason or other
mṛtyur atyanta-vismṛtiḥ
mṛtyuḥ
known as death
atyanta
total
vismṛtiḥ
forgetfulness.
When the living entity passes from the present body to the next body, which is created by his own karma, he becomes absorbed in the pleasurable and painful sensations of the new body and completely forgets the experience of the previous body. This total forgetfulness of one’s previous material identity, which comes about for one reason or another, is called death.
Purport

Depending on one’s karma, or fruitive activities, one may achieve a beautiful, wealthy or powerful body or be degraded to an abominable condition of life. Taking birth in heaven or in hell, the living entity learns to completely identify his ego with the new body and thus becomes absorbed in the pleasure, fear, opulence or suffering of the new body, completely forgetting the experiences of the previous body. Death occurs when the specific karma allotted to a physical body is finished. Since that particular body’s karma is used up, it can no longer act upon one’s mind; in that way one forgets the previous body. The new body is created by nature so that one can experience the karma currently in effect. Consequently one’s entire consciousness becomes absorbed in one’s current body in order that one can fully experience the results of his previous activities. Because the living entity falsely identifies himself as the body, bodily death is experienced as death of the soul. Actually, however, the soul is eternal and is never subject to creation or annihilation. This analytic knowledge of self-realization is easily understood in Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

— A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda
Gauḍīya Ācāryas
Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura Gauḍīya
Translation
Since the jīva does not remember his previous body because of absorption in his new body, the forgetfulness of that body by the jīva because of termination of present karmas is called death. What does this destruction of awareness mean? The mind does not remember the previous body because of absorption in the present body delivered by karma—the body of a devatā with happiness or the body full of suffering. This destruction of the previous identity is called death. Death is not the destruction of the possessor of the body, the jīva. Kasyacid dhetoḥ means “because of termination of prārabdha-karma.”
Related lectures
Personal Guidance
Crossing to a new body, one becomes absorbed in its pleasures and pains and forgets the previous body entirely — that forgetting is itself the new birth. Identity is constructed and forgotten in each life.
Reflection Questions
  • What does it teach me to know forgetting is part of the design?
  • How does this loosen my grip on my present identity?
📝 My note

Source: vedabase.io

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