Mantra Seventeen 87

remember; krtam—all that has been done by me; smara—please remember;
krato—the Supreme Beneficiary; smara—please remember; krtam—all that I
have done for You; smara—please remember.

TRANSLATION

Let this temporary body be burnt into ashes, and let the air of
life be merged with the totality of air. Now, O my Lord, please
remember all my sacrifices, and because You are the ultimate
Beneficiary, please remember all that I have done for You.

PURPORT

This temporary material body is certainly a foreign dress.
In the Bhagavad-gita it is clearly said that after the destruc-
tion of the material body, the living entity is not annihilated,
nor does he lose his identity. The identity of the living entity is
never, therefore, impersonal or without form; but on_ the
contrary, it is the material dress which is formless, and which
takes a shape according to the form of the indestructible person.
No living entity is originally formless, as is wrongly supposed by
persons with a poor fund of knowledge. Here also in Mantra
Seventeen of Sri [sopanisad, the principle is supported that the
living entity exists after the annihilation of the material body.

In the material worid there is wonderful workmanship by
material Nature in the matter of creating different varieties
of bodies for the living beings, in terms of their propensities
for sense gratification. The one who wanted to taste stool is
given a material body which is quite suitable for eating stool
—that of a hog. Similarly, the tiger has such a body that it
can live by enjoying the blood of other animals, and by eating
their flesh.

The human being is not meant for cating stool or flesh,
because the shape of the teeth is different. Nor does he have any
desire to taste stool, even in the most aboriginal state of life.
Human teeth are so made that they can chew and cut fruit and
vegetables, with two canine tecth so that one can eat flesh also.
