This is self-realization, that everything belongs to God. Nothing belongs to us. This is self-realization. I also belong to God. My, this body made of five elements, gross body... Bhūmir āpo 'nalo vāyuḥ (BG 7.4), earth, water, fire, air, sky. This is gross body. And subtle body, khaṁ mano buddhir eva, mind, intelligence, ego. These eight. Kṛṣṇa says, bhinnā me prakṛtir aṣṭadhā: "These eight kind of prakṛti, they are My energy. They are My energy." So this whole universe is creation of Kṛṣṇa's material energy.
Gross Body (Lectures)
Lectures
Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures
Lecture on BG 1.32-35 -- London, July 25, 1973:
The nature is, it is sometimes manifested and sometimes it is dissolved, annihilated. Everything material, that is the way. Just like our body. It is created at a certain date, and it will be annihilated at a certain date. Similarly, this gigantic body... That is also body of the Supreme Lord, virāt body. Virāt means gigantic. Kṛṣṇa will show His virāt-rūpa to Arjuna. So this external body, exactly just like we have got our this external body. Internal body. The soul is covered by two bodies, the external and internal. External means these gross elements—earth, water, air, fire, sky. And internal means the mind, intelligence and ego. They are also material. Just like our body is covered by shirt and coat, similarly, the soul is encaged in two kinds of bodies. When this gross body is finished, the subtle body, mind, intelligence and ego, they are there. The soul is covered. The gross body is finished. That is called death. But people do not know that there is no death for the soul. The outward cover is finished, the inward cover is there, and the inward cover will carry the soul to another gross body. That is called transmigration. The mind is creating, as we are making our consciousness in this life, so we are making our next life also. Yānti deva-vratā devān pitṟn yānti pitṛ-vratāḥ (BG 9.25).
Lecture on BG 1.32-35 -- London, July 25, 1973:
So we have got two kinds of bodies, gross and subtle, and within that, I am living, you are living, soul. Dehino 'smin yathā dehe kaumāraṁ yauvanaṁ jarā (BG 2.13). Asmin dehe, within this body, there is the dehī, the proprietor of the body. So people do not understand that this finishing of this gross body is not actually death or annihilation of the soul. Na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). Even annihilation of the subtle body does not mean death of the soul. Na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). There are two kinds of bodies. So when the gross body is annihilated, the subtle body carries me to another gross body. Just like the air carries the flavor of a certain place. If the air is passing over rose garden, it carries the flavor. Although we cannot see, but we can smell. We can understand the breeze is so fragrant, means it is coming over a rose garden. Similarly, filthy place, a bad smell, the air carries. So the subtle body carries the mental situation of the soul and puts him into a particular body according to that mental situation. Yaṁ yaṁ vāpi smaran bhāvaṁ tyajaty ante kalevaram (BG 8.6). At the time of death, the mental situation will give me chance for another gross body. If we have created my mind Kṛṣṇa conscious, then he will give me, the mental situation will give me a body by which I can make further progress.
Lecture on BG 1.41-42 -- London, July 29, 1973:
So the idea is that if the forefather in the family has not achieved a proper life... Sometimes due to sinful activities, too much attachment, a man becomes ghost. Ghost, there is ghosts. Bhūta preta piśāca. Not only this life, demonic life, but after death also, there are ghostly lives. They do not get this gross body. They remain in the subtle body, mind, intelligence, and ego. Due to their gross sinful life, they are punished by not getting a gross life. Because without getting a gross life, we cannot enjoy. With mind, I cannot enjoy rasagullā. I must have the tongue, I must have the hand, fingers, I can pick up, then... In the mind, I may think of eating or collecting rasagullā, but actually I do not get the taste. So gross body is required, because every living entity in this material world, they have come to enjoy. Kṛṣṇa bhuliyā jīva bhoga vāñchā kare pāśāte māyā tāre jāpaṭiyā dhare. This is the beginning of our material life. When we forget to render service to Kṛṣṇa, immediately we get a material body offered by the material nature.
Lecture on BG 1.41-42 -- London, July 29, 1973:
So this gross body is required for enjoyment. Spirit, spiritual body is also very subtle, and the astral body, or subtle body, is also very subtle. The gross body required. So on account of one's severe sinful life, he does not get this gross body. Therefore the lupta-piṇḍodaka-kriyā (BG 1.41). Taking for granted that some of my forefathers have become ghostly life and has not got the gross body, so by this piṇḍodaka... Piṇḍa means offering prasāda of Viṣṇu prasāda.
Lecture on BG 2.8 -- London, August 8, 1973:
Wherefrom this body came? This body's described: vāsāṁsi, garments. So garment means it is cut according to the body. That is garment. Not that my body is made according to the garment. It is a commonsense affair. So when I have got hands of my shirt, this is my subtle body or gross body, therefore originally, spiritually, I have got my hands and legs. Otherwise, how it comes? How do you develop?
Lecture on BG 2.11 -- New York, March 4, 1966:
Now, the whole living existence is a very subtle thing. Now, this body, this body made of earth, water, fire, air, sky, this gross body; and behind this, there is another subtle body. That is mind, intelligence and ego. So when we give up this gross body, that subtle body carries me to another gross body. So when this, this body is lifeless, that body, subtle body, is not lifeless. Just like at night, when this gross body is asleep, the subtle body works. Therefore we dream. So subtle body carries to next life.
Lecture on BG 2.11 -- New York, March 4, 1966:
There are two, two sort of bodies in which we are now entered. Now, suppose this gross body appears to be now dead and gone, stopped, but one must know that subtle body has carried him to another body. So subtle body is not lost life. The life is there. So here Kṛṣṇa says that either of the gross body or of... Subtle body has to be also left. When you get liberation, when you get liberation, that subtle body, that egoistic life, has also to be left.
Lecture on BG 2.11 -- Edinburgh, July 16, 1972:
So our point is that Kṛṣṇa informs Arjuna that "Why you are deviating from your duty? Do you think that your brother or your uncle or your grandfather on the other side, they will be dead after fighting? No. That is not the fact." The point is that Kṛṣṇa wanted to teach Arjuna that this body is different from the person. Just like every one of us, we are different from the shirt and coat. Similarly, we living entities, soul, is different from the gross body and the subtle body. This is the philosophy of Bhagavad-gītā. People do not understand it. Generally, people understand that he is this body.
Lecture on BG 2.11 -- Rotary Club Address -- Hotel Imperial, Delhi, March 25, 1976:
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. Tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ (BG 2.13).
Lecture on BG 2.13 -- New York, March 11, 1966:
Dehinaḥ. Dehinaḥ means "one who has accepted this material body." Asmin. Asmin means "in this world" or "in this life." Yathā, "as." Dehe. Dehe means "within this body." Because dehinaḥ means "one who has accepted this body," and dehe, "within this body." So I am sitting within this body. Now, I am not this body. Just like you are within this shirt and coat, similarly, I am also within this body, this gross body and the subtle body. This gross body is made of this earth, water, and fire, air, and ether, this gross body, this our whole material body. Now, in this Earth, in this planet, earth is prominent. Anywhere, the body, material body, is made of these five elements: earth, water, fire, air and ether. These are the five ingredients.
Lecture on BG 2.13 -- Mombassa, September 13, 1971:
The basic principle of spiritual understanding. The basic principle of spiritual understanding is to know the spirit soul first of all. What is that spirit soul? That spirit soul is within this body. Dehinaḥ asmin dehe. Asmin, this, asmin means this, and dehe means the body. Asmin dehe, in this body there is spirit soul who is called dehī. Dehī means one who possesses this body. Just like your coat, your shirt, you possess this coat and shirt. Not that you are the coat and the shirt. Try to understand clearly. This is my shirt, I am not this. I am different. I am within the shirt. Similarly, this body, this is gross coat. Just like you, when you put on your dress, you have one underwear, shirt, and then over that shirt there is coat. It is very easy to understand, there is no difficulty. Similarly, the spirit soul is within this coat and shirt. What is this coat? This gross body. There are five..., eight material elements: earth, water, fire, air, ether, mind, intelligence, and ego. These are eight material elements. And out of these eight, gross elements we can see or perceive with your material senses.
Lecture on BG 2.13 -- Mombassa, September 13, 1971:
Somebody is accepting the mind as the self, and somebody is accepting the, this gross body as the self. They do not know that both the body and the mind, both of them are material. And the force or the entity which is moving this body and mind, that is spirit.
Lecture on BG 2.13 -- Pittsburgh, September 8, 1972:
So our advancement of civilization means we have created problems. That's all. This is our advancement of civilization, and we do not know what is the formation of the soul, how it is transmigrating from one body to another, what is the next life, whether we are getting next life a human being or better than human being, or lower than human being. And if it so, how we are getting that form of life next? Because we are eternal, we are changing this body. Neither we do know there are two kinds of bodies: the gross body and the subtle body. This gross body is made of earth, water, fire, air, ether; and the subtle body is made of mind, intelligence, and ego. Within the subtle body, the soul is there. Now, when this gross body becomes useless or unworkable, then the subtle body carries me to another gross body. This is called transmigration of the soul. But we do not see the subtle body. Every one of us, we know that we, we have got mind, but we cannot see the mind. Neither we can see intelligence, neither I can see what is my ego.
Lecture on BG 2.13 -- Pittsburgh, September 8, 1972:
Dehinaḥ, of the living soul, the body is changing. Similarly, after death, after so-called death... Because there is no death. After stoppage of the function of this gross body, the soul is transferred to another gross body. This statement we get from Bhagavad-gītā. And if we accept this statement, "This is fact," then our spiritual life immediately begins. Without this understanding, there is no question of spiritual understanding. Everything vague, simply mental speculation, "maybe," "perhaps." These theories are being forwarded by so-called scientists and philosophers. But we don't accept such things as "perhaps," "maybe." No. We accept what is fact. It is not a question of belief; it is a question of fact. So this is the fact.
Lecture on BG 2.13 -- Manila, October 12, 1972:
So we are receiving knowledge of this transmigration of the soul from God, Kṛṣṇa. Therefore, it is perfect. He says, dhīras tatra na muhyati. After the death of a person, one should not be bewildered. He should be dhīra, he should be sober to know how things are happening. That is called knowledge. How, after the passing of the soul from this body, how the soul accepts another body? That also you learn from the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa. We can see with our material eyes this gross body, the gross covering made of earth, water, fire, air, ether.
Lecture on BG 2.13 -- Manila, October 12, 1972:
So personally the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, is teaching that the soul transmigrates. Tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ. Dehāntara-prāptiḥ means transmigrating from one body to another. Dhīras tatra na muhyati (BG 2.13). Those who are dhīra, sober, full of knowledge, they are not bewildered, they are not perturbed. Because he knows that my father or brother, everything, is said to be dead, it is..., he is not dead. This gross body, this coat, coating of the body, has stopped. It is (indistinct), or by some reason it is torn, it is no longer usable. Therefore, the soul has left this gross body and, being carried by the subtle body—mind, intelligence, ego—he has gone to accept another gross body. This is transmigration of the soul.
Lecture on BG 2.13 -- Public Lecture With German Translation Throughout -- Hamburg, September 10, 1969:
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.
Lecture on BG 2.14 -- Germany, June 21, 1974:
So people do not know that I am leaving this gross body, but I am entering into subtle body. Subtle body is there, not question of inside. We are packed up. Just like this body is packed up with shirt and coat, so the coat is the gross body, and the shirt is the subtle body. So when this gross body is resting, the subtle body is working. The subtle body is there. The foolish men, they cannot understand that "I am compact in some body, either subtle body or gross body." One who is too sinful, very much sinful, he does not get the gross body. He remains in the subtle body, and that is called ghost. You have heard. Some of you might have seen. There is ghost. Ghost means he doesn't get. He is so sinful that he is condemned to remain in the subtle body. He does not get the gross body. Therefore, according to Vedic system, there is śrāddha ceremony. If the father or relative has not gotten the gross body, by that ceremony he is allowed to accept a gross body. That is the Vedic system.
