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. So these activities can be changed when a living being is in the mode of goodness, in sanity, and he understands what sort of activities he should adopt, and if he does so, then the whole action and reactions of his past activities can be changed. Therefore karma is not eternal. Other things, out of the four, five items—īśvara, jīva, prakṛti, kāla, and karma—these four items are eternal, whereas the karma, the item known as karma, that is not eternal.
Different bodies (Lectures, BG)
Expressions researched:
"different bodies"
|"different body"
|"different boyhood body"
|"different material bodies"
|"different material body"
|"different transcendental bodies"
|"different type body"
|"different unnatural bodies"
Lectures
Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures
Everything belongs to God. So if you don't use it for God, that is called demonism. And if you use it for God, that is devotion. That's all.
One must realize that "Everything belongs to God; nothing belongs to me. Even this body is given to me by God. "Why a different body? The different body is... God gives us different body according to our karma. That is explained. Karmaṇā daiva-netreṇa jantur dehopapattaye (SB 3.31.1). How we get a different type of body? We have got different types of body. Because according to our past karma, we have created a certain type of body and now we have entered into that body and working according to past karma.
Our this body is a network of nescience, or ignorance. This body, why we have got this body, material body? Because we have forgotten Kṛṣṇa and we wanted to lord it over the material nature. This is our position. Therefore, according to our different desires, we have got different bodies. Here we are sitting, say fifty or hundred men. Nobody's body will tally with other's body. Face and everything, different. Because every one of us has got different desires. Therefore their facial expression, bodily construction, everything is made according to the mind. So at the time of death also, the constitution of mind will transfer me to another, different type of body. The mind will carry the soul. These are all explained in the Bhagavad-gītā. Yaṁ yaṁ vāpi smaran bhāvaṁ tyajaty ante kalevaram (BG 8.6). So if you train up your mind, that is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Always remembering Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare.
Superficially, externally, there is much difference. Here is a dog, a street dog, and here is a learned brāhmaṇa. But one who is paṇḍita, one who is Kṛṣṇa conscious, he sees that the paṇḍita and the dog, they are the same, because they are also the same spiritual spark. By his karma, he has become a learned paṇḍita, and by his karma, he has become a dog. But within the different body, dehino 'smin yathā dehe kaumāraṁ (BG 2.13). Asmin dehe, in this body there is the soul. That is his vision. Of course, externally, it is not that I shall behave equally with the brāhmaṇa and the dog. That is external behavior. But internally, we should know that both the brāhmaṇa and the dog, they're a spiritual spark. This is called brahma-jñāna. Brahma-jñāna means the knowledge of spiritual self. That is called brahma-jñāna. So when one attains this brahma-jñāna, then brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā na śocati na kāṅkṣati, samaḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣu (BG 18.54). Samatā, equal. That is brahma-jñāna.
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. Just like when I was not sannyāsī, I was dressing like any gentleman. Now I have changed my dress. That does not mean that I have died. No. I have changed my body, that's all. I have changed my dress. Go on. Not now. Yes. Kṛpaṇas, yes, you were reading there.
So Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura says that "Both these, jñāna-kāṇḍa and karma-kāṇḍa, are pots of poison. Either you drink this or that, it doesn't matter." Karma-kāṇḍa—according to karma you'll get a different body. Jñāna-kāṇḍa also. If you actually become very much advanced in knowledge, you can get a body in a brāhmaṇa family, in a very educated family. But I'll have to go through the transmigration of the soul, repetition of birth and death. There is risk. I do not know what I am going to get. It is not guaranteed. Little mistake. Little mistake... Just like Bhārata Mahārāja, little mistake. At the time of..., he was thinking of a deer. Next life he got the life of a deer. Little mistake. Yaṁ yaṁ vāpi smaran loke tyajanty ante kalevaram (BG 8.6). Because nature is so perfect, at the time of your death, what is the mental condition, you will get a similar body, next life. Karmaṇā daiva-netreṇa (SB 3.31.1). Because daiva, Kṛṣṇa is with you. Kṛṣṇa will see, "Now he is thinking of become a king. Now he is thinking to become a dog."
The evolution, again according to Vedic scripture, is that the living entity is different from the body, and the living entity is passing through many forms of body. We shall read that. So the bodies are according to my desire. I am desiring something. Just like here we are sitting, so many ladies and gentlemen, but not one of them is similar to anyone else. They have got different bodies. That body is created according to one's desire. The mind, the subtle mind, is the creator of the next body. Yaṁ yaṁ vāpi smaran bhāvaṁ tyajaty ante kalevaram (BG 8.6). At the time of death whatever I am thinking, a similar body will be offered to me by the laws of nature. Subtle body. The mind, intelligence and ego, they are subtle body, and the gross body is made of earth, water, air, fire, ether. So when we give up this gross body, the subtle body carries me to another gross body. This is the way of transmigration of the soul. The prakṛti, nature, nature's law, is very strict and stringent. The nature will immediately offer you a similar body according to the thinking at the time of your death.
So there is little difference of course. That is all right. But on the primary facie, prima facie, there is no difference. Similarly, in the sun planet, in the moon planet, there are also human beings like us, and they are called devas because they are high, intellectual. They are all very powerful than ourself, and they have got different bodies with different power and everything. Otherwise, there is no question... Even great scientists like Dr. Meghanatha Sar(?) in India, he, he said that there is no reason to disbelieve that in other planets there is no life. How can you? Just like because you have not seen India you cannot say, "Oh, there, there is no living being. It is vacant." So these people are going to the moon planet. They are saying it is full of dust. It is full of clay, or something like that. All these foolishness. You see? That means they have not reached. Outside they take some photo and they come out.
