Death means changing the body

Expressions researched:
"Death means change of body" |"Death means change of the body" |"Death means change of the, final change of the body" |"Death means change of this body" |"Death means change, another body" |"Death means changing of the body" |"Death means changing the body" |"birth and death means changing the dress" |"birth and death means changing, one body to another"

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

Lecture on BG 2.20 -- Hyderabad, November 25, 1972:

So in God's creation everything is unlimited. It is not limited with our perspective of knowledge. So there are so many, innumerable universes, innumerable planets, and there are innumerable living entities. And all of them are rotating according to their karma. And birth and death means changing, one body to another. I make one plan in this life and... Because everyone is in the bodily concept of live. So so long we are in the bodily concept of life... "I am brāhmaṇa," "I am kṣatriya," "I am vaiśya," "I am śūdra," "I am Indian," "I am American," "I am so and so." These are all bodily concept of life designations. So so long I am in bodily concept of life, I think, "I have got this duty to do. As brāhmaṇa, I have got to do such and such things." "As American, I have got to do so many things." So long this consciousness will continue, we'll have to accept another body. This is the nature's process. So long...

Therefore we make some plan in this life, and my, this material body, this gross body is finished, that is dead, but my idea, in the subtle body, in the mind, it remains. And because it remains in my mind, therefore to fulfill my desire I have to accept another body. This is the law of transmigration of the soul. The soul is, thus, with his plan, he is transferred into another gross body. And along with the soul, there is Supersoul, Supreme Personality of Godhead.

Lecture on BG 2.20 -- Hyderabad, November 25, 1972:

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.

So if I am not liberated, if, if I have got so many plans to execute in this material world, then I'll have to accept another body.

Lecture on BG 2.51-55 -- New York, April 12, 1966:

Death means forgetfulness. Just like at sleep, we forget everything, what I am, where I am sleeping, who I am, what is my identity, identification, everything forgotten. Then again, as soon as I rise up in the morning, I remember, "Oh, I am such and such officer. I am such and such father, such and such husband, and I have got to do such and such things." Everything remembered. But during your sleep, you forget everything. Similarly, death means from the time of your leaving this body and entering into the womb of another mother, and so long another body is not developed, you remain unconscious. And as soon as another body's developed within the womb of the mother and the time is up to come out, then again you remember.

So practically there is no death. Death means changing the body.

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

Lecture on SB 1.2.5 -- Aligarh, October 9, 1976:

Now you are in this country, suppose in India, and next life, because you have to change your body, next life it may not be that you have taken birth in India. You might have taken birth in the heavenly planet or in the animal society. Because there is no guarantee. Kṛṣṇa says tathā dehāntara-prāptir. Death means change of the body. But what kind of body you are going to accept, that will depend on the superior arrangement. But you can arrange also. Just like if you pass medical examination, there is possibility of your becoming a medical officer to get a service in the government medical service board, but still, it must be selected by the medical board and so on, so on. There are so many condition. Similarly to get the next body, that is not your selection. That selection depends on superior authority.

Lecture on SB 1.7.18 -- Vrndavana, September 15, 1976:

Death means changing of the body. So there is nothing to be very much afraid of, but one is afraid of death because at the time of death the tribulation, the miserable condition of the body is very, very severe—so much severe that one cannot remain. He has to give up this body. Just like sometimes out of disappointment, too much suffering, one commits suicide—death. So death means very, very painful, as much as birth is also very, very painful. Therefore Kṛṣṇa presents, janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyadhi-duḥkha-doṣānudarśanam (BG 13.9). One who is intelligent enough, he should always keep before him the sufferings of birth, death, old age, and disease in front. (aside:)

Lecture on SB 5.5.2 -- Johannesburg, October 22, 1975:

We are constantly, repeatedly changing body, transmigration of the soul. Tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ (BG 2.13). That means we are accepting death. Death means change of the, final change of the body. When this body is no more useful to continue, then by nature another body is offered. At the time of death, as it is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, yaṁ yaṁ vāpi smaran loke tyajaty ante kalevaram, sadā tad-bhāva-bhāvitaḥ (BG 8.6)—we create a mental situation. We have got two kinds of bodies—subtle body and gross body. This gross body is made of five gross material elements: earth, water, fire, air, ether. And the subtle body is made of mind, intelligence and ego. When we sleep, the gross body does not work but the subtle body works. We dream therefore. So the... At the time of death this gross body is finished, but the subtle body—mind, intelligence and ego—will carry me to another gross body.

Lecture on SB 6.1.1-4 -- Melbourne, May 20, 1975:

Death means change of this body. The modern civilization, they do not know it. That is the first understanding of spiritual knowledge, that we change our body. I am spirit soul, every one of us, spirit soul, even the animals and the trees and plants and aquatics, any living being. There are 8,400,000 different forms of living being. Of all of them, the human form is considered the best. Best means it has got..., the human form has got developed consciousness. Developed consciousness means they can understand what is past, what is future, what is present. Especially to understand his position as spirit soul, to understand God, to understand what is His relation with God, and what he should do in that relationship—these things are understandable in the human form of life, not otherwise.

Lecture on SB 7.9.10 -- Montreal, July 12, 1968:

Just like here is a small baby, he has got a small body. But when she'll be grown up girl she'll forget, because the body has changed. Forget. So because we change our body, therefore we forget. This is a fact. Just like when you, at night you are in dream. You forget your body. You are dreaming that you have got a body of a bird. You are flying in the sky and you have forgotten completely that you are Mr. and Mrs. such and such, lying in a room. You have forgotten. So in daily experience we can understand that due to change of body we forget. Death means change of body and forgetfulness. That is death. So Kṛṣṇa said that "You forget, you have forgotten, but I have not forgotten." That means indirectly Kṛṣṇa says that "I do not change My body, but you change your body." So we are all changing our body.

Philosophy Discussions

Philosophy Discussion on Jean-Paul Sartre:

Prabhupāda: Death means change, another body. But the active principle on which the body is standing, he does not die. The changing is accepted as death, changing. Just like I am in this apartment; I change this apartment, I go three miles away. So that does not mean I am dead. Similarly, the active principle which is changing when he takes another, because he cannot see where he has gone, we say it is death. But a sane man who knows that "Although I cannot see him, he must have taken another apartment..." That's all.

1973 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- April 26, 1973, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: So how they are thinking? He does not know, what is the use of thinking rascally? One can think properly if he knows things. If he does not know, then what is the use of thinking? The madman also thinks. What is the use of such thinking? Now our thinking begins from the Bhagavad-gītā. Kṛṣṇa says: dehino 'smin yathā dehe kaumāraṁ yauvanaṁ jarā, tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ (BG 2.13). As the body's changing from childhood to boyhood, boyhood to youthhood, similarly the proprietor of the body will change this body. At the last moment. Death means changing of the body. This is the... Now we can think. When there is proper subject matter, then you can think, how it is, how the changes. You have no proper subject matter, nobody is to guide you. What is the value of your thinking? Like dogs and cats? You do not know how to think. That is possible. How to think, that is possible in human life. So if you don't take up opportunity, how to think, then what is the use of your thinking like cats and dogs? Simply wasting time.

Room Conversation with Graham Hill Former World Champion Race Car Driver -- London, August 26, 1973:

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.