I have got this body... From my grandfather, my father has got this body; from my father, I have got this body. I am also indebted. Because this body, human body, is a chance for understanding, for my position. I can get out of the clutches of this māyā of transmigrating from one body to another. So this opportunity I have got by the grace of my forefathers. These are feelings of obligation. And there is duty. Therefore Arjuna is considering so many things because he is devotee.
Transmigrating from one body to another (Lectures)
Expressions researched:
"transmigrate from one body"
|"transmigrate to another body"
|"transmigrate to different types of bodies"
|"transmigrated from one body"
|"transmigrated to another body"
|"transmigrates from one body"
|"transmigrates from one material body"
|"transmigrates to another body"
|"transmigrating from one body"
|"transmigrating from one material body"
|"transmigrating into different bodies"
|"transmigrating to another body"
Lectures
Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures
I can get out of the clutches of this māyā of transmigrating from one body to another.
Lecture on BG 1.37-39 -- London, July 27, 1973: "You are sat. You revive your eternal life. Don't be entangled in this asat." So we are transmigrating from one body to another. There is evolution.
Lecture on BG 2.11 -- Rotary Club Address -- Hotel Imperial, Delhi, March 25, 1976: So God is eternal, full of knowledge, and blissful; therefore our position is also the same but in minute quantity. His knowledge is great. Therefore God is great. Our knowledge is limited. And because we have got limited potencies, therefore we are called living entities. And God has got unlimited potencies, therefore God is great and we are small. This is conclusion of the Bhagavad-gītā. And we are in this material world being contaminated by the material nature. We are suffering because anything material, it has got limited period of existence. Anything you take, it is asat. Asat means "which will not exist," and sat means "which will exist." The Vedic injunction is asato mā sad gama: "You are sat. You revive your eternal life. Don't be entangled in this asat." So we are transmigrating from one body to another. There is evolution.
What is the difficulty to understand that, that the soul transmigrates from one body to another? It is very nicely explained here. "As the owner of the body is there within the body, but the body is changing, one after another, one after another..."
Lecture on BG 2.13 -- New York, March 11, 1966: Just like if you have seen some, some your friend's child small, and after five years, you go to that friend's house and see the child: "Oh, you have grown so big? You have grown so big." But the father, mother cannot see. Because they are seeing daily, they do not see that "How my child is growing, daily," but a man who comes all of a sudden after five years, he says, "Oh, the child is grown up." So imperceptibly we are changing our body every moment. Every moment. That is also medical science, that we are changing our blood corpuscles every moment. You see? Similarly, what is the difficulty to understand that, that the soul transmigrates from one body to another? It is very nicely explained here. "As the owner of the body is there within the body, but the body is changing, one after another, one after another..." Dehino 'smin yathā dehe, kaumāraṁ yauvanam (BG 2.13). Here two examples are given: kaumāram... Kaumāram means the age up to fifteen years, the age up to fifteen years, that is called kaumāra. And after fif..., from sixteen years, so upwards, say, up to forty years, one is youth.
One who has got complete knowledge of the constitution of this body, and the constitution of the spirit soul, they are not aggrieved when a soul transmigrates from one body to another.
Lecture on BG 2.13 -- New York, March 11, 1966: ust like so many people, they lay, lay down their life for the cause of the country. Do you mean to say they are sinful or they are going to hell? No, no, no. Those who are laying down for the good cause their life, their next life is very brilliant. But if you commit suicide without any reason and written or without any cause, then you'll be sinful. You'll be sinful. These are... Of course, we get knowledge from this... So,
- dehino 'smin yathā dehe
- kaumāraṁ yauvanaṁ jarā
- tathā dehāntara-prāptir
- dhīras tatra na muhyati
- (BG 2.13)
So dhīra, one who has got complete knowledge of the constitution of this body, and the constitution of the spirit soul, they are not aggrieved when a soul transmigrates from one body to another. That is the sum and substance of the whole, this verse.
This is simple truth, that the living entity, or the soul, is transmigrating from one body to another. This is the basic principle of spiritual understanding.
Lecture on BG 2.13 -- Pittsburgh, September 8, 1972: Therefore the conclusion is that when this aged body as I have got now... I am seventy-seven years old. So when this body will be finished, I'll get another body. As I have got consecutively from boyhood to childhood, childhood, I have, from childhood to boyhood, boyhood to youthhood, aged body, so why not next body? This is simple truth, that the living entity, or the soul, is transmigrating from one body to another. This is the basic principle of spiritual understanding. The vital force of the body is the spirit soul. It is not a mechanical arrangement of matter. The modern so-called scientists, they think that the body is combination of matter and, at a certain stage, these combination of matter develop living symptoms. But that is not a fact. If it is a fact, then the scientists can manufacture with chemicals a living body. But a scientist even up to date is unable to manufacture even a body like an ant, and what to speak of other, bigger animals.
This is our advancement of civilization, and we do not know what is the formation of the soul, how it is transmigrating from one body to another, what is the next life, whether we are getting next life a human being or better than human being, or lower than human being.
Lecture on BG 2.13 -- Pittsburgh, September 8, 1972: So our advancement of civilization means we have created problems. That's all. This is our advancement of civilization, and we do not know what is the formation of the soul, how it is transmigrating from one body to another, what is the next life, whether we are getting next life a human being or better than human being, or lower than human being. And if it so, how we are getting that form of life next? Because we are eternal, we are changing this body. Neither we do know there are two kinds of bodies: the gross body and the subtle body. This gross body is made of earth, water, fire, air, ether; and the subtle body is made of mind, intelligence, and ego. Within the subtle body, the soul is there.
Personally the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, is teaching that the soul transmigrates. Dehāntara-prāptiḥ means transmigrating from one body to another.
Lecture on BG 2.13 -- Manila, October 12, 1972: So personally the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, is teaching that the soul transmigrates. Tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ. Dehāntara-prāptiḥ means transmigrating from one body to another. Dhīras tatra na muhyati (BG 2.13). Those who are dhīra, sober, full of knowledge, they are not bewildered, they are not perturbed. Because he knows that my father or brother, everything, is said to be dead, it is..., he is not dead. This gross body, this coat, coating of the body, has stopped. It is (indistinct), or by some reason it is torn, it is no longer usable. Therefore, the soul has left this gross body and, being carried by the subtle body—mind, intelligence, ego—he has gone to accept another gross body. This is transmigration of the soul.
There are 8,400,000 forms of body, and the living entity is transmigrating from one body to another, one body to another, one body to another. This is the evolution.
Lecture on BG 2.13 -- Hyderabad, November 19, 1972: There are 8,400,000 forms of body, and the living entity is transmigrating from one body to another, one body to another, one body to another. This is the evolution. Darwin's evolution theory is misplaced. Here is real... As it is stated in the Padma Purāṇa: asatiṁś cāturaṁś caiva lakṣams tān jīva-jātiṣu. The evolutionary theory is there in the Padma Purāṇa. Asatiṁś cāturaṁś caiva lakṣaṁs tān jīva-jātiṣu. Jīva-jāti. There are different forms of living entities, and they are 8,400,000. That is clearly stated. So one has to pass through from the beginning. Jalajā nava-lakṣāṇi. Nine hundred thousand species of aquatics.
Kṛṣṇa says, "We existed. We existed in a different body. Now we are existing in a different body, and in the future also, we shall all exist in a different body." In this way we are transmigrating from one body to another, but we are existing.
Lecture on BG 2.13 -- London, August 19, 1973: So tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ. Kṛṣṇa says, "We existed. We existed in a different body. Now we are existing in a different body, and in the future also, we shall all exist in a different body." Tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ. In this way we are transmigrating from one body to another, but we are existing. This is the sum and substance of this verse.
- dehino 'smin yathā dehe
- kaumāraṁ yauvanaṁ jarā
- tathā dehāntara-prāptir
- dhīras tatra na muhyati
- (BG 2.13)
So dhīras tatra na muhyati. It is very simple thing. Suppose a young man, a boy, changes his body, bodily symptoms. Just like a boy has no mustaches or beard, but all of a sudden the hairs grow. Does he cry, "Oh, why I am growing hair? Why I am growing?" Because that is the necessary change of body.
"We are transmigrating from one body to another. Exactly like we are passing from a child body to a boy's body, a boy's body to youth body, similarly, we are passing through this body also and accepting another body."
Lecture on BG 2.14 -- Germany, June 21, 1974: In the previous verse, it has been described that dehino 'smin yathā dehe kaumāraṁ yauvanaṁ jarā: (BG 2.13) "We are transmigrating from one body to another. Exactly like we are passing from a child body to a boy's body, a boy's body to youth body, similarly, we are passing through this body also and accepting another body." Now, the question of distress and happiness. Distress and happiness—according to the body. A very rich man is situated little comfortably. The common distress and unhappiness, er, happiness, that is common.
Purāṇa means very old. We do not know how old we are because we are transmigrating from one body to another. We do not know when we have begun this.
