Individual souls (Conversations)

Expressions researched:
"individual soul" |"individual soul's" |"individual souls"

1971 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- August 17, 1971, London:

Prabhupāda: A particular jīva soul was in that body. Then it is also proved that every jīva soul is individual. Although they are living combinedly, everything is individual.

Revatīnandana: Well, doesn't... That's all right then. Now the...

Prabhupāda: But that one jīva soul was prominent. He was visible. Others were in dormant condition. This proves that every individual soul is separate from the other; still, they can remain together. Just like the sunshine, they create... a small shining particles, combined together, molecules. So everything is combined spirit particles.

1972 Conversations and Morning Walks

Talk with Bob Cohen -- February 27-29, 1972, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: Yes. You are individual soul, I am individual soul.

Bob: But you have removed yourself from karmic influences. If I was to remove myself from karmic influences, would our souls be the same or different?

Prabhupāda: Soul is the same. Just like you are under certain conception of life at the present moment. Just like your these countrymen. They were under certain conception of life. But by training they have taken another conception of life. So the ultimate training is how to become Kṛṣṇa conscious. That is perfection.

Bob: If two people are Kṛṣṇa conscious, is their soul the same?

Room Conversation with Maharishi Impersonalists -- April 7, 1972, Melbourne:

Prabhupāda: So Kṛṣṇa is also individual, you are also individual, but He is the head. Just like in our group we are all individual, but I am the head, similarly, there are innumerable individual souls, all over the universe, and the head individual soul is Kṛṣṇa.

Impersonalist: Can Kṛṣṇa be called by any other name?

Prabhupāda: Yes. Kṛṣṇa... Kṛṣṇa means... Kṛṣṇa's name is given according to His office. Just like a person at home, he is "father," and in the court he is "my lord," the same man. Same man, high-court judge, his wife is calling him by name, "John." His son is calling the same man, "father." His brother is calling the same man, "brother." And the same man, when he goes to the court, he is called "my lord." So these names are in connection with his service.

Morning Walks -- October 1-3, 1972, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: Yes. When Kṛṣṇa sees that "Here is a rascal, so let him forget Me." So He will give him intelligence so that he can forget Kṛṣṇa for good. Not for good—at least for some time.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: That is the desire of the individual soul.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Ye yathā māṁ prapadyante (BG 4.11). "As one surrenders unto Me, according to that." Real process is surrender. So if you surrender with some reservation, with some ulterior motive, then Kṛṣṇa will give you proportionately intelligence. When you are cent percent without any reservation surrender, then you get all facility, all help from Kṛṣṇa, without asking... Just like a small child, he is fully surrendered unto the parent. The parent looks after all the necessities. He doesn't ask anything. That is wanted.

1973 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- April 19, 1973, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: For the dead body means, that is a particular dead body. It is not the life energy. That is individuality. The life-energy—producing chemicals are already there. But that particular individual living entity has left. Just like I live in a room. So I leave this room. You cannot find me. But there are many other living entities there. There are ants, there are spider, there are so many. So that does not mean because I have left that room, it is lacking the accommodations. The accommodation is there. Other living entities are living there. I have left. I am individual. I have left. Therefore the individual soul is proved.

Morning Walk -- April 19, 1973, Los Angeles:

Karandhara: But in the dead body, there's no personality.

Prabhupāda: That means that individual person has left. That is the proof, that is the proof of individual soul. Just like there are so many plants of the same species. One is dead. That individual plant is dead, but other species are living. It is not extinct. How can you say the species is extinct? How you can say? Darwin's forefather might be extinct. But the monkeys are there. What is the time?

Brahmānanda: Six-thirty.

Karandhara: Six thirty-five.

Prabhupāda: Hmm. We can walk little more.

