Prabhupāda: Yes. Therefore you have to understand your spiritual identification. Because you are fools and rascals, you are thinking, "I am this body," and Kṛṣṇa gives instruction in the beginning that you are not this body. Dehino 'smin yathā dehe kaumāraṁ yauvanaṁ jarā (BG 2.13). Asmin dehe: you are within this body, not this body you are. So Kṛṣṇa is authority. You have to take it. Kṛṣṇa is not only simply speaking authoritatively, but He is giving practical example. Dehino 'smin yathā dehe kaumāraṁ yauvanaṁ jarā (BG 2.13). Because the soul is within this body, it is changing. Tathā dehāntara-prāptir dhīras tatra na muhyati (BG 2.13). You have to become a dhīra, not adhīra. There are two classes of men: dhīra and adhīra. So in order to become a dhīra, you have to go . . . Tad-vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum evābhigacchet (MU 1.2.12). You have to be trained up. Then you'll understand; not so quickly, without being dhīra. Dhīras tatra na muhyati.
Indian man (4): What is the difference between mind and soul?
Prabhupāda: Mind is material; soul is spiritual. That is explained in the Bhagavad-gītā: bhūmir āpo 'nalo vāyuḥ khaṁ mano buddhir eva ca, apareyaṁ bhinnā me prakṛtir aṣṭadhā (BG 7.4). They are also elements, but bhinnā means material, separated from Kṛṣṇa. Apareyam itas tu viddhi me prakṛtiṁ parām: "These material elements, they are inferior quality, and beyond this, there is another, superior quality. That is soul." Jīva-bhūtāṁ mahā-bāho yayedaṁ dhāryate jagat (BG 7.5). So you have to know from the books. That you'll no understand.
Indian man (5): Swāmījī, they read a lot that Bhāgavata says that our body is a temple for the soul, and the soul is a temple for the spirit. Would you kindly enlighten us on this point?
Prabhupāda: That is already explained, that you are soul within this body; the body superficially covered with the senses. Indriyāṇi parāṇy āhur indriyebhyaḥ paraṁ manaḥ manasas tu parā buddhiḥ buddhesta ya para(?) (BG 3.42). You have to analyze that "First of all, I am prominent by my senses." My body means my senses. But the senses are useless unless there is mind. Indriyebhyaḥ paraṁ manaḥ. If your mind is not in order, your senses cannot act. Therefore mind is superior than the senses. And the mind cannot act if you have no intelligence. So manasas tu parā buddhiḥ. And if you can go beyond the intelligence, then you can find out what is soul. So it requires study. It requires education. The education is there. The books are there. The teachers are there. Unfortunately you are not interested to take the spiritual education. You are now interested in technology, how to hammer, that's all.
Indian man (6): It is told that athāto brahma jijñāsā. Whether to attain that Brahman you should follow that Brahman which is qualityless and shapeless, that is nirguṇākāra or ṣoḍaśākāra(?)?
Prabhupāda: Brahman is always greater than anything. If you limit within some limited idea, that is not brahma-jñāna. Brahman is unlimited, the greatest. Bṛhatvān bṛhanatvat(?). So Brahman includes everything—nirākāra, sākāra, and whatever you can speak. But Brahman ultimately is sākāra. It's not nirākāra. That is the verdict of the śāstra.
- vadanti tat tattva-vidas
- tattvaṁ yaj jñānam advayam
- brahmeti paramātmeti
- bhagavān iti śabdyate
- (SB 1.2.11)
This is brahma-jñāna. Brahman . . . Sarvaṁ khalv idaṁ brahma (Chāndogya Upaniṣad 3.14.1). Everything Brahman, but there is division—brahmeti paramātmeti bhagavān iti śabdyate. Just like the sun. The sunshine is impersonal, but the sun globe is localized and the sun-god is person, but the same sun. Similarly, you have to understand Brahman. When you cannot understand the real nature of Brahman, then it is nirākāra. And when you partially understand, Paramātmā, then localized. And you fully understand, that is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa.
Devotees: Jaya! (applause)
Indian man (6): It is said that first athāto brahma jijñāsā, and then it is said athāto brahma jijñāsā. It is said by one Yājñavalkya. Is there any difference between these two?
Prabhupāda: So brahma-jijñāsā means spiritual inquiry. So the cat and dog cannot inquire. It is not possible. But when you have got this human form of body, especially born in India and especially born in a brāhmaṇa family, if you misuse your life like cats and dogs, that is a great loss.