Lecture on BG 2.14 -- Germany, June 21, 1974:
So anyway, we can understand that "I am sometimes in this gross body, and I am sometimes in the subtle body. So I am there, either in the gross body or in the subtle body. So I am eternal. But when I work with the subtle body, I forget this gross body. And when I work with this gross body, I forget this subtle body. So either I accept the gross body or subtle body, I am eternal. I am eternal. Now the problem is how to avoid this gross body and subtle body. That is problem. That means when you remain in your original body, means spiritual body, and do not come to this gross or subtle body, that is your eternal life. That is... We have to achieve. This human life is a gift by the nature or by God. Now you realize that you are changing your different condition, distress and happiness, being forced to accept some kind of gross and subtle body. That is the cause of your pains and pleasure. And if you get out of this gross and subtle body, remain in your original, spiritual body, then you are free from these pains and pleasure. That is called mukti. Mukti. There is a Sanskrit word. Mukti means liberation, no more gross body, no more subtle body. But you remain in your own original spiritual body. This is called mukti.
Lecture on BG 2.15 -- Hyderabad, November 21, 1972:
So here, in the Bhagavad-gītā, gives you a nice formula. Yaṁ hi na vyathayanty ete puruṣaṁ puruṣarṣabha. This transmigration of the soul, one which is not afflicted by this, dhīras tatra na muhyati (BG 2.13), one who understands... Suppose my father dies, if I have got clear understanding that "My father has not died. He has changed the body. He has accepted another body." That is the fact. Just like in our sleeping state, dreaming state, my body is lying on the bed, but in dream I create another body and go, say, thousand miles away in a different place. As you have got daily experience, similarly, the gross body being stopped, I, as spirit soul, I do not stop. I work. My mind carries me. My mind is active, my intelligence is active. People do not know that there is another subtle body made of mind, intelligence and ego. That carries me to another gross body. That is called transmigration of the soul.
Lecture on BG 2.17 -- London, August 23, 1973:
So death means when this body is lost, gross body, the soul remains in the subtle body—intelligence, mind and ego. That subtle body carries him to another body. But those who are not intelligent, they do not understand what is the subtle body, although it is clearly said subtle body means mind, intelligence. You have got mind, intelligence, everyone knows.
Lecture on BG 2.20 -- Hyderabad, November 25, 1972:
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.
Lecture on BG 2.48-49 -- New York, April 1, 1966:
So we must utilize this human form of body properly to understand that "I am not this body; I am pure consciousness. And this pure consciousness I have to practice in such a way that in next life I get my pure conscious or into pure spiritual body, not again this material body." This material body, we must always know, this is a foreign thing. We have already explained to you that this is just like dress. Dress. Dress is a foreign thing to my body. Similarly, this gross and subtle body—gross body of this material five elements and the subtle body of mind, ego, intelligence—they are my foreign things.
Lecture on BG 3.27 -- Melbourne, June 27, 1974:
When you sleep at night, then you dream, means subtle body. So these activities of this gross body stop. You again work in the subtle body. You dream that you have gone to somewhere or in the forest or somewhere, somewhere, somewhere. But you forget that "My real body is lying in this bed." You do not remember. This is practical. So I change this, myself. I am soul. I change from this gross body lying on bed in a very nice apartment, skyscraper building, but I have gone to the forest, and I am affronting a big tiger and I'm crying. In this bed I am crying. The friends say, "Why you are crying?" "Tiger, tiger, tiger." 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.
Lecture on BG 4.7 -- Montreal, June 13, 1968:
In the gross status of our understanding, we take this gross body as my self. At that time my dharma or occupational duty is different. When I accept mind as myself, then my occupational duty becomes different. But when I understand that I am spirit soul, then my occupational duty is different.
Lecture on BG 4.10 Public Meeting -- Rome, May 25, 1974:
Just like you give up your one dress, you accept another dress; similarly, when this body, dress, is no more useful, you accept another dress. That you have got experience at night. You leave this body, and you take another body, and you roam in dreamland. That is experienced, everyday experienced. You give up this body; you accept another body, subtle body. So when this gross body is destroyed, the subtle body carries you to another gross body. That is called death.
Lecture on BG 4.10 Festival at Maison de Faubourg -- Geneva, May 31, 1974:
There are two natures. Just like you can understand, you are combination of two nature, the material nature and the spiritual nature. This gross body is material nature. It is made of earth, fire, water, air, ether, and mind, intelligence and ego. And the spiritual nature is yourself, the spirit soul, the living force, which is sustaining these material bodies. So both these natures, the material nature and the spiritual nature, they are different energies of God.
Lecture on BG 4.10 Festival at Maison de Faubourg -- Geneva, May 31, 1974:
Death means to leave this body and carried by the subtle body to another gross body. That is called death. We are carried by the mind, intelligence and ego, subtle body. Just like we can experience a good scent of rose flower is carried by the air. We cannot see, but we know that the flavor is being carried by the air. Similarly, although we do not see how the spirit soul is being carried by the subtle body, but it is being carried, and it is being put into the womb of another mother to develop another gross body. So this body is offered by nature. This body is given by the material nature. Similarly, we, or I, the spirit soul, being carried by the subtle body, and the nature is giving me another gross body. In this way we are transmigrating from one body to another. This is called evolution. And there are 8,400,000's of bodies, and we are going through one after another.
Lecture on BG 4.13 -- New York, April 8, 1973:
Your shirt and coat is the covering of your real body. Similarly, this body, gross body and subtle body, made of material elements... The gross body is made of earth, water, air, fire. And the subtle body's made of mind, intelligence and ego. This is the shirt and coat. Within this shirt and coat, there is the soul. So the soul is now encaged in this material body. And our business in the human form of body. In animal form of body, we cannot do this. But the human form of body we can understand that "I am not this body." The body, this material body, is a outer encagement, and, because I have got this body, I am subjected to birth, death, old age and disease.
Lecture on BG 7.4 -- Bombay, February 19, 1974:
Matter is produced by Kṛṣṇa's energy. It is not automatically produced. Just like I have given the example that this body, this material gross body, is produced out of the soul which is put into the womb of the mother by the semina of the father. These are... These descriptions are there in the Third Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, very nicely, you consult.
Lecture on BG 7.5 -- Nairobi, November 1, 1975:
The superior energy and the inferior energy, this is the material world, combination of two energies. Just like this body, your body, my body, everyone's body. What is this? The combination of these two energies, the superior energy and the inferior energy. The inferior energy—bhūmir āpo 'nalo vāyuḥ, the gross body, earth, water... This gross body means earth, water, air, and ether, and then the subtle body, mind intelligence and ego, these eight combination, so this is not actually I. I am soul. Therefore this is aparā, inferior. But what I am, that is superior. That is explained here, jīva-bhūta. Beyond these two gross and subtle energies there is another, superior energy. Apareyam itas tu anyām. Anyām means another. Itas tu... Apareyam itas tu anyām prakṛtim. Another prakṛti, energy, is there. Viddhi me parām. That is superior. What is that? Jīva-bhūta, that living being which is within the gross and subtle body, that living being.
Lecture on BG 7.28-8.6 -- New York, October 23, 1966:
The nature's law is, if you are practiced under certain condition of life, and at the end of death, if you think of that life, then your next birth... The next birth is, means, carrying the idea of this birth to the next birth. You are changing simply bodies, death. Suppose you are poet. You are a thoughtful poet. Now, when you change your body, oh, you'll still remain a poet. By changing your body, it does not become something else. So the thought is the real thing. That will carry you to the other body. This is, this is gross body, and there is subtle body. The subtle body is mind, ego and intelligence. So when you give up this gross body, the subtle body carries me to another gross body, another gross body. But when you become on the same level of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then your this subtle body also cannot act. You directly go in spiritual body to Kṛṣṇa.
Lecture on BG 8.5 -- New York, October 26, 1966:
Because soul is now covered by the subtle body and the gross body. When the gross body stops to work... Just like at night the gross body is lying, but the subtle body mind is working. Therefore you are dreaming. The subtle body is working. So when you give up this body, your subtle body, mind, intelligence, that carries you very fine.
Lecture on BG 9.5 -- Melbourne, April 24, 1976:
So how God is situated. He is explaining. Na ca mat-sthāni bhūtāni paśya me yogam aiśvaram. Aiśvaram. Aiśvaram means supremacy. How supreme He is. Everything is resting on Him; still, everything is without Him. That is very easy to understand, that we cannot exist without God's mercy. Without the potency on which... This potency is life. Try to understand what is this life. We have got this material body. Material body means... This gross body is made of earth, water, air, fire, ether. This is the gross body, and the subtle body, mind, intelligence, and ego. We are situated in this body. Therefore what is this, these energies? It is Kṛṣṇa's energy. Therefore we are situated in the energy, material energy of the Supreme Lord. We are ourself also energy of the Supreme Lord, marginal energy.
Lecture on BG 12.13-14 -- Bombay, May 12, 1974:
One has to see, asmin dehe, in this body, there is the dehinaḥ, the proprietor. Dehinaḥ means one possesses the body. That is spiritual vision. The spiritual vision is... One who is advanced in spiritual knowledge, he does not see the outward dress, but he sees within the dress, who is living there. Asmin dehe dehinaḥ. Dehinaḥ. Dehī means the possessor of this body. I am not this body, you are not this body, but you possess this body.
Just like you possess your shirt and coat, similarly, you possess this body also. The gross body made of material elements is your coat, and the subtle body made of finer material elements—mind, intelligence, ego—that is your shirt. And within that coat and shirt, the real living entity is there.
Lecture on BG 13.4 -- Hyderabad, April 20, 1974:
People should be little intelligent that "If I am eternal," na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20), "I do not die even after the destruction of this body..." Just like if this shirt and coat is torn out, we throw it away, that does not mean I am also torn and finished, similarly, this body... This body means I am spirit soul. I am covered with this gross body and the subtle body. This gross body is made of earth, water, air, fire, sky, and the subtle body is made of mind, intelligence and ego. So I am covered by these two shirts and coat. So I am different from this. That is knowledge. That is knowledge.
Lecture on BG 13.14 -- Bombay, October 7, 1973:
So good qualities can be attained automatically when you work on spiritual platform. But if you work on material platform, means the gross body and the mind, then good qualities cannot be attained. Harāv abhaktasya kuto mahad-guṇā mano-rathenāsati dhāvato bahiḥ (SB 5.18.12).
Lecture on BG Lecture -- Ahmedabad, December 8, 1972:
Guest (1) : ...part of Puruṣa. Also you say: ahaṁ brahmāsmi. You and all people are part of God...
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Guest (1): ...and this is jīva and Puruṣa. There's a living entity within us.
Prabhupāda: Yes, nitya. We are part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa.
Guest (1): ...is the material nature, and material, this is not the gross body.
Prabhupāda: Eh? Eh?
Guest (1): This is not the gross body. When we go to bed and sleep, we feel that there is some divine spark in us, which puts us by(?) our existence...
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Guest (1): is a part and parcel of God. That's what the Śaṅkara...
Prabhupāda: No. Part and parcel of God in this way: it is the energy of God.
Guest (1): It is not prakṛti. It is puruṣa. It is puruṣa inside.
Prabhupāda: Puruṣa inside? That is Paramātmā.
Guest (1): Śaṅkarācārya says, Śaṅkarācārya says that...
Prabhupāda: No, we differ from Śaṅkarācārya. We follow Kṛṣṇa. We do not follow Śaṅkarācārya. So if you think Śaṅkarācārya is better than Kṛṣṇa, that is your opinion. We follow Kṛṣṇa. Śaṅkarācārya is not original person. Kṛṣṇa is original person. That is accepted by Vyāsadeva and all... Nārada, Devala. So our proposition is "Follow Kṛṣṇa." Nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām (Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.13). The original person. Ādi-puruṣam. Govindam ādi-puruṣam. Śaṅkarācārya is, say, one thousand five hundred years, but Kṛṣṇa, He's the original puruṣa, before the creation.
Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures
Lecture on SB 1.1.1 -- Caracas, February 21, 1975:
The yoga-siddhi you can get when you become perfect yogi. Mahimā also. You can float in the air. That is called laghimā. Now the aeroplane is going in the air very good speed, but when you get yoga-siddhi your speed becomes... You become very light. You can go anywhere in a moment. It is speedier than the mind. Just like mind—you are sitting here, and your paternal home may be ten thousand miles away, but by mind you can go immediately. This is mental speed. You cannot take your body immediately there, but you can take your mind there immediately. So why it is possible? Because mind is finer than this gross body. That is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, indriyāṇi parāṇy āhur indriyebhyaḥ paraṁ manaḥ, manasas tu parā buddhiḥ (BG 3.42). The finer, finer, finer. Just like this gross body. This gross body means senses. The finer than this is the mind.
