False ego and intelligence

Expressions researched:
"false ego, intelligence" |"ego and intelligence" |"ego, and intelligence"

BG Chapters 13 - 18

There are false ego, intelligence and the unmanifested stage of the three modes of nature. The living symptoms, represented by consciousness and conviction, are the manifestation of the subtle body-mind, ego and intelligence. These subtle elements are included within the field of activities.

BG 13.6-7, Translation and Purport: The five great elements, false ego, intelligence, the unmanifested, the ten senses and the mind, the five sense objects, desire, hatred, happiness, distress, the aggregate, the life symptoms, and convictions—all these are considered, in summary, to be the field of activities and its interactions. From all the authoritative statements of the great sages, the Vedic hymns and the aphorisms of the Vedānta-sūtra, the components of this world can be understood as follows. First there are earth, water, fire, air and ether. These are the five great elements (mahā-bhūta). Then there are false ego, intelligence and the unmanifested stage of the three modes of nature. Then there are five senses for acquiring knowledge: the eyes, ears, nose, tongue and skin. Then five working senses: voice, legs, hands, anus and genitals. Then, above the senses, there is the mind, which is within and which can be called the sense within. Therefore, including the mind, there are eleven senses altogether. Then there are the five objects of the senses: smell, taste, form, touch and sound. Now the aggregate of these twenty-four elements is called the field of activity. If one makes an analytical study of these twenty-four subjects, then he can very well understand the field of activity. Then there are desire, hatred, happiness and distress, which are interactions, representations of the five great elements in the gross body. The living symptoms, represented by consciousness and conviction, are the manifestation of the subtle body-mind, ego and intelligence. These subtle elements are included within the field of activities.

SB Canto 4

Those who are very sinful and attached to their family, house, village or country do not receive a gross body made of material elements but remain in a subtle body, composed of mind, ego and intelligence. Those who live in such subtle bodies are called ghosts.

SB 4.18.18, Purport: In Bhagavad-gītā (9.25) it is said, pitṟn yānti pitṛ-vratāḥ. Those who are interested in family welfare are called pitṛ-vratāḥ. There is a planet called Pitṛloka, and the predominating deity of that planet is called Aryamā. He is somewhat of a demigod, and by satisfying him one can help ghostly family members develop a gross body. Those who are very sinful and attached to their family, house, village or country do not receive a gross body made of material elements but remain in a subtle body, composed of mind, ego and intelligence. Those who live in such subtle bodies are called ghosts. This ghostly position is very painful because a ghost has intelligence, mind and ego and wants to enjoy material life, but because he doesn't have a gross material body, he can only create disturbances for want of material satisfaction. It is the duty of family members, especially the son, to offer oblations to the demigod Aryamā or to Lord Viṣṇu. From time immemorial in India the son of a dead man goes to Gayā and, at a Viṣṇu temple there, offers oblations for the benefit of his ghostly father. It is not that everyone's father becomes a ghost, but the oblations of piṇḍa are offered to the lotus feet of Lord Viṣṇu so that if a family member happens to become a ghost, he will be favored with a gross body. However, if one is habituated to taking the prasāda of Lord Viṣṇu, there is no chance of his becoming a ghost or anything lower than a human being.

Nectar of Devotion

Lord Brahmā says, "My dear Lord, false ego, intelligence, mind, sky, air, fire, water and earth are the material ingredients of this universe, which can be compared to a gigantic pot."

Nectar of Devotion 22: In the Tenth Canto, Fourteenth Chapter, verse 11, of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Lord Brahmā says, "My dear Lord, false ego, intelligence, mind, sky, air, fire, water and earth are the material ingredients of this universe, which can be compared to a gigantic pot. In that gigantic pot my body is of insignificant measurement, and even though one of the many universes is created by me, innumerable universes are coming and going from the pores of Your body, just as atomic particles are seen flickering in the sunlight. I think I am very, very insignificant before You, and I am therefore begging Your pardon. Please be merciful toward me."

Message of Godhead

The material body, which we get from the womb of our mother, becomes transformed after some time into ashes, earth, or stool, as the case may be. And the subtle mental body, which is also material and composed of false ego and intelligence, likewise vanishes when the soul is liberated. Therefore, those who are truly learned do not give much importance to this material body and mind.

Message of Godhead 1: Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the Personality of Godhead, rebuked Marshal Arjuna, so to say, when Arjuna surrendered unto Him as a disciple, being unable to solve the problems that always confront us in our material existence. Lord Kṛṣṇa said, "Arjuna, I see that you are talking like a learned man, but you may know that you have very little knowledge—because I see that you are lamenting over something for which no one would lament if he were truly learned."

A learned man never laments over a subject which appears and disappears as a matter of course. The material body, which we get from the womb of our mother, becomes transformed after some time into ashes, earth, or stool, as the case may be. And the subtle mental body, which is also material and composed of false ego and intelligence, likewise vanishes when the soul is liberated. Therefore, those who are truly learned do not give much importance to this material body and mind, or to the happiness and distress that pertain only to the material body and mind.