Morning Walk -- April 19, 1973, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: Yes. That you can do without taking Kṛṣṇa prasādam. Because you have got stool and urine within your body, and there are many germs. They're eating that. You need not make a separate endeavor to feed them. (pause) The individual soul is never lost. That is our philosophy. Dehino 'smin. He's simply changing different body under different circumstances. That's all. The soul, individual soul, is never lost. Neither he takes birth, neither he dies. He's simply changing the garments. This is perfect theory.

Morning Walk -- April 25, 1973, Los Angeles:

Svarūpa Dāmodara: So this suffering is all due to the desire of the individual souls.

Prabhupāda: That... The...suffering is there. Suppose you are in the ocean. It is suffering, but if you have got a good ship, you may think that: "I'm very well situated." That good ship also can sink at any moment. Suffering is always there. You cannot avoid the suffering. Because you are in the ocean. Suppose you are in the air in a very nice plane. Does it mean you are secure? Any moment it can be... There is dangers everywhere. Therefore this place is always dangerous. Padaṁ padaṁ yad vipadām (SB 10.14.58), always dangerous. So the real intelligence means you have to find out where there is no danger. That is the... Where there is real happiness. In the material world, we cannot have happiness.

Room Conversation with Rosicrucians -- August 13, 1973, Paris:

Prabhupāda: Cosmic consciousness. We also believe individual consciousness and cosmic consciousness. We are now studying this subject matter in our class. Kṣetra-kṣetra-jña. So kṣetra-jña, the knower... The individual soul is also knower, conscious, and the Supersoul, God, is also conscious. So we also admit, universal consciousness, that is God's consciousness. (break)... consciousness is limited.

Yogeśvara: (break) ...is studying the same thing.

Prabhupāda: Yes. So that is the evolution, when our consciousness is in agreement with the supreme consciousness. (break) That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

Yogeśvara: He says that the Rosicrucian order is a mystical and philosophical order that allows its students...

Morning Walk -- December 7, 1973, Los Angeles:

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Śrīla Prabhupāda, during the progress of evolutionary process, suppose if the individual soul falls down from the human platform, the individual soul falls down from the human platform to some other lower species, but in the course of again evolutionary process, at some stage along the path he'll come to Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Is this...?

Prabhupāda: Yes, yes, that is the process. Evolution means to come to that end, Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That is real evolution. If one misses the chance, then again falls down. But the natural progress is that.

Morning Walk -- December 13, 1973, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: Then? He'll die. That is another thing. He'll die. Why he'll die? What is that condition? If you say, "chemical condition," now, as chemist, if you say, "The chemical condition has changed," we'll reply, "No chemical condition has changed." So produce life. No chemical condition has changed because life will come out immediately. So many germs and worms, they will come out. So where is the chemical condition of producing life is changed? How can you say? But that life is not coming. That Mr. John, his life is not coming. Therefore he is an individual soul. Otherwise the chemical condition is there. Otherwise how these germs and worms are coming out? But Mr. John is not coming. Therefore it is conclusion that "This is individual soul. He has gone, but he is not coming." But other living beings are coming out.

Morning Walk -- December 13, 1973, Los Angeles:

Svarūpa Dāmodara: What is the condition of the soul, innumerable souls, within the body? Like the cells. All are living cells. These all contain individual souls.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: So what these individual souls are doing to support the bigger soul?

Prabhupāda: No, they are living individually. Just like there are many germs in your stool. Because the stool is there, they are living. That is their perfect condition of living. That's all. But that germs has nothing to do with this individual soul, Mr. John. Just like I am living, you are living, but we are all independent different souls. They are living in their own condition, you are living in your own condition. But when you go to office to work, you find so many others are also working. But that does not mean they are dependent on your working or you are dependent on their work. But the condition is like that.

Morning Walk -- December 13, 1973, Los Angeles:

Svarūpa Dāmodara: No, I am talking about the relationship between my, so many individual souls, the cells, and my spirit soul.

Prabhupāda: Relationship... Wherever you go, there is some relationship. That is... That inter-relationship is already there. I am walking on this sand. I have got some relationship. If the sand would have been soft, I could not walk. So the relationship is there already, intermingled. But what is the central relationship? That is wanted, to know. That is God.