Lecture on BG 2.15 -- Hyderabad, November 21, 1972: Therefore one who knows that the spirit soul is eternal, deathless, birthless, ever-new, nityaḥ śāśvato 'yaṁ purāṇaḥ. Nityaḥ śāśvataḥ ayaṁ purāṇaḥ. Purāṇa means very old. We do not know how old we are because we are transmigrating from one body to another. We do not know when we have begun this. Therefore, actually we are very old, but, at the same time, nityaḥ śāśvato 'yaṁ purāṇaḥ. Although very old,... Just like Kṛṣṇa is ādi-puruṣa, the original person. Still, you'll find Kṛṣṇa always a young man of sixteen to twenty years' age. You'll never find Kṛṣṇa's picture as old.
Anyone who knows that how the soul is transmigrating from one body to another, those who are sober, learned, he is not disturbed.
Lecture on BG 2.15 -- Hyderabad, November 21, 1972: Kṛṣṇa is always nava-yauvana. Advaitam acyutam anādim ananta-rūpam ādyaṁ purāṇa-puruṣaṁ nava-yauvanam (Bs. 5.33). Ādyam, the original person, and the oldest; at the same time, He is always in youthful life. Ādyaṁ purāṇa-puruṣaṁ nava-yauvanam. So anyone who knows that how the soul is transmigrating from one body to another, dhīras tatra na muhyati, those who are sober, learned, he is not disturbed. The purpose of Kṛṣṇa, to teach all these things to Arjuna... Because he was very much perplexed how he would live, killing all his kinsmen, brothers. So Kṛṣṇa wanted to point out that "Your brothers, your grandfather, they'll not die. They'll simply transfer the body.
That driver, or the soul, within the body is immortal. And it is transmigrating from one body to another. So this transmigration from one body to another is not very good business.
Lecture on BG 2.15 -- Mexico, February 15, 1975: This body is not the living being, but the living being is within the body. Just like the motorcar is not the driver; the driver is within the motorcar. Now, that driver, or the soul, within the body is immortal. And it is transmigrating from one body to another. So this transmigration from one body to another is not very good business. Just like if you are living in some apartment and you have to change immediately for another, immediately for another, do you not get disgusted? Naturally we desire that "If I get some permanent apartment, it is very good." Actually we want that. Nobody wants to die.
Foolish rascals, they will have to transmigrate from one body to another, and there are 8,400,000's of different forms of body. And he has to go through the cycle of this birth and death.
Lecture on BG 2.22 -- Hyderabad, November 26, 1972: So vāsudeva-parāyaṇa, vāsudeva-parā makhāḥ. These are the śāstric injunctions. So a person can take intelligence from studying Bhagavad-gītā. And Kṛṣṇa says, bahūnāṁ janmanām ante jñānavān māṁ prapadyate (BG 7.19). After many, many births... Because foolish rascals, they will have to transmigrate from one body to another, and there are 8,400,000's of different forms of body. And he has to go through the cycle of this birth and death. Bhūtvā bhūtvā pralīyate (BG 8.19). Take birth once, and becomes, defy God: "I don't care for God." And when Yamarāja comes, "All right. Whatever you like, you do." Mṛtyuḥ sarva-haraś cāham (BG 10.34). These atheist class of men, who defy the authority of Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, they'll meet Kṛṣṇa.
The ultimate change of this body is called death. When this body is no more workable, then we transmigrate to another body. That body is offered to us according to our consciousness.
Lecture on BG 4.8 -- Montreal, June 14, 1968: So similarly, the ultimate change of this body is called death. When this body is no more workable, then we transmigrate to another body. That body is offered to us according to our consciousness. That is explained in the Bhagavad-gītā. Yaṁ yaṁ vāpi smaran loke tyajaty ante kalevaram (BG 8.6). At the time of death, the situation of your consciousness makes you ready for accepting a similar body. And if you quit this body in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then you get a body by which you can associate with Kṛṣṇa. That is to be understood, how it is possible. Therefore the training should be Kṛṣṇa conscious.
This material body, when it is dissolved, mixes with these five elements, earth, water, fire, air, it does not mean that the soul is finished. The soul is there. The soul is transmigrating to another body.
Lecture on BG 4.9 -- Bombay, March 29, 1974: Punar janma naiti, does not mean that soul is finished. No. This body, material body, na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). This material body, when it is dissolved, pañcatvaṁ prāpta, mixes with these five elements, earth, water, fire, air, it does not mean that the soul is finished. The soul is there. The soul is transmigrating to another body. Karmaṇā daiva-netreṇa (SB 3.31.1). By the supervision of the external energy, and superior superintendent, we are transferred to a different body by the subtle body, mana, buddhi, ahaṅkāra. But these foolish people, they do not know how the soul is... They do not know what is soul and how the soul is being transferred.
The spirit soul, being carried by the subtle body, and the nature is giving me another gross body. In this way we are transmigrating from one body to another. This is called evolution.
Lecture on BG 4.10 Festival at Maison de Faubourg -- Geneva, May 31, 1974: Death means to leave this body and carried by the subtle body to another gross body. That is called death. We are carried by the mind, intelligence and ego, subtle body. Just like we can experience a good scent of rose flower is carried by the air. We cannot see, but we know that the flavor is being carried by the air. Similarly, although we do not see how the spirit soul is being carried by the subtle body, but it is being carried, and it is being put into the womb of another mother to develop another gross body. So this body is offered by nature. This body is given by the material nature. Similarly, we, or I, the spirit soul, being carried by the subtle body, and the nature is giving me another gross body. In this way we are transmigrating from one body to another. This is called evolution. And there are 8,400,000's of bodies, and we are going through one after another.
Here is a chance to stop this nonsense of transmigrating from one body to another and suffer the material miseries.
Lecture on BG 4.12-13 -- New York, July 29, 1966: Now here is a chance to stop this nonsense of transmigrating from one body to another and suffer the material miseries. Here is a chance. And how that chance you are going to utilize? That we have already discussed. Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti kaunteya (BG 4.9). If somebody simply studies critically the transcendental nature of Kṛṣṇa, the transcendental nature of His activities, simply by knowing this, the benefit will be that tyaktvā deham, after quitting this body, you are not again going to have such a material body, but tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma... (BG 4.9). Punar janma means you are not going to take your birth again in the womb of a mother of this material nature.
There is no more entanglement in the karma. Because so long we will be entangled in the karma, we will have to transmigrate from one body to another. And we do not know how long we have to rotate in this way.
Lecture on BG 4.14 -- Bombay, April 3, 1974: There is no more entanglement in the karma. Because so long we will be entangled in the karma, we will have to transmigrate from one body to another. And we do not know how long we have to rotate in this way. Therefore Caitanya Mahāprabhu says, ei rūpe brahmāṇḍa bhramite kona bhāgyavān jīva (CC Madhya 19.151). Everyone is rotating in this way. Out of that, one who is very, very fortunate, then guru-kṛṣṇa-kṛpāya pāya bhakti-latā-bīja (CC Madhya 19.151), by the grace of guru and Kṛṣṇa he gets the seed of devotional service.
In the Vedic scripture you'll find, He's such a nice friend that I am transmigrating from one body to another, and Kṛṣṇa is also transmigrating in the same body. Supersoul.
Lecture on BG 5.22-29 -- New York, August 31, 1966: The Supreme Lord, Kṛṣṇa, He is the enjoyer, He is the proprietor, and He is the real friend. In the Vedic scripture you'll find, He's such a nice friend that I am transmigrating from one body to another, and Kṛṣṇa is also transmigrating in the same body. Supersoul. Suppose I am transmigrating to the body of a hog. Oh, Kṛṣṇa is present there also. He's such a friend. Now, suppose we have got our friends. So when I've got richness, I am very rich, I will have so many friends. Suppose I am poverty-stricken now, no friends come to us. Kṛṣṇa is not such a friend. Kṛṣṇa is such a good friend. In whatever condition you may live, He is always with you. He is always with you. In the Vedic literature you find that two birds are sitting on the same tree. One bird is eating the fruit of the tree, and the other bird is witnessing.
We are transmigrating from one body to another, exactly like in our present life. Just like all of us present here, we had a body, a small baby body.
Lecture on BG 7.1 -- Gainesville, July 29, 1971 University of Florida: We are transmigrating from one body to another, exactly like in our present life. Just like all of us present here, we had a body, a small baby body. Where is that body? That body is gone. So far I am an old man. I remember that I was a small baby. I still remember when I was about six months old I was lying down on the lap of my eldest sister, and she was knitting, and I was lying down and playing. I remember. So it is possible for everyone to remember that "I had a small body, then that I had a boy's body, then I had a youthful body. Now I am in this body." So where are those bodies? The body's now gone. It is a different body.
Not only in the Vedic literature, but even ordinary experience. The soul is there, and the soul is transmigrating from one body to another.
