View source for What is the value of this lump of matter? It will be thrown in the street, and somebody will kick on the face. Nobody will care. Nobody will care. But so long the soul is there, if you touch the hair even - "Why you are touching my hair?"

<div id="compilation">
<div id="facts">
{{terms|"what is the value of this lump of matter? It will be thrown in the street, and somebody will kick on the face. Nobody will care. Nobody will care. But so long the soul is there, if you touch the hair even"}}
{{notes|}}
{{compiler|Krsnadas}}
{{complete|ALL}}
{{first|30Oct12}}
{{last|30Oct12}}
{{totals_by_section|BG=0|SB=0|CC=0|OB=0|Lec=1|Con=0|Let=0}}
{{total|1}}
{{toc right}}
[[Category:what Is]]
[[Category:value]]
[[Category:this]]
[[Category:Lump of Matter]]
[[Category:will Be]]
[[Category:throw]]
[[Category:street]]
[[Category:somebody]]
[[Category:will]]
[[Category:Kick on the Face]]
[[Category:nobody]]
[[Category:will]]
[[Category:care]]
[[Category:but]]
[[Category:so Long]]
[[Category:souls]]
[[Category:is There]]
[[Category:if You]]
[[Category:touch]]
[[Category:hair]]
[[Category:even]]
[[Category:why]]
[[Category:you Are]]
[[Category:touch]]
[[Category:my]]
[[Category:Questions Posed by Srila Prabhupada]]
</div>
<div id="Lectures" class="section" sec_index="4" parent="compilation" text="Lectures"><h2>Lectures</h2>
</div>
<div id="Bhagavad-gita_As_It_Is_Lectures" class="sub_section" sec_index="0" parent="Lectures" text="Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures"><h3>Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures</h3>
</div>
<div id="LectureonBG211MauritiusOctober11975_0" class="quote" parent="Bhagavad-gita_As_It_Is_Lectures" book="Lec" index="50" link="Lecture on BG 2.11 -- Mauritius, October 1, 1975" link_text="Lecture on BG 2.11 -- Mauritius, October 1, 1975">
<div class="heading">What is this body? It is simply lump of matter. As soon as the soul is out of this body, what is the value of this lump of matter? It will be thrown in the street, and somebody will kick on the face. Nobody will care. Nobody will care. But so long the soul is there, if you touch the hair even—"Why you are touching my hair?" But when the soul is not there, on the same face, if somebody kicks, nobody will care. This is the position of the body.
</div>
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Lecture on BG 2.11 -- Mauritius, October 1, 1975|Lecture on BG 2.11 -- Mauritius, October 1, 1975]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">So here in this Bhagavad-gītā, that Bhagavān is giving you knowledge. So how much perfect it is, you have to consider. Vyāsadeva could have said, "śrī-vyāsadeva uvāca." No. Bhagavān uvāca, so authoritative. So whatever He says, there cannot be any change. It is all perfect. Unfortunately, we rascals, we do not take Bhagavad-gītā as it is. We want to change it according to our whims. This rascal havoc has ruined the whole world. Otherwise, if they would have preached Bhagavad-gītā as it is, the world situation would have been different. Everything would have been in order, tranquility, peace, and everybody would have been prosperous. But the rascals will not do that. That is the defect. Therefore our tiny effort is how to present Bhagavad-gītā as it is. This is our mission. If we take... Even now, in this distorted condition of the world, if we accept Bhagavad-gītā as it is, then still, we will be benefited. There is no doubt about it. Therefore our appeal is that throughout the whole world people should come, try to understand Bhagavad-gītā, and set up examples and do the needful. Then everything will be peaceful. This is the peace formula. Bhoktāraṁ yajña-tapasāṁ sarva-loka-maheśvaram, suhṛdaṁ sarva-bhūtānam ([[Vanisource:BG 5.29|BG 5.29]]). Suhṛdaṁ sarva-bhūtānam. Suhṛt means well-wisher. Well-wisher. Here is the supreme well-wisher. He wants, Kṛṣṇa wants that wherever you live, you live peacefully and happily; and therefore He is called suhṛt. He is desiring everyone's happiness. Therefore He comes Himself to advise, to instruct how to live, how to follow His instruction, and He leaves these behind Him, such books as Bhagavad-gītā, and He sends His representative occasionally to revive our consciousness. This business is going on, not only in the human society, even in the animal society. Anywhere, even in demigod society, things are going on like that. Therefore we should know, whatever Bhagavān says, there cannot be any mistake, any illusion, any cheating or any imperfectness. Then it will be very nice. And that is the fact. The word used, bhagavān uvāca, means this instruction is neither mistaken nor illusion nor cheating nor imperfect. Whatever we teach, we speak, we conditioned soul... As I said, that we are very much proud of our eyes, but we cannot see without sunrise... We cannot see without electricity. But that is our defect. We are possessing everything defective, still we are proud: "We are perfect." That is cheating. We are not perfect. But Kṛṣṇa, Bhagavān, is not like that. If we think Kṛṣṇa is also like us, avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā mānuṣīm... ([[Vanisource:BG 9.11|BG 9.11]]). Because He teaches exactly like a human being, He appears, therefore we think, "He may be little more intelligent than me. After all, He is like me." No. He is Bhagavān. We have to understand.</p>
