The Killers of the Soul

The lsopanisad further explains the demon's nature-and his fate-as follows:

"The killer of the soul, whoever he may be, must enter into the planets known as the worlds of the faithless, full of darkness and ignorance" (Sri Īsopanisad 3).

This verse describes the demons as atma-hana, killers of the soul. How is that? According to the Bhagavad-gita, the soul is eternal and can never be killed. Even when the temporary body dies, the soul continues to exist (na hanyate hanyamane sarire). So how can anyone be a "killer of the soul"? The answer is also in the Bhagavad-gita: when the eternal soul identifies himself with the temporary body, he becomes subject to repeated birth and death. Therefore, when one does not cultivate spiritual understanding, when he does not try to free the eternal soul-himself-from the cycle of repeated birth and death, he becomes a killer of the soul. He is killing himself by refusing to accept spiritual instruction about the soul and how it can be liberated from material bondage.

Achieving liberation from birth and death is not difficult, but one must take guidance from a bona fide, self-realized spiritual master who has understood the Absolute Truth. This Truth is conveyed by the Supreme Personality of Godhead Himself in the Bhagavad-gita and other revealed Vedic scriptures, and the bona fide spiritual master presents this Truth without any change or interpretation. Any deviation from the literal meaning of the scriptures makes a so-called spiritual master disqualified. If one learns the science of spiritual understanding from the Vedic scriptures with the help of a bona fide, Krsna-conscious spiritual master, one can cease identifying himself with his material body and make swift progress on the path of self-realization.

Identifying oneself (the soul) with the body is the great mistake of modern civilization, and it represents the grossest ignorance-ignorance of one's real identity as a spiritual being. The root cause of this ignorance is the demonic mentality-or, in other words, the refusal to accept the principles of spiritual consciousness found in the revealed Vedic scriptures. These scriptures explain that the spirit soul receives the gift of a human body only after passing through 8,400,000 species of life in the evolutionary cycle. In lower forms of life, our consciousness is undeveloped, and we are therefore unable to inquire about spiritual realization. In the human form, however, we have sufficient intelligence to understand our spiritual identity, and this is our primary responsibility. But one who adamantly refuses to accept this responsibility must be termed a killer of the soul and a demon.