Lecture on SB 1.1.2 -- Caracas, February 23, 1975:
By the mind, intelligence and ego. At the time of death, you think of what you have done all through your life. So the mental situation at the time of death will carry you to the different form of life as your mental situation. We do not see the mind, intelligence, although we say that "I have got mind. You have got mind. You have got intelligence. I have got intelligence." So but we do not see it. It is very subtle thing. But after the destruction of this gross body, the subtle body carries me to another gross body. we have got practical experience. The mind is so forceful that you are sitting here, and within a second, you can go to your home or homeland, which may be ten thousand miles away, immediately.
Lecture on SB 1.2.6 -- Delhi, November 12, 1973:
At the time of your death, the situation which you have created, it will carry you. Because mind is there. Mind is subtle. Intelligence is subtle. That mind, intelligence and ego. The subtle body is there. The gross body is lost. But the subtle body will take you to another gross body. It will take to the womb of another mother. And according to your karma, the mother's..., by the mother's help you will get a body, and duly you will come out and begin your work. This is nature's process. It is going on.
Lecture on SB 1.2.6 -- Delhi, November 12, 1973:
You have to understand Kṛṣṇa tattvataḥ, in truth. Then as soon as you understand Kṛṣṇa in truth... That is the real criterion. If you do not understand Kṛṣṇa in truth, simply superficially, then that is not perfection. That is not perfect knowledge. (break) ...paramparā. Then your life is perfect. Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma (BG 4.9). That is perfection, if you, if after giving up this body, no more accepting material body. You go back to home, back to God, in your spiritual body. You have got your spiritual body. That is within this body. Just like within this garment or within your coat, your real body is within the coat, so this body is just like coat, and the subtle body is just like shirt. And as a gentleman is within the coat and shirt, real body, similarly, the spiritual body is within this material gross body and subtle body. If you can get out of this material gross and subtle body, you realize, then you go back to home, back to Godhead. Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti kaunteya (BG 4.9). Yad gatvā na nivartante tad dhāma paramam... (BG 15.6). Everything is there.
Lecture on SB 1.2.8 -- New Vrindaban, September 6, 1972:
In the Bhagavad-gītā it is said that the living entities, we are all living entities, na jāyate, they do not take birth, neither they do die. Na jāyate na mriyate vā kadācit, at any time. Then what is this death and birth? The death and birth is simply change of the body. The subtle body and the gross body.
Lecture on SB 1.2.8 -- New Vrindaban, September 6, 1972:
The gross body remains inactive on the bed, and the subtle body takes me away. I dream, I go in the dreamland. I have gone to some friend, I am talking with somebody, I am working in a different way. That is our daily experience. This means that we have got two kinds of body. One body is this gross body, and the other body is subtle body, made of mind, intelligence, and ego. So foolish person, they do not see the subtle body, but the subtle body is there. Everyone will accept. I am working with my mind, intelligence and ego. Everyone knows. So although we cannot see the subtle body, it is there. So death means this gross body, this overcoat is left, and I am carried away by the subtle body, and I enter into another overcoat, or gross body. So practically this is called death. Because we have no vision of the subtle body, how the soul is being transferred or transmigrating from one gross body to another gross body, keeping the subtle body intact. And the subtle body is given up when one is liberated. And at that time he goes, when he is liberated, freed from this subtle body also, at that time he is promoted to the spiritual kingdom in spiritual body. Therefore while living in this gross body, we have to educate our subtle body in such a way that it becomes spiritualized completely.
Lecture on SB 1.2.8 -- New Vrindaban, September 6, 1972:
The subtle body is mind, intelligence and ego. So if we think of Kṛṣṇa in the mind, always, and if we work intelligently for Kṛṣṇa, that is mind and intelligence. And if we change our false ego, ego means, "I am." So I am at the present moment thinking, "I am American," "I am Indian," "I am white," "I am black," like that. "I am human being," "I am animal," "I am cat or dog," so many things, "I am." This "I am" has to be changed. I am eternal servant of Kṛṣṇa. In this way, if you educate or transfer the activities of the subtle body, mind, intelligence, and ego, then, at the time of death, you give up this subtle body, material subtle body, mind, intelligence, and ego, and by your spiritual body you go back to home, back to Godhead. This is called Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. Gross body, automatically we give up. Now, we should practice to give up the subtle body. To give up this subtle body, one has to develop love for God, prema. And the process is, how to give up the subtle body.
Lecture on SB 1.2.8 -- Vrndavana, October 19, 1972:
One who has lost his intelligence, they are inclined to worship other demigods." Kāmais tais tair hṛta-jñānāḥ (BG 7.20). Because they do not know what is his self-interest. He thinks that his self-interest is to give comfort to this body, the senses, sense-gratification. That is his misguided self-interest. Durāśayā ye bahir-artha-māninaḥ (SB 7.5.31). Bahir-artha-māninaḥ. Bahir-artha means external energy. This body, gross body and the subtle body, they are made of the external energy. Bhūmir āpo 'nalo vāyuḥ khaṁ mano buddhir eva ca (BG 7.4).
Lecture on SB 1.2.17 -- San Francisco, March 25, 1967:
At the time of death, if our consciousness is pure, then it is sure that next life is not material. Next life's pure spiritual life. But if our consciousness is not pure at the point of the verge of death, just leaving this body, then we have to take again this material body. That is the process going on by nature's law. We have got our finer body. This is gross body. The body which you are seeing, which I am seeing, this is gross body. Just like shirt and coat.
Lecture on SB 1.2.21 -- Los Angeles, August 24, 1972:
The living entity, soul, is bound up the subtle body and gross body on account of these knots, attachment. And different attachment. And Kṛṣṇa is giving us facilities as we want. If you want a human body, you get it. If you want animal body, you get it. If you want tiger's body, you get it. You want Brahmā's body, demigod's body, you get it. That is going on.
Lecture on SB 1.2.22 -- Vrndavana, November 2, 1972:
So the spirit soul is still more subtle. And the speed of spirit soul is very, very great. Just like in the Bhagavad-gītā it is said, tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti kaunteya (BG 4.9). Tyaktvā deham. "Just after giving up this body, he immediately comes to Me in the spiritual world." These are the Vedic statement. You can try to understand. Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti: (BG 4.9) we accept another body immediately after death. It is said just like go forward, when the first step, you find it is secure, you take up the second step. Similarly, as soon as the next body is arranged by superior arrangement, we give up this body and enter into another gross body. Immediately. Immediately we are transferred to a mother's womb for manufacturing another gross body. This is the law.
Lecture on SB 1.2.22 -- Vrndavana, November 2, 1972:
If the living entity does not enter into another gross body, then where does he go? So Kṛṣṇa says, mām eti. "He comes to Me." Now just imagine what is the speed of spirit soul, just after leaving this body after death, he immediately goes to Goloka Vṛndāvana, or at least where Kṛṣṇa is there.
Lecture on SB 1.3.8 -- Los Angeles, September 14, 1972:
irth means material body. There is no birth of the soul. The soul transmigrates from one body to another. That is called birth. Otherwise there is not birth. Na jāyate na mriyate, the soul does not take birth nor dies. If there is no birth, then where is death? The body has got birth, therefore there is death. Anything which takes birth, it has got death. But soul is part and parcel of God, God is eternal, therefore soul is eternal. Therefore it is said we give up this gross body or subtle body but we do not die. Just like we change our dress—I give up this shirt or dress—but I do not die. Similarly, the soul is changing, accepting another material body. The result of devotional service is that you do not accept another material body, but you remain in your spiritual body. The soul is spirit, the soul has got spiritual body—hands, legs, mouth, everything—otherwise, how this dress is made? Dress is made according to the body. So unless you have got spiritual body, how we have got this material hand?
Lecture on SB 1.3.24 -- Los Angeles, September 29, 1972:
In Buddha religion they don't believe in God. "Yes. There is no soul. There is no God." That is Buddhist theory. Śūnyavādi. "Everything void. Make void." Buddha philosophy is that "These bodily pains and pleasure are due to the combination of matter." This body, this gross body, or the subtle body, is made of physical matters: earth, water, air, fire, and ether, and mind, intelligence, ego. These are gross and subtle matters.
Lecture on SB 1.7.22 -- Vrndavana, September 18, 1976:
Saṁsṛteḥ, this material world is called saṁsṛti, continuously suffering. That we cannot understand. This is called ignorance. Continuously suffering. They are thinking, "We are very happy," but this material world means continuously suffering. So one living entity is dying, and his gross body is left and the subtle body, mind, intelligence, ego, carrying him in another body through the semina of the father to the womb of the mother. Then it is placed, and the body again forms, and when the body is formed, then he comes out. And within the womb of the mother there is so much suffering, we know that.
Lecture on SB 1.7.26 -- Vrndavana, September 2, 1976:
The modern science has no knowledge. Imperfect knowledge. They see the gross body, but they have no knowledge about the subtle body. But the subtle body is there. Just like we do not see your mind, but I know that you have got mind. You do not see my mind, but you know that I have got mind. Mind, intelligence and ego. My conception, identity, "I am," that conception is there. That is ego. And my intelligence and my mind, you cannot see. Neither I can see. Therefore how the mind, intelligence, and personal identity or egotism carries the soul to other body, they do not see it. They cannot see it. They see the gross body is stopped, everything is stopped. The gross body is burned into ashes. Therefore they think everything is finished. Bhasmī-bhūtasya dehasya kutaḥ punar āgamano bhaved The atheist class, they'll think like that. With poor fund of knowledge, they think that "I see the body is now burnt into ashes. Then where is the soul?" So "There is no soul, there is no God, it is all imagination." But that is not the fact, not that is the fact. The fact is that the gross body is finished, but the subtle body is there. Mano buddhir ahaṅkāraḥ. Bhūmir āpo 'nalo vāyuḥ khaṁ mano buddhir eva ca (BG 7.4). Apareyam itas tu viddhi me prakṛtiṁ parām. So the action and reaction of the subtle thing, subtle matter... Mind is also matter, but subtle matter, very fine.
Lecture on SB 1.8.26 -- Los Angeles, April 18, 1973:
You are not this body, not this gross body and the subtle body. This gross body is made of earth, water, air, fire, sky, and the subtle body is made of mind, intelligence and ego. But you do not belong to these eight elements, apareyam. In the Bhagavad-gītā. This is inferior energy of God. Even one is very mentally advanced, he does not know that he's under the influence of inferior energy. He does not know. That is intoxication.
Lecture on SB 1.8.35 -- Mayapura, October 15, 1974:
So after finishing this body, then I am not finished; I am there. I am, this gross body, finished, but I am within this subtle body—mind, intelligence and ego. The subtle body carries me to another gross body. These so-called scientists, medical men, they cannot see the subtle body, although one has to accept.
Lecture on SB 1.15.35 -- Los Angeles, December 13, 1973:
So we create that situation, and after death we become unconscious. And the superior agent, prakṛti, he takes you. Just like the air carries the flavor. You do not see how the air is passing and where the air is there, but it is there. You are smelling, "Oh, very good flavor," because the air is carrying. But you do not see. So these rascal scientists they think that because you cannot see, there is no soul. Subtle laws he doesn't know how the soul... Soul is so minute particle: ten-thousand, one ten-thousandth part of the top of the hair. How can your material science can see or understand? Therefore they say "No soul," but the soul is there, and he is being carried. He is being carried by nature's subtle intelligence, mind and ego. These are subtle material things. He is covered. As long he is in the material world, his subtle body..., the subtle body is being carried to another gross body. This is the, I mean to, science of transmigration of the soul.
Lecture on SB 1.15.42 -- Los Angeles, December 20, 1973:
Pradyumna: "Thus annihilating the gross body of five elements into the three qualitative modes of material nature, he merged them in one nescience and then absorbed that nescience in the self, Brahman, which is inexhaustible in all circumstances." (SB 1.15.42)
Prabhupāda: Tritve hutvā ca pañcatvaṁ tac caikatve ajuhon muniḥ. Everything is coming from that one. The theory of conservation of energy, that is imperfection. All energy are conserved in that Supreme Personality of Godhead. They have got little idea of this, wherefrom the energies are coming, but not perfectly. The modern scientists, they can simply think of "conservation of energy." But where is that conservation? That they do not know. That is the missing point.
