|
Who are we? What happens after death?
What is our purpose on this earth? |
|
|
WE ARE ETERNAL, WE ARE NOT THIS
BODY! |
|
dehino 'smin yatha dehe
kaumram yauvanam jara
tatha dehantara-praptir
dhiras tatra na muhyati |
| "As the embodied soul continuously
passes, in this body, from boyhood to youth, and then to
old age, the soul similarly passes into another body at
death. A sober person is not bewildered by such a change."
[Bhagavad-gita 2.13] |
|
 |
Generally, people cannot understand this
simple verse. Therefore, Krishna says, dhiras tatra na
muhyati: "Only a sober man can understand." But what is
the difficulty? How plainly Krishna has explained things!
There are three stages of life. The first, kaumaram, lasts
until one is fifteen years old. Then, from the sixteenth
year, one begins youthful life, yauvanam. Then, after the
fortieth or fiftieth year, one becomes an old man, jara.
So those who are dhira-sober-headed, cool-headed-they can
understand: "I have changed my body. I remember how I was
playing and jumping when I was a boy. Then I became a
young man, and I was enjoying my life with friends and
family. Now I am an old man, and when this body dies I
shall again enter a new body."
In the previous verse Krishna said to Arjuna, "All of
us-you, Me, and all the soldiers and kings who are present
here-we existed in the past, we are existing now, and we
shall continue to exist in the future.This is Krishna's
statement". But rascals will say, "How was I existing in
the past? I was born only in such-and-such a year. Before
that I was not existing. At the present time I am
existing. That's all right. But as soon as I die, I'll not
exist." But Krishna says, "You, I, all of us-we were
existing, we are still existing, and we shall continue to
exist.""Is that wrong? No, it is a fact. Before our birth
we were existing, in a different body; and after our death
we shall continue to exist, in a different body. This is
to be understood.
For example, seventy years ago I was a boy, then I became
a young man, and now I have become an old man. My body has
changed, but I, the proprietor of the body, am existing
unchanged. So where is the difficulty in understanding?
Dehino 'smin yatha dehe [Bg. 2.13]. Dehinah means "the
proprietor of the body," and dehe means "in the body." The
body is changing, but the soul, the proprietor of the
body, remains unchanged.
Anyone can understand that his body has changed. So in the
next life the body will also change. But we may not
remember; that is another thing. In my last life, what was
my body? I do not remember. So forgetfulness is our
nature, but our forgetting something does not mean that it
did not take place. No. In my childhood I did so many
things I do not remember, but my father and mother
remember. So, forgetting does not mean that things did not
take place.
Similarly, death simply means I have forgotten what I was
in my past life. That is death. Otherwise I, as spirit
soul, have no death. Suppose I change my clothes. In my
boyhood I wore certain clothes, in my youth I wore
different clothes. Now, in my old age, as a sannyasi [a
renunciant], I am wearing different clothes. The clothes
may change, but that does not mean that the owner of the
clothes is dead and gone. No. This is a simple explanation
of transmigration of the soul.
|
| GOD IS THE SUPREME INDIVIDUAL AND
WE ARE INDIVIDUALS |
|
Also, all of us are individuals. There is
no question of merging together. Every one of us is an
individual. God is an individual, and we are also
individuals. Nityo nityanam cetanas cetananam (Katha
Upanisad 2.2.13): "Of all the eternal, conscious,
individual persons, one is supreme." The difference is
that God never changes His body, but we change our bodies
in the material world. When we go to the spiritual world,
there is no more change of body. Just as Krishna has His
sac-cid-ananda-vigraha [Bs. 5.1], an eternal form of bliss
and knowledge, so when you go back home, back to Godhead,
you will also get a similar body.
Krishna does not force anyone to leave this material
world. All conditioned souls are under the influence of
the external, or material, energy. Krishna comes here to
deliver us from the clutches of the material energy.
Because we are part and parcel of Krishna, we are all
directly Krishna's sons. And if a son is in difficulty,
the father suffers also, indirectly. Suppose the son has
become a madman-or, nowadays, a hippy. The father is very
sorry: "Oh, my son is living like a wretch." So, the
father is not happy. Similarly, the conditioned souls in
this material world are suffering so much, living like
wretches and rascals. So Krishna is not happy. Therefore
He comes personally to teach us how to return to Him. (Yada
yada hi dharmasya glanir bhavati. .. tad-atmanam srjamy
aham [Bg. 4.7].)
