# Body and Soul *On the distinction between the material body and the eternal soul* --- ### Consciousness Belongs to the Soul > Consciousness belongs to the soul. That is the symptom of presence of soul. At the present moment, because the soul is in the body, if I pinch your body then you feel—consciousness—feel pains or pleasure. But as soon as the soul is gone out of the body, if I chop off your body with a dagger, you will not protest. The consciousness is gone. *Yena sarvam idaṁ tatam. Avināśi tu tad viddhi yena sarvam idaṁ tatam*, Kṛṣṇa says. So the consciousness eternal. Therefore we have to purify our consciousness, then our life is successful. — [[spoken/1974/741128sb.bom|Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 3.25.28, Bombay, November 28, 1974]] --- ### Soul Cannot Be Cut or Burned > Kṛṣṇa says that there is the owner of the body within the body, and He has explained in so many ways—*acchedyo 'yam adāhyo 'yam,* distinguishing the quality that the soul is never to be cut into pieces, *acchedyo 'yam.* It cannot be burned into the fire. It cannot be moistened by water. That means everything matter, there is interruption. Any matter will be interrupted by another matter, but the soul is not anything of this material world. In the material world, any hard thing—the iron, the stone—can be cut into pieces if you have got the instrument. But Kṛṣṇa says the soul is *acchedyo 'yam,* it cannot be cut into pieces. So it is above all material action and reaction. — [[spoken/1974/741128sb.bom|Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 3.25.28, Bombay, November 28, 1974]] --- ### I Am Not This Body > All this, we are none of these. These are all entanglements. That is why Caitanya Mahāprabhu says, *ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam.* We are mistakenly thinking ourselves to be this or that, this is the dirt accumulation. That has to be cleansed. All these entanglements will be cleansed. At that time you are on the *brahma-bhūta* stage. — [[spoken/1975/751224le.san|Lecture in Hindi, San Diego, December 24, 1975]] --- ### Knowledge Means Understanding Body and Soul > People are... People are very much proud of their knowledge. But Kṛṣṇa says that knowledge means *kṣetra-kṣetrajñayor jñānaṁ.* Knowledge means to know the field and the actual proprietor of the field. *Kṣetra-kṣetrajñayor jñānaṁ yat taj jñānaṁ.* That knowledge is real knowledge. *Mataṁ mama:* Kṛṣṇa is giving His opinion. Now clearly, if we identify the *kṣetra* and the *kṣetrajñayor* are two, mixed up, that is ignorance. That is not knowledge. But just try to understand, people are under the impression that "I am this body." This is not knowledge; this is ignorance. — [[spoken/1972/721231bg.bom|Bhagavad-gītā 13.2–4, Bombay, December 31, 1972]] --- ### Greatest Bewilderment > Therefore one who sticks to this body only, gross body, atheist class... Just like in our country the Cārvāka, he says, *bhasmī-bhūtasya dehasya kutaḥ punar-āgamano bhavet:* "Why you are thinking of next birth? It is not possible. We see this gross body is burnt into ashes. And where is the soul? Who is coming back again? Don't care for all these things. Live happily. Eat, drink, be merry and enjoy." *Yāvaj jīvet sukhaṁ jīvet.* This philosophy is going on: "There is no mind, there is no intelligence, there is no soul, only this gross body, and so long we possess this gross body, let us enjoy the senses." But this is called, it is described, *mahā-vimoha.* This is the greatest bewilderment, *mahā-vimoha.* — [[spoken/1976/761114sb.vrn|Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 5.5.27, Vṛndāvana, November 14, 1976]] --- ### The Soul Does Not Die > We have read in the *Bhagavad-gītā* actually the living entity has no birth, no death—*na jāyate na mriyate vā*. It has neither death nor birth. This birth and death are due to this body, which you have accepted and we have temporary identified. This is called *upādhi.* — [[spoken/1970/701224le.sur|Lecture at MPV College, Surat, December 24, 1970]] --- ### Misery Due to Material Body > The mission of human life should be how to clarify this consciousness again into that pure consciousness of Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That is the mission of human life. The consciousness is impure; therefore there are so many varieties, material varieties, and we are captivated by these material varieties. But that is not giving us any happiness. We are especially very much unhappy on account of *janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi.* So if we want to get relief from the miserable condition of this material life... This place is described in the *Bhagavad-gītā, duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam*: "This place is meant for miseries." — [[spoken/1974/741231sb.bom|Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 3.26.22, Bombay, December 31, 1974]] --- ### Forgetfulness Is Disqualification > So forgetfulness is a qualification or disqualification, whatever Kṛṣṇa says, of the living entity. And at the present moment we have also all forgotten that we are part and parcel of God. We have intimate relationship with Him, and somehow or other we have fallen in this material world—we don't remember. Because we do not remember, therefore Kṛṣṇa mercifully gives you all these *Vedas*—because you do not remember. — [[spoken/1970/701224sb.sur|Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 6.1.42–43, Surat, December 24, 1970]] --- *8 verified verbatim quotes from Śrīla Prabhupāda on the body and soul*