not the body
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This verse describes how one can become liberated from material bondage. The first point is that one must know that the soul is different from his body. The soul is called dehi, or one who possesses the body, and the material body is called deha, or the embodiment of the soul. The body is changing at every moment, but the soul is fixed; therefore the soul is called kutastham. The change of body is enacted by the reactions of the three modes of nature. One who has understood the fixed position of the soul should not be disturbed by the incoming and outgoing interactions of the modes of material nature in the form of happiness and distress. In Bhagavad-gita also Lord Krsna recommends that since happiness and distress come and go due to the interaction of the modes of nature on the body, one should not be disturbed by such external movements. Even though one is sometimes absorbed in such external movements, he has to learn to tolerate them. The living entity should be always indifferent to the action and reaction of the external body.
(More...) Lord Krsna says in Bhagavad-gita that the body made of the gross physical elements (earth, water, fire, air and sky) and the subtle elements (mind, intelligence and ego) is completely different from the soul proper. One should therefore not be disturbed by the action and reaction of these eight gross and subtle material elements. The practical process to attain this stage of indifference is to execute devotional service. Only one who constantly engages in devotional service twenty-four hours a day can be indifferent to the action and reaction of the external body. When a man is absorbed in a particular thought, he does not hear or see any external activities, even though they are enacted in his presence. Similarly, those who are fully absorbed in devotional service do not care what is going on with the external body. That status is called samadhi. One who is actually situated in samadhi is understood to be a first-class yogi.
(More...) The question may be raised that if the living entity has to act as the superintendent of the activities of the bodily combination, then how can he be indifferent to the activities of the body? The answer is given here: these activities are completely different from the activities of the spirit soul of the living entity. A crude example can be given in this connection. A businessman riding in a motorcar sits in the car, supervises its running, and advises the driver. He knows how much gasoline is used up, and he knows everything about the car, but still he is apart from the car and is more concerned with his business. Even while riding in the car, he thinks of his business and his office. He has no connection with the car, although he is sitting there. As the businessman is always absorbed in thoughts of his business, so the living entity can be absorbed in thoughts of rendering loving service to the Lord. Then it will be possible to remain separate from the activities of the material body. This position of neutrality can be possible only for a devotee.
(More...) The Supreme Personality of Godhead Sri Krsna, as it is confirmed in the Bhagavad-gita (Bg. 18.61), is the all-pervading omnipresent Supersoul. Therefore one who is a yogi can only worship Him because He is the substance and not illusion. Every living creature is engaging in the service of something else. A living being's constitutional position is to render service, but in the atmosphere of maya, or illusion, or the conditional state of existence, the conditioned soul seeks the service of illusion. A conditioned soul works in the service of his temporary body, bodily relatives like the wife and children, and the necessary paraphernalia for maintaining the body and bodily relations, namely the house, land, wealth, society, country, etc., but he does not know that all such renderings of service are totally illusory. As we have discussed many times before, this material world is itself an illusion, like the mirage in the desert. In the desert there is an illusion of water, and the foolish animals become entrapped by such illusion and run after water in the desert, although there is no water at all. But because there is no water in the desert, one does not conclude that there is no water at all. The intelligent person knows well that there is certainly water, water in the seas and oceans, but such vast reservoirs of water are far, far away from the desert. One should therefore search for water in the vicinity of seas and oceans and not in the desert. Every one of us is searching after real happiness in life, namely eternal life, eternal or unlimited knowledge and unending blissful life. But foolish people who have no knowledge of the substance search after the reality of life in the illusion. This material body does not endure eternally, and everything in relation with this temporary body, namely the wife, children, society, country, etc., also changes along with the change of body. This is called samsara or repetition of birth, death, old age and disease. We would like to find a solution for all these problems of life, but we do not know the way. Herein it is suggested that anyone who wants to make an end of these miseries of life, namely repetition of birth, death, disease, and old age, must take to this process of worshiping the Supreme Lord and not others, as it is also ultimately suggested in the Bhagavad-gita (Bg. 18.65). If we at all want to end the cause of our conditioned life, we must take to the worship of Lord Sri Krsna, who is present in everyone's heart by His natural affection for all living beings, who are actually the parts and parcels of the Lord (Bg. 18.65). The baby in the lap of