Prabhupāda: The body may be different. Just like your body is different from me.
Woman: Yes, but we're the same in...
Prabhupāda: That does not mean, because you have got a different body, therefore you are not a living being. Or because I have got a different body from you, I am not a living being. So body... Because a living soul is not the body, he might have different body. That doesn't matter; that doesn't matter. Why should we consider, identify with the body? The whole question is there. The body, you'll find your body is different from animal body. Animal is different from human body. Or the so many difference of body. But the four principles of bodily wants, āhāra... Āhāra means requiring some foodstuff, and nidrā, sleeping, and fearing and mating. These four principles you'll find in the birds, in the animals, in the human beings, or even the devatās, or gods, or everywhere you'll find, these four principles. The only difference between the animal and higher, developed consciousness living being is that they are God conscious. They accept the Supreme Lord. That makes the difference between lower animals and others.
"My father is gone." That means he never saw his father; he saw the body only. But at the time of death of his father he understands that this father is not this body; that is soul.
So when we come to this understanding that every one of us, we may be in different body, but we are not this body, we are spirit soul, so that time, our actual knowledge begins. Now Kṛṣṇa is describing what is the nature of that soul. He says... Whenever we sit down together we say "I, you and they," first person, second person and third person, "I, you, or he." There cannot be more than these three. I can say "I," I can say "you," and I can say "he." So Kṛṣṇa says in this verse that na tu eva ahaṁ jātu: "Either I, you, or he, none of us ever born." Because we are not this body, the birth takes place of the body, not of the soul. The soul is described here that he does not take birth. It is not that he was not existing in the past; now he has taken birth. It is not like that.
Everyone is the proprietor of the body. That we can experience. You know everything about the pains and pleasures of your body. I know what are the pains and pleasures of the body. So this body has been given to us by material nature as our field of activities. With different bodies, we are acting differently. Not that your activities and my activities are the same. The dog's activities and the man's activities are different because the dog has got a different type of body and I have got a different type of body. Every one of us. So dehino 'smin yathā dehe (BG 2.13). The dehī, the living entity or the vital force, is within this body.
So the body is changing. Dehino 'smin yathā dehe kaumāraṁ yauvanaṁ jarā (BG 2.13). Kaumāram means boyhood. Yauvanam means youthhood, and jarā means old age, aged body. So I can remember, I am an old man, I can remember, I had a boy's body, I had a young man's body. Now I have got this aged body.
Before that, I was not existing. At the present time I am existing. That's all right. But as soon as I will die, I will not exist. So how Kṛṣṇa says that I was... Both... All of us, we were existing, we are still existing, and we shall continue to exist?" Is that contradictory? No, that is not contradictory. It is fact. We were existing, maybe in different body. And we shall continue to exist in different body. Dehāntara-prāptiḥ. This is to be understood. Not that my existence...
The example is given, dehāntara. Just like I was boy. Then I became young man. So the body changed. And now I have become old man. The body changed. But I am existing, dehi, the proprietor of the body. So where is the difficulty to understand? Dehinaḥ. Dehinaḥ means "of the proprietor." The body is changing. I can understand that my body has changed. So next life the body may change. "May" not. It will change. But I may not remember.
This is real problem. These are real problems. Therefore Kṛṣṇa has said, janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi-duḥkha-doṣānudarśanam: (BG 13.9) "Actually those who are in knowledge, they should see all these four problems, birth, death, old age and disease."
So tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ. Kṛṣṇa says, "We existed. We existed in a different body. Now we are existing in a different body, and in the future also, we shall all exist in a different body." Tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ. In this way we are transmigrating from one body to another, but we are existing. This is the sum and substance of this verse.
- dehino 'smin yathā dehe
- kaumāraṁ yauvanaṁ jarā
- tathā dehāntara-prāptir
- dhīras tatra na muhyati
- (BG 2.13)
So dhīras tatra na muhyati. It is very simple thing. Suppose a young man, a boy, changes his body, bodily symptoms. Just like a boy has no mustaches or beard, but all of a sudden the hairs grow. Does he cry, "Oh, why I am growing hair?
And as soon as the person is not there... Suppose in a child's body, a born baby, a dead body, it will not grow or it will not change. So long the soul is there, it will change. So Kṛṣṇa said that "We existed in the past." This is authoritative statement. So it is to be understood that I existed in the past in different body. As I existed, say, seventy years before in a different body, I was jumping as a boy, now I cannot jump. Now I have to take the stick. This is a different body. So where is the difficulty to understand? If the same body had been, then I could jump like a boy. I remember that I jumped. But now it is not possible. I have to take help of three men. (laughter) So it is different body. Although imperceptibly it has changed, but the body is different. Body's different.
So in this way, if we try to understand, dhīras tatra na muhyati (BG 2.13). Dhīra, those who are intelligent and sober, they are called dhīra, not disturbed mind, not rascals. Rascals cannot understand. Therefore the very word is used, dhīra.
Therefore this very word is used. It is not understood by the cats and dogs. If I say to the cats and dog that, "You are not this body. You are simply possessing this body," it is useless because he has got a certain body that he cannot understand even instructing him for one thousand years, because he has got a different body, cats' and dogs' body. But in the human form of body there is possibility. That is the difference between cats' and dogs' body and human body.
So to become dhīra means not to use this, I mean to say, very important, very useful body, human body, to pass as cats and dogs. That is very dangerous. It is a great loss. Prahlāda Mahārāja instructed this. Durlabhaṁ mānuṣaṁ janma. We have to (be) very, mean, intelligent to understand that "I have got this body. Must be after many, many births." That is the evolutionary theory. I can understand that this tree... That is also a living being, but it is standing there for thousands of years.
