दंशभक्षितदेहस्य प्राणा ह्यस्थिषु शेरते ॥१८॥
adrÄká¹£am aham etaá¹ te
há¹›t-sÄraá¹ mahad-adbhutam
damśa-bhakṣita-dehasya
prÄá¹‡Ä hy asthiá¹£u Å›erate
adrÄká¹£am - have personally seen; aham - I; etam - this; te - your; há¹›t-sÄram - power of endurance; mahat - very great; adbhutam - wonderful; damÅ›a-bhaká¹£ita - eaten by worms and ants; dehasya - whose body; prÄṇÄḥ - the life air; hi - indeed; asthiá¹£u - in the bones; Å›erate - is taking shelter.
I have been very much astonished to see your endurance. In spite of being eaten and bitten by all kinds of worms and ants, you are keeping your life air circulating within your bones. Certainly this is wonderful.
It appears that the soul can exist even through the bones, as shown by the personal example of HiraṇyakaÅ›ipu. When great yogÄ«s are in samÄdhi, even when their bodies are buried and their skin, marrow, blood and so on have all been eaten, if only their bones remain they can exist in a transcendental position. Very recently an archaeologist published findings indicating that Lord Christ, after being buried, was exhumed and that he then went to Kashmir. There have been many actual examples of yogÄ«s’ being buried in trance and exhumed alive and in good condition several hours later. A yogÄ« can keep himself alive in a transcendental state even if buried not only for many days but for many years.