his mother is naturally attached to the mother, and the mother is attached to the child. But when the child grows up and becomes overwhelmed by circumstances, he gradually becomes detached from the mother, but the mother always expects some sort of service from the grown-up child, and she is equally affectionate for her child, even though the child is forgetful. Similarly, because we are all part and parcel of the Lord, the Lord is always affectionate to us, and He always tries to get us back home and back to Godhead. But we, the conditioned souls, do not care for Him and run instead after the illusory bodily connections. We must therefore extricate ourselves from all illusory connections of the world and seek reunion with the Lord, trying to render service unto Him because He is the ultimate truth. Actually we are hankering after Him as the child seeks the mother. And to search out the Supreme Personality of Godhead, we need not go anywhere else, because the Lord is within our hearts. This does not, however, suggest that we should not go to the places of worship, namely the temples, churches and mosques. Such holy places of worship are also occupied by the Lord because the Lord is omnipresent. For the common man these holy places are centers of learning about the science of God. When the temples are devoid of activities, the people in general become disinterested in such places, and consequently the mass of people gradually become godless, and a godless civilization is the result. Such a hellish civilization increases artificially the conditions of life, and existence becomes intolerable for everyone. The foolish leaders of a godless civilization try to devise various plans to bring about peace and prosperity in the godless world under a patent trademark of materialism, and because such attempts are illusory only, the people elect incompetent, blind leaders one after another who are incapable of offering solutions. If we want at all to end this anomaly of a godless civilization, we must follow the principles of revealed scriptures like the Srimad-Bhagavatam and follow the instruction of a person like Sri Sukadeva Gosvami who has no attraction for material gain.
(More...) Unless we have got spiritual understanding, we'll have to present ourself with this bodily designation. This is designation. "I am Hindu," "I am Muslim," "I am Christian," "I am Bengali," "I am Sindhi," "I am Punjabi," "I am American," these are all bodily conception of life. And so long we are in the bodily concepts of our life, we are no better than the animals, cats and dogs. That is the statement of Vedic literature.
(More...) Go means cow, and kharah means asses. So yasya atma-buddhih: "A person who thinks himself atma-buddhih, as 'I am this body...' " Yasyatma-buddhih kunape tri-dhatuke. This body is made of tri-dhatu, three dhatus: kapha, pitta, vayu. "So this kapha, pitta, vayu, this body, I am not this body." This is self-realization. "I am different from this bag of flesh and bone." When we realize completely, that is the first point of self-realization.
(More...) So dehi... Just like we change from one place to another, from one apartment to another. That you have got experience. Similarly, in the material condition of life we, the proprietor of the body, we are changing, tatha dehantara-praptih, from one body to another. This is the first knowledge, preliminary knowledge. People have no preliminary knowledge even. Everyone is thinking, "I am this body": "I am Indian," "I am American," "I am Hindu," "I am Muslim," "I am brahmana," "I am ksatriya." It is not this body I am. I am put into this body under certain circumstances. Otherwise I am not this body.
(More...) Dehinah. I am dehi. Dehi. This is..., body is deha, body. But I am not this body. You think over. If you take this finger, you study, am I this finger? No, the conclusion will come: "It is my finger, not 'I finger.' " Simply little knowledge required. How? Now, Krsna gives this example, that dehinah, asmin dehe yatha dehinah kaumaram yauvanam jara. He has explained in different ways, but the beginning is this, that this body is changing. You had a small body, baby's body. Where is that body? If I say, "Where is that body?" what you will answer? But you know that "I had a small body." I know. Everyone will know. But where is that body? That body is not existing. I was also young man like you, but now I am an old man. Old man means my body is different-old body. Your body is different. So Krsna giving this very nice example: As the baby is changed into a boy, a boy is changed into a youth, a youth is changed into old man, so this changing is going on. But I or you, we know that "I had such body."
(More...) First of all, abhayam. Abhayam means we are always afraid. We are always agitated, anxiety, because I am thinking, "I am this body." But if you are completely realized that you are not this body, you are something else, spirit soul, then I am immediately free from anxieties. That is called abhayam-no more fear, no more anxiety. Because everyone is ultimately afraid of being killed. But if he understands fully that he is not this body, then killed or not killed, he is not any attached to this body. Narottama dasa Thakura says, therefore, deha smrti nahi jar, samsara bandhan kaha tar[?]: "If one becomes free from the bodily concept of life, then where is material miseries?" Material miseries does not affect him. He know that... Just like I am putting on this shirt. If it is torn, so am I affected? I am not affected. I am within this shirt. Similarly, if I am fully convinced that I am not this body, then if there is some injury or some disease or some mishap in the body, I am not concerned because I know that I am not this body. That is self-realization.