Lecture on BG 7.1 -- Gainesville, July 29, 1971 University of Florida: This simple formula is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā. Everyone can think on it. And there must be some scientific research. Recently I got one letter from a doctor in Toronto. He suggested there is body..., there is soul. I had some correspondence with him. Actually this is a fact. The soul is there. There are so many proofs. Not only in the Vedic literature, but even ordinary experience. The soul is there, and the soul is transmigrating from one body to another. This is going on, but unfortunately there is no serious study on the subject matter or department of knowledge in the universities. This is not very good.
There are many, innumerable living entities. They are wandering within this universe in different forms of body and different planets, transmigrating from one body to another, one planet to another.
Lecture on BG 7.1-3 -- London, August 4, 1971: Just like we have started this movement, Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, in the Western countries for the last five years, but how many people have come to take to this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement? Not very many. We have got about three thousand followers. Therefore Kṛṣṇa says that it is not attractive for everyone. But if one is attracted, his life is successful. His life is successful. Lord Caitanya also said the same thing. Brahmāṇḍa bhramite kona bhāgyavān jīva. There are many, innumerable living entities. They are wandering within this universe in different forms of body and different planets, transmigrating from one body to another, one planet to another. Ei rūpe brahmāṇḍa, kona... Out of them, if one is fortunate enough to associate with a bona fide spiritual master and Kṛṣṇa, his life is becomes successful.
The soul is transmigrating from one body to another. That is knowledge. This is fact. So we can discuss if it is needed, but this is the fact.
Lecture on BG 7.1-3 -- Stockholm, September 10, 1973: Who is accepting another body? The Darwin's theory is that the body is changing to another body. That is nonsense. That is not the fact. The soul is transmigrating from one body to another. That is knowledge. This is fact. So we can discuss if it is needed, but this is the fact. There is the soul, and these eight elements, material elements, they are outer covering. That you have got... As you have got shirt and coat, the shirt is the inner covering, the coat is outer covering. Similarly, the body is made of earth, water, air, fire. This lump of matter is nothing but distribution of the material elements. Just like we make some machine by manipulating the material elements. This is also just like a machine.
Transmigrating from one body to another. That is called death. And when he comes out from one, another body, that is called birth.
Lecture on BG 7.11-12 -- Bombay, February 25, 1974: The real soul, the real life is within the body, while... And he's transmigrating. The... Transmigrating from one body to another. That is called death. And when he comes out from one, another body, that is called birth. So as soon as you get—kleśada āsa dehaḥ—this body, full of miserable condition, then you again put into miserable condition of life. Therefore if you can stop your childrens' birth and death any more, then beget children. This is the shastric injunction. And if the father does not know how to stop his own birth and death, then what is the use of producing children? The father should be so sympathetic with the children, with the sons, that he must know what is the pains and pleasure of birth and death.
He remains here in this material world and goes on transforming, transmigrating from one body to another, one body to another. And we should know, we should be very responsible that what kind of body we are getting next.
Lecture on BG 9.2 -- Calcutta, March 8, 1972: So if we execute this devotional service, rāja-vidyā, then we can go back to home, be transferred to the spiritual world. They do not know. Aśraddadhānaḥ. Then, aprāpya mām: they do not know how to go back to home, back to Godhead. Aprāpya. Then what happens? Aprāpya māṁ nivartante mṛtyu-saṁsāra-vartmani (BG 9.3). He remains here in this material world and goes on transforming, transmigrating from one body to another, one body to another. And we should know, we should be very responsible that what kind of body we are getting next. If you don't care... Big, big professors, big, big learned scholars, they say that after finishing the body.
There is no education throughout the whole world how the soul is being transmigrated from one body to another, what body we are going to get next.
Lecture on BG 9.4 -- Melbourne, April 22, 1976: Within that pea form, substance, the living entity takes shelter and gradually grows. Then there are nine holes, and then the hands and legs and everything becomes complete, and when, if he can sustain, then nature's law push him by the air, and he comes out of the mother's womb, and then again grows in different types of bodies and then he becomes old man. Then, when the body is no more usable, then the body is finished and the soul again enters another mother's body. This is called transmigration of the soul. This is going on, but this is not very happy thing. Today you may have Australian body or American body or Indian body, but when this body is finished, what is the next body you are going to get? You must have information. You are human being. But that education is not there. There is no education throughout the whole world how the soul is being transmigrated from one body to another, what body we are going to get next. This will be happy or distressful?
Our existence, is not now pure. It is, because it is not pure, therefore we have to migrate, transmigrate from one body to another according to our desire, according to our karma.
Lecture on BG 13.1-2 -- Bombay, December 29, 1972: So this life is meant for utilizing this body... Tapo divyaṁ putrakā yena śuddhyet sattvam (SB 5.5.1). Sattva. Sattva, our sattva, or existence, is not now pure. It is, because it is not pure, therefore we have to migrate, transmigrate from one body to another according to our desire, according to our karma. Nature is giving you... Bhrāmayan sarva-bhūtāni yantrārūḍhāni māyayā (BG 18.61). We have been given a vehicle. Now we have got this nice vehicle, this human body, vehicle, moving. But if we don't utilize it as human being, then it, we shall get another vehicle like dogs and hogs. Sometimes no movement, stand up for seven thousand years as a tree. Not as a tree, as tree. Yes. So this is going on. So the first essential knowledge, to know that "I am not this body." We are working so hard.
The spirit soul is transmigrating from one body to another beginning from the aquatic life up to this human life and above this human life this transmigration is going on.
Lecture on BG 1322 -- Hyderabad, August 17, 1976: And the human life is a great chance to understand that how we have been put into the clutches of prakṛti. Puruṣaḥ prakṛti-sthaḥ. How I have been put in... You cannot... If somebody says "It is all right I am put within this material nature, prakṛti. So what is the wrong? Let me remain." That is called ignorance. Because you are a spirit soul. You are eternal. Na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). The spirit soul is transmigrating from one body to another beginning from the aquatic life up to this human life and above this human life this transmigration is going on. Tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ (BG 2.13). You have to change your body within this material world, according to your karma. You have to change your body.
So one has to purify his existentional life; otherwise, if he does not purify his existence, then he has to transmigrate from one body to another, and that is material existence.
Lecture on BG 16.5 -- Calcutta, February 23, 1972: The whole institution is meant for sattva, sattva-saṁśuddhiḥ. So one has to purify his existentional life; otherwise, if he does not purify his existence, then he has to transmigrate from one body to another, and that is material existence. That is material existence. Jalajā nava-lakṣāni sthāvarā lakṣa-viṁśati. One has to transmigrate from lower species of life, aquatic life, to trees; from trees to insect; insect to birds; birds to beasts; and from beasts, that is evolution. That evolution is not Darwin's evolution. That evolution, it is called janmānta vāda. The soul is going from one body to another, not that the body is transforming.
Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures
It is a great science, how the soul, living soul, is in contact with this material body and how he is transmigrating from one body to another.
Lecture on SB 1.2.5 -- Melbourne, April 3, 1972, Lecture at Christian Monastery: So it is a great science, how the soul, living soul, is in contact with this material body and how he is transmigrating from one body to another. The example is given just like vāsāṁsi jīrṇāni yathā vihāya (BG 2.22). We are... Just like when the garments, our shirt and coat, becomes too old, we give it up and we accept another shirt and coat... Similarly, I, you, every one of us, we are spirit soul.
There is Kṛṣṇaloka. That is in the spiritual world, spiritual sky. So these informations are there in the Vedic literatures. And it is a fact that we are transmigrating from one body to another, one planet to another.
Lecture on SB 1.2.5 -- Melbourne, April 3, 1972, Lecture at Christian Monastery: In the Brahmaloka there may be duration of life millions of millions of year, but that is also destructible. That is material nature. In the Bhagavad-gītā it is said, ābrahma-bhuvanāl lokāḥ punar āvartino 'rjuna: (BG 8.16) "Even if you go to the Brahmaloka, you will have to come back again." Yad gatvā na nivartante tad dhāma paramaṁ mama (BG 15.6). "But if you come to My loka..." There is Kṛṣṇaloka. That is in the spiritual world, spiritual sky. So these informations are there in the Vedic literatures. And it is a fact that we are transmigrating from one body to another, one planet to another. That is a fact. Just like I have come to your country, similarly I may go to another planet. It is the question of how to go there, what is the means. That is also stated in the Bhagavad-gītā.
Kṛṣṇa is father for all living entities. They are simply struggling here in this material world under different desires, and therefore they are getting transmigrating from one body to another, and in this way they are wandering within this material world.
Lecture on SB 1.2.12 -- Delhi, November 18, 1973: So Kṛṣṇa is father for all living entities. They are simply struggling here in this material world under different desires, and therefore they are getting transmigrating from one body to another, and in this way they are wandering within this material world. That is their real disadvantageous position. Therefore Kṛṣṇa says the real problem is janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi-duḥkha-doṣānudarśanam (BG 13.9). This is the real problem. Whole spiritual process should be executed to get out of this entanglement of repetition of birth, death, old age and disease. That is real problem.