1974 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- March 25, 1974, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: You are individual soul, part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa. Ahaṁ brahmāsmi.

Guest (2): When I say, "I surrender you," what "I" means.

Prabhupāda: You are individual soul.

Dr. Patel: You are ego.

Prabhupāda: Not ego. You are individual soul.

Guest (1): Ego is one part of this.

Prabhupāda: Ego is another covering.

Morning Walk -- March 25, 1974, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Yes, samaḥ means he knows that "All these individual souls, they're all part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa."

Guest (1): He's fully abiding in Him.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Samaḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣu. So they are, therefore they try, everyone, to bring to Kṛṣṇa. That is service.

Dr. Patel: The asamatā is māyā.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Dr. Patel: When you consider different...

Room Conversation with Robert Gouiran, Nuclear Physicist from European Center for Nuclear Research -- June 5, 1974, Geneva:

Puṣṭa-kṛṣṇa: "This individual soul is unbreakable and insoluble, and can be neither burned nor dried. He is everlasting, all-pervading, unchangeable, immovable and eternally the same."

Prabhupāda: Yes. So any material thing is chedya, you can cut. Any material thing. The five kinds of material things, earth, water, air, you can cut it into divisions. Or it can be burned. It can be evaporated. Or it can be moistened. These things are material things. But the spiritual means just opposite. It cannot be cut. It cannot be dried up. It cannot be moistened. It..., so many things. And that is... We mean anti-matter. Just opposite. Which is possible in the physical world, but is not possible in the spiritual world. That we say anti-matter. But your anti-matter is another matter.

Reporters Interview -- June 29, 1974, Melbourne:

Satsvarūpa: " ...and according to their own fruitive activities they are transmigrating from one species of life to another and from one planet to another. In this way their engagement in material existence is being continued since time immemorial. The living entities are atomic parts and parcels of the supreme spirit. There is, however, a measurement for the length and breadth of the atomic spiritual spark. It is said in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Tenth Canto, Eighty-seventh Chapter, thirty-sixth verse, that if you divide the top of a hair into one hundred parts and again if you divide one part of that into another one hundred parts, such 1/10,000th part of the tip of a hair is the length and breadth of the individual soul. This is also confirmed in the Vedas in the Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad. This atomic magnitude of the individual living entity is again described in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Eleventh Canto, Sixteenth Chapter, eleventh verse, as follows. This is a speech given by one of the four Kumāras known as Sunanda on the occasion of performing a great sacrifice. He said, 'O supreme truth, if the living entities were not infinitesimal sparks of the supreme spirit, then each minute spark would have been all-pervading and there would be no necessity of its being controlled.' "

Prabhupāda: That is very... Otherwise... If the living entity is equal to the Supreme Being, then... Suppose you are a living entity. You could speak everything of what is going on in others' mind or body. You cannot say what I am thinking. I cannot say what you are thinking. Therefore I or you are not all-pervading. We are limited. And that is living entity. This is a very nice example. Go on.

Room Conversation -- August 12, 1975, Paris (with French translator):

Prabhupāda: So the God, He is also with me always as friend. So one, it is said in the Upaniṣad, there are two birds in one tree. The two birds means I, individual soul, and God, the Supreme Soul. The individual soul is limited within this body. And God is everywhere, in every body, in every atomic particle, everywhere. Because I am individual soul, I can understand my bodily pains and pleasure. But I cannot understand your bodily pains and pleasure. But God, being all-pervading, He can understand my pains and pleasure, He can understand your pains and pleasure, He can understand cats' and dogs' pains and..., everyone. This is the difference between me and God.

