arvasya cāhaṁ hṛdi sanniviṣṭhaḥ (BG 15.15), everyone's heart He is situated, and He gives direction to act as he desires. The living entity forgets what to do. First of all he makes his determination to act in a certain way, and then he is entangled in the actions and reactions of his own karma. But after giving up one type of body, when he enters another type of body... Just like we give up one kind of dress, one type of dress, for another type of dress, similarly, it is explained in this Bhagavad-gītā that vāsāṁsi jīrṇāni yathā vihāya (BG 2.22). One, as one changes his different dresses, similarly the living entities, they are also changing different bodies, transmigration of the soul, and pulling on the actions and reactions of his past activities.
BG 02.22 vasamsi jirnani yatha vihaya... cited
Expressions researched:
"As a person puts on new garments, giving up old ones"
|"anyani samyati navani dehi"
|"navani grhnati naro 'parani"
|"tatha sarirani vihaya jirnany"
|"the soul similarly accepts new material bodies"
|"vasamsi jirnani yatha vihaya"
Bhagavad-gita As It Is
BG Chapters 1 - 6
As a person puts on new garments, giving up old ones, the soul similarly accepts new material bodies, giving up the old and useless ones.
Change of body by the atomic individual soul is an accepted fact. Even 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 a previous verse (2.13).
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 Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad, as well as the Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad, 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 (Kṛṣṇa) 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. Kṛṣṇa 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 jīva 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 Kṛṣṇa for instruction—the subordinate bird immediately becomes free from all lamentations. Both the Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad (3.1.2) and Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad (4.7) confirm this:
- samāne vṛkṣe puruṣo nimagno
- 'nīśayā śocati muhyamānaḥ
- juṣṭaṁ yadā paśyaty anyam īśam
- asya mahimānam iti vīta-śokaḥ
"Although the two birds are in the same tree, the eating bird is fully engrossed with anxiety and moroseness as the enjoyer of the fruits of the tree. But if in some way or other he turns his face to his friend who is the Lord and knows His glories—at once the suffering bird becomes free from all anxieties." Arjuna has now turned his face towards his eternal friend, Kṛṣṇa, and is understanding the Bhagavad-gītā from Him. And thus, hearing from Kṛṣṇa, he can understand the supreme glories of the Lord and be free from lamentation.
Arjuna is advised herewith by the Lord not to lament for the bodily change of his old grandfather and his teacher. He should rather be happy to kill their bodies in the righteous fight so that they may be cleansed at once of all reactions from various bodily activities. One who lays down his life on the sacrificial altar, or in the proper battlefield, is at once cleansed of bodily reactions and promoted to a higher status of life. So there was no cause for Arjuna's lamentation.
Srimad-Bhagavatam
SB Canto 9
Since that time, no male had entered that forest. But now King Sudyumna, having been transformed into a female, began to walk with his associates from one forest to another.
In Bhagavad-gītā (2.22) it is said:
- vāsāṁsi jīrṇāni yathā vihāya
- navāni gṛhṇāti naro 'parāṇi
- tathā sarīrāṇi vihāya jīrṇāny
- anyāni saṁyāti navāni dehī
"As a person puts on new garments, giving up old ones, the soul accepts new material bodies, giving up the old and useless ones."
The body is just like a dress, and here this is proved. Sudyumna and his associates were all male, which means that their souls were covered by male dress, but now they became female, which means that their dress was changed. The soul, however, remains the same. It is said that by modern medical treatment a male can be transformed into a female, and a female into a male. The body, however, has no connection with the soul. The body can be changed, either in this life or the next.
Lectures
Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures
Spirit soul is evergreen. The body is changing. That is to be understood. Body is changing. That everyone can understand. Just like in your childhood your body was different. Just like this child, a different body. And when that child will be young girl, that will be a different body. But the spirit soul is there in this body and that body. So this is the proof that spirit soul does not change, the body changed. This is the proof. I am thinking of my childhood. That means I am the same "I" which I was existing in my childhood, and I remember in my childhood I was doing this, I did that. But that childhood body is no longer. That is gone. Therefore it is conclusion that my body has changed, but I am the same. Is it not? This is simple truth. So this body will change, still I shall remain. I may enter into another body, that doesn't matter, but I shall remain. Tathā dehāntara-prāptir dhīras tatra na muhyati (BG 2.13). As I am changing my body even in the present circumstances, similarly, the ultimate change does not mean I am dead. I enter into another... That also explained, vāsāṁsi jīrṇāni yathā (BG 2.22), that I change.
The purpose of Kṛṣṇa, to teach all these things to Arjuna... Because he was very much perplexed how he would live, killing all his kinsmen, brothers. So Kṛṣṇa wanted to point out that "Your brothers, your grandfather, they'll not die. They'll simply transfer the body. Vāsāṁsi jīrṇāni yathā vihāya (BG 2.22). As we change our dress, similarly we change our bodies also like that. There is nothing to be lamented." In another place, Bhagavad-gītā, therefore, it is said, brahma-bhūta (SB 4.30.20). "One who has understood Brahman," prasannātmā, "he's always joyful.
So one after another, we are trying to have some material profit, some material adoration, material reputation. And therefore we are having different types of body. And it is going on. Actually this acceptance of body does not mean I die. I am there. In subtle form, I am there. Na jāyate na mriyate. Therefore there is no question of birth and death. It is simply transformation of the body. Vāsāṁsi jīrṇāni yathā vihāya (BG 2.22), as it will be explained in the next verse:
- vāsāṁsi jīrṇāni yathā vihāya
- navāni gṛhṇāti naro 'parāṇi
- tathā śarīrāṇi vihāya jīrṇāny
- anyāni saṁyāti navāni dehī
- (BG 2.22)
Dehī, the living entity, simply changing the dress. It is the dress. This body is dress. Now the question is... Just like there was some discussion that the spirit has no form. How it can be? If this is, this body is my dress, how I have no form? How the dress has got form? My coat or shirt has got a form because my body has got a form. I have got two hands. Therefore my dress, my coat, has also two hands. My shirt has also two hands. So if this is dress, this body, as it is described in the Bhagavad-gītā—vāsāṁsi jīrṇāni yathā vihāya (BG 2.22)—so if it is dress, then I must have a form. Otherwise how this dress is made? It is very logical conclusion and very easy to understand.