It is the simply different methods of living. That's all. The cats and dogs living in a certain method. The human being is living in a certain method. The trees are living in a certain method. The fish in the waters, they are living in the certain method. But the eating, sleeping, mating, defending is there. Is there. So according to the different bodies, they're living differently.
So all living entities, as Kṛṣṇa said, that "They existed," so existed in a different body. Now existing in a different body. This is called evolution or transmigration. This is... The evolution... Evolution theory is there. Not theory, fact. In the Padma Purāṇa... It is not Darwin's invention. There is... Asatiṁ caturaṁ caiva jīva-jātiṣu. As clearly stated, the evolution theory is, evolution fact is there are 8,400,000 different species of life, and the living entity passing, transmigrating, from one, another, one, another. Therefore, when one comes to this human form of body, Prahlāda Mahārāja says, durlabhaṁ mānuṣaṁ janma: "It is very rarely...
Nāyaṁ bhūtvā bhavitā vā na bhūyaḥ. The soul and the consciousness has no past, present, or future. It is eternal. Aja. Aja means who does not take birth. Ajo nitya, eternal; śāśvata, ever-existing; ayaṁ purāṇa, the oldest. Na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). When the body is annihilated, the soul and consciousness is not annihilated. Just like when we sleep, our consciousness works in a different body, subtle body: mind, intelligence and ego. That we have got experience every night. We sleep on our bed, but my consciousness goes to other country or other place, and work in a different way. Again, when at the end of the dream we come back to this body, gross body. So death mean s when the consciousness does not come back again to this gross body and enters another gross body. This period is called death. So the subtle body, mind, is there. I know you have got mind, you know I have got my mind. But I cannot see your mind, you cannot see my mind. So there is intelligence also. I know you have got intelligence, you know I have got intelligence.
Every moment. Just like this child, the child, if there is some measuring instrument, if you measure this child today, tomorrow you'll find the child has grown or changed the body. That is a medical science also. The body is changing. The body is changing, but the soul is there. Just like I had my childhood body, boyhood body, and now I am in a different body, but I remember all the activities of my childhood. Therefore I am permanent. And body is changing. This simple truth, what is the difficulty for the people to understand this simple truth? The body is changing, but I am not changing. I am eternal. Therefore I am not this body. I am not changing. This simple truth, the first instruction of Bhagavad-gītā. Kṛṣṇa has begun instructing Arjuna... After Arjuna has accepted his discipleship, the first instruction is this, that "You are lamenting on the body of your grandfather and teacher regarding fighting, but your grandfather, or the soul...," which is already explained that, "You are soul, I am the supreme soul, or all these kings and soldiers who has assembled, they are also souls. They existed in the past. Now they have changed their body. Again they will change their body, but they will exist."
So on the whole one has to understand that this, we are not this body, "I am not this body." And if we feel bodily pains and pleasure, that is bodily pains and pleasure; that is not the pleasure and pains of the soul. The soul pains and pleasure is being put into different body. And out of ignorance, because he is identifying, out of ignorance, that "I am this body," therefore soul is in pains and pleasure. Otherwise the soul has no pains and pleasure. Asaṅgo 'yaṁ puruṣaḥ. In the Vedas it is said that "The soul has nothing to do with this body." Asaṅga. Asaṅga means "without any touch." But out of ignorance he is thinking... The same example: out of ignorance, the rascal is thinking that he has become Rolls Royce, and if the Rolls Royce is broken by some accident, he becomes overwhelmed: "Oh, I am lost." Where you are lost? Your car is lost. This is going on. The car is lost. Therefore, when one becomes brahma-bhūta (SB 4.30.20), actually realized—self-realization, that is called—na śocati na kāṅkṣati: (BG 18.54) there is no more lamenting, no more hankering. "Because I am not this body, why I shall hanker after this bodily comfort? Whatever Kṛṣṇa has given, that's all right."
The atheists think that after finishing...
Here in the Western country, big, big professor, they are also under the same impression, that when the body is finished, everything is finished. No. That is not. Therefore that is the beginning of instruction. Dehino 'smin yathā dehe kaumāraṁ yauvanaṁ jarā (BG 2.13). You are changing different bodies. By finishing the body, you are not finished. You are not finished. We can understand with little thinking that in this body I am..., even in this life. At night I get another body. I dream. I dream there is tiger. I go to the forest, and there is a tiger, and it is coming to kill me. Then I am crying, and actually I am crying. Or, in other way, I have gone to some beloved, man and woman. We are embracing, but the bodily action is going on. Otherwise why I am crying? And why there is discharge of semina? So people do not know that I am leaving this gross body, but I am entering into subtle body.
"Let me close my eyes. I am out of danger." This is atheistic view, that they are trying to forget that there is... Therefore they deny, "There is no life." Why not? Kṛṣṇa says that "You had a childhood body. You had a baby... Now you have... Where is that body? You have left that. You are in different body. Similarly, this body you'll change. You will get another body." And who says? Kṛṣṇa says. The most superior authority, he says. I may not understand, but when He says... This is the process of our knowledge. We accept knowledge from the perfect person. I may be fool, but the knowledge received from the perfect person is perfect. This is our process. We don't try to speculate. That may or may not be successful, but if you accept knowledge from the perfect authority, that knowledge is perfect. Just like we are speculating, "Who is my father?" You can speculate who is your father, but that speculation will not help you. You will never understand who is your father. But you go to your mother, the supreme authority.
