The other day I was speaking that a man's father has died, and he is crying, "My father has gone away." So my father . . . your father is lying on the bed. The father which you have seen so long, lifelong, the body, that is on the bed. Why you are crying your father is gone? That means he has never seen his father, neither the father has seen the son. Everyone sees this body, but not the owner of the body. That is the defect of modern education, that everyone by contemplation can understand that, "This finger is my finger, not 'I' finger." Still, he cannot understand that he is different from this body. That is to be understood. That is real knowledge, kṣetra-kṣetra-jñayor jñānam.
One should have very clear knowledge that, "I am not this body. This is my body." You are not this body, it is your body. You are spirit; I am spirit. We are different from this body. This is the first instruction given in the Bhagavad-gītā in the beginning.
- dehino 'smin yathā dehe
- kaumāraṁ yauvanaṁ jarā
- tathā dehāntara-prāptir
- dhīras tatra na muhyati
- (BG 2.13)
We are not this body. I am not this body, you are not this body. We are changing body every moment, imperceptibly changing body. Sometimes it is found that the child has grown now to become a boy. But he has not become suddenly a boy. The body has changed. Body has changed every minute. But all of a sudden or at a certain moment we see that the body has changed. So this is real knowledge that, "I am not this body. I am changing my body. And when I shall finally change this body I will get another body." This is my position. Tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ (BG 2.13).