1364
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
[Canto 3, Ch. 31]
tasmān na kāryaḥ santrāso na kārpaṇyaṁ na sambhramaḥ buddhvā jīva-gatiṁ dhīro mukta-saṅgaś cared iha
tasmāt—on account of death; na—not; kāryaḥ—should be done; santrāsaḥ—horror; na—not; kārpaṇyaṁ—miserliness; na—not; sambhramaḥ—eagerness for material gain; buddhvā—realizing; jīva-gatiṁ—the true nature of the living entity; dhīraḥ—steadfast; mukta-saṅgaḥ—free from attachment; caret—one should move about; iha—in this world.
TRANSLATION
Therefore, one should not view death with horror, nor have recourse to defining the body as soul, nor give way to exaggeration in enjoying the bodily necessities of life. Realizing the true nature of the living entity, one should move about in the world free from attachment and steadfast in purpose.
PURPORT
A sane person who has understood the philosophy of life and death is very upset upon hearing of the horrible, hellish condition of life in the womb of the mother or outside of the mother. But one has to make a solution to the problems of life. A sane man should understand the miserable condition of this material body. Without being unnecessarily upset, he should try to find out if there is a remedy. The remedial measures can be understood when one associates with persons who are liberated. It must be understood who is actually liberated. The liberated person is described in  Bhagavad-gītā : one who engages in uninterrupted devotional service to the Lord, having surpassed the stringent laws of material nature, is understood to be situated in Brahman.
The Supreme Personality of Godhead is beyond the material creation. It is admitted even by impersonalists like Śaṅkarācārya that Nārāyaṇa is transcendental to this material creation. As such, when one actually engages in the service of the Lord in various forms, either Nārāyaṇa, or Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa, or Sītā-Rāma, he is understood to be on the platform of liberation. The  Bhāgavatam  also confirms that liberation means to be situated in one's constitutional position. Since a living entity is eternally the servitor of the Supreme Lord, when one seriously and sincerely engages in the transcendental loving service of the Lord, that is the position of liberation. One