Śyāmasundara: He says that the mind is not dependent upon the existence of the body; therefore the mind may survive the body...
Prabhupāda: That is fact. That, that we say. 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.
Śyāmasundara: So the mind and the intelligence, they are not material? That means...
Prabhupāda: Material. Subtle.
Śyāmasundara: But they don't die? They die also? The mind...
Prabhupāda: No. Dies and it disappears. Disappear... When you are liberated, then you have no more material mind.
Śyāmasundara: Oh. But you carry your material mind throughout all of your lifetimes.
Prabhupāda: Yes. So long as you are not liberated.
Śyāmasundara: The same mind.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Yes. The same mind.
Śyāmasundara: So the mind I have now I have always had.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Śyāmasundara: But the body I have now...
Prabhupāda: The body changes. This is also material; that is material. But the subtle material accompanies me, unless I am liberated.
Śyāmasundara: So the subtle material is capable of longer life. Very long life.
Devānanda: It is acquiring saṁskāras as it goes from body to body, developing new bodies it acquires new saṁskāras and carrying...
Śyāmasundara: The mind doesn't deteriorate or get old.
Prabhupāda: Changing, that is a mind's business. Changing. Saṅkalpa, vikalpa-accepting and rejecting.
Śyāmasundara: Oh. So the mind I have now, the mind I have now...
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Śyāmasundara: ...I may not have had in the past.
Prabhupāda: No. No. Why not? The same mind?
Śyāmasundara: Same mind.
Prabhupāda: Rejecting these circumstances, accepting another circumstances.
Śyāmasundara: Oh, the function is the same, but the contents may be different.
Prabhupāda: Same thing. Just like you are sitting here. You can, by the dictation of the mind, you can go somewhere else. You can immediately go to your American home. The mind will carry you.
Śyāmasundara: He had a vague idea of Brahman realization, by saying that the consciousness...
Prabhupāda: Everything is vague idea.
Śyāmasundara: The consciousness eventually enters into the, what he called the mother sea.
Prabhupāda: What?
Śyāmasundara: The mother sea.
Prabhupāda: Mother sea?
Śyāmasundara: The mother ocean.
Prabhupāda: What is that?
Śyāmasundara: He says that the consciousness eventually enters into the mother ocean. That is as far as he could speculate.
Devānanda: Let the bubbles go on popping in the ocean. The bubble bursting into the ocean is the mother sea.
Prabhupāda: Merges into the...
Śyāmasundara: Merges into the...
Prabhupāda: ...supreme consciousness.
Śyāmasundara: Yes. Something like that. He says that experience and not philosophy or theology should form the basis of religious life; that experience should be our religious life and not just philosophy, but actual applied practice.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Philosophy will give us the idea of the goal, and our practical application is to give us the right path.
Śyāmasundara: He says that the life of religion is mankind's most important function.
Prabhupāda: That's nice. We say also, without religion a living entity is no better than an animal. So that is very important.