According to his selfish acts, the conditioned being gets a suitable body, with a material mind and senses. Then the aftermath of these acts ends and that is called death; and when a new set of karmic reactions begins, then birth takes place.
When the eyes lose their power to perceive colours or forms due to some morbid affection of the optic nerve, vision dies, and the living being, the one who governs both the eye and the sight, loses his power of vision. In the same way, when the physical body, the place where sense perceptions arise, becomes incapable of perceiving anything, what is called death occurs. And the moment when one begins to regard the body as one's own self is called birth.
Therefore, no one should view death with horror, nor be caught up in defining the body as the soul, nor enjoy in an exaggerated manner the necessities of life. Realizing his true nature, the distinct being should evolve in this world, without attachment and with a fixed goal.
Equipped with right vision and strengthened by devotional service and by a pessimistic attitude towards the material ego, one should, by reason, relegate his body to the illusory world. In this way one can lose all interest in the material world.
The Supreme Lord says:
A man whose life is centered on the family obtains various material blessings by performing religious rituals, and thus fulfills his desires for wealth and sense pleasure. Again and again he repeats the same acts.
Because of their excessive attachment to sense pleasure, such living entities never have access to devotional service. Therefore, even if they perform various sacrifices and take great vows to please the celestial beings and the forefathers, they do not show any interest in Krsna consciousness, devotional service.
Such materialists, attracted by sense pleasures and devoted to ancestors and celestial beings, can be elevated to the moon, where they can drink an extract of the plant called soma, and then return to our planet.
All the planets inhabited by materialists, including those in the heavenly realm, such as the moon, are annihilated when the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Sri Hari, reclines on His couch, formed by the serpent Ananta Sesa.
Those who possess intelligence and whose consciousness is purified, find themselves completely satisfied in Krishna consciousness. Free from the influences of material nature, they do not act for the sake of sense gratification; on the contrary, since they are established in their proper duty, they act as every man is expected to do.