Service to great souls who shelter in God's spiritual energy opens liberation's door from material bondage.Listen — Srila Prabhupada Uvaca
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 5.5.2 — October 22, 1975, Johannesburg 751022SB-JOHANNESBURG [77:50 Minutes] SB-05.05.02_751022SB-JOHANNESBURG Prabhupāda: mahat-sevāṁ dvāram āhur vimuktes tamo dvāraṁ yoṣitāṁ saṅgi-saṅgam mahāntas te sama-cittāḥ praśāntā vimanyavaḥ suhṛdaḥ sādhavo ye [SB 5.5.2] In continuation of the last verse I recited day before yesterday, the second verse is suggesting how one can be liberated from this material bondage. In the first verse it was suggested that this human form of life is not meant for wasting uselessly like the animals, dogs and hogs. It should be properly utilized. The suggestion was tapa, tapasya.
Tapasya means austerity, voluntarily accepting some inconvenience. This is called tapasya. Tapa, one meaning is "disturbances." Suppose I am practiced to some habit. If I am advised to give it up, it becomes little troublesome.
For example, if I am habituated to smoke and somebody or higher authority says, "Don't smoke," to give up smoking is little difficult, those who are habituated to smoke. Similarly... But according to the doctor's advice if somebody has to give up smoking, he has to. Otherwise his disease may not be cured.
Similarly, our this present position, tapo divyaṁ putrakā yena śuddhyet sattvam [SB 5.5.1], we are constantly, repeatedly changing body, transmigration of the soul. Tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ [Bg. 2.13]. That means we are accepting death. Death means change of the..., final change of the body.
When this body is no more useful to continue, then by nature another body is offered. At the time of death, as it is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, yaṁ yaṁ vāpi smaran loke tyajaty ante kalevaram, sadā tad-bhāva-bhāvitaḥ [Bg. 8.6]—we create a mental situation. We have got two kinds of bodies: subtle body and gross body. This gross body is made of five gross material elements: earth, water, fire, air, ether.
And the subtle body is made of mind, intelligence and ego. When we sleep, the gross body does not work but the subtle body works. We dream therefore. So the...
At the time of death this gross body is finished, but the subtle body—mind, intelligence and ego—will carry me to another gross body. It will enter into the womb of another mother, and she will create another similar body like the mother, and when it is complete, then it will come out. So the spirit soul is in this way bound up by the material gross body and subtle body. This is our disease. This is...