Text 49] The History of the Life of Ajamila 67

manifested in a dream; eva—certainly; hi—indeed; na veda—does not

know; purvam—the past body; aparam—the next body; nasta—lost;

janma-smrtih—the remembrance of birth; tatha—similarly.
TRANSLATION

As asleeping person acts according to the body manifested in his
dreams and accepts it to be himself, so one identifies with his pres-
ent body, which he acquired because of his past religious or ir-
religious actions, and is unable to know his past or future lives.

PURPORT

A man engages in sinful activities because he does not know what he
did in his past life to get his present materially conditioned body, which
is subjected to the threefold miseries. As stated by Rsabhadeva in
Srimad-Bhégavatam (5.5.4), ninam pramattah kurute vikarma: a
human being who is mad after sense gratification does not hesitate to act
sinfully. Yad indriya-pritaya aprnoti: he performs sinful actions simply
for sense gratification. Na sddhu manye: this is not good. Yata adtmano
*yam asann api klesada asa dehah: because of such sinful actions, one
receives another body in which to suffer as he is suffering in his present
body because of his past sinful activities.

It should be understood that a person who does not have Vedic knowl-
edge always acts in ignorance of what he has done in the past, what he is
doing at the present and how he will suffer in the future. He is com-
pletely in darkness. Therefore the Vedic injunction is, tamasi ma:
“Don’t remain in darkness.” Jyotir gama: “Try to go to the light.”’ The
light or illumination is Vedic knowledge, which one can understand
when he is elevated to the mode of goodness or when he transcends the
mode of goodness by engaging in devotional service to the spiritual
master and the Supreme Lord. This is described in the Svetasvatara
Upanisad (6.23):

yasya deve para bhaktir
yatha deve tatha gurau

tasyaite kathita hy arthah
prakasante mahatmanah