Room Conversation -- August 12, 1975, Paris (with French translator):

Prabhupāda: He can understand your pains and pleasure, He can understand cats' and dogs' pains and..., everyone. This is the difference between me and God. Sometimes they mistake, because God is also within this body, I am also within this body, therefore they think that there is no other individual soul than God, therefore I am God. So if I am God, then you are also God. And if there is more than one God, there is not God. God is one. There cannot be two. So if I think I am God, then everyone is also God, so God becomes plural, so there is not God. God is one. Therefore, God is great, we are small. In quality we are one. Just like the president and the citizen, as man they are one. But in power, the citizen and the president, they are different. So these things can be understood if one is sober and very great thinker: they can understand that God is situated with me, He can help me also.

1975 Conversations and Morning Walks

Evening Discussion -- May 6, 1975, Perth:

Amogha: The Supersoul, does He... I remember in one place it describes that the Lord is so small that He can enter even into the heart of the individual soul, and...

Prabhupāda: Even into the atom. So where is the difficulty?

Amogha: Well sometimes it is described that the Supersoul is situated beside the individual soul. So He's beside the individual soul, not inside the individual soul.

Prabhupāda: Inside does not mean He is not beside. We are inside this room, that does not mean I an not beside the room. Because I live within the room, does it mean that the room and myself are the same? Then, why don't you understand this? God may be within anything, but that does not mean that He is equal or one with that thing. That is Māyāvādī philosophy, foolish philosophy. Because I am within this room, does it mean that the room and myself are the same?

Morning Walk -- May 8, 1975, Perth:

Prabhupāda: Why? Why? That is Māyāvādī philosophy. We make our ego purified. "I am servant of Kṛṣṇa." That is wanted. Not that to make my egoism zero. That is Māyāvāda. They are disappointed, they think finish this egoism. It cannot be finished. Because you are individual soul, it cannot be finished. Simply it has to be purified. I am thinking Indian, you are thinking American. You are neither American neither Indian. We are all part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa. Direct we have to come to that point. Not to falsely think that I am American, I am Indian, I am cat, I am dog. That has to be finished. But you'll come to the real egoism, that I am eternal servant of Kṛṣṇa. That "I am" will go on. No that... They are thinking in a way to finish the "I am" or "I am the same." Wrong thing.

Room Conversation with Kim Cornish -- May 8, 1975, Perth:

Prabhupāda: Ātmā as spirit soul is one.

Kim: Is one.

Prabhupāda: But as individual soul they are different.

Kim: And the ātman is just with respect to consciousness, or can we talk about...

Prabhupāda: No.

Kim: ...an ātman without consciousness.

Prabhupāda: Consciousness is the symptom of ātmā. Because the ātmā is within your body, therefore your consciousness is there. Now, because the ātmā is within the body, if I pinch or if you pinch my body, I feel pains and pleasures. As soon as the ātmā is not there, it will be cut with a chopper, there is no protest.

Room Conversation with Alcohol and Drug Hospital People -- May 16, 1975, Perth:

Paramahaṁsa: Well, Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Lord, or the Supreme Soul, and we are all individual souls. So naturally we have an awareness of our relationship with Kṛṣṇa, or God. When we say God or Kṛṣṇa, we don't mean my God or your God, but we mean God, no matter which religion we're speaking of. So all of us naturally have a capacity to love Kṛṣṇa, or God, and we can awaken this relationship with Him. And when that is awakened, then all unwanted things disappear, because everybody is actually frustrated, looking for permanent happiness in this temporary world. But when we awaken our Kṛṣṇa consciousness then all of those frustrations disappear, and so all such problems like drug addiction become unnecessary.

Guest (2): How long does this process of withdrawal take?

Paramahaṁsa: He says how long does it take to stop taking drugs by the process of Kṛṣṇa consciousness?

Prabhupāda: If one lives with us at least for six months, he will give up.

Room Conversation with Jesuit -- May 19, 1975, Melbourne:

Prabhupāda: No. I don't say that. I don't say that. That finite and infinite, they... Finite is there, only "in" is not there. That is lacking. They, individual soul, (indistinct) we are not infinite.

Jesuit: No, of course.