When my, this spool of fruitive activities has begun, we do not know. The result is that I'm simply transmigrating from one body to another.
Lecture on SB 1.2.14-16 -- San Francisco, March 24, 1967: So if it is so nice... Bhāgavata says yad-anudhyāsinā. Simply by following this procedure, yad-anudhyāsinā yuktāḥ, being engaged, karma-granthi-nibandhanam, the spool of the result of our activities one after another, chindanti, is cut off. Kovidāḥ, if an intelligent man is there, tasya ko na kuryāt kathā-ratim. Why an intelligent man should not engage himself in hearing about the topics of Kṛṣṇa? Is there any difficulty? If by this simple process you can cut off the eternal... Not eternal. Without any tracing of history... When my, this spool of fruitive activities has begun, we do not know. The result is that I'm simply transmigrating from one body to another. If this is stopped now, now if I get in my next body my eternal life, eternal knowledge and eternal bliss, why I shall not accept this? Kovida. Any intelligent man, why he shall not accept this process?
Those who want to remain within this bondage, material bondage of transmigrating from one body we are trying to improve our material condition. Sometimes we are going up, sometimes we are coming down. This is going on.
Lecture on SB 1.2.26 -- Vrndavana, November 6, 1972: So it is very difficult to understand the statements of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam like this verse: mumukṣavo ghora-rūpān hitvā bhūta-patīn atha. They do not understand. People are so misguided, ill-educated, that they do not understand it. Otherwise, the land of Bhāratavarṣa is meant for liberation. In other land they take birth. They have no information of liberation. Here, in this land, Bhāratavarṣa, there is the idea of liberation, mukti. Mukti. So we should be interested in that liberation. Mumukṣava. Mumukṣa icchavaḥ, "those who are desiring." Those who want to remain within this bondage, material bondage of transmigrating from one body... Ābrahma-bhuvanāl lokāḥ punar āvartino 'rjuna (BG 8.16). Ābrahma-bhuvanāl lokāḥ. We are trying to improve our material condition. Sometimes we are going up, sometimes we are coming down. This is going on.
If you work piously, then you create next life. Life is continuous. We are simply transmigrating from one body to another. So by our work we are creating the next body.
Lecture on SB 1.3.8 -- Los Angeles, September 14, 1972: So it is not fruitless. If you work piously, then you create next life. Life is continuous. We are simply transmigrating from one body to another. So by our work we are creating the next body. So if you be engaged in devotional service, then you do not create another material body. Karma means by working you create another future. But naiṣkarmya means you work, but don't create another future. Everyone has future, but devotional service means end of all future. That does not mean zero. The śūnyavādīs, the voidists, they also want to make it zero, but it is actually not zero. Zero of these material activities.
Birth means material body. There is no birth of the soul. The soul transmigrates from one body to another. That is called birth. Otherwise there is not birth.
Lecture on SB 1.3.8 -- Los Angeles, September 14, 1972: Birth means material body. There is no birth of the soul. The soul transmigrates from one body to another. That is called birth. Otherwise there is not birth. Na jāyate na mriyate, the soul does not take birth nor dies. If there is no birth, then where is death? The body has got birth, therefore there is death. Anything which takes birth, it has got death. But soul is part and parcel of God, God is eternal, therefore soul is eternal. Therefore it is said we give up this gross body or subtle body but we do not die.
So unless you take to devotional service, you will have to repeat this business of transmigrating from one body to another.
Lecture on SB 1.3.8 -- Los Angeles, September 14, 1972: So by discharging devotional service, you don't create another body. That means you remain in your pure, spiritual body. Otherwise, karmaṇā: you have to create another body, either human body, cat's body, dog's body, or demigod's body, fish body, tree body, so many-8,400,000 kinds of body. So unless you take to devotional service, you will have to repeat this business of transmigrating from one body to another.
God wants you to come back home and live peacefully. If you do not do that, then you will have to undergo the severe punishments of transmigrating from one body to another.
Lecture on SB 1.3.9 -- Los Angeles, September 15, 1972: You are not independent, you are part and parcel of God. God wants you to come back home and live peacefully. If you do not do that, then you will have to undergo the severe punishments of transmigrating from one body to another. And there are 8,400,000 bodies in which you will have to suffer. And you can see that they are suffering. So don't misuse this human form of life; don't give way to the sense gratification. Have a little tapasya. Not severe tapasya, not like Nara-nārāyaṇa.
The spirit soul is never born, never dies. It is the body, material body, that takes birth and dies. But spirit soul remains. He transmigrates to another body, just like we are transmigrating from one body to another.
Lecture on SB 1.3.17 -- Los Angeles, September 22, 1972: From Bhagavad-gītā you understand that na jāyate na mriyate. The spirit soul is never born, never dies. It is the body, material body, that takes birth and dies. But spirit soul remains. Dehāntara-prāptiḥ. Tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ (BG 2.13). He transmigrates to another body, just like we are transmigrating from one body to another. There are so many children here. Now they are doing so many things foolish, but we enjoy because we know that this body is foolish body. Nobody grudges if a child does something which not to be done. Just like most children, they are chewing their thumb, but if you do that, that cannot be allowed. Because your body is different, and his body is different.
When I get the opportunity of this human form of life, my first business is how to protect this ātmā, soul. The soul is transmigrating from one body to another.
Lecture on SB 1.5.9-11 -- New Vrindaban, June 6, 1969: One should give first protection to the ātmā. What is that protection? Protection from the onslaught of māyā, or material nature. That is protection. At the present moment, I am under the influence of māyā, under the influence of the three qualities of māyā. So when I get the opportunity of this human form of life, my first business is how to protect this ātmā, soul. The soul is transmigrating from one body to another. How foolish they have become! We are enjoying this nice body, human body or American body or very beautiful body. But next moment I do not know what body I am going to get. But those who are in the knowledge how transmigration takes place, they can say what kind of body you are going to take next by your activities.
We are forced to take birth. We are, we are , we living entities, conditioned souls, we are transmigrating from one body to another, being forced by the laws of nature. But Kṛṣṇa does not appear by being forced by the laws of nature. That is the difference.
Lecture on SB 1.8.30 -- Los Angeles, April 22, 1973: Just like Kṛṣṇa appeared as the Fish Incarnation. Tad atyanta-viḍambanam (SB 1.8.30). So Kṛṣṇa's disappearance and appearance, His taking birth, these are all bewildering. It is not that... We are forced to take birth. We are, we are , we living entities, conditioned souls, we are transmigrating from one body to another, being forced by the laws of nature. But Kṛṣṇa does not appear by being forced by the laws of nature. That is the difference. Therefore those who are foolish rascals, they think that: "I have taken my birth in this world and Kṛṣṇa has also taken. Therefore I am also God." They, they do not know that you have to take birth by the force of laws of nature.
We cannot keep our position as unborn. We have to take birth, transmigrate from one body to another, and there is no guarantee what kind of body you are going to get next.
Lecture on SB 1.8.32 -- Los Angeles, April 24, 1973: So Kṛṣṇa is described here as Aja. Ajo 'pi sann avyayātmā bhūtānām īśvaro 'pi san. That is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā. Ajo 'pi. "I am unborn." Yes. Kṛṣṇa is unborn. We are also unborn. But difference is that we have been entangled with this material body. Therefore we cannot keep our position as unborn. We have to take birth, transmigrate from one body to another, and there is no guarantee what kind of body you are going to get next. But you have to accept.
One do not understand that the soul is transmigrating from one body to another. Soul is immortal. Soul is eternal. These things are described in the Bhagavad-gītā.
Lecture on SB 1.15.31 -- Los Angeles, December 9, 1973: This is our charge against this so-called advancement of life. And they are forgetting real thing. They do not understand what is soul. They do not understand. They do not understand that the soul is transmigrating from one body to another. Soul is immortal. Soul is eternal. These things are described in the Bhagavad-gītā. In the beginning, this is the beginning lesson: dehino 'smin yathā dehe kaumāram (BG 2.13). This is the beginning of spiritual understanding. But they do not understand this beginning lesson, and still they are advanced. This is going on. Simply cheating. So this cheating process is going on under the misconception that "I am this body." The basic principle is cheating. Wrong. And on the wrong platform they are building phantasmagoria, big, big ideas.
How we are transmigrating from one body to another? What I am? I am this body or beyond, something? These things are to be inquired. That is human life.
Lecture on SB 1.15.49 -- Los Angeles, December 26, 1973: So one has to learn. Tad-vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum eva abhigacchet (MU 1.2.12). This is the Vedic injunction, that what is the value of life? How it is changing? How we are transmigrating from one body to another? What I am? I am this body or beyond, something? These things are to be inquired. That is human life. Athāto brahma jijñāsā. This inquiry should be made. So in this Kali-yuga, without any knowledge, without any inquiry, without any guru, without any book, everyone is God. That's all. This is going on, fool's paradise. So this will not help.
