SB 7.2.60
atah socata ma yuyam
param catmanam eva va
ka atma kah paro vatra
sviyah parakya eva va
sva-parabhinivesena
vinajñanena dehinam
Translation by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada:
Therefore none of you should be aggrieved for the loss of the body — whether your own or those of others. Only in ignorance does one make bodily distinctions, thinking “Who am I? Who are the others? What is mine? What is for others?”
Purport by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada:
In this material world, the conception of self-preservation is the first law of nature. According to this conception, one should be interested in his personal safety and should then consider society, friendship, love, nationality, community and so on, which have all developed because of the bodily conception of life and a lack of knowledge of the spirit soul. This is called ajñana. As long as human society is in darkness and ignorance, men will continue to make huge arrangements in the bodily conception of life. This is described by Prahlada Maharaja as bharam. In the materialistic conception, modern civilization makes enormous arrangements for huge roads, houses, mills and factories, and this is man’s conception of the advancement of civilization. People do not know, however, that at any time they themselves may be kicked out of the scene and forced to accept bodies that have nothing to do with these enormous houses, palaces, roads and automobiles. Therefore when Arjuna was thinking in terms of his bodily relationships with his kinsmen, Krsna immediately chastised him, saying, kutas tva kasmalam idam visame samupasthitam anarya-justam: “This bodily conception of life is befitting the anaryas, the non-Aryans, who are not advanced in knowledge.” An Aryan civilization is a civilization advanced in spiritual knowledge. Not merely by stamping oneself an Aryan does one become an Aryan. To keep oneself in the deepest darkness concerning spiritual knowledge and at the same time claim to be an Aryan is a non-Aryan position. In this connection, Srila Madhvacarya quotes as follows from the Brahma-vaivarta Purana:
ka atma kah para iti dehady-apeksaya
na hi dehadir atma syan
na ca satrur udiritah
ato daihika-vrddhau va
ksaye va kim prayojanam
yas tu deha-gato jivah
sa hi nasam na gacchati
tatah satru-vivrddhau ca
sva-nase socanam kutah
dehadi-vyatiriktau tu
jivesau pratijanata
ata atma-vivrddhis tu
vasudeve ratih sthira
satru-nasas tathajñana-
naso nanyah kathañcana
The purport is that as long as we are in this human form of body, our duty is to understand the soul within the body. The body is not the self; we are different from the body, and therefore there is no question of friends, enemies or responsibilities in terms of the bodily conception of life. One should not be very anxious about the body’s changing from childhood to boyhood, from boyhood to old age and then to apparent annihilation. Rather, one should be very seriously concerned about the soul within the body and how to release the soul from the material clutches. The living entity within the body is never annihilated; therefore one should surely know that whether one has many friends or many enemies, his friends cannot help him, and his enemies cannot do him any harm. One should know that he is a spirit soul (aham brahmasmi) and that the constitutional position of the soul is unaffected by the changes of the body. In all circumstances, everyone, as a spirit soul, must be a devotee of Lord Visnu and should not be concerned with bodily relationships, whether with friends or with enemies. One should know that neither we ourselves nor our enemies in the bodily conception of life are ever killed.