Lecture on SB 2.1.1 -- Vrndavana, March 16, 1974:
At the time of death, whatever thought is there, you get next birth a similar body. The mind, mind creates the body, gross body. As we have got this gross body, so within this gross body there is the subtle body: mind, intelligence and ego. These rascals, they do not know that when the gross body is annihilated, it does not mean that the soul is finished. No. Na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). This is the verdict. Don't think because the gross body is now finished, therefore the person is finished. No. The person is there within the subtle body. And the subtle body will carry him. Just like the fragrance is carried by the air. You cannot see what is this fragrance, but you can smell. A very good smell, wherefrom it came? That is subtle carrying. Similarly, the soul is carried after annihilation of this body, gross body, material... Mind, intelligence, ego—that is also material, but subtle. You cannot see. Everyone knows that I have got mind. I have got soul, but you cannot see. Neither I can see. But there is. But one who does not know what is soul, what is subtle body, they become perplexed. Therefore Kṛṣṇa says, dhīras tatra na muhyati. Dhīra, those who are sober, one who knows how things are going on, dhīras tatra na muhyati.
Lecture on SB 2.2.5 -- Los Angeles, December 2, 1968:
Madhudviṣa: Prabhupāda? When the soul transmigrates from one body to another, the consciousness of that gross body, does the person retain some of the consciousness of his past lives with that transmigration?
Prabhupāda: Yes. Consciousness is a constant companion of the soul. The consciousness means there is soul. Just like this body. I am speaking, I am talking or I am feeling, this consciousness. I am conscious. Why? Because I, the soul, is present. So consciousness is the symptom of the presence of the soul. Therefore when the soul transmigrates the consciousness is also there in another body. But this consciousness, if I take God consciousness, then I go to God. And if I take dog consciousness, I go to dog. That's all. The consciousness is there. Therefore we have to purify our consciousness. Instead of dog consciousness we have to make it God consciousness. That will be our perfection of life. Otherwise, the consciousness which you carry at the time of your death, you get a similar body. There are 8,400,000 species of life, and we may think of in a varied way. That is the technique of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. At the time of, if we keep our Kṛṣṇa consciousness intact, that is our perfection of life. Otherwise we do not know what is my next life. The example is given just like air is passing. Air is very subtle matter. If it is passing on the rose flower, the flavor is carried in other place also, rose scent. And if the air is passing on the stool, the scent or the bad smell of the stool is carried to the other place. Similarly, if you make your consciousness rosy, then your next life is rose flavor. (laughs) And if you make your consciousness stool, then your next life is condemned. Yes. Yes.
Lecture on SB 2.3.2-3 -- Los Angeles, May 20, 1972:
Everyone thinks that "I am this body." Or little further off, one thinks, "No, I am not this body. I am mind." There are two bodies, one gross body made of these physical elements: earth, water, air, fire, sky, and another... Just like shirt and coat. You have got your coat, and within the coat there is shirt, and within the shirt, you are. This is gross example. Similarly, we have got this gross body and when the gross body is finished, then I keep myself in this mental body. That is called ghostly body. The ghostly body means one who is living in the subtle body. Ghost is a fact; it is not fictitious. So the subtle body carries me to another gross body. That is called transmigration of the soul. I must have some vehicle. The subtle body... Gross body is finished. That is gone. Now, the subtle body is there; therefore my mentality will create another gross body. If I am dog mentality, then I'll create another body, dog's body. And if I am God mentality, then I'll create another body like God.
Lecture on SB 2.4.2 -- Los Angeles, June 25, 1972:
So our, this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is negation of the materialistic way of life and regain the blissful eternal life of spiritual understanding. So simply negation is no gain. With something, if you are disgusted, "I don't want it," but... Just like sometimes a man commits suicide, "I don't want this life." So what is the gain? And that is ignorance. He does not know that committing suicide... He's eternal. He's eternal. Living entity is eternal. He thinks that "By killing this body, I am free from this bodily miserable condition of life." No. He's immediately..., either he has to accept a next abominable body or he'll have to become a ghost. One who commits suicide. Ghost means no material gross life, but the mental, material subtle life is there. A ghost is carried by the subtle body: mind, intelligence and false ego. And one who gets a body, gross body...
Lecture on SB 2.4.2 -- Los Angeles, June 25, 1972:
Upon this mind, intelligence and ego, one develops a gross body of five elements: earth, water, air, fire. This is the two kinds of body, a condition. And when he's actually Kṛṣṇa conscious, he's transcendental to this gross and subtle body. He attains a spiritual body which is never to be finished, eternal, blissful life. So sometimes, when Kṛṣṇa, He's especially kind to a person who thinks that "By... I shall execute Kṛṣṇa consciousness; at the same time, I shall enjoy this material life," this is foolishness. This is foolishness. If you want Kṛṣṇa, go to home, back to home, back to Godhead, then you have to finish your material desires.
Lecture on SB 2.9.4 -- Japan, April 22, 1972:
So ātma-tattva-viśuddhy-artha. So we should not be very much attached for the benefit of this body. We must purify. Ātmā, ātma-tattva... Ātmā is sometimes... In Sanskrit language, ātmā is meant the body, the mind and the soul. So ātma-tattva-viśuddhy-artha: "In order to find out what is pure ātmā..." Now ātmā is covered with the subtle body and the gross body. So we should analyze whether this gross body is ātmā or the subtle body is ātmā. So they do not know, the modern civilization. The karmīs, they are accepting this gross body as ātmā, the gross body as ātmā, or the subtle body. The jñānīs, they are accepting mind, intelligence, as ātmā. But ātmā is above. Therefore we have to purify the idea of ātma-tattvam.
Lecture on SB 3.25.28 -- Bombay, November 28, 1974:
Consciousness will go with us. At the time of death the consciousness carries me to another body. Sūkṣma, the fine, or the subtle body, the mind, intelligence, and ego, but we do not see that mind, intelligence, ego. And the soul, it is still finer. Mind is, we know you have got mind, you know I have got mind but you do not see. I know you have got intelligence, you know I have got intelligence but you can not see. But how the mind, intelligence carry the soul to another body, how you can see? We see that this gross body is stopped, we say it is everything finished, because we have got gross intelligence, we have no sūkṣma, in Therefore we have to approach guru, just like Arjuna approached guru. And Arjuna, Kṛṣṇa teaching that you are thinking of this body like a rascal.
Lecture on SB 3.25.33-34 -- Bombay, December 3, 1974:
So jarayaty āśu yā kośam. Kośam means covering. We have got, the spirit soul has got two kinds of covering. As Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā, dehino 'smin yathā dehe (BG 2.13). Dehinaḥ, the proprietor or the occupier... Proprietor is not actually. The occupier. I have several times explained that this body, gross and subtle, both the bodies... Just like shirt and coat covering of the body, similarly, there are two kinds of covering of the body: subtle body and gross body. The gross body is made of earth, water, fire, air, sky, and the subtle body is made of mind, intelligence, and ego.
Lecture on SB 3.25.33-34 -- Bombay, December 3, 1974:
So as in this material condition... Of course, a devotee is not under material condition. As soon as he becomes servant of Kṛṣṇa and gives pure devotional service with love and faith, immediately he becomes spiritually situated. Therefore it is said, jarayaty āśu yā kośaṁ nigīrṇam analo yathā. Just like if you put something in the fire, immediately it is burned and turned into ashes, similarly, as soon as you put yourself in the devotional service without any material desire, anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyam (Brs. 1.1.11), immediately your subtle body and gross body become dissolved; you remain only spirit soul, immediately. The same example is given here. Immediately. Just like Kṛṣṇa says, ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo mokṣayiṣyāmi. Kṛṣṇa says, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇam (BG 18.66), as "you surrender." Then what...? Immediately you become purified. Ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyaḥ. We are contaminated by sinful activities. We are getting different types of bodies on account of our sinful activities—or pious activities, you take it. Pious activity or sinful activities, they, they are meant for giving you different types of body. That is suffering.
Lecture on SB 3.25.33-34 -- Bombay, December 3, 1974:
So long you will have this material body, you will have to suffer. You cannot avoid it. Mātrā-sparśās tu kaunteya śītoṣṇa-sukha-duḥkha-dāḥ (BG 2.14). That is stated in the Bha... Mātrā-sparśāḥ. What is the suffering? Suffering means on account of this body. The same water, it is very pleasing during summer, and the same water, it is very distressing in winter. So water is the same, but it is distressing and pleasing on account of this body. Very simple thing, one can understand. Mātrā-sparśās tu kaunteya śītoṣṇa-sukha-duḥkha-dāḥ. The water is neither pleasing nor distressing. It is due to my this body and bodily concepts of life, we are suffering or enjoying, so-called enjoying, so-called suffering. Actually, I am the spirit soul. I am different from this body, gross body and subtle body. I have no suffering, no, I mean to say, enjoying. It is simply my imagination. Therefore a mukta-puruṣa, a liberated person, he is not affected by this so-called suffering or enjoying. That is called liberation.
Lecture on SB 3.25.36 -- Bombay, December 5, 1974:
So hṛtātmano hṛta-prāṇāṁś ca bhaktiḥ. This is the perfection. "This" means that the gross body and the subtle body becomes digested, no more existence of this gross body. Gross body means sense gratification, and subtle body means speculation, "God is like that, God is like that," speculation, subtle body. Mana-buddhy-ahaṅkāra. And gross body means the senses. So when the senses and the mind, everything, is engaged in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, that means you are already liberated, already liberated. Therefore it is said, anicchato me gatim aṇvīṁ prayuṅkte. The liberated means that you have no more the activities of gross body and subtle body, but there are activities of the soul. This is wanted. The bhakti means the activities of the soul, not of the body, not of the mind. The Brahman realization means stopping the activities of the body. But the activities of the mind is going on, or they do not know. It is not perfect knowledge.
Lecture on SB 3.25.43 -- Bombay, December 11, 1974:
As soon as you take to bhakti immediately your gross and subtle body is digested. You will live in the spiritual body. Sa guṇān samatītyaitān brahma-bhūyāya kalpate (BG 14.26). Brahma-bhūyāya means that spiritual body. We are already Brahman—ahaṁ brahmāsmi—but it is covered by the material body, the gross body, kṣitir āpaṁ tejo marud vyoma: fire, water, earth, air, like that, and mano buddhiḥ ahaṅkāra, the subtle body, mind, intelligence, and ego. So we are covered by this subtle body and gross body. This is our impediment. But the... By karma-yoga you try to get out of this gross body. By jñāna-yoga you try to get out of this subtle body. But bhakti-yoga—you directly you cross over this subtle body and gross body. You are immediately situated in the spiritual body. Jñāna-vairāgya-yuktena. Sa guṇān samatītyaitān (BG 14.26).
Lecture on SB 3.25.43 -- Bombay, December 11, 1974:
So long you are in the subtle body and gross body, then you are suffering under the three modes of material nature. The body is created by the three modes of material nature according to... Kāraṇaṁ guṇa-saṅgo 'sya sad-asad-yoni-janmasu (BG 13.22). We get different types of body on account of association with these material modes of nature, sattva-guṇa, rajo-guṇa, tamo-guṇa. But if you are situated in the devotional service of the Lord, you immediately become on the platform of brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā (BG 18.54), immediately. Ahaṁ brahmāsmi—this is simply theoretical. That is theoretical knowledge, that "I am brahma." But when you are actually in devotional service, then that is practical. You are no more in the material platform. You are on the Brahman platform.
Lecture on SB 3.26.2 -- Bombay, December 14, 1974:
So we have to come to this platform, spiritual platform. We are suffering on account of being on the material platform. So by keeping yourself always in the fire of Kṛṣṇa or Kṛṣṇa consciousness, you are transferred to the spiritual world. Very nice example, this iron rod, red hot. You cannot use it for any other purpose. It is simply for burning. Similarly you can become Kṛṣṇized. That we have already discussed in the previous verses. The, anyone who is fully absorbed in Kṛṣṇa consciousness in devotional service he is two kinds of external body, namely the gross body, material body, this gross body made of earth, water, fire, air and sky, and the subtle body made of mind, intelligence, and ego. These two kinds of body become dissolved. Just like if you eat something, put into your stomach, and if you have got good digestive function, then everything will be digested. Similarly if you become Kṛṣṇa conscious, spiritualized, the material activities will have no effect. It is dissolved. Otherwise, any material things you will do, it will have repercussion or reaction.