Prabhupāda: But God is infinite, and I am finite. So the finite portion is common. The "in" is more in God, infinite. So similarly I am giving the example, just like a drop of ocean water, it contains the same chemical, you find salty, and the whole ocean also salty, but the ocean is big salt and this drop is a small particle. The salt is there.

Room Conversation with Jesuit -- May 19, 1975, Melbourne:

Prabhupāda: Yes, still love him. He's trying. God is situated in everyone's heart, īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe 'rjuna tiṣṭhati (BG 18.61).

Jesuit: God cannot change.

Prabhupāda: Yes. God is friend always. He is sitting with the individual soul within the heart and giving him good advice that "You come to Me, you'll be happy." But he's not going. Therefore he's (indistinct). Still God is with him, "All right, let me see." Just like the father, he loves his son. He always gives him, "My dear son, why you are going out? Your father has got nice property, you live with me." But he'll not do, he'll go away and become hippie. What can be done?

Morning Walk -- July 14, 1975, Philadelphia:

Prabhupāda: Contact? It is already in contact. You are in the material body. It is already in contact.

Ravīndra-svarūpa: But I don't understand how that contact is working.

Prabhupāda: Contact is working under the direction of God. The individual soul desires, and God arranges to fulfill his desire with the help of prakṛti.

Ravīndra-svarūpa: So when I want to move my hand, when I want to move this hand and so I will to move my hand, actually there has to be God involved in that action. Otherwise the hand won't move.

Prabhupāda: Paralyzed.

Ravīndra-svarūpa: Paralyzed.

Prabhupāda: When your hand is paralyzed what you can do?

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- April 22, 1976, Melbourne:

Prabhupāda: Hm. Purport.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Purport: "Since every living entity is an individual soul, each is changing his body every moment, manifesting sometimes as a child, sometimes as a youth, and sometimes as an old man. Yet the same spirit soul is there and does not undergo any change. This individual soul finally changes the body at death and transmigrates to another body. And since it is sure to have another body..."

Prabhupāda: The example is already given: The child is transmigrating to the boy's body. Already given. Similarly.... Go on.

Room Conversation -- April 30, 1976, Fiji:

Prabhupāda: Read it carefully. As the small soul has entered.... Dehino 'smin yathā dehe (BG 2.13). This is also a small universe. The same elements are working, but the soul is the prime factor. Similarly, this gigantic body. Athavā bahunaitena kiṁ jñātena.... Viṣṭabhya aham idaṁ kṛtsnam. "The kṛtsnam, the total material energy, millions of universes like that, that is being maintained by Me because I have entered in it in My fragmental portion." Same principle. As I, the individual soul, I am.... because I have entered this body, the body is working so nicely. It looks beautiful; it looks fresh. It is machine. The machine is working very nicely so long the pilot or the driver is there. Similarly, where is the difficulty to understand this universal affair? If we accept the same principle, that "I am a small fragmental portion of Kṛṣṇa. I have entered this body. This body is working so nicely....

Morning Walk -- May 15, 1976, Honolulu:

Prabhupāda: God created everything. God created soul and the matter.

Hayagrīva: The individual soul.

Prabhupāda: Ah.

Hayagrīva: Well, then, how is the individual soul eternal if it has a beginning?

Prabhupāda: No, we say there is no beginning. As God has no beginning, soul has no beginning.

Hayagrīva: No beginning, yes.

Prabhupāda: Na jāyate na mriyate vā. That is the distinction between matter and soul.

Morning Walk -- June 8, 1976, Los Angeles:

Rādhāvallabha: But it requires some emanation from a cockroach body in order to create another cockroach body. So how can a cockroach body be created from vapors without contact of another cockroach?

Prabhupāda: No, no. Vapor does not create. The individual soul comes there according to his karma and, in that condition, he develops his body. Karmaṇā daiva-netreṇa jantur dehopapattaye (SB 3.31.1).

Rāmeśvara: So the seed of.... The soul is within the vapor?

Prabhupāda: The seed, when it is put into the earth, a situation is created so the soul can develop into a tree.

