WE ARE ETERNAL, WE ARE NOT THIS BODY!
dehino 'smin yatha dehe
kaumram yauvanam jara
tatha dehantara-praptir
dhiras tatra na muhyati
"As the embodied soul continuously passes, in this body, from boyhood to youth, and then to old age, the soul similarly passes into another body at death. A sober person is not bewildered by such a change." [Bhagavad-gita 2.13]
Generally, people cannot understand this simple verse. Therefore, Krishna says, dhiras tatra na muhyati: "Only a sober man can understand." But what is the difficulty? How plainly Krishna has explained things! There are three stages of life. The first, kaumaram, lasts until one is fifteen years old. Then, from the sixteenth year, one begins youthful life, yauvanam. Then, after the fortieth or fiftieth year, one becomes an old man, jara. So those who are dhira-sober-headed, cool-headed-they can understand: "I have changed my body. I remember how I was playing and jumping when I was a boy. Then I became a young man, and I was enjoying my life with friends and family. Now I am an old man, and when this body dies I shall again enter a new body."
In the previous verse Krishna said to Arjuna, "All of us-you, Me, and all the soldiers and kings who are present here-we existed in the past, we are existing now, and we shall continue to exist in the future.This is Krishna's statement". But rascals will say, "How was I existing in the past? I was born only in such-and-such a year. Before that I was not existing. At the present time I am existing. That's all right. But as soon as I die, I'll not exist." But Krishna says, "You, I, all of us-we were existing, we are still existing, and we shall continue to exist.""Is that wrong? No, it is a fact. Before our birth we were existing, in a different body; and after our death we shall continue to exist, in a different body. This is to be understood.
For example, seventy years ago I was a boy, then I became a young man, and now I have become an old man. My body has changed, but I, the proprietor of the body, am existing unchanged. So where is the difficulty in understanding? Dehino 'smin yatha dehe [Bg. 2.13]. Dehinah means "the proprietor of the body," and dehe means "in the body." The body is changing, but the soul, the proprietor of the body, remains unchanged.
Anyone can understand that his body has changed. So in the next life the body will also change. But we may not remember; that is another thing. In my last life, what was my body? I do not remember. So forgetfulness is our nature, but our forgetting something does not mean that it did not take place. No. In my childhood I did so many things I do not remember, but my father and mother remember. So, forgetting does not mean that things did not take place.
Similarly, death simply means I have forgotten what I was in my past life. That is death. Otherwise I, as spirit soul, have no death. Suppose I change my clothes. In my boyhood I wore certain clothes, in my youth I wore different clothes. Now, in my old age, as a sannyasi [a renunciant], I am wearing different clothes. The clothes may change, but that does not mean that the owner of the clothes is dead and gone. No. This is a simple explanation of transmigration of the soul.
GOD IS THE SUPREME INDIVIDUAL AND WE ARE INDIVIDUALS
Also, all of us are individuals. There is no question of merging together. Every one of us is an individual. God is an individual, and we are also individuals. Nityo nityanam cetanas cetananam (Katha Upanisad 2.2.13): "Of all the eternal, conscious, individual persons, one is supreme." The difference is that God never changes His body, but we change our bodies in the material world. When we go to the spiritual world, there is no more change of body. Just as Krishna has His sac-cid-ananda-vigraha [Bs. 5.1], an eternal form of bliss and knowledge, so when you go back home, back to Godhead, you will also get a similar body.
Krishna does not force anyone to leave this material world. All conditioned souls are under the influence of the external, or material, energy. Krishna comes here to deliver us from the clutches of the material energy. Because we are part and parcel of Krishna, we are all directly Krishna's sons. And if a son is in difficulty, the father suffers also, indirectly. Suppose the son has become a madman-or, nowadays, a hippy. The father is very sorry: "Oh, my son is living like a wretch." So, the father is not happy. Similarly, the conditioned souls in this material world are suffering so much, living like wretches and rascals. So Krishna is not happy. Therefore He comes personally to teach us how to return to Him. (Yada yada hi dharmasya glanir bhavati. .. tad-atmanam srjamy aham [Bg. 4.7].)
So, we are changing our body, but Krishna does not change His. We should understand this. The proof is that Krishna remembers past, present, and future. In the Fourth Chapter of Bhagavad-gita you'll find that Krishna says He spoke the philosophy of Bhagavad-gita to the sun-god some 120,000,000 years ago. How does Krishna remember? Because He does not change His body. We forget things because we are changing our body at every moment. That is a medical fact. The corpuscles of our blood are changing at every second. But the body is changing imperceptibly. That is why the father and mother of a growing child do not notice how his body is changing.
HOW DO WE GET OUT OF THIS TEMPORARY WORLD?
We are all individual souls, and we are eternal, but because our body is changing we are suffering birth, death, old age, and disease. The Krishna consciousness movement is meant to get us out of this changing condition. "Since I am eternal, how can I come to the permanent position?" That should be our question. Everyone wants to live eternally; nobody wants to die. If I come before you with a revolver and say, "I am going to kill you," you will immediately cry out, because you do not want to die. This is not a very good business-to die and take birth again. It is very troublesome. This we all know subconsciously. We know that when we die we'll have to enter again into the womb of a mother-and nowadays mothers are killing the children within the womb. Then again another mother... The process of accepting another body again and again is very long and very troublesome. In our subconscious we remember all this trouble, and therefore we do not want to die.