(More...) We have discussed very elaborately. Anyone who has got intelligence, he can understand that "I am not this body. Within this body there is a living force, and without that living force the body is useless, lump of matter. That's all. So long the spirit soul is there, I am Mr. Such-and-such, I am Mr. this, I am Mr. that." [child coughing] [aside:] So this child should be... But as soon as the spirit soul is away, that Mr. lying on the floor, if somebody kicks on his face, he does not protest. Mr. finished. But the fools still take care of that bodily Mr., not the soul Mr. Without the soul, it is nothing but a lump of matter.
(More...) So if we actually want to be free from the bondage of material existence... Bhutva bhutva praliyate [Bg 8.19]. A common sense. Because we have lost our common sense. Suppose we are sitting here. If somebody says, "Now get out! Sit down he... Sit down here." And again, a half an hour, if he says, "No, no, come here." So shall I like it? "No, I am not sitting here. I'll go." Similarly, here the life is, the materialistic way of life, means bhutva bhutva praliyate [Bg 8.19]. You accept one body; you'll not be allowed to remain in that body permanently. You must have to give it up. Again accept another body. Again you have to give it up. What is this business? But they are so rascal, they do not know that how much miserable condition we are in. We are simply accepting one body and again... Bhutva bhutva praliyate. Tyaktva deham. We are... We do not know that "I am not this body."
(More...) "First of all try to understand what you are." That is the beginning of Bhagavad-gita. It is no politics. It is knowledge, pure knowledge. Bhagavad-gita is pure knowledge. The politicians take advantage of it. The sociologists, the so-called svamis, yogis, they take advantage of it and try to prove their all nonsensical theories. But it is not at all Bhagavad-gita. Bhagavad-gita as it is is pure knowledge, beginning with the first knowledge one has to understand, that he is not this body. Because this is the basic principle of all ignorance: "I am this body." "I am American," "I am Indian," "I am brahmana," "I am this," "I am that"-this is the basic principle. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu also says the same thing in a different way. He says, "I am not a brahmana, I am not a ksatriya, I am not a vaisya, I am not a sudra, I am not a brahmacari, I am not a grhastha, I am not a vanaprastha, I am not a sannyasi." These are negation. Then what is the positive? He says, gopi-bhartuh pada-kamalayor dasa-dasanudasah [Cc Madhya 13.80]:
(More...) If your husband, Syamasundara is not even keeping correspondence with you how can we know what is his position. Please try to advise him to return the money he owes as soon as possible. Chant 16 rounds, follow all of our regulative principles then everything will be alright in a very short time. I am hoping he will do like this. So you please continue your devotional service, cooking etc, and you can also keep giving Bhagavatam class if you like. Women in our movement can also preach very nicely. Actually male and female bodies, these are just outward designations. Lord Caitanya said that whether one is brahmana or whatever he may be if he knows the science of Krsna then he is to be accepted as guru. So one who gives class, he must read and study regularly and study the purport and realize it. Don't add anything or concoct anything, then he can preach very nicely. The qualification for leading class is how much one understands about Krsna and surrendering to the process. Not whether one is male or female. Of course women, generally speaking are less intelligent, better she has heard nicely then she will speak nicely. I hope this meets you in good health. Please accept my greetings. I am in due reciept of your letter dated Jan. 6th, 1975 and have noted the contents. Thank you for your donation of 20 dollars. We are Vaisnavas. We are not concerned with male or female position in life. That is simply bodily concept of life. It is not spiritual. Whether one is male or female, it doesn't matter, simply chant Hare Krishna and follow the four regulative principles and your life will be perfect.
(More...) Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated November 17, 1975. I am very pleased to note that you are attempting to preach seriously in the schools and colleges. Prahlada Maharaja, a great devotee and authority in our line said, Krishna consciousness should be taught from the beginning of Childhood. The defect of modern education is that the children are taught all nonsense things. They do not receive even the first point of knowledge, that I am pure spirit soul part and parcel of God. Everyone is interested in the body only, which is compared in Bhagavad gita to a dress, "As a person puts on new garments, giving up the old and useless ones, similarly, the soul accepts new material bodies, giving up the old and useless ones.'' [Bg 2.22] this simple fact they have yet to learn. So if you can teach them just this one point it will be a great success, because this is the basic platform of advancing in spiritual understanding. If we want to read and write, then it is essential to learn first of all A, B, C's.