Room Conversation with George Gullen, President of Wayne State University -- June 15, 1976, Detroit:

Prabhupāda: Just like pains and pleasure. You know your bodily pains and pleasure, I know my body. But I do not know your bodily pains, neither you know mine. But God knows everyone's pains and pleasures. That is the difference between God and individual soul.

Hari-śauri: "This body is called kṣetra, and within it dwells the owner of the body and the Supreme Lord, who knows both the body and the owner of the body. Therefore He is called the knower of all fields. The distinction between the field of activities, the owner of activities, and the supreme owner of activities is described as follows. Perfect knowledge of the constitution of the body, the constitution of the individual soul, and the constitution of the Supersoul is known in terms of Vedic literature as jñānam.

'Life Comes From Life' Slideshow Discussions -- July 3, 1976, Washington, D.C.:

Hari-śauri: This is 2.20. "For the soul there is never birth nor death, nor having once been does he ever cease to be. He is unborn, eternal, ever-existing, undying and primeval. He is not slain when the body is slain." (purport) "The soul can never be cut into pieces by any weapon, nor can he be burned by fire, nor moistened by water, nor withered by the wind. This individual soul is unbreakable and insoluble, and can be neither burned nor dried."

Prabhupāda: This is nonphysical. This is not physical. Physical, what is that physical thing which cannot be burned, which cannot be cut, which cannot be soaked? There is no such thing to the physical exterior. Is there anything?

Svarūpa Dāmodara: No.

Evening Darsana -- July 6, 1976, Washington, D.C.:

Hari-śauri: He's saying this body is comprised of atoms, so the Paramātmā is present within this body alongside the individual soul that's operating this body. But there's also millions of other atoms, and Kṛṣṇa is also within the atoms as well.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Guest (4): I thank you.

Vipina: Mr. Deyani brought a person that he studies under one time to meet me at the temple, and he took a very remote verse out of the Bhagavad-gītā about sacrifice, and his idea is that to perform yajña is the way to purify the universe in this age of Kali-yuga, and Deyani was very supportive of him. So I was wondering maybe you could explain a little.

Evening Darsana -- July 13, 1976, New York:

Prabhupāda: Bhakti means yes, exchange of love between God and the individual soul.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: This becomes awaking of the spiritual platform. So the Kṛṣṇa consciousness process is gradually to purify one, because that natural loving propensity is there. Our contention, and practically we are experiencing it, is that Kṛṣṇa consciousness is natural way of life. It's not artificial imposition. Rather in this present materialistic way of life, so many artificial standards and impositions have been put upon us. We can see that because culture is always changing. One year this is right to do, the next year that's right.

Conversation at House of Ksirodakasayi dasa -- July 25, 1976, London:

Prabhupāda: That is called kṣetrajña. This is already explained. He tried to explain... Because there are many ladies, so he tried to explain in Hindi. So here in the next verse Kṛṣṇa says, kṣetra-jñaṁ cāpi māṁ viddhi: "I am also kṣetrajña. I am also one of the knower of the body." So what is the difference between the one kṣetrajña already explained, the soul, and this kṣetrajña, Kṛṣṇa? What is the difference between the two? That is explained here. Kṛṣṇa says that "I am also kṣetrajña."Kṣetra-jñaṁ cāpi māṁ viddhi sarva-kṣetreṣu bhārata: "But the distinction is that the individual soul is situated in that particular body, but I am situated in every body, all-pervading." Sometimes they commit mistake that ātmā and Paramātmā, they are the same, but that is not the fact. Here Kṛṣṇa explains very distinctly that "I am also ātmā, but I am Paramātmā." That is the distinction between God and ourselves.

