एवं नष्टानृतः सद्य आत्मा शुष्येन्न संशयः ॥४०॥
tad yathÄ vá¹›ká¹£a unmÅ«laḥ
Å›uá¹£yaty udvartate 'cirÄt
evaá¹ naá¹£á¹Äná¹›taḥ sadya
ÄtmÄ Å›uá¹£yen na samÅ›ayaḥ
tat - therefore; yathÄ - as; vá¹›ká¹£aḥ - a tree; unmÅ«laḥ - being uprooted; Å›uá¹£yati - dries up; udvartate - falls down; acirÄt - very soon; evam - in this way; naá¹£á¹a - lost; aná¹›taḥ - the temporary body; sadyaḥ - immediately; ÄtmÄ - the body; Å›uá¹£yet - dries up; na - not; samÅ›ayaḥ - any doubt.
When a tree is uprooted it immediately falls down and begins to dry up. Similarly, if one doesn’t take care of the body, which is supposed to be untruth — in other words, if the untruth is uprooted — the body undoubtedly becomes dry.
In this regard, ÅšrÄ«la RÅ«pa GosvÄmÄ« says:
prÄpañcikatayÄ buddhyÄ
hari-sambandhi-vastunaḥ
mumuká¹£ubhiḥ parityÄgo
vairÄgyaá¹ phalgu kathyate
“One who rejects things without knowledge of their relationship to Kṛṣṇa is incomplete in his renunciation.†(Bhakti-rasÄmá¹›ta-sindhu 1.2.66) When the body is engaged in the service of the Lord, one should not consider the body material. Sometimes the spiritual body of the spiritual master is misunderstood. But ÅšrÄ«la RÅ«pa GosvÄmÄ« instructs, prÄpañcikatayÄ buddhyÄ hari-sambandhi-vastunaḥ. The body fully engaged in Kṛṣṇa’s service should not be neglected as material. One who does neglect it is false in his renunciation. If the body is not properly maintained, it falls down and dries up like an uprooted tree, from which flowers and fruit can no longer be obtained. The Vedas therefore enjoin:
The purport is that activities performed with the help of the body for the satisfaction of the Absolute Truth (oá¹ tat sat) are never temporary, although performed by the temporary body. Indeed, such activities are everlasting. Therefore, the body should be properly cared for. Because the body is temporary, not permanent, one cannot expose the body to being devoured by a tiger or killed by an enemy. All precautions should be taken to protect the body.
