Text 40] The Advent of Lord Kṛṣṇa: Introduction
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automatically gets another body according to his fruitive activities, desires and ambitions. The laws of nature control this sequence, and therefore as long as the living entity is under the control of the external, material energy, the process of bodily change takes place automatically, according to one's fruitive activities. Vasudeva therefore wanted to impress upon Kaṁsa that if he committed this sinful act of killing a woman, in his next life he would certainly get a material body still more conditioned to the sufferings of material existence. Thus Vasudeva advised Kaṁsa not to commit sinful activities.
One who commits sinful activities because of ignorance,  tamo-guṇa , obtains a lower body.  Kāraṇaṁ guṇa-sango 'sya sad-asad-yoni-janmasu  (Bg. 13.22). There are hundreds and thousands of different species of life. Why are there higher and lower bodies? One receives these bodies according to the contaminations of material nature. If in this life one is contaminated by the mode of ignorance and sinful activities ( duṣkṛtī ), in the next life, by the laws of nature, one will certainly get a body full of suffering. The laws of nature are not subservient to the whimsical desires of the conditioned soul. Our endeavor, therefore, should be to associate always with  sattva-guṇa  and not indulge in  rajo-guṇa  or  tamo-guṇa  ( rajas-tamo-bhāvāḥ ). Lusty desires and greed keep the living entity perpetually in ignorance and prevent him from being elevated to the platform of  sattva-guṇa  or  śuddha-sattva-guṇa . One is advised to be situated in  śuddha-sattva-guṇa , devotional service, for thus one is immune to the reactions of the three modes of material nature.
TEXT 40
व्रजंस्तिष्ठन् पदैकेन यथैवैकेन गच्छति । यथा तृणजलौकैवं देही कर्मगतिं गतः॥४०॥
vrajaṁs tiṣṭhan padaikena yathaivaikena gacchati yathā tṛṇa-jalaukaivaṁ dehī karma-gatiṁ gataḥ
vrajan —a person, while traveling on the road;  tiṣṭhan —while standing;  padā ekena —on one foot;  yathā —as;  eva —indeed;  ekena —by