So na jāyate na mriyate vā kadācit. Kadācit means at anytime, past, present, and future, kadācit. In the past, it is already explained, in the past we existed, maybe in a different body. At present, we are existing, and in the future also, we shall exist, continue to exist, maybe in a different body. Maybe, not. Actually. Tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ (BG 2.13), because after giving us this body, we have to accept another body. So this is going on. And ignorance, without knowledge of self, we are being kept in ignorance. The so-called educational system, all over the world, there is no such education. They are kept in darkness and ignorance and still so much money is being spent, especially in the Western countries. They have got money, big, big high schools, but what is the production? All fools and rascals. That's all. Because they do not know. They have no idea what is self.
Śrīmad-Bhāgavata says that all these acquisitions will be finished as soon as the body is finished. 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.
Yes. We live forever. By change of body we do not die. You live forever, I live forever. Death means we change this body, that's all. Just like you change your dress. When you change your dress, it does not mean that you die. Similarly change of this body does not mean actually death. Or to appear in a different body does not mean actually birth. There is no birth and death of the living entity, but the change of body is taking place in our material condition. That is taken as birth and death. Actually there is no birth and death. Yes?
Where is tiger? This is called subtle body. So you are changing daily at night from this gross body to the subtle body. And again the dream is over, from the subtle body, again to the gross body. Every one of us has got this experience.
Therefore I am the enjoyer, puruṣa. I am changing simply body, this way or that way. This is my position. So one who is intelligent, that "I change body and different bodies. I am eternal, so what is my eternal business?" This is athāto brahma jijñāsā. This is called inquiry of the spiritual life. This is very simple thing, that "I am simply changing body. Then what is my real position?" This is intelligent. When a man comes to this position or this platform, to inquire, "Actually what I am?" that is beginning of human life. Otherwise, it is animal life. The animal also thinks, "I am dog," "I am tiger," "I am that." You are none of these, sir. These are all designations, for the temporary, for a certain period, ten years, five years, fifty years, utmost hundred years, then finished. But you are eternal.
In the Bhagavad-gītā you will understand in the Thirteenth Chapter that Kṛṣṇa says, kṣetra-jñaṁ cāpi māṁ viddhi sarva-kṣetreṣu bhārata (BG 13.3). The living entity... I am living entity; you are living entity, every one of us. I am living in this body; you are living in this body. We have got different bodies. So Kṛṣṇa said that "The living entity is the proprietor or the knower of the particular body." But He says again, kṣetra-jñaṁ cāpi māṁ viddhi: "I am also knower of this particular body," sarva-kṣetreṣu bhārata, "in every body." Aṇḍāntara-stha-paramāṇu-cayāntara-stham (Bs. 5.35). He is in every body, in every atom. That is Kṛṣṇa.
Now I am living in my body. If there is pain here, I can understand, "Here is pain." But if there is some pain in your body, I cannot understand. Therefore I am different from you. But Kṛṣṇa can understand what is pain or pleasure in my body, and what is pain or pleasure in your body and everyone's body. That is Kṛṣṇa.
Tāny ahaṁ veda sarvāṇi. Sarvāṇi. There were millions and millions of births and appearances and disappearances in past. Because time is unlimited, nitya. There is no... The past, present, future, this is due to this body. Just like a small ant, it's calculation of past, present, and future, and my calculation of past, present, and future are different. Because he has got a different body, I have got a different body, the atom has got a different body. So it is according to the body, past, present, and future. But there is a life where there is no existence of this material body of past, present, and future. Therefore in the eternal world means there is no past, present and future. Because there is no, not this material body. This is the difference between past, present, and future. Therefore it is called nitya. Nitya means eternal, where there is no influence of this time. Here the influence of time is there. Therefore we experience past, present, and future.
We have to first of all understand it that Kṛṣṇa is not forced by karma. We are forced by karma. Therefore we have got different bodies. But Kṛṣṇa is not... Although He appears in different incarnation... Keśava dhṛta-mīna-śarīra, keśava dhṛta-kūrma-śarīra, keśava dhṛta-varāha-śarīra, nṛsiṁha-śarīra. So Kṛṣṇa, when He comes as a boar incarnation, He's not ordinary hog and pig. These things are to be understood. He is the bhūtānām īśvaraḥ in whatever form He likes to come. That is His pleasure. Ātma-māyayā. He comes in His ātma-māyayā, not by force by the external energy. That is the conclusion. (pause) You read the purport...
Pradyumna: "And then again the Lord explains His prakṛti, or His form. Prakṛti means nature as well as svarūpa, or one's own form. The Lord says that He appears in His own body. He does not change His body as the common living entity changes from one body to another. The conditioned soul may have one kind of body in the present birth, but he has a different body in the next birth."
Prabhupāda: Here, our body, now we have got human body. So next, next life it may be a demigod's body, or it may be cat's body, dog's body. The body changes. Kṛṣṇa does not... Avyayātmā. That is the difference. Go on.
Pradyumna: "In the material world a living entity has no fixed body, but transmigrates from one body to another. The Lord, however, does not do so. Whenever He appears, He does so in the same original body by His internal potency. In other words, Kṛṣṇa appears in this material world in His original eternal form with two hands holding a flute. He appears exactly in His eternal body, uncontaminated by this material world. Although He appears in the same transcendental body and is Lord of the universe, it still appears that..."
Please try to chant this Hare Kṛṣṇa and see the result. It is so nice movement. (break)
...take it very seriously that "Here is an animal. Here is a tree. They have also got life. They are also living entities as we are. Simply it is different body. That's all." He has got that sort of body; I have got this sort of body. But the demands of the body are there. Even in cats and dog the eating, sleeping, mating and defending... There is four symptoms of life. The cat also, or dog also, eat; we also eat. They also sleep; we also sleep. They have their sex desires; we have got our sex desire. We want to defend from enemies; they also want to defend from enemies. Similarly, in every species of life we will find these four principles existing.