So every one of us is spiritually hungry. What these people will do by washing the coat and shirt? There cannot be any peace. The so-called humanitarian service means they are washing this vāsāṁsi jīrṇāni. That's all. And death means... It is explained very nicely that when the dress, your dress, my dress, becomes too old, we change it. Similarly, birth and death means changing the dress. It is very clearly explained. Vāsāṁsi jīrṇāni yathā vihāya (BG 2.22). Jīrṇāni, old dress, old garment, we throw it away, and take another new dress, new garment. Similarly, vāsāṁsi jīrṇāni yathā vihāya navāni gṛhṇāti. A new, fresh dress. Similarly, I am old man.
Viṣṇujana: 22: "As a person puts on a new garment, giving up old ones, similarly the soul accepts new material bodies, giving up the old and useless one (BG 2.22)." Purport.
Prabhupāda: In a different way, in varied ways, Kṛṣṇa is trying to make us understand the constitutional position of the soul.
Pradyumna: "O Pārtha, how can a person who knows that the soul is indestructible, unborn, eternal and immutable kill anyone or cause anyone to kill?"
"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."
Prabhupāda:
- vedāvināśinaṁ nityaṁ
- ya enam ajam avyayam
- kathaṁ sa puruṣaḥ pārtha
- kaṁ ghātayati hanti kam
- (BG 2.21)
- vāsāṁsi jīrṇāni yathā vihāya
- navāni gṛhṇāti naro 'parāṇi
- tathā śarīrāṇi vihāya jīrṇāny
- anyāni saṁyāti navāni dehī
- (BG 2.22)
So this is another way of convincing that... Very simple thing. Anyone can understand. Vāsāṁsi jīrṇāni yathā vihāya. As our garments, coats and shirts, when they are old, rotten, no more usable, so we throw it away and get a new garment, shirt, coat. Similarly, the soul is changing garment from childhood, from babyhood.
So whole universe is being managed by God's assistant, according to the Brahmā, the most powerful assistant. Tene brahma hṛdā ya ādi-kavaye muhyanti yat sūrayaḥ (SB 1.1.1). In the Brahmā's heart also, tene brahma hṛdā, hṛdā, again hṛdā. Because Brahmā was alone, so what to do? Brahmā was perplexed. But Kṛṣṇa gave instruction, "You do, you create this universe like this." Buddhi-yogaṁ dadāmi tam, "I give intelligence." So everything is there. Everything is there, Kṛṣṇa is always with you. If you want to go back to home, back to Godhead, then Kṛṣṇa is ready to give you all instruction. "Yes, yena mām upayānti te." He gives instruction, "Yes, you do like this. Then you will finished, your, this material business, and after giving up this body, you'll come to Me." But if you want to continue this material existence, then vāsāṁsi jīrṇāni yathā vihāya (BG 2.22), you have to accept one body; and when it is no more usable, then you have to give up this body and accept another body. This is continuation of material existence.
Prabhupāda:
- vāsāṁsi jīrṇāni yathā vihāya
- navāni gṛhṇāti naro 'parāṇi
- tathā śarīrāṇi vihāya jīrṇāny
- anyāni saṁyāti navāni dehī
- (BG 2.22)
So this verse we discussed last morning. That this body is just like dress. This is not our real identification. I am thinking "I am American," "I am Indian," "I am African," "I am Russian," "I am brāhmaṇa," "I am kṣatriya," "I am śūdra," "I am Andhra-pradesh," "I am Bengali." These are all nonsense. But on this nonsense idea the whole world is going on. So how there can be real knowledge? The basic principle of knowledge is ignorance. Andha. The man who is leading, he is blind. How he can lead? This is the position. Andhā yathāndhair upanīyamānās te 'pīśa-tantryām uru-dāmni baddhāḥ (SB 7.5.31).
Take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness and be happy. This is not an ordinary movement. People are suffering actually for want of spiritual life, spiritual understanding. So the basic principle of spiritual understanding is to know one's self. Ahaṁ brahmāsmi. Ahaṁ brahmāsmi. That, to come to that point, Kṛṣṇa is explaining that this body is like the dress, and the person who is dressed, that is within the dress. Dehino 'smin yathā dehe (BG 2.13). Here also, it is said, tathā śarīrāṇi vihāya jīrṇāny anyāni saṁyāti navāni dehī. Very simple thing. There is no difficulty. But the so-called scientists, philosophers, educationists, they will not believe that there is soul. They, they'll not believe. They'll simply argue. They cannot establish the real fact, how this body is moving. There are so many theories.
So the Bhagavad-gītā is the only book in the world which teaches to educate these cows and asses to human life. This mass of cows and asses are to be trained with these teachings of Bhagavad-gītā. It is the beginning, that vāsāṁsi jīrṇāni yathā vihāya navāni gṛhṇāti naro 'parāṇi (BG 2.22). This vāsāṁsi, this body, can be changed. Suppose now you are very much a great enemy of Pakistan. Take, for example... I am not... Or Pakistan is thinking "Oh, India, Hindustan, is our great enemy." What is this Hindustan and Pakistan or Russia? This is this body. Next life, you can take birth in Russia, or you can take birth in... There is no certainty.
The whole activities, human society's activities, should be targeted how to get rid of this repetition of birth and death. That is real civilization. Not that "Let me live like a cat and dog and die like a cat and dog, and never mind what is happening next." This is a civilization of ignorance. This is not a civilization of knowledge. They are... Here is knowledge, that "I am trying to protect my body, this dress. I am every day soaping my garment, but I am not taking any food. How shall I... How long shall I live with this nice dress?" So one should understand this verse very seriously. Vāsāṁsi jīrṇāni yathā vihāya navāni gṛhṇāti naro 'parāṇi (BG 2.22). It has been especially mentioned: nara. Nara means human being. The cats and dogs, they are changing their body, the same process, but they cannot understand.