Lecture on SB 3.26.27 -- Bombay, January 4, 1975:
One who commits suicide, he becomes a ghost. Ghost means he does not get this material body. He remains in the subtle body, mind, intelligence. Therefore ghost can go because he is in the mind. Mind speed is very strong. If you have got this material body, you cannot go immediately hundred miles off. But if you are in the mental body, you can go immediately, thousand miles immediately, within a second. So the ghost, they can play something wonderful because... But they are not happy because they have no gross body. They want to enjoy. He's materialist. He has committed suicide for some material want. So he is want of material..., fulfilling material desire. He could not fulfill in this body; therefore commits suicide, but the desire is there. The desire is there, and he cannot fulfill it. He becomes perplexed. Therefore the ghost create disturbance sometimes.
Lecture on SB 3.26.34 -- Bombay, January 11, 1975:
So one important thing, that "The statement in the Bhagavad-gītā that the mental situation at the time of death is the basis of the next birth is also corroborated in this verse." Yaṁ yaṁ vāpi smaran bhāvaṁ tyajaty ante kalevaram (BG 8.6). Generally, with our these material eyes, material senses, gross vision, we do not see how a person dying and he is being transformed to another body. The gross material scientists, scholars, because they cannot see with the eyes, they do not believe in, that there is soul and soul transmigrates from one body to another. Big, big scientists, big, big scholars, they do not believe. They think that life is nothing but a mixture of these material elements and at a time the vitality is finished; therefore everything is finished. But that is not the fact. The fact is the gross body is finished, but the subtle body—mind, intelligence, and ego—that remains with the soul. Na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). The... Just like in dream we do not work with this gross body, but we work in dream with mind, intelligence and ego. We create another atmosphere, and in dream we see or we place ourself in a different atmosphere, although the gross body is resting on the bed. So this we experience every night, that because the gross body stops working, it does not mean the soul stops working. The soul works with his mind, intelligence and ego. So when this body becomes incapable of working further, then the mind, intelligence and ego carries me to another body, means another process of formation of the body into the womb of the mother, and when the body is formed and in working capacity, even as a child or baby, then the body comes out and the living entity's another chapter of life begins. This is the process of transmigration of the soul.
Lecture on SB 3.26.41 -- Bombay, January 16, 1975:
Now it is explained by Kapiladeva, how things are developing, everything. This evening we were discussing. Here it is said that jihvā ambhaḥ. They are coming out by interaction of touch sensation, the fire. In this way everything is emanating. Janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1). The original source is Kṛṣṇa. Ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavo mattaḥ sarvaṁ pravartate (BG 10.8). This is the real science. Everything is coming from Him. So whatever we possess, the physical transformation, the gross body and the subtle mind, intelligence, everything is produced from the original source, Kṛṣṇa.
Lecture on SB 5.5.1-8 -- Stockholm, September 6, 1973:
Actually this body has no existence. It is simply a covering, therefore it is called māyā. Everyone, we have got experience, that at night we forget this body. We act in a different body in dream. At night we feel there is no existence of this body, and at night, dreaming, we get another body, walking in a different place, creating in a different situation, acting in a different body. It is a fact, every day, every night, we see it like this. And during the daytime we forget that night body. So actually we are possessing the gross body and the subtle body. When we act on the subtle body, the gross body is no longer existing, and when we work in the gross body, the subtle body is not existing. But I am existing. I am existing both in the subtle body and gross body. This day's body is also a dream, but we are so foolish that we do not understand it. Mad, we are mad after. Therefore this subtle body and gross body, and their vanishing at daytime and night's time, the cats and dogs cannot understand. But a man, if he has got cool brain, he can understand.
Lecture on SB 5.5.2 -- Hyderabad, April 11, 1975:
This body means the senses, different types of senses. Sense objects, the mind. They have twenty-four elements analyzed by the Sāṅkhya philosophy. So when we think of our body, means we are interested with sense gratification. Then, a little forward, we are interested with the mind. First of all body, this gross body made of five, earth, air, fire, water, and ether. Then we become interested with the mental speculation, psychology—thinking, feeling, willing. So indriyāṇi parāṇy āhur indriyebhyaḥ paraṁ manaḥ (BG 3.42). Mind. The mental speculators, the jñānīs, they are better than the karmīs. Karmīs means who are simply entrapped with this sensual gratification, that's all. So, jñānī, karmī, jñānī, and yogi, and then, when one is interested with the spirit soul and spirit soul's activities, then he is bhakta. That is... Actually the basic principle of activity is the soul. As soon as the soul is gone, there is no more activity, either mental activity or bodily activity. So if we want actually progress of life, then we must realize our constitutional position as the spirit soul, not as the mind, not as the body.
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. It will enter into the womb of another mother, and she will create another similar body like the mother, and when it is complete, then it will come out.
So the spirit soul is in this way bound up by the material gross body and subtle body. This is our disease.
Lecture on SB 5.5.19 -- Vrndavana, November 7, 1976:
o the soul is so subtle, you cannot see. You cannot see sky, and still finer is the mind, still finer is intelligence, and still finer, the soul. So how can you see? With your gross eyes it is not possible. Therefore they are bewildered, how the soul is being transferred from one body to another. They see the gross body. Kṛṣṇa says, na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20), tathā dehāntara prāptiḥ (BG 2.13). But doctors, medical men, scientists, they cannot see that where is the soul, how the soul is transmigrating. These are all durvibhāvya, inconceivable.
Lecture on SB 5.5.21-22 -- Vrndavana, November 9, 1976:
We have heard, some of them, about the ghost. They have no material body. The advantage of material body... (break) ...they are covered with mind, intelligence, and ego, but their gross body—earth, water, air, fire—that is not there. So one king, he also rejected the material body and remained, Videha. Videha king. So one can remain like that, without this gross body and subtle body, material. Just like in the Vaikuṇṭhaloka, that is... But in the material world, when one is not covered by the gross body but subtle body, they are called ghosts or pramathās. Those who are good, not harmful, they are called pramathās. And those who are harmful... As in this material world there are good men and bad men, similarly, amongst the persons who has no this gross body, they are sometimes called ghosts and sometimes they are called pramathā.
Lecture on SB 5.5.27 -- Vrndavana, November 14, 1976:
Everything, measurement, is there. It is not that without body. It is. There is body. And the impetus is coming from there. Intelligence is working, then mind is producing the senses, and the senses are transforming into a gross body. This is material existence. How finely it is. Where is the science? The rascal do not know except this body. Dehātma buddhi.
Therefore one who sticks to this body only, gross body, atheist class... Just like in our country the Carvaka, he says, bhasmī-bhūtasya dehasya kutaḥ punar-āgamano bhavet: "Why you are thinking of next birth? It is not possible. We see this gross body is burnt into ashes. And where is the soul? Who is coming back again? Don't care for all these things. Live happily. Eat, drink, be merry and enjoy." Yāvaj jīvet sukhaṁ jīvet. This philosophy is going on: "There is no mind, there is no intelligence, there is no soul, only this gross body, and so long we possess this gross body, let us enjoy the senses."
Lecture on SB 6.1.1 -- Melbourne, May 21, 1975:
These transcendental literature, we have taken much pain to translate them into English so that you can understand. We have got fifty books. So take advantage. It is not meant for the cats and dogs. It is meant for the human being, not a particular class or nation. No. It is meant for all human being. So take advantage of this knowledge, understand the philosophy of life, that "I am eternal." Na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). "I do not die after the annihilation of this body. I accept another body." We have got two bodies: this gross body and one subtle body. Just like you have got your coat, and within the coat there is shirt, similarly, within this gross body, there is another subtle body. This gross body is made of the material elements, earth, water, air, fire, ether, these five elements. Pañca. Pañca means five. Your body and my body, it is simply combination of these five material elements. This is the covering, coat. And within this, there is another body. What is that? Mind, intelligence, and ego. So everyone knows that you have got mind, I have got mind. Everyone knows that you have got intelligence, I have got intelligence. And everyone is puffed up with some identification, "I am this, I am that." These three conception, this is called subtle. Subtle body. So we simply see the gross body, but we do not see the subtle body. When death take place—that means this gross body is finished—then the subtle body is there. And the subtle body carries the soul to another gross body. That we cannot see. Therefore we do not understand how this spirit soul is migrating, transmigrating from one body to another. We do not see. Therefore our seeing should be through knowledge, paśyati jñāna-cakṣuṣā, not this gross seeing. Gross seeing is imperfect. It has no value. We know. We should inquire that "This gross body is finished. Now what about the subtle body?"
Lecture on SB 6.1.1 -- Melbourne, May 21, 1975:
So we have to understand from authoritative literature. The subtle body is working, just like when you sleep your gross body is not working, but the subtle body, the mind, intelligence and ego is working; therefore you dream. Your subtle body is lying is some apartment, and you have gone to the seaside by the mental body. So, so long this gross body is able, you again come and enter into this gross body, but when it is not workable, then you have to find out another gross body in the womb of a certain type of mother. This is the law of transmigration of the soul. That subtle body will be carried by the laws of nature. According to the work you have done to your whims, then a certain type of body will be offered to you. You will be forced to enter into the womb of a certain type of mother, and the mother will give you the body. That we have got, everyone, experience. In the mother's body, after pregnancy, the body grows. Everyone knows it. So body grows why? Because the soul has entered, and according to his karma, either good mother or bad mother... So you are growing the same body or better body or lower body, and when it is mature, then you come out. You begin again your life. That is called pravṛtti-mārga. In this way we have to accept birth, death, old age. As soon as you get this material body, there is birth, and as soon as there is birth, there is death. And as soon as the body is there, it is growing old. It is suffering disease.
So if you want to avoid these four things... That is specially pointed out by Kṛṣṇa, janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi (BG 13.9).
Lecture on SB 6.1.1 -- Melbourne, May 21, 1975:
Devotee (1): At the point of death, the gross body returns back to the earth. Is there ever a time when the subtle body dies?
Madhudvīṣa: At the time of death the gross body returns to the earth. Is...?
Prabhupāda: The gross body is finished. Gross body becomes ash, stool, or earth. Those who are burying the gross body, it becomes after sometimes earth. And those who are giving this body to be eaten by other animals, it becomes stool. And those who are burning this body, the body becomes ash. So gross body there are three ultimate goal: either to become ash, or stool, or earth.
Madhudvīṣa: His question was "Is there a time when the subtle body ceases to exist?"
Prabhupāda: Yes, that is liberation. When... So long you are encircled by the subtle body, there is no question of liberation because the subtle body will take you to another gross body. When we are free from the subtle body, then we are liberated. We go back to home, back to Godhead. Yes?
Devotee (2): What's the subtle body like?
Prabhupāda: I have already explained. Mind, intelligence, and ego—this is subtle body. Everyone has got his mind, everyone knows. But we cannot see. The intelligence... Everyone has got intelligence, but we cannot see. Similarly, subtle body is invisible. Ghost means when the living entity remains in the subtle body, do not get another gross body—they are very sinful—they create disturbance. But we cannot see. That is ghost. Ghost means that those who are too much sinful, they do not get this gross body. They are punished with the position, to remain in the subtle body, at least for some time. That is ghostly life. Therefore you will see, ghostly-haunted places, something is being done, but how it is being done, you do not see because you cannot see the subtle body. But you will see something is being carried in the air. It is not something being carried. It is being carried by the subtle body. But I have no eyes to see the subtle body. That is practical. I do not see your mind, but you have got your mind. You do not see my mind. You can see my mind by the action. That's all. The subtle body is there. Gross body, subtle body. Death means finishing of this gross body, and liberation means no more association with the subtle body, only spiritual. That is called liberation.
Madhudviṣa: Śrīla Prabhupāda? How does one become free from that ghostly body?
Prabhupāda: Ghostly body means he has to suffer for some time. Just like you are put into prison. After your term is finished, then you are liberated. Similarly, a most sinful man, he is given this term, "You remain for some years in the subtle body." Everything is like that. This is also. We have got this body, gross body, under certain condition. When that condition is finished, then I give up this body, I create another condition, and I enter another body. This is going on.
