ŚB 12.5.3
Devanagari
न भविष्यसि भूत्वा त्वं पुत्रपौत्रादिरूपवान् ।
बीजाङ्कुरवद् देहादेर्व्यतिरिक्तो यथानल: ॥ ३ ॥
बीजाङ्कुरवद् देहादेर्व्यतिरिक्तो यथानल: ॥ ३ ॥
Verse text
na bhaviṣyasi bhūtvā tvaṁ
putra-pautrādi-rūpavān
bījāṅkura-vad dehāder
vyatirikto yathānalaḥ
putra-pautrādi-rūpavān
bījāṅkura-vad dehāder
vyatirikto yathānalaḥ
Synonyms
na bhaviṣyasi — you will not come into being; bhūtvā — becoming; tvam — you; putra — of children; pautra — grandchildren; ādi — and so on; rūpa-vān — assuming the forms; bīja — the seed; aṅkura — and the sprout; vat — like; deha-ādeḥ — from the material body and its paraphernalia; vyatiriktaḥ — distinct; yathā — as; analaḥ — the fire (from the wood).
Translation
You will not take birth again in the form of your sons and grandsons, like a sprout taking birth from a seed and then generating a new seed. Rather, you are entirely distinct from the material body and its paraphernalia, in the same way that fire is distinct from its fuel.
Purport
Sometimes one dreams of being reborn as the son of one’s son, in the hope of perpetually remaining in the same material family. As stated in the śruti-mantra, pitā putreṇa pitṛmān yoni-yonau: “A father has a father in his son, because he may take birth as his own grandson.” The purpose of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is spiritual liberation and not the foolish prolonging of the illusion of bodily identification. That is clearly stated in this verse.