The people, they do not know it. They are thinking that "Whatever I am acquiring in this body, that will go with me, or I shall be happy with these acquisitions." That is called illusion, māyā. Because they have no knowledge that "I am spirit soul. I am changing this position of different bodies." Vāsāṁsi jīrnāṇi yathā vihāya (BG 2.22). Just like we change our dresses. This knowledge is lacking in the present civilization. They want to make permanent settlement here, but forget that "Any moment, I shall be kicked out of this situation. I shall have to accept another situation." That is the lack of education in the modern civilization. They are accepting something temporary as permanent settlement. This is called illusion.
Suppose I have passed my M.A. examination, and in the, in the university, in the convocation meeting, I get the degree and people applauses me; but if one is situated in consciousness, he will understand, "What is this degree? This degree is due to my this body. As soon as this body finishes, all these degree will finish. Because, if it is a fact that vāsāṁsi jīrṇāni yathā vihāya (BG 2.22), if I have to take another body after leaving this body, then everything in bodily connection will finish as soon as I give up this body and take up another body. That is my position." Therefore, one who is convinced, one who knows actually that "I am not this body; I am pure consciousness," so these degrees... Or some good, palatable foodstuff. I have been offered by some friend. I am eating. "Oh," I am thinking, "oḥ, how happy I am!" But what is that happiness? That happiness is due to my tongue only, but I am not this tongue. So these things are, will appear, one who is purely consciousness. You see? But that, that does not mean that I shall not eat or I shall not associate in the society. No. I shall be. Everything I shall be, but I must always know that "I am aloof from this. My position is that I am subordinate to the Supreme Consciousness, and I, I have to act in that position."
Our, our position as living entity... We are also eternal. Just like God is eternal, similarly, we are also eternal. But the difficulty is that we change our body. We change our body. Vāsāṁsi jīrṇāni yathā vihāya (BG 2.22). Just like we change our dress, similarly, we change our body. And as soon as we change our body, now, we forget everything. Death means forgetfulness. That's all. Just like at night, when you sleep, you forget yourself. You forget yourself that "I am the father of such and such children, I am the husband of such and such..." You dream that you are in a different place. Sometimes you are on the sea, sometimes on the sky, sometimes on something. You forget yourself. You forget yourself. Again, when you wake up, oh, you remember, "Oh, I am such and such person. I have to do such and such and such and such..." So this is going on. So death means forgetfulness. That's all.
That is the difference between God and the living entity. We had our past life, because dehāntara-prāptiḥ (BG 2.13), we have changed our body. And we shall change this body also. after annihilation of this body.... Vāsāṁsi jīrṇāni yathā vihāya (BG 2.22). Old garments, old cloth, when it is too old, unuseable, then we give it up. We accept another new cloth. Similarly, when this body becomes unuseable, then we change our body. We get another new body. This is the way of transmigration of the soul. This is a fact.
Ordinarily, when we give up these bodies, we quit this body, we have to accept another body. Vāsāṁsi jīrṇāni yathā vihāya (BG 2.22). We have discussed this point that we living entities, our life is going on simply by changing dresses from one body to another, transmigration of the soul according to our work. So this, this body is dress. Therefore I have got an actual body. Just like at the present moment we think, "This material body is my actual body and there is dress, shirt and coat. The shirt and coat is superficial to this actual body." But here in the Bhagavad-gītā you'll find that we have got our real, spiritual body, separate from the material covering. And as we give up old garments, old dress, and take up another, new dress, another new garment, similarly, we give up this body, material body when it is old enough, when it cannot be used or... Then we give it up, and we take another body. And this change of body is going on every moment and every second. This point also we have discussed.
We also require to open hospitals. And what is that hospital? To cure this material disease, not this temporary disease. Again we may be attacked. The complete cure of material disea... That sort of hospital will be required. That hospital is this Kṛṣṇa consciousness society. If we take treatment under this Kṛṣṇa consciousness society, then we shall be cured of this material disease.
Otherwise, we shall be again attacked with some kind of body. Vāsāṁsi jīrṇāni yathā vihāya (BG 2.22). Just like we change our dresses from one dress to another, similarly, this body to another body, transmigration of the soul. But we are meant for now completely ceasing to have any material body in the next life. That should be our aim of life. That is called... That knowledge is called the purest knowledge. Na hi jñānena sadṛśaṁ pavitram iha... That knowledge is the purest knowledge. Tat svayaṁ yoga-saṁsiddhaḥ kālena ātmani vindati (BG 4.38).
Dhīraḥ, those who are actually learned, sober, he is not agitated by the death of a man because he knows that the soul has now changed this body to another body, just like he was changing from child's body to baby's body, baby's body to boy's body, boy's body to youth's body, from youth to old man's body. Now, from this old man's body, now the body cannot be used. Vāsāṁsi jīrṇāni yathā vihāya (BG 2.22).
According to Lord Buddha's philosophy, that this body is combination of matter... So when we dismantle the matter, nirvāṇa, then there is no more feelings of pains and pleasures. That is called śūnyavādi. But we are neither śūnyavādī or nirviśeṣa-vādī. We are saviśeṣa-vādīs. Saviśeṣa-vādi means that the spirit soul has got its form, and this body has got form. Just like dress takes its form because the man has got a form. This body is considered as dress. Vāsāṁsi jīrṇāni yathā vihāya (BG 2.22). We are changing our dresses as much as we change our old dress to new ones. Old order changes, yielding place to new. So this body, because we, in our spiritual body we have got form, hands and legs, therefore we develop a material body which has got hands, legs, etc. That we can understand very easily. Just like your coat and shirt cannot have hands and legs without you having your hands and legs; similarly, this material body which is considered as dress means it has developed on the personal body of the spiritual form. This is called saviśeṣa-vāda.
As soon as your body is finished, everything is finished. Your education finished, your M.A. degree finished, your bank balance finished, and everything, your family finished—everything finished. Now again begin life. Vāsāṁsi jīrṇāni yathā vihāya (BG 2.22).
There are six symptoms of presentation of, presence of the soul. Growth is one of the important. So growth. As soon as the soul is out of this body, no more growth. If the child comes dead, oh, there will be no growth. Oh, the parents will say it is useless. Throw it. So similarly, Lord Kṛṣṇa gave the first example to Arjuna that, "Don't think that the spiritual spark which is within the body, due to his presence, the body is growing from childhood to boyhood, boyhood to youthhood, from youthhood to old age. So therefore, when this body becomes useless, imperceptibly, the soul gives up this body." Vāsāṁsi jīrṇāni yathā vihāya (BG 2.22). Just like we give up old dress and take another new dress, similarly, we accept another body.
Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures
So it is a great science, how the soul, living soul, is in contact with this material body and how he is transmigrating from one body to another. The example is given just like vāsāṁsi jīrṇāni yathā vihāya (BG 2.22).
Upādhi, now we are covered by designation. The same example-vāsāṁsi jīrṇāni yathā vihāya (BG 2.22). We are dressed in two kinds of subtle and gross dresses, this material body and mind, intelligence, ego. So when we become free from these designations, sarvopādhi-vinirmuktam tat-paratvena nirmalam. And you become purified, nirmala. Mal means dirt and nirmala means without any dirt, without any dirty things, simply spiritual.
There is spiritual body. That we do not know. There is no education. We have got spiritual body. That spiritual body is covered by this material layer. Just like your body is covered by shirt and coat, vāsāṁsi jīrṇāni yathā vihāya (BG 2.22). Everything explained. We are simply giving up. One dress is now old and rotten; we throw it away and accept another dress. Similarly, this body, when it is not workable—it is old enough; the physiological function is not going on nicely—then there is change of body. Arjuna was advised that "Why you are lamenting for your old grandfather? Better kill him. He will get a new body. He will get a new body." Of course, it was spoken jokingly because grandfather... So, but the fact is that. Fact is that, that the, after the old body... Just like we have got several types of body: babyhood to childhood, child to boyhood, youth-hood, old body. Then after this, he is... Vāsāṁsi jīrṇāni yathā vihāya (BG 2.22). When we give up this body as dress, old and rotten, we get another. This is going on. But this is anartha. Anartha means unnecessarily we are undergoing this change of body. Anartha. If you want to stop it anarthopaśamaṁ sākṣāt, directly, immediately, what is that? Bhakti-yogam. Anarthopaśamaṁ sākṣād bhakti-yogam adhokṣaje (SB 1.7.6).
So the idea is that the man's body can be transformed into woman's body, and a woman's body can be transformed into man's body. Because we are not this body, dress. Suppose I have got this dress. This man's dress I can transform into woman's dress with a sari; but that does not mean I am woman. So every one of us living entities, we are part and parcel of the Supreme Lord. The outward dress, man and woman, that is dress. Vāsāṁsi jīrṇāni yathā vihāya (BG 2.22). We are changing this dress. So in this material world, because our mentality is to enjoy, therefore he is called puruṣa. Puruṣaḥ prakṛti-stho hi bhuṅkte prakṛti-jān guṇān (BG 13.22).
So viduro 'pi parityajya prabhāse deham ātmanaḥ. Deha, parityajya deham. So we give up this body. I am not lost; I am transferred to another body. We give up this body. Just like I give up one kind of dress; I take another kind of dress. Vāsāṁsi jīrṇāni yathā vihāya (BG 2.22).
Now, that is not in your hand, how to accept. That is, that will depend on your nature, karmaṇā daiva-netreṇa, and nature will give you the suitable body. So if you waste your time in this human form of life like cats and dogs, then you are going to get... Otherwise, wherefrom the cats and dogs are coming? They are coming... Vāsāṁsi jīrṇāni yathā vihāya (BG 2.22).
We are changing our body every moment. So similarly, at the ultimate end of this body, when this body is no more useful Because, after all, it is machine. Just like your car, your car or any other machine, if it goes for long time it becomes useless. That is the nature of anything material. In the beginning it is very nice. It is new. Just like this body, my body. When I was a baby I might have been very nice, beautiful, a child. Now it is becoming old and ugly. So this is the nature of..., this is the nature of material thing, that anything material, that will deteriorate, one after another, one after So when this body is completely deteriorated, there is no, there is no more chance of prolonging it, then we accept another body. And the example is vāsāṁsi jīrṇāni yathā vihāya (BG 2.22). Just like we change our dress when the dress is old enough or dirty, we give it up and accept another dress. So this is going on.
Dehino 'smin yathā dehe kaumāraṁ yauvanaṁ jarā, tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ: (BG 2.13) "As you are changing your body from childhood to boyhood, boyhood..." It is very simple philosophy. The rascal will not understand. I am changing my body. You may say "Growth or..." But it is changed. I had a childhood body; that body is different from my this present body. It is changed. Therefore I have already changed my body so many ways, so many times. And I change my body after this body is no more useful. That is going on. No more useful. That is the... The example is given. I am putting on this sweater, but when it is torn, no more useful, I get it up. I get another, new. Vāsāṁsi jīrṇāni yathā vihāya navāni gṛhṇāti naro 'parāṇi (BG 2.22). Everything is clearly stated.
So anyway, qualitatively, we are one with God. Therefore our business is how to again unite with God qualitatively. That is the highest perfection of human life. And this chance of realization, how we can unite again with God or Kṛṣṇa, is given only in the human form of life. We are wandering in so many species of life, transmigration of the soul. Vāsāṁsi jīrṇāni yathā vihāya (BG 2.22). Just we change our dress, similarly we are changing our body every moment, and finally we are changing to other body. Not only we are changing or transmigrating from one body to another, but we are transmigrating from one planet to another. These things are all explained in the Bhagavad-gītā.
So when Kṛṣṇa says that after giving up this body... But this body is plastic body. Just like you have got cotton shirt or plastic shirt or so many. You can give it up. That does not mean you die. That is also explained in the Bhagavad-gītā: vāsāṁsi jīrṇāni yathā vihāya (BG 2.22). As one gives up old garment for a new one, similarly, death means to give up this plastic body and take another plastic body.
Nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām (Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.13). Nitya, we living entities, we are nitya. Na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). We do not die. Na jāyate na mriyate vā. Neither we take birth or we die. We simply change the body. Vāsāṁsi jīrṇāni yathā vihāya (BG 2.22). As old garments, old shirts and coats, we change, similarly, when this body becomes old enough, not to be used, we change to another body. Tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ (BG 2.13). This is real knowledge.