We are eternal. We are eternally existing, but appearance means this body, appearance of this body.
The difference between the appearance of God and appearance of myself is that I appear in different bodies as it is offered by the material nature according to my karma; God appears in His own original body. That is the difference. And because God appears in His own original body, therefore He is not forgetful of the past, present and future. And so far we are concerned, because we appear in different material bodies, therefore we forget our past, present and future. This is the difference. And in this verse it is specifically mentioned here that janma karma me divyam (BG 4.9). Divyam means divine, spiritual, transcendental. Our appearance and disappearance is different from the Lord's appearance and disappearance.
One has to learn the subject matter. And how it can be learned?
This material body, when it is dissolved, pañcatvaṁ prāpta, mixes with these five elements, earth, water, fire, air, it does not mean that the soul is finished. The soul is there. The soul is transmigrating to another body. Karmaṇā daiva-netreṇa (SB 3.31.1). By the supervision of the external energy, and superior superintendent, we are transferred to a different body by the subtle body, mana, buddhi, ahaṅkāra. But these foolish people, they do not know how the soul is... They do not know what is soul and how the soul is being transferred. But these things are all explained in the Bhagavad-gītā. Just like we cannot see the flavor, but when the flavor passes through carried by the air, we can smell. Similarly, we can smell how the soul is being transferred. These processes are explained in the Bhagavad-gītā.
Our real problem, which is described in the Bhagavad-gītā, janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi-duḥkha-doṣānudarśanam... (BG 13.9). Our real problem is that we are accepting a material body, and after some days, we are giving up the present material body, and we are accepting another material body. How we are accepting different bodies? That you have got experience. Just like you, I, both of us, had a small child body. That is now gone. The boy's body is now gone. The youthful body is now gone. Now I have got a different body. But I know that I had such and such body. Similarly, when this body will be useless, I cannot use it, I will have to accept another body. That we have got experience daily, in day and night. When we sleep at night, although we have got this body lying on my bed, I accept another body, subtle body, and I go to another place and dream. Similarly, at night, when I give up that subtle body, which took me far away from my bed, again I come and accept this material body and wake up.
This body means every one of us has got a particular body for particular type of distress or enjoyment. Every living being is responsible for his past acts, and he gets a body, either human body or animal body, American body or Indian body or African body. There are different kinds of... I have several times repeated that 8,400,000's of different bodies.
So living entity is... According to his work, he is wandering in this circle in the cycle of different species of life. But the Supreme Lord, He is so kind and so friendly with us that He is also with us. Suppose I am sitting in this bird. As soon as I fly to another... I am sitting in this tree, and as soon as I fly to another tree, the other bird, He also follows me. He also follows me, and sits again in that tree. He is so friendly. Just imagine how much kind and how much friendly is the Lord. He is always trying to call me back again to Him. We are trying to noncooperate with Him.
Yes. Demigod is also like you. Just like in the human society there are difference of bodies. One body is richer than the other body. One body is happier than the other body in material estimation. Similarly, in the higher planets there are different bodies who are happier than persons who are living in this earthly planet. It is estimated that their standard of living is higher.
Just like in this planet there are different nations and different people and they have got different standard of living also. Your European and American people, your standard of living better than our Indian people so far material consideration is there. You have got very nice toilet room, but the Indians go to the field to evacuate. So in that way this country is advantageous.
They think nationalism means it is limited to the human being, not to the animals, not to the trees.
But when you become Kṛṣṇa conscious you understand that the trees, the plants the reptiles, the aquatics, the human beings, the beasts, everyone, each and everyone, part and parcel of God. According to their karma, they have got different bodies, the color, as I explained. According to kāraṇam guṇa-sango 'sya sad-asad-janma-yoniṣu (BG 13.22). These things are described in the Bhagavad-gītā. One has got a different type of body according to his karma. Karmaṇā daiva netreṇa jantor deha upapattaye (SB 3.31.1). By karma we create next body.
So this is a great science. People do not know how things are taking place, how there are so many species of life, how one is so-called happy, one so-called distressed. Why one is rich, one is poor. Why there are so many planets. Why some of them are demigods and some of them are human beings, some of them are animals.
Bhagavān says, tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ. Dehino 'smin yathā dehe kaumāraṁ yauvanaṁ jarā, tathā dehāntara (BG 2.13). Dehāntara-prāptiḥ is there. As we are getting dehāntara. We have got experience every day. Just like in daytime we have got this body. At night, when we dream, we have got a different body. We go elsewhere; we're working differently, forgetting this body, and again, daytime, we forget our body which was seen in the dream. That is also dream; this is also dream. This is daydream, and that is night dream. But the seer, the soul, is permanent. He is in the daytime and he is also nighttime. So this is our position. We are changing our body.
And according to our Vedic culture, yasyātma-buddhiḥ kuṇape tri-dhātuke sa eva go-kharaḥ (SB 10.84.13). If one is going on under this impression that "I am this body," he is go-khara, ass and cow, means animal. Therefore they do not know how we are accepting different bodies under karma, by associating with especial...
Associating means even unknowingly. Just like infection. In medical science there is the word "infection." You may not know, but if you have infected typhoid disease, it will fructify at one moment. So similarly, even if we do not know, if we associate with the material modes of nature, it will be effective. Sad-asad-janma-yoniṣu. Therefore we must have full knowledge how to save oneself from the association, from the infection of this material disease. That is called jñānāvasthita-cetasaḥ.
