238 Srimad-Bhagavatam [Canto 7, Ch. 15
persons; enam—this body; dtmasdt krtva—again identifying with the
self; slaghayanti—glorify as very important; hi—indeed; asat-tamah—
the greatest rascals.
TRANSLATION

Sannyasis who first consider that the body is subject to death,
when it will be transformed into stool, worms or ashes, but who
again give importance to the body and glorify it as the self, are to
be considered the greatest rascals.

PURPORT

A sannyasi is one who has clearly understood, through advancement
in knowledge, that Brahman—he, the person himself —is the soul, not
the body. One who has this understanding may take sannyasa, for
he is situated in the “aharm brahmdsmi’ position. Brahma-bhitah
prasannatma na Socati na kdaiiksati. Such a person, who no longer
laments or hankers to maintain his body and who can accept all living en-
tities as spirit souls, can then enter the devotional service of the Lord. If
one does not enter the devotional service of the Lord but artificially con-
siders himself Brahman or Narayana, not perfectly understanding that
the soul and body are different, one certainly falls down (patanty
adhah). Such a person again gives importance to the body. There are
many sannyasis in India who stress the importance of the body. Some of
them give special importance to the body of the poor man, accepting him
as daridra-ndrdyana, as if Narayana had a material body. Many other
sannyasis stress the importance of the social position of the body as a
brahmana, ksatriya, vaisya or siidra. Such sannyasis are considered the
greatest rascals (asattamah). They are shameless because they have not
yet understood the difference between the body and the soul and instead
have accepted the body of a brdhmana to be a brahmana. Brahmanism
(brahmanya) consists of the knowledge of Brahman. But actually the
body of a braéhmana is not Brahman. Similarly, the body is neither rich
nor poor. If the body of a poor man were daridra-narayana, this would
mean that the body of a rich man, on the contrary, must be dhani-
narayana. Therefore sannydsis who do not know the meaning of
Narayana, those who regard the body as Brahman or as Narayana, are