(More...) Whatever knowledge they have got now is on the platform of this body, which is a lump of matter only, there is no knowledge of the soul which is entrapped within the lump of matter, and so people are suffering because of ignorance of this simple point. So try to enlighten them on this point and make them happy, that will please me and krishna, and thus you will become perfect yourself.
(More...) The spirit soul is equal in either a man or woman. One who is actually engaged in the service of Krishna, there is no such distinction as man or woman. In the Bhagavad-gita, 6th Chapter, 1st Verse it is stated anasritah karma-phalam karijam karma karoti yah/ sa sannyasi ca yogi ca na niragnir na cakriyah [Bg 6.1]. Anyone acting for Krishna, he is a sannyasi or sannyasini. It is also stated: striyo vaisyas tatha sudras te'pi yanti param gatim. So spiritually everyone is equal. But materially a woman cannot be given Sannyasa. But you should not be bothered because you are serving on the spiritual platform. I hope this meets you well. With reference to your statement that you are concerned with this life alone, I could not follow what you mean by this. In this life also, you take care of educating your children. So if the child is not educated for the next stage of life, then how do you account for the child's youth-hood age. Life is a continuation. The baby grows to become a child, the child grows to become a boy, the boy grows to become a young man, the young man becomes a middle-aged man, and the middle-aged man becomes an old man. So with which stage of life are you concerned? I shall be glad to know in which stage of life you are interested. If you don't take care of the child and simply become concerned with the young man, is it possible to act properly in the matter of humanitarianism? And according to the transmigration of the soul, a man can become a dog in the next life. So you take care of this life, and if in the next life he becomes a dog, then what?
(More...) Foolish people deny the existence of the soul, but it is a fact that when we sleep we forget the identity of the material body and when we awake, we forget the identity of the subtle body. In other words, while sleeping we forget the activities of the gross body, and when active in the gross body we forget the activities of sleeping. Actually both states-sleeping and waking-are creations of the illusory energy. The living entity actually has no connection with either the activities of sleep or the activities of the so-called wakened state. When a person is in deep sleep or when he has fainted, he forgets his gross body. Similarly, under chloroform or some other anesthetic, the living entity forgets his gross body and does not feel pain or pleasure during a surgical operation. Similarly, when a man is suddenly shocked by some great loss, he forgets his identification with the gross body. At the time of death, when the temperature of the body rises to 107 degrees, the living entity falls into a coma and is unable to identify his gross body. In such cases, the life air that moves within the body is choked up, and the living entity forgets his identification with the gross body. Because of our ignorance of the spiritual body, of which we have no experience, we do not know of the activities of the spiritual body, and, in ignorance, we jump from one false platform to another. We act sometimes in relation to the gross body and sometimes in relation to the subtle body. If, by Krsna's grace, we act in our spiritual body, we can transcend both the gross and subtle bodies. In other words, we can gradually train ourselves to act in terms of the spiritual body. As stated in the Narada-pancaratra, hrsikena hrsikesa-sevanam bhaktir ucyate: devotional service means engaging the spiritual body and spiritual senses in the service of the Lord. When we are engaged in such activities, the actions and reactions of the gross and subtle bodies cease.
(More...) This is the process of the soul's transmigration from one body to another. At the time of death, according to his mental condition, the living being is carried by the subtle body, consisting of mind, intelligence and ego, to another gross body. When higher authorities have decided what kind of gross body the living entity will have, he is forced to enter such a body, and thus he automatically gives up his previous body. Dull-minded persons who do not have the intelligence to understand this process of transmigration take for granted that when the gross body is finished, one's life is finished forever. Such persons have no brains with which to understand the process of transmigration. At the present moment there is great opposition to the Hare Krsna movement, which is being called a "brainwashing" movement. But actually the so-called scientists, philosophers and other leaders in the Western countries have no brains at all. The Hare Krsna movement is trying to elevate such foolish persons by enlightening their intelligence so that they will take advantage of the human body. Unfortunately, because of gross ignorance, they regard the Hare Krsna movement as a brainwashing movement. They do not know that without God consciousness one is forced to continue transmigrating from one body to another. Because of their devilish brains, they will next be forced to accept an abominable life and practically never be able to liberate themselves from the conditional life of material existence. How this transmigration of the soul takes place is very clearly explained in this verse.