Because they have got bad brain, they do not know how spirit soul is transmigrating from one body to another, how he is becoming entangled.
Lecture on SB 1.16.19 -- Hawaii, January 15, 1974: One has got good brain, another has got dull brain. That is dis... That is the variety. So if you want good brain... Good brain means how to get relief from all the troubles of material existence. That is good brain. And bad brain means to become implicated more and more. They do not know... Because they have got bad brain, they do not know how spirit soul is transmigrating from one body to another, how he is becoming entangled. Today I have got very nice body, American body, but what is the guarantee next life? But they do not believe in the next life because they have no good brain. So in order to understand things as they are, you require good brain, and for good brain, you require milk preparation. In this way, as they've suggested a routine in the śāstra also, and guided by sādhu-guru-śāstra, if we accept, then we shall become very happy in this life and next life also. That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement.
Not only we are changing or transmigrating from one body to another, but we are transmigrating from one planet to another. These things are all explained in the Bhagavad-gītā.
Lecture on SB 2.2.5 -- Los Angeles, December 2, 1968: We are wandering in so many species of life, transmigration of the soul. Vāsāṁsi jīrṇāni yathā vihāya (BG 2.22). Just we change our dress, similarly we are changing our body every moment, and finally we are changing to other body. Not only we are changing or transmigrating from one body to another, but we are transmigrating from one planet to another. These things are all explained in the Bhagavad-gītā.
Īśvara, the Supreme Lord, is sitting within the heart of everyone. And He's giving us chance to transmigrate to different types of bodies or species of bodies.
Lecture on SB 2.3.22 -- Los Angeles, June 19, 1972: Īśvaraḥ the Supreme Lord, Kṛṣṇa, is sitting within everyone's heart, and He's witness, anumantā-upadraṣṭā. Upadraṣṭā means He's seeing our activity. He's noting what I desire, because our desires are coming one after another, one after another. So according to our desire, Kṛṣṇa is so kind, He gives you a body. Īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe 'rjuna tiṣṭhati (BG 18.61). Īśvara, the Supreme Lord, is sitting within the heart of everyone. So... And sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe 'rjuna tiṣṭhati bhrāmayan. And He's giving us chance to transmigrate to different types of bodies or species of bodies. He's noting down that "This soul is very much fond of fresh blood and raw meat. All right. You take the body of a tiger. Yes. This soul feels pleasure being naked. All right, you take the body of a tree. You stand up naked for ten thousand years.
The gross material scientists, scholars, because they cannot see with the eyes, they do not believe in, that there is soul and soul transmigrates from one body to another.
Lecture on SB 3.26.34 -- Bombay, January 11, 1975: Generally, with our these material eyes, material senses, gross vision, we do not see how a person dying and he is being transformed to another body. The gross material scientists, scholars, because they cannot see with the eyes, they do not believe in, that there is soul and soul transmigrates from one body to another. Big, big scientists, big, big scholars, they do not believe. They think that life is nothing but a mixture of these material elements and at a time the vitality is finished; therefore everything is finished. But that is not the fact. The fact is the gross body is finished, but the subtle body—mind, intelligence, and ego—that remains with the soul.
We have to purify our existence. This is the mission of human life. At the present moment we are transmigrating from one body to another, and there are 8,400,000 species of life we are going through according to karma.
Lecture on SB 5.5.2 -- Hyderabad, April 11, 1975: Tapo divyaṁ putrakā yena śuddhyet sattvam (SB 5.5.1). We have to purify our existence. This is the mission of human life. At the present moment we are transmigrating from one body to another, and there are 8,400,000 species of life we are going through according to karma. Karmaṇā daiva-netreṇa jantur deha upapattaye (SB 3.31.1). How we develop a certain type of body, that is stated—everything is stated in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam—by our karma. I have explained last night, it is just like infection. We are associating with different types of the modes of material nature.
Different types of bodies I am transmigrating from one body to another. My problem remains the same: birth, death, old age and disease.
Lecture on SB 5.5.5 -- London, September 3, 1971: You are working on the wrong basis of understanding, identifying with this body yourself. You are not this body. Therefore unless one comes to the standard of inquiring, "What I am? Why I am forced to suffer? I do not like to suffer. I do not like to die. Why there is death? I do not like to become old man. Why I become old man? I do not want any disease. Why there is disease?" they are not making solution of these problems. They are after these temporary problems. Therefore they are working hard. Working hard means simply contaminating another kind of infection, and therefore the śarīra-bandha. Śarīra-bandha, different types of bodies I am transmigrating from one body to another. My problem remains the same: birth, death, old age and disease. And therefore whatever I am doing, it is all defeat. Parābhava.
The subtle body carries the soul to another gross body. That we cannot see. Therefore we do not understand how this spirit soul is migrating, transmigrating from one body to another. We do not see. Therefore our seeing should be through knowledge.
Lecture on SB 6.1.1 -- Melbourne, May 21, 1975: Everyone knows that you have got intelligence, I have got intelligence. And everyone is puffed up with some identification, "I am this, I am that." These three conception, this is called subtle. Subtle body. So we simply see the gross body, but we do not see the subtle body. When death take place—that means this gross body is finished—then the subtle body is there. And the subtle body carries the soul to another gross body. That we cannot see. Therefore we do not understand how this spirit soul is migrating, transmigrating from one body to another. We do not see. Therefore our seeing should be through knowledge, paśyati jñāna-cakṣuṣā, not this gross seeing. Gross seeing is imperfect. It has no value. We know. We should inquire that "This gross body is finished. Now what about the subtle body?"
People do not know what is this science, how the spirit soul is transmigrating from one body to another, not only in one duration of life. In one duration of life, there are so many changes of body.
Lecture on SB 6.1.8 -- New York, July 22, 1971: So this is going on, but people do not know what is this science, how the spirit soul is transmigrating from one body to another, not only in one duration of life. In one duration of life, there are so many changes of body. The body first manufactured within the womb of the mother is very small, just like chick pea, small. And it develops. And there are holes. The holes develop into nine holes: two eyes, two ears, two nostrils, one mouth, one genital, one rectum. In this way the body develops. And so long it requires to develop within the embryo, within the mother's womb, it remains there. And when it is sufficiently developed to grow outside, it comes out.
You stop breathing, but you are transferred, transmigrated to another body. So death we are experiencing daily.
Lecture on SB 7.6.1 -- Montreal, June 10, 1968: The Bhagavad-gītā says that just like we change one set of garment which is not usable. We throw it away and take another set of garment, similarly, when this body is old enough, it cannot be pulled on, the machine has gone wrong, it cannot work anymore, that is called death. You stop breathing, but you are transferred, transmigrated to another body. So death we are experiencing daily. So out of hundred years, old age, age, the span of life, we are practically dead for fifty years because we are sleeping. Then the fifty years, out of the remaining fifty years, in our childhood we are very much fond of sporting and playing. So twenty years by playing. So seventy years gone.
The passing phase is this body, and the body is changing, and the final change, when you transmigrate from one body to another, it is called death. Actually, there is no death.
Lecture on SB 7.6.1 -- New York, April 9, 1969: Just like we are... Because the passing phase is this body, and the body is changing, and the final change, when you transmigrate from one body to another, it is called death. Actually, there is no death. Na jāyate na mriyate kadācit. In the Bhagavad-gītā you'll find that the living entity never is born, neither never dies. Na hanyamāne hanyate, hanyamāne śarīre. Then "I see that he is dying." Oh, that is dying not, that is his finishing his this present body. The example is given, vāsāṁsi jīrṇāni yathā vihāya (BG 2.22). Just like one person changes his dress, similarly, when this dress, the present body, is unworkable... Just like one man cannot see.
As I have explained, that, there are 8,400,000 species of life. But unfortunately, there is no proper education how the living entity, what is that living entity and how it is transmigrating from one body to another?
Lecture on SB 7.6.1-2 -- Stockholm, September 6, 1973: As I have explained, that, there are 8,400,000 species of life. But unfortunately, there is no proper education how the living entity, what is that living entity and how it is transmigrating from one body to another? Tathā dehāntara-prāptir. In the Bhagavad-gītā you'll find, dehino 'smin yathā dehe kaumāraṁ yauvanaṁ jarā tathā dehāntara-prāptir (BG 2.13). Kṛṣṇa says, the authoritative knowledge, that, as the soul, dehi, the proprietor of the body. We do not know whether I am this body or I am the proprietor of this body. That knowledge is also lacking. Big, big professors, they do not know. I was talking in Moscow, one big professor, Professor Kotofsky, he said: "Swamijī, after this body's finished, everything is finished." This is their knowledge. Blunt knowledge. No, it is not finished.
Baby means he has got a baby's body. Young man means he has a youth's body. So this body has been changed. Similarly when this body is useless, no more can be used, then he transmigrates to another body.