Original body is within this material body. That is spiritual body. Asmin dehe dehinaḥ. Dehino 'smin, tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ (BG 2.13), asmin dehinaḥ. So the spiritual body is actually the body, and this material body is covering. It is explained in different way in the Bhagavad-gītā. Vāsāṁsi jīrṇāni yathā vihāya (BG 2.22). This material body is just like dress. The dress... I am putting on the shirt, you are putting on the shirt and coat. That is not very important thing. The important thing is the body within the shirt. Similarly, this material body is simply outward covering of the spiritual body by physical atmosphere, but real body is within. Dehino 'smin yathā dehe (BG 2.13).
Dhīra, one who is cool-headed. Not a passionate(?), crazy fellow, but cool-headed. Dhīras tatra na muhyati. He can understand that as one passes through different bodies, baby's to childhood, childhood to boyhood, boyhood to youthhood, then old age, similarly, this body, when it will be no more existing, na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20), the body may be destroyed, but the soul will continue to exist. This is the Vedic principle of knowledge. This is called spiritual knowledge. Spiritual knowledge does not mean anything else. To understand the spiritual, constitutional position of the living entity, that is called spiritual. And at the present moment, by constitution, my position is that I never die or I never take birth. But because I have accepted this material body, therefore I have to change. Vāsāṁsi jīrṇāni yathā vihāya (BG 2.22). Just like we change our garments. I am putting on this garment. When it is old or not usable, I give it up. I accept another coat or shirt. Similarly, we have got coat and shirt over our position as soul. The shirt is the subtle body: mind, intelligence, and ego. And the gross coat is made of five elements: earth, water, fire, air, sky. In these two coverings, I, the soul, I am existing.
Suppose I have got some comfortable situation as born as American. How long shall I remain American? Say, fifty years or hundred years. That's all. Then finish. Get out of the skyscraper building. Throw away your motorcar. Go to the graveyard. And then, what is next life? That I do not know. That I do not know. The life is continuous. Vāsāṁsi jīrnāṇi yathā vihāya (BG 2.22). I am changing my dress. Supposing I have got very nice, good dress, American body, very fair complexion, comfortable life, all these things. That's all right. But do you think what is your next dress? Are you going, are you sure that you are going to be American again? Who can say? Is there any scientist? Is there any astrologer who can say, "Yes"? No. Nobody can say.
Every material things deteriorate and it becomes useless at certain length of time. Any machine, any clock... Therefore it has been taken as dress: vāsāṁsi jīrṇāni yathā vihāya (BG 2.22).
So there is future life. You should take it. You should try to understand it. It is not very difficult, but by the modern education we have become so dull-headed, we cannot understand the simple truth that we have to change this body. Vāsāṁsi jīrṇāni yathā vihāya (BG 2.22). So this is a fact. You take it. So we must have the next life at least without any danger. Not to go to the hellish planet. At least remain in this planet. That we can do.
So under this misconception of life we are simply acting inauspiciously. Why inauspiciously? Because we are working blindly. We do not know what is my next life, or we do not believe in next life. But you believe or not believe; next life is there. As the child has his next life, the boy has his next life, the youth has his next life, similarly, the old man has got his next life. You believe or not believe; you have to accept next life. Vāsāṁsi jīrṇāni yathā vihāya (BG 2.22). This is real education. You have to accept the next life. Now, what kind of next life you will get, you have to prepare in this life. That is auspicious. That is bhadrāṇi.
So this sleeping, our daily sleeping is also a sample of death. We are experiencing for 12 hours only or 10 hours only, but this death means you'll have to sleep for seven months, then when you wake up you'll see that you have got another body. That's all. Just like you are getting every moment a different body, similarly, death, birth and death means to change this body and to get another, new body. Vāsāṁsi jīrṇāni yathā vihāya (BG 2.22). The Bhagavad-gītā says that just like we change one set of garment which is not usable. We throw it away and take another set of garment, similarly, when this body is old enough, it cannot be pulled on, the machine has gone wrong, it cannot work anymore, that is called death.
In the Bhagavad-gītā you'll find that the living entity never is born, neither never dies. Na hanyamāne hanyate, hanyamāne śarīre. Then "I see that he is dying." Oh, that is dying not, that is his finishing his this present body. The example is given, vāsāṁsi jīrṇāni yathā vihāya (BG 2.22). Just like one person changes his dress, similarly, when this dress, the present body, is unworkable... Just like one man cannot see. What do you mean by "cannot see"? When the power of vision is no longer working or the spectacle is broken, therefore he cannot see. Similarly, when the all the senses will be broken or cannot work... Just like eye cannot, the eyes cannot work, therefore it is blind, similarly, the hand cannot work, the leg cannot work, the tongue cannot work because at the last stage when this mechanical arrangement of this body will stop to function, that is called death. That you try to understand, that as because I cannot see, it does not mean I am dead. Similarly, because the senses of the body cannot function, that also does not mean that I am dead. It is to be understood with little intelligence and with cool head.
Festival Lectures
Do not think that there is no next life. Next life, every moment we are changing our body. You know that when your body was a baby, that body was very small. Now that body is no longer there. When you were a boy there was another body. That body is no longer there. Now you are young man there is another body, and when you'll become old man like me, you'll have another body. This means that we are changing bodies in every moment, every second, imperceptibly, but I, the spirit soul, exist in all circumstances. Therefore it is natural to conclude that after leaving this body I shall have another body. That's a fact. That is Vedic truth. Vāsāṁsi jīrṇāni yathā vihāya (BG 2.22). The example is given that as we change our dresses; similarly, we are changing our dresses from one body to another. We have changed dresses as aquatic animals, as many fishes and aquatic animals as there are in the sea, then we are change bodies as creepers, plants and trees for many, many years.
General Lectures
Student (4): When some new animal or person is born, is the soul always a reincarnation of some previous soul, or can it be that a new soul has...
Prabhupāda: No. The same soul is changing, just like you are changing your dress. Now you are in some colored dress. You may have some white dress or some red dress. Similarly, vāsāṁsi jīrṇāni yathā vihāya (BG 2.22). As soon as your dress is old enough, you cannot use it any more, you have to change the dress. Similarly, the present body, as soon as it is no more workable, you have to accept another body. Now, taking it accepted as dress, that the next body means next dress, so that dress will be offered according to the payment, or according to your work. If you have worked just like a god, then you get the dress of a god, and if you have worked like a dog, then you'll get the dress of a dog.