So, we are changing our body, but Krishna does not change
His. We should understand this. The proof is that Krishna
remembers past, present, and future. In the Fourth Chapter
of Bhagavad-gita you'll find that Krishna says He spoke
the philosophy of Bhagavad-gita to the sun-god some
120,000,000 years ago. How does Krishna remember? Because
He does not change His body. We forget things because we
are changing our body at every moment. That is a medical
fact. The corpuscles of our blood are changing at every
second. But the body is changing imperceptibly. That is
why the father and mother of a growing child do not notice
how his body is changing.
|
| HOW DO WE GET OUT
OF THIS TEMPORARY WORLD? |
|
We are all individual souls, and we are
eternal, but because our body is changing we are suffering
birth, death, old age, and disease. The Krishna
consciousness movement is meant to get us out of this
changing condition. "Since I am eternal, how can I come to
the permanent position?" That should be our question.
Everyone wants to live eternally; nobody wants to die. If
I come before you with a revolver and say, "I am going to
kill you," you will immediately cry out, because you do
not want to die. This is not a very good business-to die
and take birth again. It is very troublesome. This we all
know subconsciously. We know that when we die we'll have
to enter again into the womb of a mother-and nowadays
mothers are killing the children within the womb. Then
again another mother... The process of accepting another
body again and again is very long and very troublesome. In
our subconscious we remember all this trouble, and
therefore we do not want to die.
So our question should be this: "I am eternal, so why have
I been put into this temporary life?" This is an
intelligent question. And this is our real problem. But
rascals set aside this real problem. They are thinking of
how to eat, how to sleep, how to have sex, how to defend.
Even if you eat nicely and sleep nicely, ultimately you
have to die. The problem of death is there. But they don't
care about this real problem. They are very much alert to
solve the temporary problems, which are not actually
problems at all. The birds and beasts also eat, sleep,
have sexual intercourse, and defend themselves. They know
how to do all these things, even without the human beings'
education and so-called civilization. So these things are
not our real problems. The real problem is that we do not
want to die but death takes place. This is our real
problem. |
|
In Bhagavad-gita Krishna says,
janma karma ca me divyam
evam yo vetti tattvatah
tyaktva deham punar janma
naiti mam eti so 'rjuna
[Bg. 4.9] |
|
 |
|
If you simply try to understand
Krishna, you can go to Him at the time of death.
Everything about Krishna is divine, transcendental.
Krishna's activities, Krishna's appearance, Krishna's
worship, Krishna's temple, Krishna's glories-everything is
transcendental. So if one understands these things, or
even tries to understand, then one becomes liberated from
the process of birth and death. This is what Krishna says.
So become very serious to understand Krishna, and remain
in Krishna consciousness. Then these problems-birth,
death, old age, and disease-will be solved automatically,
very easily.
A dhira, a sober man, will think, "I want to live
eternally. Why does death take place? I want to live a
very healthy life. Why does disease come? I don't want to
become an old man. Why does old age come?"
Janma-mrtyu-jara-vyadhi [Bg. 13.9]. These are real
problems. One can solve these problems simply by taking to
Krishna consciousness, simply by understanding Krishna.
And for understanding Krishna, the Bhagavad-gita is there,
very nicely explained. So make your life successful.
Understand that you are not the body. You are embodied
within the body, but you are not the body. For example, a
bird may be within a cage, but the cage is not the bird.
Foolish persons take care of the cage, not the bird, and
the bird suffers starvation. So we are suffering spiritual
starvation. Therefore nobody is happy in the material
world. Spiritual starvation. That is why you see that in
an opulent country like America-enough food, enough
residences, enough material enjoyment-still they are
becoming hippies. The young people are not satisfied,
because of spiritual starvation. Materially you may be
very opulent, but if you starve spiritually you cannot be
happy.
A spiritual rejuvenation is required. You must realize,
aham brahmasmi: "I am not this body; I am brahman,
spiritual soul." Then you'll be happy. Brahma-bhutah
prasannatma na socati na kanksati samah sarvesu bhutesu [Bg.
18.54]. Then there will be equality, fraternity,
brotherhood. Otherwise it is all bogus-simply
high-sounding words. There cannot be equality, fraternity,
and so on without Krishna consciousness. Come to the
spiritual platform; then you will see everyone equally.
Otherwise you will think, "I am a human being with hands
and legs, and the cow has no hands and legs. So let me
kill the cow and eat it." Why? What right do you have to
kill an animal? You have no vision of equality, for want
of Krishna consciousness. Therefore, in this material
world, so-called education, culture, fraternity-all these
are bogus. Krishna consciousness is the right subject
matter to be studied. Then society will be happy.
Otherwise not. Thank you very much. |
From: Journey of Self-Discovery by
A.C.Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
Text courtesy of The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust
International, Inc. www.krishna.com. Used with permission. |
|
 |
| |
|
