changes from one body to another

As a person puts on new garments, giving up old ones, similarly, the soul accepts new material bodies, giving up the old and useless ones.

Change of body by the atomic individual soul is an accepted fact. Even some of the modern scientists who do not believe in the existence of the soul, but at the same time cannot explain the source of energy from the heart, have to accept continuous changes of body which appear from childhood to boyhood and from boyhood to youth and again from youth to old age. From old age, the change is transferred to another body. This has already been explained in the previous verse. (More...)

This changing of bodies is also described in Bhagavad-gita: "As a person puts on new garments, giving up old ones, similarly, the soul accepts new material bodies, giving up the old and useless ones." (Bg. 2.22) Thus we are always changing form. However, the form of Krsna is nothing like the material form of our experience. That is stated by Krsna as follows: "Although I am unborn and My transcendental body never deteriorates, and although I am the Lord of all sentient beings, I still appear in every millennium in My original form." (Bg. 4.6) Therefore we should not think Krsna to be an ordinary person like ourselves. Krsna never comes under the control of material nature. Since Krsna created material nature for the punishment of the conditioned souls, how could it be possible for Krsna to be contaminated by material coverings? The king is the creator of the prison house, and he can come and go freely and not be arrested. But if the king visits the prison and the prisoners think, "The king has become a prisoner like us," that is a mistake. Similarly, when Krsna appears in the material world, His appearance is nothing like ours. Just as a king comes of his own accord to give amnesty, so Krsna appears by His internal energy for the pleasure of His devotees. The living entities who are wandering through this material world are forced by the reactions of their work to take birth in order to suffer and enjoy the reactions of their past activities, and for this purpose they are awarded different types of material bodies under the stringent laws of nature. But Krsna is never subject to these stringent laws, for it is Krsna who is the ultimate controller of material nature. Therefore He says, "There is no truth superior to Me. Everything rests upon Me, as pearls are strung on a thread." (Bg. 7.7) (More...)

Transference of the atomic individual soul to another body is made possible by the grace of the Supersoul.

Transference of the atomic individual soul to another body is made possible by the grace of the Supersoul.The Supersoul fulfills the desire of the atomic soul as one friend fulfills the desire of another. The Vedas, like the Munḍaka Upanisad, as well as the Svetasvatara Upanisad, compare the soul and the Supersoul to two friendly birds sitting on the same tree. One of the birds (the individual atomic soul) is eating the fruit of the tree, and the other bird (Krsna) is simply watching His friend. Of these two birds-although they are the same in quality-one is captivated by the fruits of the material tree, while the other is simply witnessing the activities of His friend. Krsna is the witnessing bird, and Arjuna is the eating bird. Although they are friends, one is still the master and the other is the servant. Forgetfulness of this relationship by the atomic soul is the cause of one's changing his position from one tree to another or from one body to another. The jiva soul is struggling very hard on the tree of the material body, but as soon as he agrees to accept the other bird as the supreme spiritual master-as Arjuna agreed to do by voluntary surrender unto Krsna for instruction-the subordinate bird immediately becomes free from all lamentations. Both the Upanisad and Svetasvatara Upanisad confirm this: (More...)

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