On the other hand, such learned men do give much stress to the happiness and distress of the soul proper, which is spirit and transcends the existence of the body and the mind. When we enter into such culture of knowledge, it is called transcendental knowledge. Marshal Arjuna portrayed himself as a materialistic fool, without any transcendental knowledge, just to teach us, who are cent-percent materialistic fools. For His part, the Personality of Godhead imparted the transcendental knowledge of Bhagavad-gītā, because He found Marshal Arjuna the most deserving person to hear it.

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

The subtle body is mind, ego and intelligence. So when you give up this gross body, the subtle body carries me to another gross body, another gross body.

Lecture on BG 7.28-8.6 -- New York, October 23, 1966: Now, Kṛṣṇa has said that at the last point of your death, if you are in full Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then your next promotion is to the equal status of Kṛṣṇa. Mad-bhāvam: "in the same nature." Why? Now, the truth is:

yaṁ yaṁ vāpi smaran bhāvaṁ

tyajaty ante kalevaram

taṁ tam evaiti kaunteya

sadā tad-bhāva-bhāvitaḥ

[Bg. 8.6]

The nature's law is, if you are practiced under certain condition of life, and at the end of death, if you think of that life, then your next birth... The next birth is, means, carrying the idea of this birth to the next birth. You are changing simply bodies, death. Suppose you are poet. You are a thoughtful poet. Now, when you change your body, oh, you'll still remain a poet. By changing your body, it does not become something else. So the thought is the real thing. That will carry you to the other body. This is, this is gross body, and there is subtle body. The subtle body is mind, ego and intelligence. So when you give up this gross body, the subtle body carries me to another gross body, another gross body. But when you become on the same level of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then your this subtle body also cannot act. You directly go in spiritual body to Kṛṣṇa.

Kṣetra, this body, is combination of "the five great elements, false ego, intelligence, the unmanifested, the ten senses, the mind, the five sense objects, desire, hatred, happiness, distress, the aggregate, the life symptom, and convictions—all these are considered in summary to be the field of activities."

Lecture on BG 13.8-12 -- Bombay, October 2, 1973: The question of Arjuna was kṣetra, kṣetrajna, jñānam, and jñeyam. Now kṣetra, we have discussed yesterday. Kṣetra, this body, is combination of "the five great elements, false ego, intelligence, the unmanifested, the ten senses, the mind, the five sense objects, desire, hatred, happiness, distress, the aggregate, the life symptom, and convictions—all these are considered in summary to be the field of activities." Yesterday we have discussed.

So we should not mistake this that we accept the field of activities identified with myself. That is going on. Suppose you have got a piece of land as agriculturist, and you produce your food grain in large quantity or small quantity. It doesn't matter. Similarly, this body we are utilizing.

We can practically see. Everyone is working with this body in Bombay city. A very poor man is also in Bombay city, and a very rich man is also there. Both of them have the same facilities to work, but we find that one man is working very hard day and night. Hardly he is getting his morsel of food. Another man, simply by going, sitting in the office, earning thousands and thousands. Why? Because the difference of the field of activities. The body is different. Because one has got a certain type of body, his destination is already there. Karmaṇā daiva-netreṇa jantur dehopapattaye [SB 3.31.1]. We can study this thing, that somebody is living in a poor slum and another man is living in a very palatial building. So simply by endeavoring that "I shall live in a palatial building, and I shall not live in this poor slumhole," it is not possible because the destiny is there. Therefore the body is made according to our past karma, and that is called destiny. Your happiness and distress according to the body is already settled up. It is not possible by natural way to improve or disimprove it. It is already settled up.

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

The shirt and coat is external body. Real body you are. Similarly this body, this gross body made of earth, water, air, fire, that is gross external energy of God, or Kṛṣṇa, and the mind, and ego, and intelligence, they are subtle. So we are covered.

Lecture on SB 7.5.30 -- London, September 9, 1971: The external energy is this gross body, and the internal energy is the mind and ego, intelligence. And behind this, both energies, external... This is external gross energy and external subtle energy. This body made of earth, water, air, and ether, this is called gross external energy. And there is subtle external energy. What is that? Mind, intelligence, and false ego. And behind that, I am. The soul is there. I am the proprietor of this body made of... Just like you are covered by the shirt and coat. The shirt and coat is external body. Real body you are. Similarly this body, this gross body made of earth, water, air, fire, that is gross external energy of God, or Kṛṣṇa, and the mind, and ego, and intelligence, they are subtle. So we are covered. So one who has taken... Just like if I think that "Simply by having nice shirt and coat I will be happy," is it possible? Unless you eat nicely, unless you sleep nicely, unless you have got your sense gratification, simply by putting on costly nice shirt and coat, will you be happy? No. That is not possible.