Lecture on SB 6.1.7 -- Honolulu, June 15, 1975, Sunday Feast Lecture:
So we are experiencing in our this life. It is taking change so swiftly that we cannot understand how the body is changing, but it is changing. So similarly, this body will change. Tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ. And we have to change that body after death according to my mental condition because we have got two bodies, the subtle body and the gross body. This gross body is finished; it is no more working. Just like at night the gross body does not work. We are thinking, "I am sleeping." Sleeping means the body is so much tired, it is no more working. But your another body, which is made of mind, intelligence, and ego—subtle body—that is working. Everyone has got this experience. The subtle body takes you to another place or another condition. You are dreaming that you have gone to the jungle. You are meeting some animals. The tiger is there coming to attack you, and you are crying, "Here is tiger! Tiger! Tiger!" And the man who is not dreaming, he says, "Where is tiger? Why you are crying?" But he's actually... The result is there. Don't think that the result is not there. In dream you are thinking your lover is there, you are embracing, and you get discharge, not that that you are not working and it is not, there is no result. There is result. I cannot see what is the result, what you are dreaming. I am fool. I do not know. But the man who is dreaming, he is experiencing. Similarly, change of body means we are carried by the subtle body to another gross body. This is the process, nature's way. You cannot say that "I will not change body." No, you will be forced. Just like a young man can say, "I will not become old man." No, nature will force you to become an old man, or change your body. This is the law of nature. You cannot surpass the laws of nature. Similarly, change of body, that is forced by the nature. Prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni guṇaiḥ karmāṇi sarvaśaḥ (BG 3.27). Prakṛteḥ, by the nature's law, we have to do. We are completely under nature's law. And we are declaring independence. This is our foolishness. This is our foolishness.
Lecture on SB 6.1.20 -- Honolulu, May 20, 1976:
So if we misuse this human form of life only like animals, eating, sleeping, sex and fearing, then we are spoiling our life. We must prepare next life. If we don't, then after death we have to go to the Yamarāja, and he will decide what kind of next body... Body will change. Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad... Tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ (BG 2.13). After death you have to change the body. As you are changing from childhood to boyhood, boyhood to youthhood, similarly this old body, when it is no more usable, that means death. But the subtle body, mind, intelligence, that is... We have got proof. At night this body is silent, but your mind, intelligence and ego takes you somewhere. You dream that "I have come to here." Sometimes we dream, "I am flying in the sky," or gone to some forest or some friend's house or so many things. "I am talking with a beautiful girl or beautiful man." So this dream we every day see. So that means when this body stops, the gross body, the subtle body is there. Why don't you believe it? Unless the subtle body is working, how do you dream? The dreaming means subtle body is working. So transmigration of the soul means the soul is twice covered—subtle body and gross body—just like shirt and coat. So when this gross body is finished, the subtle body is there. It takes you to another body. The subtle body with the semina of the father, it is injected in the mother's womb, and then again you will develop another body. This is the process of transmigration. So this body, how you'll be transferred to another body, that will be judged by the Yamarāja.
Lecture on SB 6.1.28-29 -- Honolulu, May 28, 1976:
The subtle body, the transmigration of the soul means when the gross body stops. The subtle body... Just like... This is very easy to understand. Little brain is required. Just like when you sleep, your gross body is on the bed, but the subtle body takes you somewhere. So the transmigration of the soul takes place carried by the subtle body. And mukti means when there is no more working of the subtle body also. This death, this elimination of this gross body, that is not mukti, because the subtle body will work and subtle body will carry you to the next gross body. The soul will be carried by the subtle body and, according to its mentality, nature will put him into the semina of a certain father, and the father will inject the semina within which the soul is there, and then again, with the mixture of ovam and semen there will be formation a pealike body, and the soul is there, and he'll develop. Then there will be nine holes and hands and legs, and when the complete he comes out, again begin your chapter—either as cat, or as dog or as human being or as tree or as plant, as aquatics. There are so many, 8,400,000. So subtle body's working.
Lecture on SB 6.1.32 -- San Francisco, July 17, 1975:
At the time of death it is very, very painful. We have got experience. Therefore you do not wish to die, because it is very, very painful. Similarly, after death, immediately, by the discrimination of Yamarāja, he gets another body. Karmaṇā daiva-netreṇa (SB 3.31.1). Daiva-netreṇa, by the supervision of superior power, the Yamarāja takes away, and then he gives a body. First of all he is put into the hellish condition of life as he will get. Then, when he is little practiced, then he is given the similar body. Otherwise how it...? It will be... Suppose a person from, coming from very high family or king's royal family, but he has acted just like dogs and dogs. Then next life he is going to have a body of hog or dog. So therefore he is put into such life, subtle life—that is Yamarāja's business—to be used in that way of life Then he is given a solid body or gross body so that the same royal prince, he can very easily eat stool. This is the process, nature's process is going on. Prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni guṇaiḥ karmāṇi sarvaśaḥ (BG 3.27). They are simply explaining "nature." How nature is working, these foolish rascals, they do not know. They do not know. Nature is working. That is fact. But how the nature is working, how different forms of body, different activities are going on, by whose judgment, who is looking after, these things they do not know.
Lecture on SB 6.1.49 -- Detroit, June 15, 1976:
As spirit soul, I do not take birth, neither I die. Na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). I am not finished with the destruction of this material body. That is going on already. My childhood body is destroyed now. You cannot find out where is that body. My youthhood body, that is destroyed. We cannot find out anymore. So in this way, this body will be also destroyed, and we shall get another body. Tathā dehāntara-prāptir dhīras tatra na muhyati (BG 2.13). In this way, we are changing body, one after another. So why there are different types of body? That means the living entity, spirit soul, he is contacting different types of material modes of nature. And according to that, we are developing a gross body. The transmigration of the soul means the gross body is lost. Because anything material, it will be finished. That is the nature of material, anything material. It will be finished. But the spirit soul is not finished.
Lecture on SB 6.1.51 -- Detroit, August 4, 1975:
The mind is the center of directing the senses. Indriyāṇi parāṇy āhuḥ indriyebhyaḥ paraṁ manaḥ. The senses are there, sense objects are there, but without mind it cannot work. Therefore the mind is the sixteenth item. And everything is being used by whom? By the soul. Therefore seventeenth. And in this gross body there are five elements and three subtle elements. Bhūmir āpo 'nalo vāyuḥ khaṁ mano buddhir eva ca (BG 7.4). In this way there are twenty-four elements which is covering the twenty-fifth, living entity, and he is packed up in this way.
Lecture on SB 7.5.30 -- London, September 9, 1971:
Just we are composition of external and internal energies of God. The external energy is this gross body, and the internal energy is the mind and ego, intelligence. And behind this, both energies, external... This is external gross energy and external subtle energy. This body made of earth, water, air, and ether, this is called gross external energy. And there is subtle external energy. What is that? Mind, intelligence, and false ego. And behind that, I am. The soul is there. I am the proprietor of this body made of... Just like you are covered by the shirt and coat. The shirt and coat is external body. Real body you are. Similarly this body, this gross body made of earth, water, air, fire, that is gross external energy of God, or Kṛṣṇa, and the mind, and ego, and intelligence, they are subtle. So we are covered. So one who has taken... Just like if I think that "Simply by having nice shirt and coat I will be happy," is it possible? Unless you eat nicely, unless you sleep nicely, unless you have got your sense gratification, simply by putting on costly nice shirt and coat, will you be happy? No. That is not possible.
Lecture on SB 7.5.30 -- Mauritius, October 2, 1975:
This soul is eternal. It is... The soul is covered by two kinds of body. One is subtle body. Just like you have got your mind; I have got my mind. Do you see your mind? Do I see your mind? (second guest translates into French) So the soul is carried by two kinds of body. One body is this gross, made of earth, water, air, sky, like that. And the other... They are like shirt and coat. This is the coating, and there is another body, shirt, which is made of mind, intelligence, and ego. So when this gross body is finished, the subtle body is there. So at the time of your death the mental condition will carry you to a similar body. (Puṣṭa-kṛṣṇa translates) (break) This mental body you do not see. Therefore you say that this man is dead. It is not dead. The gross body is changed, and the mental body carries him to another gross body. (second guest translates) Any other question? That's all right.
Lecture on SB 7.6.3 -- Montreal, June 16, 1968:
Suppose you have got a very nice coat, and within that coat you are actually, so far we are concerned at the present moment. Now, if you simply take care of the coat and shirt, and if you don't take care of your actual person, how long you can become happy? You will feel so much inconvenience even if you have got a very nice coat. Similarly, this body, this gross body, is just like our coat. I am actually spiritual spark. This body is gross outward covering, and there is inward covering: mind, intelligence and ego. That is my shirt. So shirt and coat. And within the shirt and coat, actually I am there.
Lecture on SB 7.6.9-17 -- San Francisco, March 31, 1969:
Actually, one who is not spiritually learned, one who is not spiritually conversant, he is not a learned man. In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam it is said, harāv abhaktasya kuto mahad-guṇā: (SB 5.18.12) "One who is not in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, he cannot have any good qualifications." Why? There are so many doctors, PhDs, and MAC, BAC, and very, very big man, and because they are not in Kṛṣṇa consciousness they have no good qualification? One may question like that. But the answer is that they may be very learned man in the estimation of common man, but manorathenāsati dhāvato bahiḥ, if a man is educated materially, without any spiritual understanding, without any Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then his field of activities is the mind. He cannot surpass the field of activities beyond the mind. Those who are grossly materialistic, they are working on the field of this gross body, senses. And those who are a little more advanced, the so-called philosophers, mental speculators, scientists, or many others, they are working on the mental plane. So unless you promote yourself to the platform of spiritual understanding, there cannot be any good qualification.
Nectar of Devotion Lectures
The Nectar of Devotion -- Vrndavana, October 19, 1972:
Our next life means according to the karma, activities, in this life. They're judged at the point of death. The, our activities are judged and then we are given opportunity by the laws of nature to be carried in another mother's womb to get another gross body. We have got two kinds of bodies, the gross body and the subtle body. When this gross body is stopped working, the subtle body works.
The Nectar of Devotion -- Vrndavana, October 19, 1972:
Māyā creates a car for you, a carrying conveyance, this body. So that conveyance is according to karma. So if you act piously in this life, then next life you get good body. Ūrdhvaṁ gacchanti sattva-sthā (BG 14.18). Sattva-sthā. If you are in goodness, then, in the modes of goodness, then you are promoted to higher standard of life. Ūrdhvaṁ gacchanti sattva-sthā madhye tiṣṭhanti rājasāḥ. And if you are in passion, then you remain here. And adho gacchanti tāmasāḥ. And if you are ignorant, then you go to animal life or lower grade of life. This is the law of karma. But instead of improving your karma, karma-kāṇḍīya-vicāra, fruitive activities, if you take to devotional service and simply try to understand what is Kṛṣṇa, then you are no longer within the influence of this good work or bad work. You are transcendental. Immediately after death, tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti (BG 4.9), you are no more subjected to this gross body.
The Nectar of Devotion -- Bombay, December 27, 1972:
Whatever we are doing in this life, everything will be finished with the end of the body. My position, my wealth, my family, my this or that—everything will be finished, because I'll have to accept another body. Karmaṇā daiva netreṇa jantor deha upapattaye (SB 3.31.1). This gross body will be finished. I'll have to accept another gross body. But if you begin Kṛṣṇa consciousness, it will not be finished, because it is the business of the soul. Kṛṣṇa consciousness means the original consciousness, "I am Kṛṣṇa's. I am God's, part and parcel of God," this consciousness.
The Nectar of Devotion -- Vrndavana, October 26, 1972:
The soul is transmigrating form one body to another. That is a fact. But the gross, gross materialists, they cannot see the subtle body. They simply see the gross body. Therefore they say, "When this body is finished, this gross body's finished, everything is finished." No, that is not. Within the gross body, there is subtle body, made of mind, intelligence and ego. So that is... Just like in every day we have got experience. The gross body is lying on the bed, but the subtle body goes out of the bed, out of the room, goes on the top of a hill or somewhere. It works. That is our practical experience. Similarly, when this gross body is finished, no more usable, the subtle body carries the soul to another womb of the mother. Karmaṇā daiva-netreṇa jantor deha upapattaye (SB 3.31.1). Through the semina of the father, the living entity is injected within the womb of the mother, and the two secretions becomes emulsified, and it becomes just like a small pea, and within that pea the soul is there, and it develops. This is the process of transmigration of the soul from one body to another.
The Nectar of Devotion -- Bombay, January 10, 1973:
Ghostly life means one who has misused this life, this body, and by his whims he has killed this body. He becomes ghost. That means he will have to suffer for so many day, then he'll get another material body.
