Devanagari
कीट: पेशस्कृतं ध्यायन् कुड्यां तेन प्रवेशित: ।
याति तत्सात्मतां राजन् पूर्वरूपमसन्त्यजन् ॥ २३ ॥
Verse text
kīṭaḥ peśaskṛtaṁ dhyāyan
kuḍyāṁ tena praveśitaḥ
yāti tat-sātmatāṁ rājan
pūrva-rūpam asantyajan
Synonyms
kīṭaḥ
—
an insect
;
peśaskṛtam
—
a wasp
;
dhyāyan
—
meditating on
;
kuḍyām
—
in his hive
;
tena
—
by the wasp
;
praveśitaḥ
—
forced to enter
;
yāti
—
he goes
;
tat
—
of the wasp
;
sa
—
ātmatām — the same state of existence
;
rājan
—
O King
;
pūrva
—
rūpam — the previous body
;
asantyajan
—
not giving up .
Translation
O King, once a wasp forced a weaker insect to enter his hive and kept him trapped there. In great fear the weak insect constantly meditated upon his captor, and without giving up his body, he gradually achieved the same state of existence as the wasp. Thus one achieves a state of existence according to one’s constant concentration.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
O King! Once, a wasp forced a weaker insect to enter his hive and kept him trapped there. In great fear the weak insect constantly meditated upon his captor, and without giving up his body, he gradually achieved a form like that of the wasp.
An insect was forced by a wasp (tena) into his nest and attained a form similar to the wasp, without having to die. Another version has sāmyatām. Sometimes the body of the person meditating is similar to the form of the Lord upon which he meditates, as in the case of Dhruva. But sometimes the meditating devotees give up their present bodies (and attain different spiritual forms though this is not seen). The Lord shows this by his māyā in order to protect the secret of bhakti-yoga and in order to avoid destroying other opinions. And sometimes it appears that a devotee even gives up a spiritual body of knowledge and bliss. A statement concerning this is made by Nārada (who is an eternal śaktyaveśa avatāra with eternal body). This condition is produced by the Lord’s māyā. Giving up the body is shown in this statement:
prayujyamāne mayi tāṁ śuddhāṁ bhāgavatīṁ tanum
ārabdha-karma-nirvāṇo nyapatat pāṣca-bhautikaḥ
Having been awarded a pure body befitting an associate of the Lord, I quit the body made of five material elements, and thus all acquired fruitive results of work stopped. SB 1.6.29
Purport
The following question may be raised: Since the weaker insect in this story did not physically change his body, how can it be said that he achieved the same state of existence as the wasp? Actually, by constant meditation upon a particular object one’s consciousness becomes filled with its qualities. Due to extreme fear the smaller insect was absorbed in the characteristics and activities of the large wasp and thus entered into the existence of the wasp. Due to such meditation, he actually took the body of a wasp in his next life.
Similarly, although we are conditioned souls, if we absorb our consciousness in Lord Kṛṣṇa we can become liberated even before giving up our present body. If our intelligence becomes steady on the spiritual platform by understanding that Lord Kṛṣṇa is everything, then we can give up unnecessary consciousness of the external body and absorb ourselves in the spiritual pastimes of Vaikuṇṭha. Thus even before death one can raise oneself to the spiritual platform and enjoy life as a liberated soul. Or, if one is a stubborn fool, then even in this life one can become just like an animal, such as a hog or a dog, constantly thinking of eating and sex life. But human life is actually meant for understanding the science of consciousness and the future results of our meditation.