So we are passing through many phases of life, different dresses. Vāsāṁsi. Bhagavad-gītā says, vāsāṁsi jīrṇāni yathā vihāya (BG 2.22). Just like I am putting on this dress. If it is dirty or if it is very old, then I change; I accept another dress. Similarly, this body is also like that. When it is dirty or when it is old enough, not to be used, then we change to another body, and this body we leave. This is the whole instruction of all Vedic literature.
Body is already there. Spiritual body is already there. Just like from Bhagavad-gītā we understand that this body is dress. Just try to understand. Vāsāṁsi jīrṇāni yathā vihāya (BG 2.22). The Bhagavad-gītā says that "As we give up old dress and accept another new dress, similarly, we give up one body and accept another body." Now, if this body is dress, so dress cannot stand without real body. Now, one dress is moving, coat-pant. That means that within that dress there is a man, not that automatically the coat-pant is moving. Similarly, this dress is standing so long the soul is there.
As soon as the soul is gone, it is flat, no more moving. This is very easy to understand. It is dress, but dress is moving. Just like coat-pant moving, how long? The real man is there. If the man is not there, finished. The coat is coat; pant is pant. That's all. It is so simply given in the Bhagavad-gītā. Vāsāṁsi jīrṇāni yathā vihāya (BG 2.22). It is dress. So dress means there is real body. Otherwise how dress can be made? Because you have got this hand, therefore your coat has got a hand. Because you have got leg, therefore your dress, pant, has got a leg. So if it is dress, then it is to be understood that within the dress the spiritual body is there. It is common affair. First of all try to understand this.
Hearing about Kṛṣṇa, about Kṛṣṇa's appearance, His so-called janma... Janma means birth. So Kṛṣṇa is unborn. He is nityo nityānām. He's... Just like we have no janma, we have no appearance. It is simply change of dress. It is not death. As it is explained in the Bhagavad-gītā that vāsāṁsi jīrṇāni yathā vihāya (BG 2.22)—if I change my dress, that is not my death. This is easily understood.
The chance of human body which you have got now to develop Kṛṣṇa consciousness, if you misuse it and indulge in sinful life, then next life is waiting as cats and dogs. That is nature's law. But if we forget the nature's law, if you simply become puffed-up by false education, that is another thing. You can do that. But real fact is this: vāsāṁsi jīrṇāni yathā vihāya (BG 2.22).
- dehino 'smin yathā dehe
- kaumāraṁ yauvanaṁ jarā
- tathā dehāntara-prāptir
- dhīras tatra na muhyati
- (BG 2.13)
You have to change this dress. You have to change this body. And next body is depending on your activities. If you act sinfully, then you have to take the body, by force of nature, as cats and dogs. That is certain. Don't risk your life.
We are simply changing dress. On account of changing dress, we think that we are dying and taking birth. Vāsāṁsi jīrṇāni yathā vihāya (BG 2.22). Just this verse we were discussing this morning. So all living entities are sons of God, Kṛṣṇa. Therefore those who are advanced in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, they are called paṇḍita, learned. Paṇḍitāḥ sama-darśinaḥ. A paṇḍita sees equally everyone.
Philosophy Discussions
Hayagrīva: Now the, this would be the view, the second view, that is reincarnation. "This concept of rebirth necessarily implies the continuity of personality. Here the human personality is regarded as continuous and accessible to memory, so that when one is incarnated or born one is able, at least potentially, to remember that one has lived through previous existences, and that these existences were one's own, namely that he had the same ego form as the present life. As a rule, reincarnation means rebirth in a human body."
Prabhupāda: Not human body. Just, we have got historical references in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. A king, Bhārata Mahārāja, he was king, and in next life he became a deer, and the next life he became a brāhmaṇa. So the soul is continuing, changing. The example is given, just like a man changes his dress. The man is the same; the dress may be different. That is going on. Vāsāṁsi jīrṇāni yathā vihāya (BG 2.22). This very word is there. Just when the dress is old it cannot be used any more, he has to change another, to another dress. It is very common sense.
Conversations and Morning Walks
1969 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: So now people do not wish to consider also this point, that "If I am eternal, if I am changing my place, my dress, my occupation every fifty years or ten years or twelve years according to the dress..." The cats and dogs, they live for ten years. The cows live for twenty years, and the man lives for, say, hundred years. Trees lives for thousands years. But everyone has to change. Vāsāṁsi jīrṇāni yathā vihāya (BG 2.22). As we have to change our old dress, similarly, this body has to be changed. And we are changing. Changing every moment. That is a fact.
1971 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: (Hindi conversation) Bhagavān is sac-cid-ānanda vigrahaḥ. Bhagavān says, ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavaḥ, (BG 10.8) ahaṁ bīja-pradaḥ pitā. (Hindi) sarva-yoniṣu kaunteya sambhavanti murtayaḥ (BG 14.4). Ahaṁ bīja-pradaḥ pitā. So practical experience (Hindi). Īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ anādir ādir govindaḥ sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam (Bs. 5.1). (Hindi) They have been cut with two hands because I have got really two hands. (Hindi) Vāsāṁsi jīrṇāni yathā vihāya (BG 2.22). (Hindi) Origin, I am spirit soul. (Hindi) Mamaivāṁśo jīva-bhūta (BG 15.7). (Hindi) Bhagavān katha mamaivāṁśo. So bhagavān nirākāra. Bhagavān avajānanti māṁ mūḍhāh, mānuṣīṁ tanum āśritam (BG 9.11). (Hindi) is for imagination.
1972 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: How the energy is diverted, how by different manipulation the energy is working differently. Just like electric energy, by different handling it is creating heater and it is creating cooler. Just opposite. But the same electric energy. So similarly, these energies, living energy, how it is being directed, which way it is going, how it is fructifying in the next life, so they do not know. They do not know. And in the Bhagavad-gītā it is very simplified. Vāsāṁsi jīrṇāni yathā vihāya (BG 2.22). You are covered by this dress, by this shirt. When this shirt is not workable you change it. Similarly, this body is just like shirt and coat, when it is no longer workable, we have to change.