Therefore there is śraddhā ceremony. The śraddhā ceremony means, supposing my father or my relative has not got, yet, again gross body, this śraddhā ceremony will help him to get another gross (body). Because without this gross body, the ghostly body is very troublesome, because he wants to enjoy something, but he has no instrument to enjoy. Therefore he creates, the ghost creates trouble. Sometimes captures some body to fulfill his desires, and the man becomes ghostly haunted.
Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Lectures
Lecture on CC Adi-lila 7.119 -- Gorakhpur, February 17, 1971:
The mind, intelligence and ego, that is shirt, subtle body; and this gross body, kṣitir-ap-tej-marud-van (?). So there are two kinds of shirt and coat, and within that, dehino 'smin yathā dehe... (BG 2.13). The minute particle, that is called dehi, who has formed this body.
Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.120 -- Bombay, November 12, 1975:
What is this material form, your body or my body?" Superficially it may look black, white or colored, but if you chemically analyze—the same ingredients: the same blood, the same muscle, the same stool, the same urine. When doctor examines the urine and stool, they do not examine differently a black man's urine and a white man's urine different, because they know the chemical composition is the same. So from material point of view you are also one. Even though you have got this material body, differently formed, the ingredients are the same: kṣitir ap tejo marud vyoma, mind, intelligence. Everyone has got these things. This body, gross body, is made of earth, water, air, fire, ether, and the mind. Don't think that dog has no mind. Everyone has got mind. Everyone has intelligence. A dog know(s) intelligently how to secure his food, as we know. There is no scarcity of these things, material things, bhūmir āpo 'nalo vāyuḥ khaṁ mano buddhir eva ca (BG 7.4).
Festival Lectures
Lecture-Day after Sri Gaura-Purnima -- Hawaii, March 5, 1969:
Why we have got different bodies, different types of bodies? Because the condition of the seed is different. The seed is the spirit soul, and by material contact it is covered by finer body, intelligence, mind, and ego. And according to the quality of that ego, we develop different kinds of this material gross body. Therefore somebody has developed the body in the modes of goodness, because material nature is divided into three qualities: goodness, passion, and ignorance. Somebody has developed body in the modes of passion. Somebody has developed body in the modes of ignorance. But the root is the spirit soul. And the finer cover is desire, ego, intelligence, mind. And the gross cover is this body.
Lecture-Day after Sri Gaura-Purnima -- Hawaii, March 5, 1969:
So Buddha philosophy simply takes account of this gross body. They do not take account of the mind, because as soon as they go to the platform of mind, then immediately the question will be "Whose mind? Whose intelligence?" Then you have to come to the spirit soul. But the people for whom this Buddha philosophy was preached, they were not very intelligent class of men. Therefore Lord Buddha did not give them the information of the subtle body or the soul. They were unable. Why they were unable? They were gross materialists. The gross materialists, they are animal-killers, gross materialists. That, these animal-killers, according to Bhāgavata also, they cannot understand finer things. Those who are animal-killers and animal-eaters, they cannot understand finer philosophical matter. Their brain is gross. Therefore they are much inclined to mechanical way of life. Machine. Machine is gross. You see? We therefore forbid our students, not to be meat-eaters, because by refraining yourself from meat-eating, you will have, you will develop finer... Not only refraining from meat-eating. That is one of the conditions. There are other conditions also. But this is one of the condition. Parīkṣit Mahārāja said, "This Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is understandable by liberated class of men." Liberated class means above the brāhmaṇas. "But those who are killer of the animals..." The killer of the animals are two kinds: one, gross killer, killing cows, goats, chickens, so many, gross killer... Another killer is soul-killer. Soul-killer means those who do not take any care for the soul. They are taking care of this gross body.
General Lectures
Lecture (Day after Lord Rama's Appearance Day) -- Los Angeles, April 16, 1970:
Actually, we are always in miserable condition. In the Vedic language the miserable conditions have been described in three ways: adhyātmika, adhibhautika, and adhidaivika, miseries due to the condition of this body and due to the condition of the mind. Sometimes you feel headache. This is due to the body, gross body. And sometimes you feel morose. This is due to the mind; the mind is not in quite order.
Lecture at Christian Monastery -- Melbourne, April 6, 1972:
Hanumān: "Do you believe in a life after death for the body?" (break)
Prabhupāda: Oh, yes. Certainly. This is experienced in this life also. Just like you had a body of a child. That body is finished, but you are existing. You can remember that you had a body of a child, you had a body of a boy, but that body of the child, body of the boy is no longer existing. You are in a different body, but you know that you are existing. That is the proof that after this body, you will have another body. This is the proof. There is no difficulty to understand. As I am still living in spite of my changing childhood body, babyhood body, boyhood body, youthhood body, so naturally it should be concluded when I give up this body... Actually, I don't give up. The body... There are two kinds of bodies. This is gross body made of the five elements: earth, water, fire air and... And there is subtle body: mind, intelligence and ego. Just like we have got shirt and coat. So when we give up this gross body, we are carried by the subtle body to another gross body. So I am not giving up. Actually, I am not giving up this body.
Lecture at Auckland University -- Auckland, April 17, 1972:
Deha means this body, and dehinaḥ, the possessor of the body. Just like your shirt and coat. You are the possessor of the shirt and coat. The shirt and coat is not you. You are different from the shirt and coat. Similarly, we have got our two kinds of body: the gross body and the subtle body. The gross body is made of material elements—earth, water, fire, air, sky—and the subtle body is made of mind, intelligence and ego. So when we quit this gross body, the subtle body carries me to another gross body. This is the law of transmigration. It is not the question of belief. It is a fact that if we neglect to study this scientific knowledge, then we are missing the opportunity, because in this human form of life the developed knowledge can study what is there within this body which is so important, which missing, this body becomes worthless.
Speech -- New Vrindaban, August 31, 1972:
So we have got immense independence, but we are now conditioned by this body. Therefore in the human form of life it is an opportunity to get back our original independence. That is called Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Freedom. When we have got our spiritual body, without being covered by this material body... We have got our spiritual body within this material body. Very small. That is my real identification. Now I'm covered by two kinds of material bodies. One is called subtle body and the other is called gross body. The subtle body is made of mind, intelligence and ego, false ego, and the gross body is made of earth, water, fire, air and ether mixed together, this body. So two kinds of body we have got. And we are changing. Generally we can see the gross body; we cannot see the subtle body. Just like everyone knows... I know that you have got your mind. I know that you have got intelligence. You know I have got mind, I have got intelligence. But I cannot see your mind, I cannot see your intelligence. I cannot see your determination. I cannot see your thoughts, thinking, feeling and willing. Similarly, you cannot see. You see my gross body made of this earth, water, air, fire, and I can see your gross body. Therefore, when this gross body is changed and you are carried, you go away by the subtle body, that is called death. We say, "Oh, my father has gone away." How do you see that your father has gone away? The body is here lying. But actually his father has gone away by the subtle body. Just like at night, we are sleeping on our nice apartment, but the subtle body takes me away on the top of a mountain. Sometimes we see I have come, in dream, I have come on the top of a mountain, very high, and I am falling down. Although actually, my gross body is sleeping in a nice, comfortable apartment, but the subtle body carries me. We have got daily experience. Similarly, death means this gross body we change. Just like you have got your shirt and coat. So you change the coat, but you keep your shirt. You do it, generally. Similarly, I keep my subtle body and I give up my gross body; that is called death. And I am carried by the subtle body in the womb of another mother by the laws of nature, and I develop another gross body, materials supplied by the mother. And when the body is prepared, I come out of the womb of mother and I work again with that subtle and gross body. And bhāgavata-dharma means that we have to transcend both the gross and subtle body; come to the spiritual body. It is very scientific. And as soon as we come to the spiritual body, mukta saṅga, being freed from the gross and subtle body, we come to our real body, spiritual body, then actually we feel happiness and independence.
Speech -- New Vrindaban, August 31, 1972:
People were very easily trained up by the Vedic process. But now the people are not interested. They're simply interested with the gross body or, a little more, who is a little advanced, the subtle body. But they have no information of the spiritual body. Although there is advancement of education, there is no education about the spiritual body. They're simply concerned with the gross material and subtle body. Therefore this movement, Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, is very important movement. Those who have taken to this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, they're very, very fortunate.
Rotary Club Lecture -- Hyderabad, November 29, 1972:
After destruction of this body, actually we are not going to die. Our subtle body—the mind, intelligence and ego—that is, that is working. As it, the subtle body, works during my sleeping position, similarly, this body may be, gross body may be annihilated, but my subtle body carries me to another gross body as I desire. Kṛṣṇa, or the Supreme Lord, is very kind. As we desire, He gives us opportunity. Any kind of body, any kind of enjoyment we want, He gives us the opportunity: "All right, you take this body.
Rotary Club Lecture -- Ahmedabad, December 5, 1972:
We are now encaged in two types of body. Just like you are encaged with shirt and coat, similarly, I or you, living entity, is encaged in two types of body. The subtle body is mind, intelligence and ego, and the gross body is made of five elements: fire, earth, water, air, fire, and ether. These are very nicely explained in the Bhagavad-gītā.
Lecture at Bharata Chamber of Commerce 'Culture and Business' -- Calcutta, January 30, 1973:
The subtle body is made of mind, intelligence and ego. Just like we forget about this body at night, and the subtle body works. We dream. We are taken away from our home, from our bed, to some other place, and completely forget this body. And when the sleep is over, we forget about the dream and we become attached to this gross body. This is going on—in our daily experience. So I am the observer. I am sometimes in this gross body and sometimes in the subtle body. But it is changing. But I am the observer. Therefore the inquiry should be that "What is my position? At night I forget my gross body, and during daytime I forget my subtle body. Then what is my real body?" These are the questions.
Lecture at Indo-American Society 'East and West' -- Calcutta, January 31, 1973:
The living entity, after the annihilation of this body, does not die. How it transmigrates? How the living entity transmigrates from one body to another? By the subtle body. There is a subtle body. This is gross body. The subtle body works when you are asleep. We go outside my bedroom and we see so many things, we work in so many ways. That is subtle body. So after the destruction of this gross body, this subtle body carries me to another gross body. It is a great science. Great science. That is explained very nicely in the Bhagavad-gītā and other Vedic literatures.
Lecture at Indo-American Society 'East and West' -- Calcutta, January 31, 1973:
As soul without the body means ghost. Yes, that's a fact. Ghost means he has got no gross body, but he's working with the subtle body. We have got two kinds of bodies. The gross body is made of five elements, earth, water, air, fire, sky. And the subtle body is made of intelligence, mind and ego. So when a soul does not get a gross body, he has to work with the subtle body, that is ghostly life. So ghostly life is not false. Those who are too, too much sinful, sometimes they are condemned not to get a gross body. Just like if a man commits suicide. So nature gave him this gross body. He misused it. Therefore he's punished sometimes not to get again gross body. He becomes ghost.
Lecture at Indo-American Society 'East and West' -- Calcutta, January 31, 1973:
Nature. You are desiring so many things in your life. They are recorded. And you have to accept each and every body, one after another. That is nature's gift. Prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni. That is the nature's work. As you desire, so you get a body. If you misuse the body, then for sometimes you are restrained not to get a gross body. There are so many scientific problems about this life and transmigration of the soul. You can understand from the authorized Vedic literature, how the soul transmigrates from one body to another. That is also explained. The soul remains with the subtle body which we cannot see, but after destruction of this gross body, the soul is carried to another gross body according to his desire by the subtle body. The example is given: just like the flavor of flower garden is carried by the air, and if you do not, even though you do not see the flower, when you smell the good smell, you can understand wherefrom the air is blowing. Similarly, according to your desire, you get a body and that desire, that capsule of mind, intelligence will carry you to another body.
Lecture at Upsala University Faculty -- Stockholm, September 7, 1973:
After the destruction of this body, the soul is not destroyed. Soul remains there in the subtle body: mind, intelligence and ego. So that mind, intelligence and ego, that carries him to another gross body. That is called transmigration of the soul. This gross body, this body, even in our experience during this lifetime, we have experienced so many gross bodies came and went away. Just like I was a child, so I possessed one gross body, child's body. That came and gone away. I had a boy's body; that came and gone away. A young man's body I had, but that came and gone away. Similarly, this body, old man's body, it has come, and it will also go. So as in spite of so many other bodies came and went, similarly, when this body will no longer exist, I'll transfer myself or transmigrate into another gross body. This is called transmigration of the soul.
