Devanagari
व्रजंस्तिष्ठन् पदैकेन यथैवैकेन गच्छति
यथा तृणजलौकैवं देही कर्मगतिं गत: ॥ ४० ॥
Verse text
vrajaṁs tiṣṭhan padaikena
yathaivaikena gacchati
yathā tṛṇa-jalaukaivaṁ
dehī karma-gatiṁ gataḥ
Synonyms
vrajan
—
a person, while traveling on the road
;
tiṣṭhan
—
while standing
;
padā ekena
—
on one foot
;
yathā
—
as
;
eva
—
indeed
;
ekena
—
by another foot
;
gacchati
—
goes
;
yathā
—
as
;
tṛṇa
—
jalaukā — a worm on a vegetable
;
evam
—
in this way
;
dehī
—
the living entity
;
karma
—
gatim — the reactions of fruitive activities
;
gataḥ
—
undergoes .
Translation
Just as a person traveling on the road rests one foot on the ground and then lifts the other, or as a worm on a vegetable transfers itself to one leaf and then gives up the previous one, the conditioned soul takes shelter of another body and then gives up the one he had before.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Just as a person traveling on the road rests one foot on the ground and then lifts the other, or as a worm on a vegetable transfers itself to one leaf and then gives up the previous one, the conditioned soul takes shelter of another body and then gives up the one he had before.
KB 10.1.40
It is just like when a man walks on the street: he puts forward his foot, and when he is confident that his foot is situated on sound ground, he lifts the other foot. In this way, one after another, the bodies change and the soul transmigrates. See how the plant worms change from one twig to another so carefully! Similarly, the living entity changes his body as soon as the higher authorities decide on his next body. As long as a living entity is conditioned within this material world, he must take material bodies one after another. His next particular body is offered by the laws of nature, according to the actions and reactions of this life.
Purport
This is the process of the soul’s transmigration from one body to another. At the time of death, according to his mental condition, the living being is carried by the subtle body, consisting of mind, intelligence and ego, to another gross body. When higher authorities have decided what kind of gross body the living entity will have, he is forced to enter such a body, and thus he automatically gives up his previous body. Dull-minded persons who do not have the intelligence to understand this process of transmigration take for granted that when the gross body is finished, one’s life is finished forever. Such persons have no brains with which to understand the process of transmigration. At the present moment there is great opposition to the Hare Kṛṣṇa movement, which is being called a “brainwashing” movement. But actually the so-called scientists, philosophers and other leaders in the Western countries have no brains at all. The Hare Kṛṣṇa movement is trying to elevate such foolish persons by enlightening their intelligence so that they will take advantage of the human body. Unfortunately, because of gross ignorance, they regard the Hare Kṛṣṇa movement as a brainwashing movement. They do not know that without God consciousness one is forced to continue transmigrating from one body to another. Because of their devilish brains, they will next be forced to accept an abominable life and practically never be able to liberate themselves from the conditional life of material existence. How this transmigration of the soul takes place is very clearly explained in this verse.
Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
In this verse Vasudeva gives examples to show how one gives up the present body after attaining the new body ( in subtle form, via karma). A man puts his forward foot on the ground firmly and then withdraws his back leg from the ground and puts it forward, not putting both feet forward at the same time. However in this example the feet are fixing themselves and withdrawing themselves from the same ground. As this may be unsatisfying to the mind, he gives another example. A caterpillar, after taking support of one blade of grass in front of him, gives up the previous blade of grass.
Purport (Jiva Goswami)
Dehī means the possessor of the body. Instead of jalauka the variation jalūka is sometimes seen.