TEXT 194
aprakrta vastu nahe prakrta-gocara
veda-puranete ei kahe nirantara
SYNONYMS
aprakrtaspiritual; vastusubstance; nahenot; prakrtaof matter; gocarawithin the jurisdiction; veda-puranetethe Vedas and the Puranas; eithis; kahesay; nirantaraalways.
TRANSLATION
"Spiritual substance is never within the jurisdiction of the material conception. This is always the verdict of the Vedas and Puranas."
PURPORT
As stated in the Katha Upanisad (2.3.9, 12):
na samdrse tisthati rupam asya
na caksusa pasyati kascanainam
hrda manisa manasabhiklpto
ya etad vidur amrtas te bhavanti
naiva vaca na manasa
praptum sakyo na caksusa
"Spirit is not within the jurisdiction of material eyes, words or mind."
Similarly, Srimad-Bhagavatam (10.84.13) states:
yasyatma-buddhih kunape tri-dhatuke
sva-dhih kalatradisu bhauma ijya-dhih
yat-tirtha-buddhih salile na karhicij
janesv abhijnesu sa eva go-kharah
"A human being who identifies his body made of three elements with his self, who considers the by-products of his body to be his kinsmen, who considers the land of his birth worshipable, and who goes to a place of pilgrimage simply to take a bath rather than to meet men of transcendental knowledge there, is to be considered like an ass or a cow."
These are some Vedic statements about spiritual substance. Spiritual substance cannot be seen by the unintelligent, because they do not have the eyes or the mentality to see the spirit soul. Consequently they think that there is no such thing as spirit. But the followers of the Vedic injunctions take their information from Vedic statements, such as the verses from the Katha Upanisad and Srimad-Bhagavatam quoted above.

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