(More...) Even a common man can understand that after death a person is gone. Although the body is still there, a dead man's relatives lament that the person has gone away, for a common man sees the body but cannot see the soul. Yamaraja continued: O lamenters, you are all fools! The person named Suyajna, for whom you lament, is still lying before you and has not gone anywhere. Then what is the cause for your lamentation? Previously he heard you and replied to you, but now, not finding him, you are lamenting. This is contradictory behavior, for you have never actually seen the person within the body who heard you and replied. There is no need for your lamentation, for the body you have always seen is lying here.
(More...) This instruction by Yamaraja in the form of a boy is understandable even for a common man. A common man who considers the body the self is certainly comparable to an animal (yasyatma-buddhih kunape tri-dhatuke. .. sa eva go-kharah). But even a common man can understand that after death a person is gone. Although the body is still there, a dead man's relatives lament that the person has gone away, for a common man sees the body but cannot see the soul. As described in Bhagavad-gita, dehino 'smin yatha dehe: the soul, the proprietor of the body, is within. After death, when the breath within the nostrils has stopped, one can understand that the person within the body, who was hearing and replying, has now gone. Therefore, in effect, the common man concludes that actually the spirit soul was different from the body and has now gone away. Thus even a common man, coming to his senses, can know that the real person who was within the body and was hearing and replying was never seen. For that which was never seen, what is the need of lamentation?
(More...) In the materialistic conception, modern civilization makes enormous arrangements for huge roads, houses, mills and factories, and this is man's conception of the advancement of civilization. People do not know, however, that at any time they themselves ma The purport is that as long as we are in this human form of body, our duty is to understand the soul within the body. The body is not the self; we are different from the body, and therefore there is no question of friends, enemies or responsibilities in terms of the bodily conception of life. One should not be very anxious about the body's changing from childhood to boyhood, from boyhood to old age and then to apparent annihilation. Rather, one should be very seriously concerned about the soul within the body and how to release the soul from the material clutches. The living entity within the body is never annihilated; therefore one should surely know that whether one has many friends or many enemies, his friends cannot help him, and his enemies cannot do him any harm. One should know that he is a spirit soul (aham brahmasmi) and that the constitutional position of the soul is unaffected by the changes of the body. In all circumstances, everyone, as a spirit soul, must be a devotee of Lord Visnu and should not be concerned with bodily relationships, whether with friends or with enemies. One should know that neither we ourselves nor our enemies in the bodily conception of life are ever killed.
(More...) Just as a householder, although different from the identity of his house, thinks his house to be identical with him, so the conditioned soul, due to ignorance, accepts the body to be himself, although the body is actually different from the soul. Just as a householder, although different from the identity of his house, thinks his house to be identical with him, so the conditioned soul, due to ignorance, accepts the body to be himself, although the body is actually different from the soul. This body is obtained through a combination of portions of earth, water and fire, and when the earth, water and fire are transformed in the course of time, the body is vanquished. The soul has nothing to do with this creation and dissolution of the body.
(More...) We transmigrate from one body to another in bodies that are products of our illusion, but as spirit souls we always exist separately from material, conditional life. The example given here is that a house or car is always different from its owner, but because of attachment the conditioned soul thinks it to be identical with him. A car or house is actually made of material elements; as long as the material elements combine together properly, the car or house exists, and when they are disassembled the house or the car is disassembled. The spirit soul, however, always remains as he is.
(More...) the duty of those advanced in knowledge in human society is to study the constitutional position of the imperishable soul and not waste the valuable time of human life in merely maintaining the body and not considering life's real responsibility. This is confirmed in Bhagavad-gita (2.18). Antavanta ime deha nityasyoktah saririnah: the body is perishable, but the soul within the body is imperishable. Therefore the duty of those advanced in knowledge in human society is to study the constitutional position of the imperishable soul and not waste the valuable time of human life in merely maintaining the body and not considering life's real responsibility. Every human being should try to understand how the spirit soul can be happy and where he can attain an eternal, blissful life of knowledge. Human beings are meant to study these subject matters, not to be absorbed in caring for the temporary body, which is sure to change. No one knows whether he will receive a human body again; there is no guarantee, for according to one's work one may get any body, from that of a demigod to that of a dog. In this regard, Srila Madhvacarya comments:
(More...) Only Janardana, the Supreme Personality of Godhead is ever existing, but His creation, the material world, is temporary. Therefore everyone who is captivated by the material energy and absorbed in thinking "I am this body, and everything belonging to this body is mine" is in illusion. One should think only of being eternally a part of Janardana, and one's endeavor in this material world, especially in this human form of life, should be to attain the association of Janardana by going back home, back to Godhead.
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