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Krsna said that, "We existed in the past." This is authoritative statement. So it is to be understood that I existed in the past in different body

Expressions researched:
"Kṛṣṇa said that," |"We existed in the past." |"This is authoritative statement." |"So it is to be understood that I existed in the past in different body"

Lectures

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

We have changed so many different types of body even in this duration of life . . . now, how this change is taking place, that you cannot imagine. Therefore we say the same body. But actually it is not the same body. The body is different. It is changing. And because the person, the soul, is there, therefore it is changing. And as soon as the person is not there . . . suppose in a child's body, a born baby, a dead body, it will not grow or it will not change. So long the soul is there, it will change. So Kṛṣṇa said that, "We existed in the past." This is authoritative statement. So it is to be understood that I existed in the past in different body. As I existed, say, seventy years before in a different body, I was jumping as a boy, now I cannot jump. Now I have to take the stick. This is a different body. So where is the difficulty to understand?.

Therefore I say repeatedly . . . I am saying again that you Western people, Western boys, Western girls, or Western people, you are given very good chance by nature. Therefore, once upon a time the whole European people were dominating all over the world because they're very intelligent. So they have got good intelligence, good resources, good, nice body, beautiful body. Everything is very good. But don't spoil it. Utilize it for understanding further good. Don't spoil it simply behaving like cats and dogs. That is our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement means that you are misled and simply bodily conscious of life. Therefore fight. Germany's fighting Englishman. Englishman is fighting in France. France is fighting . . . why this fighting? If you know that "I am not this body; I am spirit soul. Why I am falsely identifying myself with the land?" "I am, I am, I am a German because I am born in this land of Germany." That is also false. No land is Germany or France or England. Land is land. You have falsely named it, "This is Germany." What is the Germany? Say, two hundred years or three hundred years, there was no Germany. Just like America. There was no America. The land was there, but the name was not there. So you have, some Europeans, they have colonized. They accept, "It is America. It is . . ."

So this is all designation. Actual, the fact is the land belongs not to you, not to the German, not to the Englishman, not to the American, but it belongs to God. The land was created by God, so it is God's property. Where is the difficulty to understand? You did not create anything. You did not create even your own body. That proprietor is also Kṛṣṇa. Because as soon as Kṛṣṇa asks you, "Please vacate," you must vacate immediately. Can you remain in this body? The proprietor asks you to vacate somehow or other, you have to vacate. Or the proprietor does not repair it. Then you voluntarily vacate that, "This is not to be . . . no more useful." This is law, going on. And that is . . . how nicely it is explained:

dehinaḥ asmin yathā dehe
kaumāraṁ yauvanaṁ jarā
tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ
(BG 2.13)

As we have changed so many different types of body even in this duration of life . . . now, how this change is taking place, that you cannot imagine. Therefore we say the same body. But actually it is not the same body. The body is different. It is changing. And because the person, the soul, is there, therefore it is changing. And as soon as the person is not there . . . suppose in a child's body, a born baby, a dead body, it will not grow or it will not change. So long the soul is there, it will change. So Kṛṣṇa said that, "We existed in the past." This is authoritative statement. So it is to be understood that I existed in the past in different body. As I existed, say, seventy years before in a different body, I was jumping as a boy, now I cannot jump. Now I have to take the stick. This is a different body. So where is the difficulty to understand? If the same body had been, then I could jump like a boy. I remember that I jumped. But now it is not possible. I have to take help of three men. (laughter) So it is a different body. Although imperceptibly it has changed, but the body is different. Body's different.

So in this way, if we try to understand, dhīras tatra na muhyati (BG 2.13). Dhīra, those who are intelligent and sober, they are called dhīra, not disturbed mind, not rascals. Rascals cannot understand. Therefore the very word is used, dhīra. What is the meaning, dhīra? Dhīra, "the sober," those who have got brain substance, not cow dung. You see? They can understand. Therefore one has to become intelligent, dhīra. For spiritual understanding we have to create the favorable circumstances. Favorable circumstances . . . just like to create healthy body you have to remain in such a way that you'll not fall sick; similarly, dhīra means if you try to remain just like cats and dogs, then you remain as a cats and dog, but if you want to remain as a human being, then you must remain as perfect human being. Therefore no illicit sex. The cats and dogs, they can have illicit sex, and if the human being also have the same process, then where is the difference between cats and dogs?

Therefore you have to be cautious not to become cats and dogs, but to remain as human being. Then you'll be dhīra, sober, not agitated. Therefore this very word is used. It is not understood by the cats and dogs. If I say to the cats and dog that, "You are not this body. You are simply possessing this body," it is useless, because he has got a certain body that he cannot understand, even instructing him for one thousand years, because he has got a different body, cats' and dogs' body. But in the human form of body there is possibility. That is the difference between cats' and dogs' body and human body.

Page Title:Krsna said that, "We existed in the past." This is authoritative statement. So it is to be understood that I existed in the past in different body
Compiler:Soham
Created:2023-02-14, 07:20:36
Totals by Section:BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=1, Con=0, Let=0
No. of Quotes:1