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Adhyāyas / Puruṣottama Yogaḥ / verse 8

Mūla — the verse

Gita Press numbering
शरीरं यदवाप्नोति यच्चाप्युत्क्रामतीश्वरः। गृहीत्वैतानि संयाति वायुर्गन्धानिवाशयात्
śharīraṁ yad avāpnoti yach chāpy utkrāmatīśhvaraḥ gṛihītvaitāni sanyāti vāyur gandhān ivāśhayāt
Anuṣṭubh

Translation

Swami Gambhīrānanda · follows Śaṅkara-bhāṣya

When the master leaves it and even when he assumes a body, he departs taking these with him, just as the wind carries away odours from their receptacles.

हिन्दी अनुवाद — Swami Tejomayānanda

जब (देहादि का) ईश्वर (जीव) (एक शरीर से) उत्क्रमण करता है, तब इन (इन्द्रियों और मन) को ग्रहण कर अन्य शरीर में इस प्रकार ले जाता है, जैसे गन्ध के आश्रय (फूलादि) से गन्ध को वायु ले जाता है।।

Pronunciation — Vaamshii

from Vaamshii
शरीरँय् यदवाप् नोति
यच् चाप् युत् क्रामतीश् वरः
गृहीत् वैतानि सँय् याति
वायुर् गन्धा निवा शयात्
॥ ८ ॥
Read each split group as one breath-unit; hyphens join pādas kept whole for the meter or a compound word. Symbols: # upadhmānīya (visarga before p/ph), % jihvāmūlīya (visarga before k/kh), ऽ avagraha (an elided a). Full method →

Word by word

padārtha
śharīramthe body
yatas
avāpnoticarries
yatas
cha apialso
utkrāmatileaves
īśhvaraḥthe Lord of the material body, the embodied soul
gṛihītvātaking
etānithese
sanyātigoes away
vāyuḥthe air
gandhānfragrance
ivalike
āśhayātfrom seats

Themes

from The Thematic Companion to the Bhagavad Gītā
Sāṅkhya

Meaning — Questions & Solutions

from Q&A with KnA
15.8What happens after death?

“When the lord [of the body, i.e. the jīva] takes on a body, and when he departs from it, he carries these [the senses and mind] with him, as the wind carries scents from their sources (vāyur gandhān ivāśayāt).” The image is exquisite and answers the question of continuity. At death the gross body is dropped, but the subtle body — the senses and mind, laden with tendencies (vāsanās) — is carried onward to the next embodiment, exactly as a breeze lifts the fragrance from a flower and bears it elsewhere. What travels is not the flesh but the perfume of a life — its accumulated dispositions. This is the mechanism behind the Karma-theory of 2.27 and the many-births of 6.45.