Text 18
adrākṣam aham etaṁ te
hṛt-sāraṁ mahad-adbhutam
daṁśa-bhakṣita-dehasya
prāṇā hy asthiṣu śerate
adrākṣam — have personally seen; aham — I; etam — this; te — your; hṛt-sāram — power of endurance; mahat — very great; adbhutam — wonderful; daṁśa-bhakṣita — eaten by worms and ants; dehasya — whose body; prāṇāḥ — the life air; hi — indeed; asthiṣu — in the bones; śerate — is taking shelter.
I have been very much astonished to see your endurance. In spite of being eaten and bitten by all kinds of worms and ants, you are keeping your life air circulating within your bones. Certainly this is wonderful.
It appears that the soul can exist even through the bones, as shown by the personal example of Hiraṇyakaśipu. When great yogīs are in samādhi, even when their bodies are buried and their skin, marrow, blood and so on have all been eaten, if only their bones remain they can exist in a transcendental position. Very recently an archaeologist published findings indicating that Lord Christ, after being buried, was exhumed and that he then went to Kashmir. There have been many actual examples of yogīs’ being buried in trance and exhumed alive and in good condition several hours later. A yogī can keep himself alive in a transcendental state even if buried not only for many days but for many years.