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Identification with the body (Letters)

Expressions researched:
"bodily" |"body" |"identification" |"identifies" |"identify" |"identifying"

Notes from the compiler: VedaBase query: "identif* bod*"@8

Correspondence

1968 Correspondence

Letter to Yadunandana -- San Francisco 26 March, 1968:

I am in due receipt of your letter dated March 21, 1968, and may inform you that the horrible scene in the hospital is certainly ghastly. But we should at the same time know that this ghastly scene is in the matter of bodily concept of life. This is Maya's illusion, and although the spirit soul has nothing to do with this horrible affairs, but due to absorption of one's consciousness in the body, one has to suffer the consequences of bodily identification. So far we are concerned, we shall neither be sympathetic or apathetic in the matter of such bodily concept of life. Of course, it is quite natural to become sympathetic when one's body is put into such horrible condition, but if you are firmly convinced that this body is separate from the soul, then we may not be distracted. That is not possible of course in the preliminary stage, but when we shall be in a transcendental position not to be disturbed ever by such a horrible scene, then our position is secure. The suffering of the man and the sympathy of the other man, both are centered on the body. But this we have to understand by knowledge. Then such horrible condition of body won't be disturbing to us. That is the position of liberation.

Letter to Rayarama -- Seattle 17 October, 1968:

Everyone is supplied by the Lord, the fooding, shelter, by natural arrangement, so nobody should encroach upon the right of living of others. As such, the human being considered to be the highest developed conscious animals, so if they utilize this consciousness in relationship with Krishna, that is called Krishna Consciousness. Next point, a Krishna Conscious person does not encroach upon the right of other living beings, as such they do not approve organized slaughterhouses for killing animals. Next point, if you maintain slaughterhouses then you have to suffer the consequence, because in the law of nature, there is no distinction between one life to another. Every living entity is equally valuable. Next point, every living entity is claimed as the son of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, they may be dressed differently, because the body is dress, the body is not identification with the living entity, therefore the living entity may be dressed in 8,400,000 of different dresses, and the living entity as he is, there is no qualitative difference between human being and animal. Therefore, their material necessities are the same, namely, eating, sleeping, mating, and defending.

1969 Correspondence

Letter to Visala -- West Virginia 16 June, 1969:

Regarding your first question, what is the difference in full between the Spiritual Master, Krishna, and the devotee? The answer is that Krishna is the source of all energies of the spiritual and material creations, the devotee is the part and parcel servant of Krishna, and the Spiritual Master is the transparent via media for leading the conditioned souls back to home, back to Godhead. All living entities are the servants of Krishna, but the living entities who have fallen into this conditioned life are forgetful of their eternal relationship with the Lord. The role of the bona fide Spiritual Master is to lead the conditioned souls out of forgetfulness and back into pure consciousness of serving the Lord in transcendental loving service. In material consciousness one is identifying himself with his particular body, and he is forgetting that he is spirit soul, servant of Krishna. Then by the association and instructions of the purified servants of Krishna, the living entity gradually comes to remember that I am not part of this miserable material world, but I too am the eternal servant of Krishna, and my only business is to give pleasure to the Lord in pure Krishna Consciousness. In this way, such devotee becomes himself eligible to lead other back to the path of devotional service and thus he too may become a Spiritual Master. This process is called parampara, or the line of disciplic succession.

1973 Correspondence

Letter to Minister in charge of Immigration -- Bhaktivedanta Manor 24 November, 1973:

Our principle is, preach God Consciousness all over the world. I think we believe rightly that for want of God consciousness, there is very much confusion all over the world, simply fighting between individual to individual, man to man, nation to nation. Nobody believes anyone. Any sober man will admit the present _ for unifying the whole human society without any consideration of bodily identification so that there may be peace and prosperity on the platform of spiritual identification. Perhaps you have heard the very good name of Bhagavad-gita. Our preaching is on the basis of Bhagavad-gita As It Is. In this Bhagavad-gita it is stated that God is the Supreme Being, and He is the proprietor of all planets and actually He is the enjoyer of all benefits. Anyone who will understand these three principles of life will be automatically peaceful. So, if every individual is peaceful, naturally there will be peace and prosperity in the community, society, and nation of all over the world. This is our principle.

1975 Correspondence

Letter to Ed Gilbert -- Vrindaban 9 September, 1975:

We are preaching therefore this Krishna consciousness movement so that we may not have material discrimination. The soul has nothing to do with the body. The body is of different varieties calculated to be 8,400,000 forms. The soul is the same passing through different bodies by the process of transmigration. It is exactly like gold passing through business transaction, but when it is in the hands of somebody he thinks that it is "my gold," and when it is passed through another's hands, he thinks it is "my gold." Similarly the soul being as gold when he is situated in a particular body, it identifies with the bodily position, and each and every body is different from the other. So long the soul is in ignorance and identifies with the body, how can there be equality? So unless one is raised to spiritual understanding, there is no question of equality on the bodily platform. This is a scientific calculation.

Page Title:Identification with the body (Letters)
Compiler:Visnu Murti, Kanupriya
Created:04 of Dec, 2011
Totals by Section:BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=0, Con=0, Let=5
No. of Quotes:5