अथ यद्यप्येनानुत्क्रान्तप्राणाञ्छूलेन समासं व्यतिषंदहेन्नैवैनं ब्रूयुः पितृहासीति न मातृहासीति न भ्रातृहासीति न स्वसृहासीति नाचार्यहासीति न ब्राह्मणहासीति ॥ ७.१५.३ ॥
atha yadyapyenānutkrāntaprāṇāñchūlena samāsaṃ vyatiṣaṃdahennaivainaṃ brūyuḥ pitṛhāsīti na mātṛhāsīti na bhrātṛhāsīti na svasṛhāsīti nācāryahāsīti na brāhmaṇahāsīti || 7.15.3 ||
3. But when they have died, if a person piles their bodies on a funeral pyre and bums them, piercing them with a spear [so that the body burns more quickly], no one will say to him, ‘You have killed your father,’ or ‘You have killed your mother,’ or ‘You have killed your brother,’ or ‘You have killed your sister,’ or ‘You have killed your teacher,’ or ‘You have killed a brāhmin’.
Word-for-word explanation:
Atha, but; yadi api enān, if even all these; utkrāntaprāṇān, when life has departed; śūlena, with the help of a spear; vyatiṣan, tears the bodies to pieces; samāsam, puts them in a pile; dahet, [and] bums them; na eva enam brūyaḥ, people will not say to him; pitṛhā asi iti, you killed your father; na mātṛhā asi iti, nor you killed your mother; na bhrātṛhā asi iti, nor you killed your brother; na svasṛhā asi iti, nor you killed your sister; na ācāryahā asi iti, nor you killed your teacher; na brāhmaṇahā asi iti, nor you killed a brāhmin.
Commentary:
Suppose you say something very rude to your father. People will say: ‘Shame on you! You have killed your father.’ But suppose your father has died. You will then have to burn or bury his body. Yet no one will scold you or blame you for doing something wrong, because prāṇa has left the body. This is the difference between prāṇa existing in the body and prāṇa not existing in the body.