Room Conversation -- August 24, 1976, Hyderabad:

Prabhupāda: But why this happened, this why question does not come. They are so dull. For that thing missing. And these rascal scientists will theorize, the blood becomes white, this becomes that, that becomes that. And do it. If the blood has become white then make it red. Mix some color or chemical and bring him to life. "No, the life-giving substance is lost." Oh, life-giving substance is not lost. So many germs are coming. Why do you say the life-giving substance is lost? It is there. They do not consider all these things. If matter is life-giving substance, matter is there. Decomposed matter is also matter. Just like stool, a decomposed remnants of foodstuff. That is also matter. Stool is also matter. The same (indistinct) is there. The earth is there, the water is there, the heat is there. What is the loss there? And actually you see from this matter, from the stool so many worms are coming out. How do you say that the life-giving matter is missing? That you cannot explain. Still they will not accept that the soul is gone. That individual soul is gone.

Room Conversation -- August 25, 1976, Hyderabad:

Prabhupāda: Now that individual soul and the Supreme Soul, Paramātmā, they are also different. That is described in the Bhagavad-gītā in the Second Chapter Kṛṣṇa says, "My dear Arjuna, both you, Me, and all these persons who are assembled here, we existed in the past, and we are existing now, and we shall continue to exist." So when they become one? Past, present and future. As they were different persons in the past, they are different persons now and they will continue to remain different persons in the future. So when they become one?

Evening Darsana -- September 1, 1976, Delhi:

Indian man (3): And there I felt, I thought that whenever we meet I'll bring up this question with you. 'Cause the way in which it has been translated in Hindi which I read it does create a little question as to what Bhagavān Himself said about the status of the soul, the individual soul, and relationship, (indistinct). Because although I think I should have got it, they don't give it to the life members.

Pradyumna: Yes, Bhāgavatam, we're up to the Seventh Canto now in the printing. Yes, the canto has come out. So Saptama-skandha, pādyokta. We're up to that.

Indian man (3): Now, well then if it is, if the member is (indistinct). Now in the Eleventh there is...

Prabhupāda: Eleventh Canto, yes. When you will remember the verse?

Garden Conversation -- October 14, 1976, Chandigarh:

Prabhupāda: Universal soul is spirit, and you are also spirit. That sense, you are one. But universal soul is different from you. Just like Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā that there are two souls within the body. One soul is the individual soul, and the other soul is the Supersoul. That Supersoul is universal soul, and the individual soul, you are individual soul. As soul, the quality is the same, but you are individual soul, and Lord is universal soul. There, in the Bhagavad-gītā it is stated clearly, kṣetra-kṣetrajña. Kṣetrajña is the soul; kṣetra is this body. So kṣetra-jñaṁ cāpi māṁ viddhi sarva-kṣetreṣu bhārata: "I am also kṣetrajña, soul, but sarva-kṣetreṣu. You individual soul, you know the pleasure, pains, of your body, but you do not know what are the pleasure and pains of my body." Do you know?

Press Interview -- October 16, 1976, Chandigarh:

Prabhupāda: The whole Vedic literature is meant for that, and Bhagavad-gītā is the essence of all Vedic literature. And the purpose is that soul is now entrapped within this material world, and the human life is the opportunity for getting oneself out of this entrapment of material existence. So if we do not take care of this important business of human life—as it is explained in the Vedānta-sūtra-athāto brahma jijñāsā. This life is meant for understanding about the Brahman or the spirit soul. And there are two kinds of spirit soul. One is called the Supersoul, and the other is called the individual soul. That is explained in the Bhagavad-gītā. Kṣetra-kṣetrajñā. This chapter. Kṣetra means this body and kṣetrajñā means one who knows about the body. You know about your body. Not fully, but at least partially, every one of us we know, "This is my body. I am.... I got this body from such father and mother. I belong.... This body belongs to such and such country." And so on. This is one knowledge. So another soul is there.