1975 Conversations and Morning Walks

By the material life, these are our field of activities. The body is a combination of all these things. Just like a huge computer machine. It is made of these material things, but the mechanical parts are very minute, different. All these are matter. But within this matter, because the soul is there, therefore the finest machine is working.

Room Conversation with Dr. John Mize -- June 23, 1975, Los Angeles:

Bahulāśva: Prabhupāda, in the Thirteenth Chapter of Bhagavad-gītā, "Nature, Enjoyer, and Consciousness," in verse number six and seven you mention those twenty-seven coverings: "The five great elements, false ego, intelligence, the unmanifest, the ten senses, the mind, the five sense objects, desire, hate, happiness, and distress, the aggregate, the life symptoms and convictions—all these are considered, in summary, to be the field of activities and their interaction." And...

Prabhupāda: By the material life, these are our field of activities. The body is a combination of all these things. Just like a huge computer machine. It is made of these material things, but the mechanical parts are very minute, different. All these are matter. But within this matter, because the soul is there, therefore the finest machine is working. Just like your composition machine, (imitates machine:) "Kut, kut, kut, kut, kut, kut." But one has to push the button; otherwise useless. However very nicely made the machine, without a living being's touch, it is useless. So all this big machine, body, is wonderful so long the soul is there. And as soon as the soul is out it is lump of matter, useless, not worth a penny. Throw it away. So we are giving importance to the machine, not to the person who is dealing with the machine. This is the folly of modern civilization. We are thinking like child, "The machine is working independently." But that is not the fact. The big airship, 747, is flying because the pilot is there, and the pilot is a soul, covered by another bodily machine. And that, that is missing point in the modern civilization, that who is working with the machine. That they do not know. That is ignorance.

1977 Conversations and Morning Walks

You cannot see what is that flavor and how it is being carried, but you can smell. Similarly, the soul is being carried by the mind, ego and intelligence. You cannot see it, but you have to understand by hearing from the authorities like Kṛṣṇa.

Conversation with Yadubara (after seeing film) -- April 17, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: That's all. Therefore śruti, which is beyond the sense perception, you have to hear it from authorities. That is knowledge. Who has seen it? These rascals... Who has seen it? So grossly educated they are. "Everything can be seen." Why everything? The same example we give. You have not seen your father. You have to hear, "Here is your father." That's all. That is the proof.

Yadubara: Just like in this last film, we suggested that there is a soul in the hand sequence—when the hands were always changing, and the body grows old. So the idea was that there is something that's not changing there. So in film there are certain techniques we can use to suggest, as Tamāla Kṛṣṇa Goswami said, certain ideas.

Prabhupāda: Idea, that idea is given there. Just like you cannot see the flavor, but still, you are smelling, some flavor is nice. In the air, it is rose flavor, it is passing. You cannot see what is that flavor and how it is being carried, but you can smell. Similarly, the soul is being carried by the mind, ego and intelligence. You cannot see it, but you have to understand by hearing from the authorities like Kṛṣṇa. Itas tu viddhi me prakṛtiṁ parām, jīva-bhūtāṁ mahā-bāho [Bg. 7.5]. Beyond this material things, there is another prakṛti. That is the... That does not die. Na jāyate na mriyate. And that is being carried by mind, intelligence and ego. By our gross eyes, we see the body is burnt into ashes, finished. Soul and everything is finished. The atheist will say like that. Bhasmi bhūtasya dehasya tataḥ punar āgamano bhavet.(?) "If the body is already burnt into ashes, who is coming and who are going?" The atheists. Kṛṣṇa does not say. No. Na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre [Bg. 2.20]. So will you accept the atheists or Kṛṣṇa?

1947 to 1965 Correspondence

The Apara Prakrti consists of gross and subtle matters like mind, ego and intelligence. Spirit is transcendental to all these. The spiritual energy para Prakrti is simultaneously one and different from the spirit whole. Qualitatively they are one but quantitatively they are different.

Letter to Dr. Y. G. Naik M.Sc., Ph.D -- Delhi 28 March, 1960: I may also inform you that my concept of anti-matter is exactly what you call it anti-material. Technically it may be that I could not express the exact word used by the physicist but I have tried to explain the word anti-matter in the light and sense of what you say as anti-material which is spirit. But spirit is not apara as you have pointed out. In the Bhagavad-gita The Supreme Truth or the Absolute Personality of Godhead is the transcendental purusha and the two energies namely para and apara are emanations from Him. The Apara or the Inferior material energy may consist of many other elements like matter, anti-matter, proton, electron, neutron etc. in terms of physical science but according to the authority of the Bhagavad-gita—all of them are produced of the inferior energy called by the name Apara Prakrti. The Apara Prakrti consists of gross and subtle matters like mind, ego and intelligence. Spirit is transcendental to all these. The spiritual energy para Prakrti is simultaneously one and different from the spirit whole. Qualitatively they are one but quantitatively they are different. The Brahman Ray is the effulgence of the Supreme Person.