Lecture on SB 7.6.1-2 -- Stockholm, September 6, 1973: The human form of life is not meant for to live like the dogs and the hogs. They are busy always for maintaining the body. They are busy. They have no other business. They cannot understand. If I bring some dog in this meeting and try to make him understand, "Please note that you are not this body." It is not possible for them to understand. But a human being, he may be educated like dogs and hog, but if he's given reasonably the, as Kṛṣṇa is giving that the soul is the proprietor of this body and he is as he's changing in this body He's a child-child means he has got a child's body. Baby means he has got a baby's body. Young man means he has a youth's body. So this body has been changed. Similarly when this body is useless, no more can be used, then he transmigrates to another body. Tathā dehāntara-prāptir.
To understand that God, how He is working, what we are, what is our relationship with God, why we are here, why we are transmigrating from one body to another—all these are called bhāgavata-dharma.
Lecture on SB 7.6.1-2 -- Stockholm, September 6, 1973: Don't think nature is blind. Nature is matter, material energy. It cannot work independently, just like machine. Machine, it is made of matter. But if there is no driver, however efficient machine may be, it is useless, a lump of matter (only). There must be driver. Similarly, whatever wonderful activities you find within this material nature, that is not being done independently. That is being done under the driver. Just like the big car or this airship is running very nicely so long the pilot is there, so long the driver is there. Without pilot, even the arrangement is very nice, good machinery assembly, but it cannot work. Similarly, this nature, although we find very wonderfully working, but behind this nature, there is the living entity, supreme living entity, God. So to understand that God, how He is working, what we are, what is our relationship with God, why we are here, why we are transmigrating from one body to another—all these are called bhāgavata-dharma. This is called bhāgavata-dharma.
So long we are not attached to Vāsudeva, then our attachment for this matter will oblige me to transfer or transmigrate from one body to another, and I'll have to circumambulate in the 8,400,000 species of life, lower grade, higher grade.
Lecture on SB 7.7.32-35 -- San Francisco, March 17, 1967, (incomplete lecture): If I am not attached to spirit, then I must be attached to matter. And if I am attached to spirit, then my material attachment is gone. This is the process. So Prahlāda Mahārāja says, "In this process, if a person advances in his spiritual consciousness, or Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then vāsudeve bhagavati..." The Vāsudeva means Kṛṣṇa. Vāsudeve bhagavati: the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa. Yayā saṁlabhyate ratiḥ: "He becomes automatically attached." And so long we are not attached to Vāsudeva, then our attachment for this matter will oblige me to transfer or transmigrate from one body to another, and I'll have to circumambulate in the 8,400,000 species of life, lower grade, higher grade. That will continue. Therefore this is the opportunity, this human life, to become a devotee of Vāsudeva or to become fully Kṛṣṇa conscious.
Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Lectures
Our death means to transmigrate to another body. Just like from childhood we are transmigrating to another body, boyhood; from boyhood we are transmigrating to another body, youth-hood; and from youth-hood we are transferred to another body, old body. Similarly, when this body will not be any more workable, then we shall transmigrate to another body.
Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.101-104 -- Bombay, November 3, 1975: Our death means to transmigrate to another body. Just like from childhood we are transmigrating to another body, boyhood; from boyhood we are transmigrating to another body, youth-hood; and from youth-hood we are transferred to another body, old body. Similarly, when this body will not be any more workable, then we shall transmigrate to another body. Tathā dehāntara-prāptir dhīras tatra na muhyati (BG 2.13). Those who are dhīra—dhīra means sober, thoughtful—they are not bewildered. But those who are not dhīra, adhīra... There are two classes of men: dhīra and adhīra. Dhīra means one who is spiritually situated. He is called dhīra or brahma-bhūtaḥ, prasannātmā (BG 18.54), dhīra. And one who is not spiritually situated, materially situated, means on the platform of bodily conception of life, then he is adhīra, he is restless, from this platform to that platform, this platform to that platform.
We have got two things here in the conditioned life. We desire something, and if the desire is not fulfilled, then we become angry. So in this way we are traveling, or, I mean to say, transmigrating from one body to another.
Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 22.14-20 -- New York, January 10, 1967: We have got two things here in the conditioned life. We desire something, and if the desire is not fulfilled, then we become angry. So in this way we are traveling, or, I mean to say, transmigrating from one body to another. This can be stopped. This process can be stopped. How? Bhramite bhramite yadi sādhu-vaidya pāya. In this way we are being kicked up by māyā. But if by chance we get the shelter of a good physician... Good physician means a bona fide spiritual master. Then, by his advice, just like a patient is cured by following the instruction of a bona fide physician, similarly, this disease of being kicked up from one body to another, this could be stopped by the instruction of a bona fide sādhu, saintly person, or spiritual master or śāstra, scripture.
Sri Brahma-samhita Lectures
As soon as you quit this body, or death, so your money and everything, what you collected with this body, with the finishing of this body, everything is finished. But you go. You are spirit soul. You transmigrate to another body.
Lecture on Brahma-samhita, Verse 32 -- New York, July 26, 1971: Suppose you have got millions of dollars. Don't keep it. So long it is within your jurisdiction, spend it for Kṛṣṇa. Yes. That is the proper utilization. Because actually the money is not yours, because you cannot carry this money with your death. As soon as you quit this body, or death, so your money and everything, what you collected with this body, with the finishing of this body, everything is finished. But you go. You are spirit soul. You transmigrate to another body. So your money which you earned previously, in your previous body, that you do not know where it is kept, or how it is being spent up. During your lifetime, you may make very nice deed, how the money should be spent by your sons or by your heirs, but now, suppose you left in your last life ten thousand millions of dollars somewhere, but you have nothing, no claim for that money. Therefore so long it is in your hand, spend it. Tyāgena, tyāgena. Spend for good purpose, not for... This money, if you spend for bad purposes, then you become entangled. If you spend for good purposes, then you get good return. That's a fact.
Festival Lectures
Kṛṣṇa says that "You stop all this business. Simply you are migrating or transmigrating from one body to another or one planet to another. That will not make you happy. You just surrender unto Me. Because you are meant, your original creation is meant, for serving Me."
Lecture-Day after Sri Gaura-Purnima -- Hawaii, March 5, 1969: So these bodies means we have manufactured according to our different mentality. Kṛṣṇa says that "You stop all this business. Simply you are migrating or transmigrating from one body to another or one planet to another. That will not make you happy. Sarva-dharmān. "You just surrender unto Me. Because you are meant, your original creation is meant, for serving Me." Just like this body. When this body was made in the womb of my mother, it was just like a small pea, and from that pea, different holes came out, then hand came out, leg came out, the fingers came out. Why this finger was created? Because I require the service of the fingers. Suppose if I want to press something, if there was no nail, then I cannot press. It is so nicely manufactured.
The misunderstanding is that we are accepting this material body as the self. We are all living entities, spirit souls, encaged in this material body. We are transmigrating from one body to another.
Ratha-yatra -- London, July 13, 1972: The purpose of this movement is to cleanse the heart. Ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanaṁ bhava-mahā-dāvāgni-nirvāpanam (CC Antya 20.12). We have created so many problems in our life simply on the platform of misunderstanding. Therefore this movement is meant for cleansing the misunderstanding of the heart. Ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam. What is that misunderstanding? The misunderstanding is that we are accepting this material body as the self. We are all living entities, spirit souls, encaged in this material body. We are transmigrating from one body to another. There are 8,400,000 species of life, and this human form of life is the greatest opportunity for self-realization. Self-realization means to know that "I am not this body. I am spirit soul. I am part and parcel of God." You have... Most of you must have read Bhagavad-gītā. In the Fifteenth Chapter it is said that the living entities are part and parcel of God. God is by nature joyful.
Initiation Lectures
As I explained in the beginning, to get out of this entanglement of constant transmigrating from one body to another, so this is the mantra. So if you chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, you'll be forced to remember Him.
Initiation Lecture and Bhagavan dasa's Marriage Ceremony -- New Vrindaban, June 4, 1969: Under the three modes of material nature people are entangled. So to get out of this, the same proposition, as I explained in the beginning, to get out of this entanglement of constant transmigrating from one body to another, so this is the mantra. Simply to... Yaḥ smaret puṇḍarīkākṣam. Puṇḍarīkākṣam means Kṛṣṇa. So if you chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, you'll be forced to remember Him. As soon as the word "Kṛṣṇa" is there and the more you are practiced to this habit, then simply we'll see Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa—nothing more. You'll see nothing. Sarvatra sphūrti tāra iṣṭa-deva mūrti. As you make advance, then you'll see a tree, but you'll see Kṛṣṇa. You'll not see the form of tree. Sarvatra sphūrti tāra iṣṭa-deva... Because one who is conversant with the science of Kṛṣṇa, he'll know how His energies are working in so many ways; therefore he'll be sympathetic. That is universal vision. That is universal love.