Because you do not love the cow. The cow is American and my brother is American. My brother is good, and the cow is food. This is my universal love. Why? But a Kṛṣṇa conscious person, he sees, "Oh, here is a cow. Here is a dog. He's a part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa. By someway or other he has got a different body than me. That does not mean he's not my brother. So how can I kill my brother?" That is Kṛṣṇa's love, due to Kṛṣṇa's love.
So Kṛṣṇa love is so nice. All perfection. If there is no Kṛṣṇa love, there is no question love, it is all nonsense. There cannot be any love without Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Yes.
I remember. So it is possible for everyone to remember that "I had a small body, then that I had a boy's body, then I had a youthful body. Now I am in this body." So where are those bodies? The body's now gone. It is a different body. That is explained in the Bhagavad-gītā, tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ (BG 2.13). Similarly, when I give up this body, then I'll have to accept another body.
It is very simple to understand. As I have changed so many bodies, not only childhood, babyhood, boyhood, youthhood. According to medical science we are changing body every second imperceptibly. So this process, that the soul is permanent... Just like I remember my babyhood body or childhood body. I am the same person, soul, but I have changed so many bodies. Similarly, when ultimately I shall change this body, I shall have to accept another body. This simple formula is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā. Everyone can think on it. And there must be some scientific research. Recently I got one letter from a doctor in Toronto.
We are transmigrating from different bodies. Jalajā nava-lakṣāṇi sthāvarā lakṣa viṁśati, kṛmayo rudra-saṅkhyakāḥ. In Padma Purāṇa, the gradual process of evolution is there. This evolution theory put forwarded by Darwin, that is nonsense. Because the Darwin's theory is evolution of this body. In one sense, it is... But it is incomplete. Actually we are getting different types of body according to our association with the different modes of material nature. The material nature is being conducted by three modes: sattva-guṇa, rajo-guṇa, tamo-guṇa. So those who are in the modes of material nature, in the modes of goodness, their body is different. Just like brāhmaṇa. Simply getting the body of brāhmaṇa is not sufficient. One has to learn how to become brāhmaṇa. Satyaṁ śamo damas titikṣā. But there is opportunity. If one is born in a brāhmaṇa family, he has got the opportunity to develop the brāhmaṇa qualities. Similarly, if one is born in the family of a kṣatriya, he gets the opportunity of kṣatriya spirit. Similarly vaiśya. Cātur-varṇyaṁ mayā sṛṣṭaṁ guṇa-karma-vibhāgaśaḥ (BG 4.13).
Two million forms of the trees and plants. In this way there are, altogether, different forms of life, 8,400,000. Don't think that the plants and trees, they have no life. They are also living entities. We do not accept this theory that the animals have no soul. No. Everyone has got soul. Even the plants, trees, everyone has got soul. They have got different bodies only. It is not that only human being has got the soul, not others. No. Actually if we make analysis what is the symptoms of possessing soul, you will find everywhere. Even in plants' life you will find. Sir Jagadish Chandra Bose, one of the greatest scientist of the world, he has proved by machine that when you cut the trees or the leaves, they feel sensation, pain, and that is recorded by machine. So everyone has got soul.
Yes, consciousness is according to the body. Just like when you were a child, your consciousness was different because you had a different body. In your childhood you might have talked so many nonsense things. Your father, mother did not care. "He is a child." But if you talk such nonsense things now, then you will be differently considered. Because the body is different. So consciousness is there according to different types of body. So in this human form of body we have got our consciousness very developed. Now we should utilize this consciousness to understand what is God, what is our relationship with God, and act accordingly. Then we become perfect. But if we do not take advantage of this human form of life, we keep our dog's consciousness, eating, sleeping, mating only, then we do not know what kind of body we are going to get next.
You do not require to repeat this. Etad yonīni, the different forms of life... Just like here we are, human being, the cows, the dogs, the ants, the trees, the plants, so many different forms of life. Every one of us, we are living being. But according to our karma we have got different bodies. Just like we have got different dresses. We are all human being, but we have got different dresses. Similarly, sarvāṇi bhūtāni, all living entities, they are all Kṛṣṇa's part and parcel, but they have refused to cooperate with Kṛṣṇa. They wanted to enjoy material life independently.
Therefore different forms of bodies are there, but Kṛṣṇa is the cause. Kṛṣṇa... Just like father. Father is the cause of the sons, but the sons may be different. Not exactly all the sons are on the equal pattern. Similarly, we are originally all part and parcel or sons of God. Therefore God's qualities are there in us, very minute quantity, because we are very small. So the quality is there.
As our body is made of earth, similarly, their bodies are made of fire. There are five elements in the material nature: earth, water, fire, air, and ether. So in different planets, there are different atmospheres and different bodies also. Don't think that each and every planet of the same quality. No. Same quality in the sense because these five elements are present there. Without these five elements, no material thing exists. So somewhere the fire is prominent. Somewhere the air is prominent. Somewhere water is prominent. Somewhere earth is prominent. So in this planet, or in some other earthly planet, earth is predominant. Similarly, there are other planets also. So don't think that other planets are vacant. No. So far Vedic literatures are concerned... Just like modern scientists. They are calculating that the moon is full of dust, but according to Vedic literature moon is not full of dust. There are also higher living entities.
