86 Srimad-Bhagavatam [Canto 7, Ch. 2

TRANSLATION

In the same way, O my gentle mother, when the mind is agitated
by the movements of the modes of material nature, the living en-
tity, although freed from all the different phases of the subtle and
gross bodies, thinks that he has changed from one condition to
another.

PURPORT
As stated in Srimad-Bhagavatam (10.84.13):

yasyatma-buddhih kunape tri-dhatuke
sva-dhih kalatrddisu bhauma-ijya-dhih
yat-tirtha-buddhih salile na karhicij

janesv abhijnesu sa eva go-kharah

“A human being who identifies the body made of three elements as the
self, who considers the by-products of the body to be his kinsmen, who
considers the land of his birth worshipable, and who goes to a place of
pilgrimage simply to bathe rather than to meet men of transcendental
knowledge there, is to be considered like a cow or an ass.” Although
Hiranyakasipu was a great demon, he was not as foolish as the population
of the modern world. Hiranyakasipu had clear knowledge of the spirit
soul and the subtle and gross bodies, but now we are so degraded that
everyone, including the exalted scientists, philosophers and other
leaders, is under the bodily conception of life, which is condemned in the
Sdstras. Sa eva go-kharah: such persons are nothing but cows and asses.

Hiranyakasipu advised his family members that although the gross
body of his brother Hiranyaksa was dead and they were aggrieved be-
cause of this, they should not lament for the great soul of Hiranyaksa,
who had already attained his next destination. Atmé, the spirit soul, is al-
ways unchanged (avikalah puman). We are spirit souls, but when car-
ried away by mental activities (manodharma), we suffer from so-called
material conditions of life. This generally happens to nondevotees. Hardv
abhaktasya kuto mahad-gunah: nondevotees may possess exalted ma-
terial qualities, but because they are foolish they have no good qualifica-
tions. The designations of the conditioned soul in the material world are