General Lectures
According to Bhagavad-gītā, the soul is transmigrating from one body to another, but the soul is eternal and permanent. And there are evolutionary process also.
Lecture -- San Francisco, April 2, 1968: We are preparing our next life, next body rather... Life is continuing. I am eternal. Next body—according to my present one. Just like in this meeting we have got two hundred ladies and gentlemen, but you cannot find out any lady or any gentleman exactly like the feature of the other. Differences. That means different consciousness, different work, and we have got different body. According to Bhagavad-gītā, the soul is transmigrating from one body to another, but the soul is eternal and permanent. And there are evolutionary process also. There are nine million species of life in the water. Jalajā nava-lakṣāṇi sthāvarā lakṣa-viṁśati. And the trees and plants are two million. Similarly, there are reptiles, birds, then beasts, three million beast life, beastly life. Then at the end, we come to the form of this human being, and there are four hundred thousand species of different kinds of bodies.
The whole world, or the mostly people are hovering in ignorance, and he does not know that he is spirit soul, and he is transmigrating from one body to another. He does not want to die, but the death, cruel death, is enforced upon him.
Lecture at Engagement -- Boston, May 8, 1968: So the whole world, or the mostly people are hovering in ignorance, and he does not know that he is spirit soul, and he is transmigrating from one body to another. He does not want to die, but the death, cruel death, is enforced upon him. So these problems, they do not consider very seriously, and they are thinking very happy on the principles of animal life. The animal life is based on four principal things: eating, sleeping, mating, and defending. And at the present moment the human civilization is very much proud of advancement of knowledge, but they are concerned with these four principles of life, namely eating, sleeping, defending, and mating. So according to Vedic literature, this way of life is no better than animal life. Human life is meant for advanced knowledge.
"This body is perishable, but that consciousness is imperishable, eternal." And that consciousness, or the soul, is transmigrating from one body to another. Just like we are changing dress.
Lecture at a School -- Montreal, June 11, 1968: In the Bhagavad-gītā there are description of two consciousness. Just like I am conscious throughout my body. If you pinch any part of my body, then I feel. That is my consciousness. So I am spread, my consciousness is spread, all over my body. This is explained in the Bhagavad-gītā, avināśi tad viddhi yena sarvam idaṁ tatam: "That consciousness which is spread all over this body, that is eternal." And antavanta ime dehā nityasyoktāḥ śarīriṇaḥ: (BG 2.18) "But this body is antavat," means imperishable. "This body is perishable, but that consciousness is imperishable, eternal." And that consciousness, or the soul, is transmigrating from one body to another. Just like we are changing dress. I may have this dress. You may have another dress. I may exchange your dress with me. So this changing of dress going on every moment.
This soul is transmigrating from one body to another, and there are 8,400,000 species of life, and our, after leaving this body we may accept any one of them. We do not know. That will depend on our action at the present moment.
Lecture -- Paris, June 26, 1971: So this transmigration of soul is the most important factor to be understood by the human society. Unfortunately there is no university, there is no department of knowledge, to understand this important factor. That is very risky. So this soul is transmigrating from one body to another, and there are 8,400,000 species of life, and our, after leaving this body we may accept any one of them. We do not know. That will depend on our action at the present moment. Practically we are preparing our future body, and according to our work and mentality, we get a different body. Therefore we shall be very much cautious. Any intelligent man can understand that the future life is prepared at present.
These two lines of Bhagavad-gītā, that how the soul is transmigrating from one body to another, if we simply study these two lines, then our life becomes different. But nobody cares to understand that the soul is eternal.
Lecture at Auckland University -- Auckland, April 17, 1972: So the soul is eternal and the body is changing. That is explained in this Bhagavad-gītā. Most of you are well known to this book, Bhagavad-gītā. It is widely read book all over the world. So the first instruction given in the Bhagavad-gītā is this:
- dehino 'smin yathā dehe
- kaumāraṁ yauvanaṁ jarā
- tathā dehāntara-prāptir
- dhīras tatra na muhyati
- (BG 2.13)
These two lines of Bhagavad-gītā, that how the soul is transmigrating from one body to another, if we simply study these two lines, then our life becomes different. But nobody cares to understand that the soul is eternal. It is changing, transmigrating from one type of body to another body. And there are 8,400,000 species or types of body, and we have been entrapped in this cycle of birth, death, old age and disease. This is our real problem.
Advancement of civilization means how much you have advanced to know the soul and the ultimate goal of the soul, how the soul is transmigrating from one body to another.
Rotary Club Lecture -- Ahmedabad, December 5, 1972: The benefit of eating, whatever you eat or the animal eats, it is the same. Eating means to maintain the body and soul together. So by advancing in the modes of eating, that does not mean advancement of civilization. Advancement in the modes of sleeping, that does not mean advancement of civilization. Similarly, advancement in the modes of sexual intercourse, it does not mean the advancement of civilization. Or advancement in defending, discovering atomic bombs for killing my enemy, that is also not advancement of civilization. Advancement of civilization means how much you have advanced to know the soul and the ultimate goal of the soul, how the soul is transmigrating from one body to another.
And so long you are in the bondage of karma, you have to transmigrate from one body to another.
Lecture at Bharata Chamber of Commerce 'Culture and Business' -- Calcutta, January 30, 1973: Culture and business means you may do whatever business you are doing, according to your division, or according to your capacity or according to your qualification. You may be a, a merchant, you may be a professional man, you may be legal adviser, medical man. Whatever you may, it doesn't matter. But if you want perfection in your business, then you must try to satisfy the Supreme Personality of Godhead. That is culture. Otherwise you are simply wasting your time. In the Bhagavad-gītā it is said, yajñārthe karma. Yajña. Yajña means Viṣṇu, the Supreme Lord. For Him you have to work. Yajñārthe karma. Anyatra karma-bandhana. Otherwise you become bound up by the acts, by the reaction of your activities. Karma-bandhana. And so long you are in the bondage of karma, you have to transmigrate from one body to another.
Unfortunately at the present moment, people do not know that there is soul and the soul transmigrates from one body to another.
Lecture at Bharata Chamber of Commerce 'Culture and Business' -- Calcutta, January 30, 1973: Unfortunately at the present moment, people do not know that there is soul and the soul transmigrates from one body to another. As it is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, tathā dehāntaraṁ prāptir dhīras tatra na muhyati (BG 2.13). Big, big professors... I've talked with big, big scientists, professors, but they do not know that there is life after death. They do not know. But according to our Vedic information, we know. And we can ex..., experience in this present life. It is very common thing. Just like a baby has got a body of a boy. The boy has got a body again of a youth, young man. The young man has got a body again of a old man. So similarly, old man, after annihilation of this body, he'll get another body. It is very, quite natural, logical.
The living entity, after the annihilation of this body, does not die. How it transmigrates? How the living entity transmigrates from one body to another? By the subtle body.
Lecture at Indo-American Society 'East and West' -- Calcutta, January 31, 1973: And further explained in the Bhagavad-gītā that na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). The living entity, after the annihilation of this body, does not die. How it transmigrates? How the living entity transmigrates from one body to another? By the subtle body. There is a subtle body. This is gross body. The subtle body works when you are asleep. We go outside my bedroom and we see so many things, we work in so many ways. That is subtle body. So after the destruction of this gross body, this subtle body carries me to another gross body. It is a great science. Great science.
So we are very much advanced in technology. But we do not know what is the technology of the soul transmigrating from one body to another. That is ignorance.
Lecture at Indo-American Society 'East and West' -- Calcutta, January 31, 1973: So why the scientists of the Western country do not take this matter seriously? I was invited to speak in Boston, the Massachusetts Technical Institute. So I first inquired all the students: "Where is your technological department, when the body stops, you can again give him vitality and he may work? Where is that technology?" So the students liked it. And we had very nice discussion. So we are very much advanced in technology. But we do not know what is the technology of the soul transmigrating from one body to another. That is ignorance. That is ignorance.
The animals do not know. Because they are not advanced in knowledge. But they have got also soul. Their soul is evolving or transmigrating from one body to another. There is a system.
Lecture at Indo-American Society 'East and West' -- Calcutta, January 31, 1973: And this ignorance prevails in animals also. The animals do not know. Because they are not advanced in knowledge. But they have got also soul. Their soul is evolving or transmigrating from one body to another. There is a system. Jalajā nava-lakṣāṇi sthāvarā lakṣa viṁśati. From the aquatics. Because the whole world was merged into water, devastation. Therefore the beginning of living entities, (is) the aquatics. From the aquatics, they come to the plants, trees. Then from plants, trees, to insect. From insect to birds. Then bird to beast. From beast to human being.
Real thing is that the living entity, soul, is transmigrating from one body to another and the chance of developed consciousness is human form of life.