1973 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: One who is thinking: "I am this body," he's no better than the animal, ass or cow. They're all thinking like that: "I am this body." They're asses. And the whole world is suffering by thinking like that. "I am American, I am Indian, I am Russian, I am this, I am that." That's all. We must know how to think. Then our thinking will produce some good result. If I do not know how to think, then what is the use of my thinking? A mad man is also thinking: "I am the emperor." Does it mean that he's emperor? Sometimes, I have seen, a madman falls flat on the street. "Nobody can check me." So motor driver, they become little cautious, he's a rascal, madman. So madman's thinking, what is the value of madman's thinking? They're all mad. Piśācī paile jana mati chana hana.(?)They're a ghostly haunted person. As he's mad, similarly those who are entrapped by this material energy, they're all madmen. If I think that, "I am this coat, I am this shirt, I am this cloth," am I not mad? The body's just like shirt and coat. Vāsāṁsi jīrṇāni yathā vihāya (BG 2.22).
Prabhupāda: Now, this spirit is eternal. That is the first understanding. Tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ (BG 2.13). This spirit is occupying a material body at the present moment. And the next, when this... Just like I am in this apartment. If I find some inconvenience, I go to another apartment. Or the lease is expired, I have to leave it. Some way or other, I change. Similarly, the... You can change your coat. So these are explained in the Bhagavad-gītā. Vāsāṁsi jīrṇāni yathā vihāya (BG 2.22). Ex..., very nicely exemplified. So we are changing this apartment or dress and accepting another. This is going on. This is the material world. But I, the spirit soul, eternal. Nityaḥ śāśvato 'yaṁ purāṇo na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). Find out this verse. Na jāyate mriyate vā kadācit. Na jāyate mriyate vā kadācit. Second Chapter. Everything is there in the Bhagavad-gītā. If you can introduce, study some Bhagavad-gītā among the students, oh, it will, it will be a great service.
Cardinal Danielou: The soul, the soul, the soul is, is human soul. In the animal you have some psychologic existence, but not life of spirit with freedom, with mind and with the reality of spirit. But you have the same idea because you said that there is a difference of nature between spiritual creation and the material world. You know, the material world is not of the same essence than the spiritual world. And the man, the man is a part of spiritual world.
Prabhupāda: No. Our Bhagavad-gītā says: sarva-yoniṣu. "In all species of life, as many forms are there, so the spirit soul is there." This outward body is just like a dress. You may have a very costly dress, and I may have a very shabby, poor dress, but both of us are human being, or living entities. Similarly these different forms of living entities, they are just like different types of dress. Vāsāṁsi jīrṇāni yathā vihāya (BG 2.22). Just like you are in black dress. I am in saffron dress...
Cardinal Danielou: Yellow, yes.
Prabhupāda: So this is external. But within the dress you are a human being, I am also human being. Similarly, there are eight million four hundred thousands of dresses. There are nine hundred thousand dresses within the water, aquatics.
Graham Hill: You believe then, in that we come back, rebirth again in another form.
Prabhupāda: Yes, transmigration. Just like you also were a boy like him, but where is that body? There is no... That body, that is finished. But you exist, you remember that you were a boy like him. You remember that boy's childhood body. So that body is finished but you are not finished. So therefore you, the soul, is eternal. You are simply changing body. This is called death. Death means changing the body. As soon as the body becomes old enough, no more youthful, then you die. Die means to change the body just like you change your garment. When the garment is no more useful, then you change to another garment. That is truth. vāsāṁsi jīrṇāni yathā vihāya (BG 2.22). (aside:) You come here. Just like jīrṇāni, when old garment, no more youthful, you change it to a new garment. (aside:) Come here, find out vāsāṁsi jīrṇāni yathā vihāya.
Pradyumna:
- vāsāṁsi jīrṇāni yathā vihāya
- navāni gṛhṇāti naro 'parāṇi
- tathā śarīrāṇi vihāya jīrṇāny
- anyāni saṁyāti navāni dehī
- (BG 2.22)
"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."
Graham Hill: And you go back to Godhead, you go back to home.
Prabhupāda: That is ultimate goal. So long we do not go back to home, back to Godhead, we have to, in our material existence, we have to change from one body to another. That is going on. And there are 8,400,000 forms of bodies.
Prabhupāda: A God conscious person must be a very good man. A God conscious man cannot kill any animal because he knows the relationship that "This animal is as good as I am. He is also part and parcel of God, as I am. But fortunately or unfortunately, he has got a different dress." That you will find in the Bhagavad-gītā, vāsāṁsi jīrṇāni yathā vihāya (BG 2.22). So you are gentlemen. You have got a different dress. I have got a different dress. He has got a different dress. That does not mean we are not human being because we have got a different dress.
1974 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: Every living entity has soul. The body is just like the dress, just like you are sitting here under different dresses, but that does not mean we are different. That is stated in the Śrīmad Bhagavad-gītā: vāsāṁsi jīrṇāni. Find out this, vāsāṁsi jīrṇāni yathā vihāya (BG 2.22).
Yogeśvara: Second Chapter.
Prabhupāda: You can take it. Vāsāṁsi jīrṇāni yathā vihāya, navāni gṛhṇāti naro 'parāṇi.
Yogeśvara:
- vāsāṁsi jīrṇāni yathā vihāya
- navāni gṛhṇāti naro 'parāṇi
- tathā śarīrāṇi vihāya jīrṇāny
- anyāni saṁyāti navāni dehī
- (BG 2.22)
(French) "As a person put on new garments, giving up old ones, similarly, the soul accepts new material bodies, giving up the old and useless ones."
Prabhupāda: This is the point. Just like I've already changed. I was a child, so small. Where is that body? That is no longer existing, But still I remember that I had the body. So I changed that body so many times. Similarly, when this body will be useless, I change to another body. This is conclusion. That is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā: Dehino 'smin yathā dehe kaumāraṁ yauvanaṁ jarā.
1975 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: How your body is covered in a different dress when you go to the prison house? When one goes to the prison, he has to keep his dress separately and take the prison dress. So anyone who comes into this material world, he has to take a material body. This is the law. Unless you have got this material body, how you can feel pleasure in material sense enjoyment? Just like on a stage, if you are going to play, you have to take dress according to the play. Therefore this material body is compared with the dress. That is stated. Find out, vāsāṁsi jīrṇāni yathā vihāya.