<p>So the problem was that Arjuna was not willing to fight, considering his family members as not to be killed. Nobody, of course, should like to kill his family members, so that was natural. But this family relationship or national relationship, community relationship, this is due to this body. I accept somebody as my brother because he has got the body from the same father from whom I have got this body. But the body is by-product of the father's body. So this bodily relationship is material. Material means outward, external. It is not real relationship. The father is a soul, I am soul, my brother is a soul, so we are related on the spiritual platform in relationship with God because soul is not matter. Our material father is... Material father means we see the material body. We do not see the soul of the father, neither the father sees the soul of the son. Everyone under illusion we are simply seeing the body and accepting as kinsman. So this illusion was to be removed by Kṛṣṇa, and therefore He said, aśocyān anvaśocas tvam ([[Vanisource:BG 2.11|BG 2.11]]). "You are lamenting over the body. Oh, it is very regrettable. You are lamenting." Aśocyān anvaśocaḥ. What is this body? It is simply lump of matter. As soon as the soul is out of this body, what is the value of this lump of matter? It will be thrown in the street, and somebody will kick on the face. Nobody will care. Nobody will care. But so long the soul is there, if you touch the hair even—"Why you are touching my hair?" But when the soul is not there, on the same face, if somebody kicks, nobody will care. This is the position of the body. Therefore it is said, aśocyān: "It is garbage. Why you are lamenting on this garbage?" Aśocyān anvaśocas tvam ([[Vanisource:BG 2.11|BG 2.11]]). "You are talking, very learned man, that 'If I kill my brothers the, my brothers' wives will be widow, and there will be prostitution and then the whole family will go to ruin.' These are all external condition." He...</p>
<p>This is real education, that "You are thinking on terms of the body; therefore it is not very important subject matter." Real subject matter—what will happen to the soul—that is real, important. But whole world, they do not know what is the important platform. All rascals, they are concerned with this body. That is not wonderful; that is natural. Even if we know, still, if there is some bodily pain we become very much disturbed. But we should know, always remember, that "I am not this body." The same example, that I have got a very nice car, Rolls Royce car, I have got attachment, that is all right, but we should know always that "I am not this Rolls Royce car. I am different from it." This is knowledge. "I may have some attachment for my car. That is natural. I have paid for it. I like it. But in spite of all these consideration I am not the Rolls Royce car. The Rolls Royce car is a lump of matter. I am using it." Similarly, we should always remember that "I am using this material body for my transaction, different transaction, but I am not this material body." But a devotee, he uses this material body, utilizes it properly. Just like we are also going by aeroplane, by motorcar, but we have no concern with the... I have come to you country by aeroplane not to see your country. I have come for Kṛṣṇa's business: to see if I can induce you to Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Otherwise we have no concern with this aeroplane or motorcar or anything. We take advantage. Similarly, when we take advantage of this body for advancing in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then it is very nice. Nirbandhaḥ kṛṣṇa-sambandhe. That is also renouncement. He has no attachment. He simply uses things. Then that thing becomes spiritual. Actually it is spiritual, and when it is not used for spiritual purpose or Kṛṣṇa's purpose, it is material, the same thing. What is the difference between material and spiritual? That is, a picture is there. There are so many pictures. People may say that "Here is the same picture. Why these people are worshiping and offering ārati and chanting?" But this picture is spiritual because it enhances or enthuses a spiritual consciousness. Therefore it is spiritual. Of course, it is not very easy to understand immediately, but on the ultimate issue, everything is created by Kṛṣṇa, or God, so by seeing everything, if you remember Kṛṣṇa, then that is spiritual. That is spiritual. So anyway, for ordinary man this does not happen.</p>
<p>Therefore Kṛṣṇa says that "You are lamenting for the body. Oh, it is very astonishing. And you are talking like a very learned man." Everyone you will find talking, very learned man. He knows something, but ask him, "What you are?" "I am Indian." "I am American. I am Mr. Such and such. I am father of such and such." This is bodily... However great he may be, he is identified with the body. And according to śāstra, so long we shall identify with this body, we are not better than the cats and dogs because they also identify with the body. Therefore Kṛṣṇa says, aśocyān anvaśocas tvaṁ prajñā-vādāṁś ca bhāṣase ([[Vanisource:BG 2.11|BG 2.11]]). "Why? I am wrong?" Yes. Because gatāsūn agatāsūṁś ca. The body, whether with the soul or without the soul, it is material. So so long even the soul is there, we should not be very much interested with the bodily comforts. We should be interested how to make progress in spiritual consciousness. And general people, they are simply engaged to get bodily comforts. The whole world is going on. The material civilization means bodily comfort. They are increasing their activities how to... They take it as civilization that to increase the bodily comforts of life. That is their idea. But they do not know that even if we are able to increase to the largest extent our bodily comfort, the body will not exist. It will die. But we do not see to that, that "Never mind. We shall die. So long we live..." Yāvad jīvet sukhaṁ jīvet. "So long we live, let us live very happily." So it is a great science. They do not know that... You may think that you are living very happily, but you have to change this body, and that body may not be very happy. That they do not know. This is ignorance, moha. Mohitaṁ nābhijānāti. Being bewildered by the three modes of material nature, they do not know what is the actual fact. Therefore we have to learn from the perfect person, Kṛṣṇa, what is this position. Here it is said that aśocyān anvaśocas tvaṁ prajñā-vādāṁś ca bhāṣase gatāsūn agatāsūṁś ca nānu... ([[Vanisource:BG 2.11|BG 2.11]]). "This is not the subject matter of eulogizing or lamenting. The subject matter should be different. That is soul." Then He will explain, next verse.</p>
</div>
</div>
</div>