Text 22] Hiranyakasipu, King of the Demons 83
dhatte ’sav atmano lingam
mayaya visrjan gunan

nityah—eternal; atma—spirit soul; avyayah—inexhaustible; sud-
dhah—with no material tinge; sarva-gah—qualified to go anywhere in
the material or spiritual worlds; sarva-vit—full of knowledge; parah—
transcendental to material conditions; dhatte—accepts; asau—that
atma, or living being; dtmanah—of the self; liuigam—a body;
mayaya—by the material energy; visrjan—creating; gundn—various
material qualities.

TRANSLATION

The spirit soul, the living entity, has no death, for he is eternal
and inexhaustible. Being free from material contamination, he can
go anywhere in the material or spiritual worlds. He is fully aware
and completely different from the material body, but because of
being misled by misuse of his slight independence, he is obliged to
accept subtle and gross bodies created by the material energy and
thus be subjected to so-called material happiness and distress.
Therefore, no one should lament for the passing of the spirit soul
from the body.

PURPORT

Hiranyakasipu very intelligently described the position of the soul.
The soul is never the body, but is always completely different from the
body. Being eternal and inexhaustible, the soul has no death, but when
the same pure soul desires to enjoy the material world independently, he
is placed under the conditions of material nature and must therefore ac-
cept a certain type of body and suffer the pains and pleasures thereof.
This is also described by Krsna in Bhagavad-gita (13.22). Karanam
guna-sarigo ’sya sad-asad-yoni-janmasu: the living entity is born in dif-
ferent families or species of life because of being infected by the modes
of material nature. When conditioned by material nature, the living en-
tity must accept a certain type of body, which is offered by nature under
the direction of the Supreme Lord.

isvarah sarva-bhitanam
hrd-dese ’rjuna tisthati