Hṛdayānanda:
- vāsāṁsi jīrṇāni yathā vihāya
- navāni gṛhṇāti naro' parāṇi
- tathā śarīrāṇi vihāya jīrṇāny
- anyāni saṁyāti navāni dehī
- (BG 2.22)
(reads translation in Spanish)
Prabhupāda: Just like we are sitting, ladies and gentlemen here. So every one of us, we have got different dress. The dress is superficial, but as ladies and gentlemen, human being, we are one. Similarly, each one of us can have a different dress. So these living entities, they are in different dresses only, and the dresses are calculated-8,400,000 different forms. In the water there are 900,000 different dresses.
Devotee (1): ...one goes into a subtle machine?
Prabhupāda: That example is given, vāsāṁsi jīrṇāni yathā vihāya (BG 2.22). Just like your dress, when it is useless, you throw it away and take another dress. It is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā. Vāsāṁsi jīrṇāni yathā vihāya gṛhṇāti naraḥ aparāṇi. You accept another set of dress. Clearly explained. (break) ...also very scientific. Just like according to your last life's desires, you have got this dress, this body. So it is going on, going on, going on. Now you are creating another set of desires in this life. So you require a different dress. Then you begin another satisfaction of your desires. This is going on. Karmāṇa daiva-netreṇa: (SB 3.31.1) by your karma, you are creating a situation.
Prabhupāda: At the present moment, people cannot understand even that there is life after death. Most people. There is life after death—they cannot understand, even big, big professors, big, big learned scholars. Everyone is thinking, "This body is accidental and when the body will be finished, everything is finished." That is the general understanding. But Bhagavad-gītā, you read. It is said, na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre: (BG 2.20) "After the destruction of the body, the soul is not destroyed." Vāsāṁsi jīrṇāni yathā vihāya navāni anyāṇi gṛhṇāti aparāṇi: (BG 2.22) "Just like when our dress becomes old enough not to be used, then we accept another dress, similarly, when this body is old enough, not workable, then we accept another body." These things are there.
1976 Conversations and Morning Walks
Dr. Sharma: Vāsāṁsi jīrṇāni yathā vihāya (BG 2.22).
Prabhupāda: Yes. Common sense. And we are practically experiencing. When the child has grown to become a young man, the mother does not cry, "Oh, my child is gone." She knows, she knows that "Here is my child. Simply he has changed his body." So this is a fact, that we are changing bodies but we are eternal. This is the conclusion. Tathā dehāntara-prāptir dhīras tatra na muhyati (BG 2.13).
Indian man (3): I personally feel that when you buy anything in the market, for example you buy a dress. Sometimes it wears for ten years, sometimes you are cheated and it wears only for two years. So this is also same way, you know. Sometimes early death means...
Prabhupāda: That is for the dress. What about the man who's using the dress? You are identifying the dress with the man. That is foolishness. As soon as you say "dress," you should have to find out the man who has got the dress. Then it is perfect understanding. But if you understand the dress and the man the same, then you are foolish. Dress is not the man.
Indian man (3): No, dress is not the soul, but dress is again the body.
Prabhupāda: Dress is the body. Vāsāṁsi jīrṇāni yathā vihāya (BG 2.22). That is explained. This body is just like dress. So, but the dress is different from the man who puts on the dress.
Indian man (3): Well, that is different. Man is different.
Prabhupāda: The dress, it becomes old and it will be changed.
Indian man (3): But dress is the body. Dress is the body.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
1977 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: So this dehātma-buddhi, "I am this body," is very strong at the present. They think dehātma-buddhi, extended, is very good. And that I was speaking, that a person is taking care of his own body or own dress, but they say, "We shall not take care of my body but for others body also, my son's body, my grandson's body, my relative's body." So that means extending the activities of taking care of the dress. So that I said, that a washerman is taking care of many people's dress, but that does not mean that he is very elevated man. He is nothing but a washerman. But people are interested to take care of the dress. This body is described in the Bhagavad-gītā as dress. Vāsāṁsi jīrṇāni yathā vihāya (BG 2.22). We are changing the dress. And so long we are interested with dress of the body, not of the body, so the person who has got this body will remain animal. Sa eva go-kharaḥ (SB 10.84.13).
Prabhupāda: The rascals are reading Bhagavad-gītā, do not understand a line even. Na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). They do not question even. And after the destruction, body, I am not annihilated. Then where I am going? What is my next life? Na jāyate na mriyate vā. He does not die. The body is changed. Vāsāṁsi jīrṇāni yathā vihāya (BG 2.22). So everything is clearly said. They do not inquire even that "After changing this body or change dress, what kind of body or dress I am going to have?" Answer is there.
Prabhupāda: The aṅga, the different parts of the body of Kṛṣṇa, has got all the qualities of other aṅga. Just like we can see with eyes, but Kṛṣṇa can speak also with eyes. He can eat also with eyes. That is difference. Aṅgāni yasya sakalendriya-vṛttimanti. So paśyaty acakṣuḥ means He has different type of eyes, not like our eyes. When there is nirākāra... Nirākāra means He hasn't got a ākāra, a form, like ours. That is nirākāra. But He has his form. And Kṛṣṇa says... So dehino 'smin yathā dehe: (BG 2.13) "Within this body the owner of the body is there." But if the owner of the body has no form, how the material form has come into existence? Just like this shirt has got hand. Because I am the owner of the shirt—I have got hand-therefore the shirt has got also hand. I have got my leg; therefore the pant has got leg. If you say, "The pant has got leg, the shirt has got hand, but the owner of the shirt has no leg, no...," is it possible? And this external body described as dress... Vāsāṁsi jīrṇāni yathā vihāya (BG 2.22). Vāsa, dress. Dress cannot show any hand and leg unless the man who is dressed, he has got his hand and leg. So how He is nirākāra? (Hindi)
Correspondence
1975 Correspondence
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.
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.
| Page Title: | BG 02.22 vasamsi jirnani yatha vihaya... cited |
| Compiler: | MadhuGopaldas |
| Created: | 22 of Feb, 2011 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=1, SB=1, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=50, Con=18, Let=1 |
| No. of Quotes: | 71 |