Text 28
prayujyamāne mayi tāṁ
śuddhāṁ bhāgavatīṁ tanum
ārabdha-karma-nirvāṇo
nyapatat pāñca-bhautikaḥ
prayujyamāne — having been awarded; mayi — on me; tām — that; śuddhām — transcendental; bhāgavatīm — fit for associating with the Personality of Godhead; tanum — body; ārabdha — acquired; karma — fruitive work; nirvāṇaḥ — prohibitive; nyapatat — quit; pāñca-bhautikaḥ — body made of five material elements.
Having been awarded a transcendental body befitting an associate of the Personality of Godhead, I quit the body made of five material elements, and thus all acquired fruitive results of work [karma] stopped.
Informed by the Personality of Godhead that he would be awarded a transcendental body befitting the Lord’s association, Nārada got his spiritual body as soon as he quit his material body. This transcendental body is free from material affinity and invested with three primary transcendental qualities, namely eternity, freedom from material modes, and freedom from reactions of fruitive activities. The material body is always afflicted with the lack of these three qualities. A devotee’s body becomes at once surcharged with the transcendental qualities as soon as he is engaged in the devotional service of the Lord. It acts like the magnetic influence of a touchstone upon iron. The influence of transcendental devotional service is like that. Therefore change of the body means stoppage of the reaction of three qualitative modes of material nature upon the pure devotee. There are many instances of this in the revealed scriptures. Dhruva Mahārāja and Prahlāda Mahārāja and many other devotees were able to see the Personality of Godhead face to face apparently in the same body. This means that the quality of a devotee’s body changes from material to transcendence. That is the opinion of the authorized Gosvāmīs via the authentic scriptures. In the Brahma-saṁhitā it is said that beginning from the indra-gopa germ up to the great Indra, King of heaven, all living beings are subjected to the law of karma and are bound to suffer and enjoy the fruitive results of their own work. Only the devotee is exempt from such reactions, by the causeless mercy of the supreme authority, the Personality of Godhead.