Lecture at Indo-American Society 'East and West' -- Calcutta, January 31, 1973: The evolutionary theory, it is not new thing, as it is stated by Darwin. It is there in the Padma Purāṇa. But it is very perfectly explained there. Darwin has not very perfectly explained. There are so many defects. But real thing is that the living entity, soul, is transmigrating from one body to another and the chance of developed consciousness is human form of life. In this human form of life, if we do not understand "What I am, wherefrom I have come, where I am going next, why I have taken this body, subjected to so much miserable tribulations of life which I do not want?"
There are so many scientific problems about this life and transmigration of the soul. You can understand from the authorized Vedic literature, how the soul transmigrates from one body to another.
Lecture at Indo-American Society 'East and West' -- Calcutta, January 31, 1973: Nature. You are desiring so many things in your life. They are recorded. And you have to accept each and every body, one after another. That is nature's gift. Prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni. That is the nature's work. As you desire, so you get a body. If you misuse the body, then for sometimes you are restrained not to get a gross body. There are so many scientific problems about this life and transmigration of the soul. You can understand from the authorized Vedic literature, how the soul transmigrates from one body to another. That is also explained. The soul remains with the subtle body which we cannot see, but after destruction of this gross body, the soul is carried to another gross body according to his desire by the subtle body.
This Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is the only institution which is teaching people that he is not this body; he's spirit soul—he's different from body and he's transmigrating from one body to another, birth and death.
Lecture -- London, August 26, 1973: But unfortunately there is no education on this spiritual knowledge in any school, college, although there are books. They can read, they can understand the constitutional position of the soul. But there is no arrangement. Perhaps this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is the only institution which is teaching people that he is not this body; he's spirit soul—he's different from body and he's transmigrating from one body to another, birth and death. Actually, the spirit soul has no birth and death. Na jāyate na mriyate vā kadācit. The spirit soul is eternal. It does not take birth or it dies. The body is changing. The change of the body is known as birth and death. We are eternal; therefore nobody wants to die, because he is eternal by constitution.
The living entities, they are wandering throughout the universe, changing bodies, transmigrating from one body to another, one place to another, one planet to another, but they are rotating within this universe, material universe.
Lecture on Gurvastakam at Upsala University -- Stockholm, September 9, 1973: The living entities, they are wandering throughout the universe, changing bodies, transmigrating from one body to another, one place to another, one planet to another, but they are rotating within this universe, material universe, brahmāṇḍo bhramite. This science is unknown to the modern education department, how the spirit soul is transmigrating from one body to another and how he's being transferred from one planet to another. We have got our book, Easy Journey to Other Planets. So guru can help you to transmigrate from this planet directly to the spiritual sky, where there are innumerable spiritual planets. They are known as Vaikuṇṭhaloka. And the topmost planet in the spiritual sky, that is called Goloka Vṛndāvana. That is Kṛṣṇa's planet. By Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement we are trying to give information how one can be transferred directly to the Goloka Vṛndāvana planet, Kṛṣṇaloka. That is our mission.
You are not destroyed after the annihilation of this body, material body, but you transmigrate to another body. And that body may be one of the 8,400,000's of forms.
Lecture on Gurvastakam at Upsala University -- Stockholm, September 9, 1973: So what is the difference between this material world and the spiritual world? The difference is that in the material world you have to change your body, although you are eternal. Nityaḥ śāśvato na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). You are not destroyed after the annihilation of this body, material body, but you transmigrate to another body. And that body may be one of the 8,400,000's of forms. There are 8,400,000's of forms. Jalajā nava-lakṣāṇi. There are 900,000 forms in the water, two millions forms of trees and plants, eleven hundred thousand forms of the insect, and then one million forms of the birds. And then three million forms of the beasts. And then we come to this human form of life.
"The soul is never annihilated even after the destruction of this body." Therefore the question is that "If I am eternal, why I am put into this condition of changing, of transmigrating from one body to another? Is there any possibility of not changing the body, to keep eternality?"
La Trobe University Lecture -- Melbourne, July 1, 1974: On the basis of Śrī Bhagavad-gītā, everything is explained very vividly. The soul is eternal. The soul is transferred from one gross body to another gross body, just like we change our apartment from one apartment to another. But I exist. If I vacate one apartment and I go to another apartment, it does not mean I am finished. I may leave the apartment. Similarly, if we are leaving this body and we are going to another body, that means I am not finished. I am existing. Na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). Na hanyate: "The soul is never annihilated even after the destruction of this body." Therefore the question is that "If I am eternal, why I am put into this condition of changing, of transmigrating from one body to another? Is there any possibility of not changing the body, to keep eternality?" Yes. That is possible. Actually we are, as spirit soul, the part and parcel of God. So God is eternal, God is blissful, God is in full knowledge, so we, being part and parcel of God, we have got the same quality.
There are so many students of Bhagavad-gītā, but because they are not actually paṇḍita, they do not take account of the simple thing, how the soul transmigrates from one body to another. This is the position.
Address to Rotary Club -- Chandigarh, October 17, 1976: One who does not know about the spirit soul, he is not a paṇḍita. Dhīras tatra na muhyati. This transmigration of the soul... Just like you condoled one Rotarian who has died. But Kṛṣṇa says, dhīras tatra na muhyati. "Yes, he's not dead. He has transmigrated to another body. He's not dead." That is the... Na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). This is the instruction of Kṛṣṇa, that "Don't think that because the body is annihilated, therefore the person is annihilated. No." Na jāyate na mriyate vā kadācit: "That soul never takes birth, never dies." Nityaḥ śāśvato 'yam, na hanyate hanyamāne (BG 2.20). This is the first instruction of Bhagavad-gītā. There are so many students of Bhagavad-gītā, but because they are not actually paṇḍita, they do not take account of the simple thing, how the soul transmigrates from one body to another. This is the position. And therefore we should not continue to remain apaṇḍitāḥ, nānuśocanti paṇḍitāḥ, and lament. So long we are not paṇḍitāḥ, our business is to lament and to hanker. We lament what is lost, and we hanker what is not in our possession.
Philosophy Discussions
Body is not changing. The body is already there. The soul is changing bodies, transmigrating from one body to another.
Philosophy Discussion on Charles Darwin: Prabhupāda: The monkey is existing, the man is existing.
Śyāmasundara: "So if men came from monkeys, why don't we see it still happening?" That's what you said.
Prabhupāda: Yes. That is our argument.
Śyāmasundara: So if you accept that there is an evolution, do you accept that the bodies change because of changing conditions of the natural surroundings?
Prabhupāda: Body is not changing. The body is already there. The soul is changing bodies, transmigrating from one body to another.
He simply takes account of the body. A body never evolves. It is the soul within the body—he evolves, transmigrates from one body to another.
Philosophy Discussion on Charles Darwin: Prabhupāda: The different forms are already there. Just like the form of monkeys also there, the form of man is also there, other animals, other birds, beasts. So he has no clear conception how the evolution is taking place, neither he has any idea about whose evolution. He simply takes account of the body. A body never evolves. It is the soul within the body—he evolves, transmigrates from one body to another. Just we see that a child becomes a boy. The..., if the child is dead, it no more evolves. So it is the soul that is concerned. The soul is within the body, and he desires and evolves. That is Vedic conception and that is life. For example, if a man is within an apartment, the man desires to change the apartment to another apartment, it does not mean that the apartment evolves, but the man desires a change, and he goes to different apartment. That is (indistinct). So Darwin has no such conception. He has described the idea of evolution from the Vedas in his own way.
I am different from this body and I am transmigrating from one body to another. That they cannot express. They are explaining that the body is evolving from this body to that body.
Philosophy Discussion on Sigmund Freud: Prabhupāda: He is identifying the body with the soul. And our preaching is different—that we are not this body. Our first principle of understanding is to know that we are not this body. I am different from this body and I am transmigrating from one body to another. That they cannot express. They are explaining that the body is evolving from this body to that body. That is the basic misunderstanding.
Unless he is liberated or goes to the kingdom of God, he is, repeats, transforms, or transmigrates from one material body to another, because material body is not eternal.
Philosophy Discussion on Origen: Prabhupāda: That is our version of the Vedas. Unless he is liberated or goes to the kingdom of God, he is, repeats, transforms, or transmigrates from one material body to another, because material body is not eternal. You can enter one material body; the material body grows or it remains for sometime; then it becomes old, and then it is useless for any purpose; you have to give up this material body and enter again into a new material body. Then you continue or fulfill your desire in that body, again it becomes old, again you have to give up, and again you have to accept another new body. Because everything material deteriorates, and the soul, being eternal, it cannot remain in the deteriorated body to function materially; therefore transmigration of the soul is essential. As the example is given that when you have got a material shirt and coat, when it is old enough, it cannot be used, you have to throw it out and accept another new shirt and coat. The material conditional life is like that. That is called transmigration.
| Page Title: | Transmigrating from one body to another (Lectures) |
| Compiler: | Visnu Murti, Serene |
| Created: | 03 of Dec, 2008 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=87, Con=0, Let=0 |
| No. of Quotes: | 87 |