Secrets of the Soul 1

dehino ’smin yathā dehe
kaumāraṁ yauvanaṁ jarā
tathā dehāntara-prāptir
dhīras tatra na muhyati

“As the embodied soul continually passes in this body from boyhood to youth and then to old age, similarly the soul also passes into another body at death. The self-realized soul is not bewildered by such a change.” [Bhagavad-gita 2.13]

Every living entity is an individual eternal spirit soul. Nevertheless, the material body of each spiritual living entity is changing at every moment, manifesting first as an embryo, then as an infant, a child, a youth, an adult, and finally as an old person. However, despite the constant changes of the material body, the spirit soul does not change. The individual soul finally changes the body itself, transmigrating from one body to another at death. And since the soul is sure to have another body—either material or spiritual—in the next birth, there is no cause for lamentation for anyone on account of the death of the material body.

This is the first great spiritual secret revealed in Bhagavad-gita. The change of body does not take place only at death; it is taking place constantly. The material body is changing at every moment. If you measure a child’s body today, tomorrow you’ll find the child has grown or changed the body. Materialistic medical science also agrees that the body is constantly changing. But medicine does not understand that the cause and active principle of these changes is the spirit soul.

The body is changing, but the soul remains always unaffected by the bodily changes. Just like we all had a childhood body, then an adolescent body, and now an adult body, but we remember the activities of our childhood, even though that body no longer exists. Therefore I, the self or consciousness within the body, am permanent. Just the body is changing. What is the difficulty for people to understand this simple truth?

The body is changing, but I am not changing. I am eternal; therefore I am not this body. I am not changing, therefore I am different from this body. This simple truth is the first esoteric instruction of Bhagavad-gita. In the Second Chapter of the Gita, Kṛṣṇa begins instructing Arjuna. Once Arjuna has accepted discipleship, Kṛṣṇa’s first instruction is: “You are lamenting based upon the bodily conception of life, but this is not the spiritual reality.” Kṛṣṇa has already explained:

na tv evāhaṁ jātu nāsaṁ
na tvaṁ neme janādhipāḥ
na caiva na bhaviṣyāmaḥ
sarve vayam ataḥ param

“Never was there a time when I did not exist, nor you, nor all these kings; nor in the future shall any of us cease to be.” [Bhagavad-gita 2.12]

Kṛṣṇa says: “You are an individual soul, and I am the supreme soul. All these kings and soldiers assembled on the battlefield are also eternal souls. We all existed forever in the past. Now you and they have changed bodies, and so we continue to exist in the present. And even if they are killed in the battle, they will change their bodies, but they will continue to exist eternally in the future without any interruption.”

This is the first important instruction on the path of real spiritual life. The material body is changing, and the vivid example is that even in this life, we are constantly changing the body from boyhood to youth to adulthood to old age. So what is the difficulty of understanding this simple truth that the soul is different from the body? Any normally intelligent person can understand it.

This is also proof of the eternity of the soul. In childhood I was present as myself; in boyhood I myself also was present; in youth I was present as the same individual, and even in maturity and old age I am still present as the same person, the same consciousness and identity. If I am present as the same individual through so many changes of the body, naturally when I change from this body to another body, I still exist.

When I change this body at the time of death, this body will be changed, but I will remain. Tatha dehantara-praptih: “The change of body at death is similar to the changes of the body during this life.” [Bhagavad-gita 2.13]. For example, now a young child is, say, one foot tall. When this child grows up to five feet tall, will the father and mother cry, “Oh, where is my child? Where is my child, my one-foot tall child?” Of course not. The parents know that “My same child is there, but she has grown up.” ‘Grown up’ means that she has changed the body. The same person is there, but the body has changed. Everyone can understand this simple fact.

Similarly, Kṛṣṇa is teaching Arjuna that his argument against fighting in the battle is based on a false premise: “You are lamenting on account of the bodies of your grandfather and teacher; but even if they change their bodies, there is no cause of lamentation because they will continue to exist.” This is the beginning of the instructions of Bhagavad-gita, or the spiritual instructions of the Esoteric Teaching. Unless one understands this simple fact—that the soul is different from this material body; the spirit soul is eternal and unchanging, and the body is temporary, always changing—without understanding this, there can be no spiritual knowledge, advancement or realization. If one identifies with this body, there is no possibility of understanding real spiritual knowledge.

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