Yaśomatīnandana: . . . what they're doing is that you're not this body, so whatever you do, you just become soul-conscious and everything is all right. There were some so-called sādhus, they admit, and they say, "I am not this body. I am not attached."
Prabhupāda: No, what is that soul-conscious?
Yaśomatīnandana: He said, "Whatever my body does, I am not attached to it. I am not this body; I am spirit soul."
Prabhupāda: So I am not responsible.
Yaśomatīnandana: Yes. Therefore they say, "I am not this body."
Prabhupāda: Then why different bodies? If you are not responsible, then why do you get different bodies?
Yaśomatīnandana: "That is because I did not know in the past that I was . . . I am a spirit soul. But now I know that I am spirit soul."
Prabhupāda: But you did not know in the past. So you were a fool in the past; you are fool now also. Where is your advancement?
Yaśomatīnandana: "Now I know that I am a soul. I am not this . . ."
Prabhupāda: Simply by knowing soul is not good. Why you have got this body? Why everyone wants a king's body or a very nice body? Why he gets a dog's body? What is the reason? Everyone wants, "I may have a very good body so that I can enjoy." But why he is baffled? He gets a cat's body, dog's body, insect body, tree's body. He has also body, but he is standing there for hundreds of years. He cannot move an inch. So why you have got this facility of this body that you can move, you can cut, but he cannot protest? He is also body. And what is he? Who?
Yaśomatīnandana: "It is because of my past karma."
Prabhupāda: Then you must first of all rectify your karma, then talk. Past karma, you have got this body. Therefore you must rectify your karma. Karmano 'pi bodhavyam akarmana (BG 4.17). You must know what is karma, what is akarma, what is vikarma. That is knowledge. If you remain blind about your karma and by nature's way you get different body, then what is your knowledge? Just like if you go to a doctor, he says that "Due to this infection, you have got this disease," so you know it, so that in future you will be very careful. That is knowledge." I do not know why I have got this disease, and still, I do not know what further it is going on"—that is ignorance. (aside:) Hare Kṛṣṇa. To remain in ignorance, that is the greatest sin. Tamasi mā: "Don't remain in darkness." That is Vedic injunction, "Enlighten yourself." Jyotir gama: "Go to the light." But where is your light, you do not know. Hare Kṛṣṇa.
Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Karmīs say, "Ignorance is bliss."
Prabhupāda: (laughs) That's nice. Yes. That is dog's bliss.
Yaśomatīnandana: Then we say that, this verse, that . . .
Prabhupāda: What is that?
Yaśomatīnandana: Kṛṣṇa says to Arjuna that "If you know that you are not this body, then even if you kill all these people, then you are not affected by the reaction."
Prabhupāda: But kill by Kṛṣṇa's order, not whimsically.
Yaśomatīnandana: Similarly, they say that . . .
Prabhupāda: But if you know that you are not this body—"I am soul"—that what is the soul? Mamaivāṁso jīva-bhūtaḥ (BG 15.7). So just like this finger is itching here—it is by my order—similarly, when you understand that you are soul, then you have to act according to the advice of Kṛṣṇa. And if you act according to the advice of Kṛṣṇa there is no pāpa. That is the meaning. To know that you are soul, then you must know what is the soul. That is . . . Kṛṣṇa explains, mamaivāṁso: "These jīva-bhūta, these living entities, they are My part and parcel." So as soon as you realize ahaṁ brahmāsmi, then you act in that Brahman platform: brahma-bhutaḥ prasannātmā na śocati na kaṅkṣati (BG 18.54). That is the platform. To understand simply "I am Brahman" and remain silent, that is not. Mad-bhaktim labhate param. If you are actually brahma-bhutaḥ, then next stage is brahma-bhutaḥ means to act in devotional service. That is real. (aside:) Hare Kṛṣṇa. Jaya.