So our question should be this: "I am eternal, so why have I been put into this temporary life?" This is an intelligent question. And this is our real problem. But rascals set aside this real problem. They are thinking of how to eat, how to sleep, how to have sex, how to defend. Even if you eat nicely and sleep nicely, ultimately you have to die. The problem of death is there. But they don't care about this real problem. They are very much alert to solve the temporary problems, which are not actually problems at all. The birds and beasts also eat, sleep, have sexual intercourse, and defend themselves. They know how to do all these things, even without the human beings' education and so-called civilization. So these things are not our real problems. The real problem is that we do not want to die but death takes place. This is our real problem.
In Bhagavad-gita Krishna says,
janma karma ca me divyam
evam yo vetti tattvatah
tyaktva deham punar janma
naiti mam eti so 'rjuna
[Bg. 4.9]
janma karma ca me divyam
evam yo vetti tattvatah
tyaktva deham punar janma
naiti mam eti so 'rjuna
[Bg. 4.9]
If you simply try to understand Krishna, you can go to Him at the time of death. Everything about Krishna is divine, transcendental. Krishna's activities, Krishna's appearance, Krishna's worship, Krishna's temple, Krishna's glories-everything is transcendental. So if one understands these things, or even tries to understand, then one becomes liberated from the process of birth and death. This is what Krishna says. So become very serious to understand Krishna, and remain in Krishna consciousness. Then these problems-birth, death, old age, and disease-will be solved automatically, very easily.
A dhira, a sober man, will think, "I want to live eternally. Why does death take place? I want to live a very healthy life. Why does disease come? I don't want to become an old man. Why does old age come?" Janma-mrtyu-jara-vyadhi [Bg. 13.9]. These are real problems. One can solve these problems simply by taking to Krishna consciousness, simply by understanding Krishna. And for understanding Krishna, the Bhagavad-gita is there, very nicely explained. So make your life successful. Understand that you are not the body. You are embodied within the body, but you are not the body. For example, a bird may be within a cage, but the cage is not the bird. Foolish persons take care of the cage, not the bird, and the bird suffers starvation. So we are suffering spiritual starvation. Therefore nobody is happy in the material world. Spiritual starvation. That is why you see that in an opulent country like America-enough food, enough residences, enough material enjoyment-still they are becoming hippies. The young people are not satisfied, because of spiritual starvation. Materially you may be very opulent, but if you starve spiritually you cannot be happy.
A spiritual rejuvenation is required. You must realize, aham brahmasmi: "I am not this body; I am brahman, spiritual soul." Then you'll be happy. Brahma-bhutah prasannatma na socati na kanksati samah sarvesu bhutesu [Bg. 18.54]. Then there will be equality, fraternity, brotherhood. Otherwise it is all bogus-simply high-sounding words. There cannot be equality, fraternity, and so on without Krishna consciousness. Come to the spiritual platform; then you will see everyone equally. Otherwise you will think, "I am a human being with hands and legs, and the cow has no hands and legs. So let me kill the cow and eat it." Why? What right do you have to kill an animal? You have no vision of equality, for want of Krishna consciousness. Therefore, in this material world, so-called education, culture, fraternity-all these are bogus. Krishna consciousness is the right subject matter to be studied. Then society will be happy. Otherwise not. Thank you very much.
From: Journey of Self-Discovery by A.C.Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
Text courtesy of The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International, Inc. www.krishna.com. Used with permission.
A dhira, a sober man, will think, "I want to live eternally. Why does death take place? I want to live a very healthy life. Why does disease come? I don't want to become an old man. Why does old age come?" Janma-mrtyu-jara-vyadhi [Bg. 13.9]. These are real problems. One can solve these problems simply by taking to Krishna consciousness, simply by understanding Krishna. And for understanding Krishna, the Bhagavad-gita is there, very nicely explained. So make your life successful. Understand that you are not the body. You are embodied within the body, but you are not the body. For example, a bird may be within a cage, but the cage is not the bird. Foolish persons take care of the cage, not the bird, and the bird suffers starvation. So we are suffering spiritual starvation. Therefore nobody is happy in the material world. Spiritual starvation. That is why you see that in an opulent country like America-enough food, enough residences, enough material enjoyment-still they are becoming hippies. The young people are not satisfied, because of spiritual starvation. Materially you may be very opulent, but if you starve spiritually you cannot be happy.
A spiritual rejuvenation is required. You must realize, aham brahmasmi: "I am not this body; I am brahman, spiritual soul." Then you'll be happy. Brahma-bhutah prasannatma na socati na kanksati samah sarvesu bhutesu [Bg. 18.54]. Then there will be equality, fraternity, brotherhood. Otherwise it is all bogus-simply high-sounding words. There cannot be equality, fraternity, and so on without Krishna consciousness. Come to the spiritual platform; then you will see everyone equally. Otherwise you will think, "I am a human being with hands and legs, and the cow has no hands and legs. So let me kill the cow and eat it." Why? What right do you have to kill an animal? You have no vision of equality, for want of Krishna consciousness. Therefore, in this material world, so-called education, culture, fraternity-all these are bogus. Krishna consciousness is the right subject matter to be studied. Then society will be happy. Otherwise not. Thank you very much.
From: Journey of Self-Discovery by A.C.Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
Text courtesy of The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International, Inc. www.krishna.com. Used with permission.
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