124
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
[Canto 7, Ch. 2]
ataḥ śocata mā yūyaṁ paraṁ cātmānam eva vā ka ātmā kaḥ paro vātra svīyaḥ pārakya eva vā sva-parābhiniveśena vinājñānena dehinām
ataḥ—therefore; śocata—lament for; mā—do not; yūyam—all of you; param—another; ca—and; ātmānam—yourself; eva—certainly; vā—or; kaḥ—who; ātmā—self; kaḥ—who; paraḥ—other; vā—or; atra—in this material world; svīyaḥ—one's own; pārakyaḥ—for others; eva—indeed; vā—or; sva-para-abhiniveśena—consisting of absorption in the bodily concept of oneself and others; vinā—besides; ajñānena—the lack of knowledge; dehinām—of all the embodied living entities.
TRANSLATION
Therefore none of you should be aggrieved for the loss of the body—whether your own or those of others. Only in ignorance does one make bodily distinctions, thinking “Who am I? Who are the others? What is mine? What is for others?”
PURPORT
In this material world, the conception of self-preservation is the first law of nature. According to this conception, one should be interested in his personal safety and should then consider society, friendship, love, nationality, community and so on, which have all developed because of the bodily conception of life and a lack of knowledge of the spirit soul. This is called  ajñāna . As long as human society is in darkness and ignorance, men will continue to make huge arrangements in the bodily conception of life. This is described by Prahlāda Mahārāja as  bharam . In the materialistic conception, modern civilization makes enormous arrangements for huge roads, houses, mills and factories, and this is man's conception of the advancement of civilization. People do not know, however, that at any time they themselves may be kicked out of the scene and forced to accept bodies that have nothing to do with these enormous houses, palaces, roads and automobiles. Therefore when Arjuna was