Not become Kṛṣṇa. Just like you are spirit soul. When you take the body of a certain type of body, you act according to the body. Just like the dog is acting differently
from human body because he has got a different body. Hog is acting differently because he has got a different body. So there are 8,400,000's of different bodies. So mad-bhāva, mad-bhāva means the nature, Kṛṣṇa's nature. You keep your individuality, but you get Kṛṣṇa's nature. And what is Kṛṣṇa's nature? Kṛṣṇa's nature is always blissful. Ānandamayo 'bhyāsāt (Vedānta-sūtra 1.1.12). Always joyful. So you get a body of joyful, full of knowledge, and eternal. Not that you become Kṛṣṇa. You get exactly the same bodily constitution as Kṛṣṇa has got. That is sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ (Bs. 5.1). As we are, even at the present moment, we are particle Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is vibhu, the whole. We are aṇu, we are small.
Now I cannot do that. Because of this old body. So we are hampered on account of this material body. Encagement.
So there are two ways, as I have already explained, that if you like you can become free from this bondage of material body. If you like. And if you don't like you can continue your material way of life, changing different material bodies. Changing different material body is described here: mṛtyu-saṁsāra-vartmani. Mṛtyu. Because with any body, material body, either cat's body, a dog's body or human being's body or demigod's body or even Brahmā's body, you have to die. There is no escape. Therefore it is called mṛtyu-saṁsāra-vartmani. And the, another path is, aprāpya mām, this mṛtyu-saṁsāra-vartmani means you don't get Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa says aprāpya, not getting mām, Me. Two alternatives. Either you get Kṛṣṇa and go back to home, back to Godhead, this is one path. And the other path that you remain in this material world and repeatedly get a body and die again, get again another body.
And according to their mentality they are getting a different type of body, indriyāṇi. Indriyāṇi, the... As I was explaining in one morning, the pig has got also tongue, that is indriya, sense, and I have got also tongue, but his tongue will like to eat stool. We won't like. Because the different body, the tongue is also tasteful in different way. So indriyāṇi. Manaḥ ṣaṣṭhānīndriyāṇi. First of all with subtle mind we create a different type of indriya. If we live like dogs and hogs, then that mentality will give me similar senses, the body of a dog and hog. And we change our taste according to dog and hog. Similarly, we can change our taste according to the body of demigods. But the subject matter of tasting or enjoyment is the same. Eating, sleeping, sex and defense. That will continue. But the quality of eating may be different. Not the quality, but the form may be different.
Māyā has placed you in this car because you wanted this sort of car. Just like you have got in your practical experience. Somebody has got better car, somebody has got, I mean to say, inferior car. Somebody has got truck. But they're moving. Similarly, these different bodies, they are like cars, and they are moving. Now suppose you are out of the car, either from the truck or from the Rolls Royce car or Chevrolet car or Ford car, do you think that your personality is finished? Because you are out of the car? Then how can you say that when you are out of this body, your personality is finished? What is your reason?
So this is another craziness. Just see how craziness follows. Void. Why void? I am so much intelligent. I am doing... I am planning so many. Because my body is finished, therefore everything becomes void? This void philosophy was contradicted by the (indistinct). There is no void. There is spirit.
"This is my shoe." So I am not the shoe. So similarly, you study every part of your body. You know that it is your body. You are not this body.
This is study. This is meditation. First of all study your body, whether you are body or you are different body. That is actually.
The other day I was speaking that a man's father has died and he is crying, "My father has gone away. So my father..." Your father is lying on the bed. The father which you have seen so long, life long, the body, that is on the bed. Why you are crying your father is gone? That means he has never seen his father, neither the father has seen the son. Everyone sees this body, but not the owner of the body. That is the defect of modern education, that everyone by contemplation can understand that "This finger is my finger, not 'I' finger." Still, he cannot understand that he is different from this body. That is to be understood. That is real knowledge.
So Kṛṣṇa said, "There is another occupier, interested person, of this body." Kṣetra-jñaṁ cāpi māṁ viddhi: "That is myself." Kṣetra-jñaṁ cāpi māṁ viddhi sarva-kṣetreṣu bhārata.
So what is the distinction between these two persons? One is the occupier, and the other is the owner. He says, sarva-kṣetreṣu bhārata: "In all different bodies I am the owner." The living entity is the occupier. Just like a big landlord. He has got many houses, and in each house or each apartment there are separate tenants, similarly these, everything, belongs to God. Īśāvāsyam idaṁ sarvam (ISO 1). Everything belongs to God. Nothing belongs to us. But the same relationship—He is the owner; we are simply occupier. There are two persons interested in this body. One is the individual soul, living entity, and the other is the Supersoul, God. He is also within this body.
So then why He is there? Because He is friend. Suhṛdaṁ sarva-bhūtānām (BG 5.29). It is stated in the Vedas that two friendly birds. God is our actual friend, well-wisher friend, suhṛdam. He is simply trying to turn our face towards Him. So long he does not do so, he is changing different body and God is also going with him—He is so friendly—just to advise him in due time, that "Why you are changing from one body to another, one body to another? Why don't you come to Me and live peacefully in blissful life?" That is God's mission. Yadā yadā hi dharmasya glānir bhavati, tadātmānaṁ sṛjāmy aham (BG 4.7).
So God is so great friend of ours. He is always witnessing, witnessing. And as I am desiring, God is giving us facility. "All right, you want to enjoy like this? You take this body and enjoy." Actually you are not enjoying. When we have no discrimination of food, we can eat anything and everything, just like the hogs and pigs, so God says, "All right, you take the body of a pig and hog, and you can eat even up to stool. I give you the facility." That is as we are desiring.