Press Interview -- October 16, 1976, Chandigarh:

Prabhupāda: He says that kṣetra-jñaṁ cāpi māṁ viddhi sarva-kṣetreṣu bhārata. That is Supersoul. Īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe 'rjuna tiṣṭhati (BG 18.61). He is everywhere within this universe, even within the atom. That is Supersoul. That Supersoul is—the distinction between soul and the Supersoul is this, that we are individual soul.... I know about the pains and pleasure of my body, you know the pains and pleasure of your body, but I do not know the pains and pleasure of your body, you do not know the pains or pleasure of my body. The Supersoul, He knows the pains and pleasure of all bodies. That is the distinction. Ātmā, Paramātmā. So these things can be understood in the human form of life. The cats and dogs, they cannot understand. If we want to educate the cats and dogs that "My dear dog, you are not this body. You are different from this body. You are spirit soul, Brahman," he has no capacity to understand.

1977 Conversations and Morning Walks

Evening Darsana -- February 26, 1977, Mayapura:

Harikeśa:

acchedyo 'yam adāhyo 'yam

akledyo 'śoṣya eva ca

nityaḥ sarva-gataḥ sthāṇur

acalo 'yaṁ sanātanaḥ

"This individual soul is unbreakable and insoluble, and can be neither burned nor dried. He is everlasting, all-pervading, unchangeable, immovable and eternally the same."

Prabhupāda: Yes. This is the description of the soul. What is the first one?

Harikeśa: Acchedyaḥ.

Prabhupāda: Aśoṣyaḥ.

Conversation with Vedic Astronomer -- April 30, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: He cannot, cannot explain.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: This man will not be able to. I mean, the things you were saying, he was thinking... When you started to describe them, he was thinking it had to do with the individual soul. He said that "You're des..." You said, "No, I'm talking about the universe." He said, "Oh, the universe."

Prabhupāda: He does not know anything. Now he goes away. He goes back and he... Why he has come?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: For your blessings, twelve-hundred-rupee blessing. There are learned men in India. There's no doubt. There must be learned men.

Prabhupāda: All bogus.

Evening Darsana -- May 11, 1977, Hrishikesh:

Prabhupāda: Yes. The Self is there. Īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe 'rjuna tiṣṭhati (BG 18.61). That one Lord is there within your heart. Where is the difficulty? That is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā. Īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānām (BG 18.61). All living entities—not only you, me-cats, dogs, everyone, even ants... Aṇḍāntara-stha-paramāṇu-cayāntara-stham. He is within the atom also. So there is no denying, He is everywhere.

eko 'py asau racayituṁ jagad-aṇḍa-koṭiṁ

yac-chaktir asti jagad-aṇḍa-cayā yad-antaḥ

aṇḍāntara-stha-paramāṇu-cayāntara-sthaṁ

govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi

(Bs. 5.35)

So Īśvara, this, the Supreme, is living with you as Supersoul. So there is no doubt about it. You are also within the body, and He is also within the body. Find out this verse, kṣetra-jñaṁ cāpi māṁ viddhi sarva-kṣetreṣu bhārata, kṣetra-kṣetrajñayor jñānam (BG 13.3). You are individual soul, and He is also living as individual soul, but sarva-kṣetreṣu bhārata: He is living everywhere; you are living within your body. That is the difference.

Evening Darsana -- May 11, 1977, Hrishikesh:

Prabhupāda: Just like every one of us. I know, you know, that "This is my body. This is my finger. This is my leg." So the body is called kṣetra. We have been allotted a kṣetra. Just like the government distributes the land to a certain person, that "This is your land. You till it and grow your food," thirty bighās or something like that. This body is like that. Īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe arjuna tiṣṭhati (BG 18.61). He is there within the body, and He is giving us this kṣetra. Bhrāmayan sarva-bhūtāni yantrārūḍhāni māyayā (BG 18.61). So I have got this body. You have got that body. The dog has got body. The cat has got body. So He's everywhere. So according to his karma or desire, he gets a body. Īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānām (BG 18.61). And he works. Therefore the body is the kṣetra, the field, and the individual soul is the worker. So he is working and getting the fruitive result, but at the same time, God is also with him. But He is everywhere. I am not everywhere.