TEXT 9
sandhiyamane sirasi
dakso rudrabhiviksitah
sadyah supta ivottasthau
dadrse cagrato mrdam
SYNONYMS
sandhiyamanebeing executed; sirasiby the head; daksahKing Daksa; rudra-abhiviksitahhaving been seen by Rudra (Lord Siva); sadyahimmediately; suptesleeping; ivalike; uttasthauawakened; dadrsesaw; caalso; agratahin front; mrdamLord Siva.
TRANSLATION
When the animals head was fixed on the body of King Daksa, Daksa was immediately brought to consciousness, and as he awakened from sleep, the King saw Lord Siva standing before him.
PURPORT
The example given here is that Daksa got up as if he were awakened from deep sleep. In Sanskrit this is called supta ivottasthau. The meaning is that after a man awakens from sleep, he immediately remembers all the duties which he must execute. Daksa was killed, and his head was taken away and burned to ashes. His body was lying dead, but by the grace of Lord Siva, as soon as the head of a goat was joined to the body, Daksa came back to consciousness again. This indicates that consciousness is also individual. Daksa actually took another body when he took on the head of a goat, but because consciousness is individual, his consciousness remained the same although his bodily condition changed. Thus bodily construction has nothing to do with the development of consciousness. Consciousness is carried with the transmigration of the soul. There are many instances of this in Vedic history, such as the case of Maharaja Bharata. After quitting his body as a king, Maharaja Bharata was transferred to the body of a deer, but he retained the same consciousness. He knew that although formerly he was King Bharata, he had been transferred to the body of a deer because of his absorption in thinking of a deer at the time of his death. In spite of his having the body of a deer, however, his consciousness was as good as it was in the body of King Bharata. The arrangement by the Lord is so nice that if a persons consciousness is turned into Krsna consciousness, there is no doubt that in his next life he will be a great devotee of Krsna, even if he is offered a different type of body.

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