So Kṛṣṇa, about Kṛṣṇa it is said that He is the supreme controller and He has got His form, His body, which is not made of these material ingredients. Sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ (Bs. 5.1). Vigrahaḥ means body. So He has got body. But what kind of body? Sac-cid-ānanda. It is, the ingredients are spiritual, not material. Here, the ingredients, gross body I have got, you have got—earth, water, air, fire, mind, intelligence, ego—these ingredients.
Lecture at Upsala University Faculty -- Stockholm, September 7, 1973:
Kṛṣṇa first began this lesson: "My dear Arjuna, you are not this body. Why you are lamenting about this body? You are not this body. Neither your so-called relatives, they are this body. They are different." Asmin dehe. In this body there is the proprietor of the body, the dehī. Just like you are the coat and shirt, you are the proprietor of the coat and shirt. Similarly, this body is also covering. The subtle body and the gross body—coat and shirt. But we are different from this coat and shirt. That is the beginning of the instruction. It is going on, and again Arjuna is asking that prakṛtiṁ puruṣaṁ caiva kṣetraṁ kṣetra-jñam eva ca etad veditum icchāmi. He's student. "My Lord Kṛṣṇa, I want to understand what is this material nature and puruṣam." Purusaṁ means enjoyer, and prakṛti means enjoyed. Just like we have got little conception, male and female. So prakṛti means the female, the object of enjoyment, and puruṣa means the enjoyer. So here, although we are dressed in different way, male or female, everyone is trying to enjoy. Therefore even a woman is just like woman, his feature is woman's body.
Lecture at Upsala University Faculty -- Stockholm, September 7, 1973:
We are trying to enjoy, but we have got different desires of enjoyment. So every particular thing is taken into account by the laws of nature. And the next life, because if I try for something, I am absorbed in that thought, and at the time of my death, when I leave this gross body, my mental condition is there, and that mental condition carries me to a suitable position where I get a suitable body to fulfill the mental desires. This is the process of transmigration. So our process is... This is also described in the Bhagavad-gītā:
Lecture at the Hare Krsna Festival at La Salle Pleyel -- Paris, June 14, 1974:
After the destruction of this body, I, the soul, I am not destroyed. I continue to live." The soul is eternal. That is described in the Bhagavad-gītā: nityaḥ śāśvato 'yaṁ na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). Eternal, very old, still, after the destruction of the body, the soul is never destroyed. Death means destruction of this outer, gross material body. Every day, every night we have got experience: the body lies down on the bed, but with my subtle body—mind, intelligence and ego—I dream and I go somewhere else from my bedroom. So this is going on daily in our experience, that I leave this gross body, I take my subtle body, and I do something else, although my body is here. The conclusion is therefore that I, the soul, am changing my body from the gross to the subtle, from the subtle to the gross. In our daily life we have got experience that I accept this subtle body. The subtle body is there. There is no question of acceptance. But with the subtle body I dream, and again when the dream is over, then I come to this gross body. So death means when the subtle body carries the soul to another gross body, not this gross body, that is called death. So this subtle body—means mind, intelligence and ego—that carries me to another body according to the nature of my mind. At the time of death, as the mind is absorbed, I mean to say, full of thoughts, according to that full of thoughts, we are given another gross body. That is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, that anta-kale, yaṁ yaṁ vāpi smaran bhāvaṁ tyajaty ante kalevaram (BG 8.6). Bhāvam, the attitude, the modes of the mind at the time of death, will carry me to the next gross body. Therefore it is necessary to prepare ourself what kind of body we are going to get after death.
Public Speech -- Bad Homburg, Germany, June 22, 1974:
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 means when the consciousness does not come back again to this gross body and enters another gross body. This period is called death.
La Trobe University Lecture -- Melbourne, July 1, 1974:
The soul is eternal. The soul is transferred from one gross body to another gross body, just like we change our apartment from one apartment to another. But I exist. If I vacate one apartment and I go to another apartment, it does not mean I am finished. I may leave the apartment. Similarly, if we are leaving this body and we are going to another body, that means I am not finished. I am existing. Na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). Na hanyate: "The soul is never annihilated even after the destruction of this body." Therefore the question is that "If I am eternal, why I am put into this condition of changing, of transmigrating from one body to another? Is there any possibility of not changing the body, to keep eternality?" Yes. That is possible. Actually we are, as spirit soul, the part and parcel of God. So God is eternal, God is blissful, God is in full knowledge, so we, being part and parcel of God, we have got the same quality.
Sunday Feast Lecture -- Atlanta, March 2, 1975:
There are two kinds of bodies: the gross body and the subtle body. The gross body is a material combination of earth, water, air, fire, ether, and the subtle body is combination of mind, intelligence and ego. So this gross body and subtle body, within that, there is the spirit soul. So that is eternal. And this gross body and subtle body is changing according to the change of the situation. So when you remain in your spiritual body, that is eternal. Therefore to keep in spiritual body is to accept devotional service. Then you are beyond this material gross body and subtle body. You remain in your spiritual body. And if you give up this body at the time of death, means giving up this body, then in spiritual body you go to back to home, back to Godhead. So in order to keep yourself in spiritual body you should always be engaged in devotional service, and that is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā:
Philosophy Discussions
Philosophy Discussion on William James:
Prabhupāda: The gross body, when it is finished, the subtle body—mind, intelligence, ego-remains. That carries me to another gross body. Just like the example is, there is a flavor. You cannot see, but it is carried by the air. If it is coming from the rose garden, you say, "Oh, very nice flavor." You cannot see it, but it is carried by the subtle air. Similarly, I, the spirit soul, when I give up this gross body, then I am carried. I have got body still. That is subtle body—mind, intelligence, and ego. And according to my desire, that subtle body grows into another gross body.
Philosophy Discussion on Arthur Schopenhauer:
Prabhupāda: Just like rascal, one who does not know, he commits suicide. He thinks that "If I commit suicide, then everything is finished." That is his ignorance. He is going to get another abominable body. Ghost. He becomes a ghost, so that he suffers more. A ghost means he has got subtle body, mental body, mind, intelligence and everything is there. Mind is there, intelligence, ego is there, but no gross body, so he cannot enjoy. That is ghostly life.
Philosophy Discussion on Arthur Schopenhauer:
Prabhupāda: You do not die even after the destruction of this body, therefore thinking, feeling, willing... (aside:) Go and sleep. The thinking, feeling, willing actually carry you from this gross body to another gross body. How transmigration is taking place? Those who are, I mean to say, gross seer, they see that the body is dead, but he does not know the body is dead, but the willing is not dead. He is being carried away by the willing. That he has no eyes to see. He is simply seeing this gross body is dead, finished, but he has no eyes to see that this soul is now being carried away by the subtle body willing another body. According to his willing he gets another body, gross body, either demigod or dog, as he wills.
Philosophy Discussion on Carl Gustav Jung:
Prabhupāda: So even the body is destroyed, the consciousness continuing. So due to the consciousness he gets another body, and again, in that body, the future, past consciousness works. So, if, if, if in the past life he was a devotee, again he becomes devotee, and from the point where he died, the material body became destroyed, again, as soon as he gets a body, the same consciousness begins to work. Therefore we find somebody quickly accepts Kṛṣṇa consciousness and sometime it takes delay. So it is continued, past. In every verse we see that, just like in the Bhagavad-gītā, bahūnāṁ janmanām ante (BG 7.19). Bahūnāṁ janmanaṁ ante means the consciousness is being continued but the body is changing. Therefore it is said, bahūnāṁ janmanām ante. Janma means to accept another gross body, but the consciousness is continuing. Just as Bhārata Mahārāja, he changed so many bodies but the consciousness continued. He remained in full understanding of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. So this is clear, but on account of, I mean to say, dull brain they cannot understand. Here is the reason, that you do not see mind. You have not seen. So Mr. John you see daily, but we don't see Mr. John's intelligence. We can perceive that this man is intelligent, but you have not seen what is intelligent. When he talks, you understand, you perceive, that he has got intelligence. So this gross body, when it is no more talking, so why that intelligence will be finished? This is common sense. When a man talks we say he is intelligent man, but we do not see what is intelligent. So the talking instrument is this body. So this body is finished, gross body is finished, does it mean that his consciousness, intelligence finished? No. That continues. Just like you dream. This body is not working—this is practical—but his consciousness is working, his mind is working. So similarly, na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). After the destruction of this gross body, the mind, intelligence continues, and because to work the mind and intelligence he requires a body, so he develops body. That is transmigration of the soul. It is very clear to understand.
Philosophy Discussion on Carl Gustav Jung:
Prabhupāda: The same soul is, is passing through another gross body with his mental, intellectual identification. He is..., that is nature's gift. That is said in the Bhagavad-gītā: kāraṇaṁ guṇa-saṅgo 'sya (BG 13.22). As we have infected a certain type of modes of nature, he is getting a similar body, but the person is the same.
Philosophy Discussion on Carl Gustav Jung:
Hayagrīva: The third type of rebirth listed is called resurrection. Now there are two types of resurrection. He says, "It may be a carnal, that is gross, material body, as in the Christian assumption that this body will be resurrected." That is the Christian doctrine, is that at the end of the world the..., somehow or other, through the miracle of God, the gross body will reassemble itself and ascend into heaven or descend into hell. Somehow survival of the gross body. He says, "On a higher level..."
Prabhupāda: And what he will do in the meantime?
Hayagrīva: I don't know what happens...
Devotee: (indistinct)
Hayagrīva: ...what happens to the material elements. The material elements disintegrate, disintegrate...
Prabhupāda: The material body...
Hayagrīva: They're distributed in nature.
Prabhupāda: ...it finishes, but of course this idea can be maintained. In the higher sense, that is not gross body; that is spiritual body. That is applicable to God and special representative of God, not to all. Then that is not material body; that is spiritual body. Means when God appears He appears in His spiritual body. It does not change. Just like Kṛṣṇa says that millions of years ago He spoke to the sun-god, and Arjuna questioned, "How it is to be understood that millions of years ago You spoke it?" So He said that "Yes, I did. You were also present, but you do not remember. I remember." So how it is possible? One who does not change the body, He can remember. Just like when we do not change the body, I can remember, but when we change body we do not remember. This is the principle. So this resurrection, I do not know what the exact meaning, but as to the Bhagavad-gītā, it is said, Kṛṣṇa said, sambhavāmy ātma-māyayā (BG 4.6). He comes in His original body, not covered by material body. Therefore, because He has no material body, there is no change.
Philosophy Discussion on Carl Gustav Jung:
Hayagrīva: The fourth form of rebirth is called renovacio and applies to the transformation of a mortal into an immortal being, of a corporeal into a spiritual being, and of a human into a divine being. Well-known prototypes of this change are the transfiguration and ascension of Christ and the assumption of the mother of God into heaven after her death together with her body. In other words, the body is somehow..., it doesn't die, the gross body doesn't die, but it's transformed.
Prabhupāda: Spiritual, spiritual body continues. Spiritual body never dies. Na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). So hanyamāne, destruction, is of the material body. The spiritual body is never destroyed. Na jāyate na mriyate vā. The spiritual body, neither it is generated, neither it is dead. Nityaḥ śāśvataḥ: it is eternal. Na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre: (BG 2.20) it, it is not destroyed even after the destruction of the material body. That is spiritual body.
Philosophy Discussion on Plato:
Prabhupāda: So transmigration of the soul means he gives up this gross body, and the subtle body, mind, intelligence carries him to the another body, and in another body, unless the body is prepared properly, he lives in deep sleep. And when the body is prepared at seven months for human being, then he comes to consciousness. He feels, "Oh, why I am put into this packed-up status." If he is pious he feels very uncomfortable. He prays to God—these things are described—that "Kindly excuse me from this awkward position. Now this time I shall become a devotee." This is position. The soul is immortal, but still he enters into different stages of life. Then when he comes out, the same different stages of body continues. In childhood he is something different from his boyhood; boyhood something different from youthhood; and he is the same, but he is passing through different... That is called evolution. So when he comes to the perfect stage of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then his life is successful. Just like a flower, in the bud stage, in the fructified stage, in the blooming stage, and when it is fully bloomed it looks very nice, beautiful. Similarly, when by gradual development when you come to the stage of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then our whole beauty is revealed.
| Page Title: | Gross Body (Lectures) |
| Compiler: | Visnu Murti, Shyamasuhagini |
| Created: | 16 of Dec, 2010 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=130, Con=0, Let=0 |
| No. of Quotes: | 130 |