त एनमात्मसात्कृत्वा श्लाघयन्ति ह्यसत्तमाः ॥३७॥
yaiḥ sva-dehaḥ smá¹›to 'nÄtmÄ
martyo viá¹-ká¹›mi-bhasmavat
ta enam ÄtmasÄt ká¹›tvÄ
Å›lÄghayanti hy asattamÄḥ
yaiḥ - by sannyÄsÄ«s who; sva-dehaḥ - own body; smá¹›taḥ - consider; anÄtmÄ - different from the soul; martyaḥ - subjected to death; viá¹ - becoming stool; ká¹›mi - worms; bhasma-vat - or ashes; te - such persons; enam - this body; ÄtmasÄt ká¹›tvÄ - again identifying with the self; Å›lÄghayanti - glorify as very important; hi - indeed; asat-tamÄḥ - the greatest rascals.
SannyÄsÄ«s who first consider that the body is subject to death, when it will be transformed into stool, worms or ashes, but who again give importance to the body and glorify it as the self, are to be considered the greatest rascals.
A sannyÄsÄ« is one who has clearly understood, through advancement in knowledge, that Brahman — he, the person himself — is the soul, not the body. One who has this understanding may take sannyÄsa, for he is situated in the “ahaá¹ brahmÄsmi†position. Brahma-bhÅ«taḥ prasannÄtmÄ na Å›ocati na kÄá¹…ká¹£ati. Such a person, who no longer laments or hankers to maintain his body and who can accept all living entities as spirit souls, can then enter the devotional service of the Lord. If one does not enter the devotional service of the Lord but artificially considers himself Brahman or NÄrÄyaṇa, not perfectly understanding that the soul and body are different, one certainly falls down (patanty adhaḥ). Such a person again gives importance to the body. There are many sannyÄsÄ«s in India who stress the importance of the body. Some of them give special importance to the body of the poor man, accepting him as daridra-nÄrÄyaṇa, as if NÄrÄyaṇa had a material body. Many other sannyÄsÄ«s stress the importance of the social position of the body as a brÄhmaṇa, ká¹£atriya, vaiÅ›ya or śūdra. Such sannyÄsÄ«s are considered the greatest rascals (asattamÄḥ). They are shameless because they have not yet understood the difference between the body and the soul and instead have accepted the body of a brÄhmaṇa to be a brÄhmaṇa. Brahmanism (brÄhmaṇya) consists of the knowledge of Brahman. But actually the body of a brÄhmaṇa is not Brahman. Similarly, the body is neither rich nor poor. If the body of a poor man were daridra-nÄrÄyaṇa, this would mean that the body of a rich man, on the contrary, must be dhanÄ«-nÄrÄyaṇa. Therefore sannyÄsÄ«s who do not know the meaning of NÄrÄyaṇa, those who regard the body as Brahman or as NÄrÄyaṇa, are described here as asattamÄḥ, the most abominable rascals. Following the bodily concept of life, such sannyÄsÄ«s make various programs to serve the body. They conduct farcical missions consisting of so-called religious activities meant to mislead all of human society. These sannyÄsÄ«s have been described herein as apatrapaḥ and asattamÄḥ — shameless and fallen from spiritual life.