They cannot say. Their education is not perfect. They cannot say. But we can see there are so many varieties of life, and each of them is a living entity. But if you consult Vedic literature, you'll find exactly the number. Just like in the Vedic literature you'll find jalajā nava-lakṣāṇi: "In the water the aquatic living beings are 900,000 different bodies." So I don't think there is any biologist or botanist who can say exactly how many forms of life are there within the water.
But you'll find the information exact in number, jalajā nava-lakṣāṇi: "The aquatics, the living entities within the water, there are nine hundred thousands 900,000's of forms." We have got information from Vedic literature. There is a fish which is called timiṅgila. Timiṅgila. Timi means... Timi is also another fish. That is Sanskrit name. The English name is whale fish. It is very very big, just like one small house. And there is another fish which is called timiṅgila.
There are so many, eight million four hundred thousand species forms of life. They're all living entities. But why they have got different types of bodies? That is explained here. Tat kṣetraṁ yac ca yādṛk ca.
Why we have got different bodies? And yādṛk ca, how it is working? Yādṛk ca. Tat kṣetraṁ yac ca yādṛk ca yad vikārī. How it has transformed in different forms? Yad vikārī yataś ca yat (BG 13.4), and wherefrom it has come to be so? Sa ca yo yat prabhāvaḥ. How, under certain influence, we get this body? There are three kinds of influences, you must always know, material influences.
Just like the example is given that there is fire and the sparks are dancing, but some of the sparks fall down, from the fire falls down on the ground. So one spark falls on the water, one spark falls on the dry grass, and one spark falls on the wet grass. These are three conditions.
The so-called scientists, they do not know that the consciousness is eternal and it carries me to another body. "I see that this body is destroyed; therefore finish, all finished." No. You have got practical experience. When you sleep, the body does not work but the consciousness works. You therefore dream in a different atmosphere. You get a different body and enjoy differently. Every day we have got experience. At night I forget this body, and daytime, I forget the dreaming body. So this is also dreaming, at daytime, because I forget. At night I saw that I was a king, I was ruling over somebody, or I was lecturing as a political leader, and daytime I see that I am a clerk, neither politician nor king. So I forget the night's body, and at night I forget the day's body.
Similarly, change of body means I forget this body. Last life, I had some body, but I cannot say what kind of body I had. Of course, there is science, astronomy and other things. They can speak, but I don't believe it.
This is very funny, that you get the body according to your karma, but the, you are liable to enjoy or being suffering according to the body. The body is given by the nature. In another place it is confirmed, bhrāmayan sarva-bhūtāni yantrārūḍhāni māyayā (BG 18.61).
The living entity... Just like we, on this jeep car, we can move from here and there. Somebody has given you the car for movement. Similarly we are getting a yantra, a moving instrument, this body, with senses, different bodies. So I'm seated there and, but the movement is not in my direction. That is by nature's own way. Prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni, in another place it is confirmed,
- prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni
- guṇaiḥ karmāṇi sarvaśaḥ
- ahaṅkāra-vimūḍhātmā
- kartāham iti manyate
- (BG 3.27)
This is our foolishness. So long we are under the clutches of māyā it is just like pulling by the ear, "Come here, sit down," like that. Prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni. But the illusory māyā, by the influence of illusory māyā, the living entity thinks that "I am doing this, I am doing that."
We are all human beings. Everyone, we are, we possess two hands, two legs. Still, the bodies are different. We don't find anybody's body is exactly equal to the other. No. Because we have got different mentality. Every one of us, we are individual soul; we have got different mentality, different propensities, different ideas. So in this way we have got different bodies. This is the science.
Science, they are searching out so many things, but they do... Why they cannot explain that why there are varieties of body. Why not exactly equal human being exactly of the same feature, same...? Just like we do some... In mold, the, all the dolls come out of the same body. It is not like that. For each and every living entity, Kṛṣṇa has to prepare a different type of body. Therefore we have got different types of body according to karma.
According to medical science, it is not grown; it is changed. The body is changing. Just like in a film spool, you will find so many bodies. One hand is like this, one hand is like this, one hand is like this, and when they are taken together, it moves like this. This is the film. Film means there are different bodies in different position and when they are taken at once, it, likes that it moves. The picture is not moving. Similarly, we are changing of the different body, but it is taking place so quickly and so imperceptibly by Kṛṣṇa's energy. The machine is so nice that we are thinking that it is growing. It is not growing, all different bodies, all different. Every moment, every second. That is the scientific. The blood corpuscles are changing, and the body is different.
So this is the preliminary knowledge of advancing in spiritual knowledge. You do not know what is spirit and what is the spiritual knowledge.
Why there is no life after death? I am experiencing that I was a baby, and after that baby body is finished, I got a body of child. Then, from child body, I got the body of a boy; then as a young man, then I have got this... Now, why not after changing this body, another body? Where is the reason? In my this experience I get that I have changed so many bodies. But I remember. I am existing. Although my different bodies are finished, I am existing. Similarly, tathā dehāntara-prāptir dhīras tatra na muhyati (BG 2.13). Similarly, I shall get another body. So what kind of body I shall get, that is the preparation stage in this life. What kind of body I'm going to get. That is karmaṇā daiva-netreṇa jantur deha upapatti (SB 3.31.1). As you are working here, this is a chance, human body. Here is a chance. You can make your next body as lower animals, or demigods, or go back to home to Godhead. Whatever you like. Yānti deva-vratā devān pitṟn yānti pitṛ-vratāḥ (BG 9.25). These are the instructions of Bhagavad-gītā.
| Page Title: | Different bodies (Lectures, BG) |
| Compiler: | Visnu Murti, RupaManjari |
| Created: | 27 of Sep, 2012 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=59, Con=0, Let=0 |
| No. of Quotes: | 59 |