Physical means

Expressions researched:
"Physical means"

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

Because physical means the sound, light, form. These things are physical things. So we have got senses to acquire knowledge. So five knowledge-acquiring senses, five working senses, and five sense objects, and I am there. This is called sixteen elements.

Lecture on SB 1.15.45 -- Los Angeles, December 23, 1973:

So bhrama, pramāda, vipralipsā(?) and karaṇāpāṭava. Then if somebody says that "Why you are speaking that these men are cheaters and cheated and illusioned and in māyā?" Now, because the senses are imperfect. Because you are gathering knowledge by the senses. There are five senses, acquire knowledge, and the five senses act according to that knowledge. And these sense objects. There are sense objects. Just like you have got eyes, you have to see something objective, rūpa, form. The knowledge acquired by the eyes is to understand the form. Similarly, the knowledge acquired by the ears is to acquire knowledge from the sound. Because physical means the sound, light, form. These things are physical things. So we have got senses to acquire knowledge. So five knowledge-acquiring senses, five working senses, and five sense objects, and I am there. This is called sixteen elements. And then five material elements, earth, water, fire, air, and three subtle elements, eight. So in this way the whole world, this universe, cosmic manifestation, is a composition of these eight elements, er, twenty-four elements. And beyond these twenty-four elements, I am the soul, and beyond myself, there is the Supersoul. This is knowledge. This is knowledge.

1974 Conversations and Morning Walks

Physical means vision; your vision is also physical. Your vision is not spiritual. Whatever you see with your eyes, that is physical. That is not anything beyond physical.

Press Conference -- April 18, 1974, Hyderabad:

Prabhupāda: Vision of God you can see also. Here is vision of God.

Guest (1): In the sense of seeing the Lord in their own heart?

Prabhupāda: No, no. That is, of course, later on. First of all see here is God, vision of God. Everyone can see. It is public. Why you ask my disciples? You can see also. No, no. That like, vision of God, here is Kṛṣṇa.

Guest (1): That is physical vision.

Prabhupāda: That's all. Physical means vision; your vision is also physical. Your vision is not spiritual. Whatever you see with your eyes, that is physical. That is not anything beyond physical.

Guest (1): See with spiritual eyes.

Prabhupāda: Spiritual eyes, that's all right. But first of all you have to see whatever eyes you have got. You have got physical eyes. Why you are talking of spiritual eyes?

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

Physical means this can be cut into particle, pieces, but here, it cannot be cut into pieces. Your physical and chemical, you have got idea. Any physical thing can be cut into pieces. But here the negative description is given. It cannot be cut into pieces.

'Life Comes From Life' Slideshow Discussions -- July 3, 1976, Washington, D.C.:

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Then in the second point, under the heading of matter, it is describable to some extent by physical and chemical laws. But on the other hand, life is nonphysical and nonchemical; it is beyond matter; it is transcendental. That is the basic difference.

Prabhupāda: That is explained indirectly. What are those verses? Na chindanti, na dahati. Definition by negation. It is never dried up, it is never cut into pieces, it is never moistened. Why don't you find that verse? Negative way. Physical means this can be cut into particle, pieces, but here, it cannot be cut into pieces. Your physical and chemical, you have got idea. Any physical thing can be cut into pieces. But here the negative description is given. It cannot be cut into pieces. Now we have to see what is that thing which cannot be cut into pieces.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: So we say nonphysical, nonchemical.

Prabhupāda: Yes, that is quite right. Physical, anything physical can be cut into pieces. Read it.

Hari-śauri: This is 2.20. "For the soul there is never birth nor death, nor having once been does he ever cease to be. He is unborn, eternal, ever-existing, undying and primeval. He is not slain when the body is slain." (purport) "The soul can never be cut into pieces by any weapon, nor can he be burned by fire, nor moistened by water, nor withered by the wind. This individual soul is unbreakable and insoluble, and can be neither burned nor dried."

Prabhupāda: This is nonphysical. This is not physical. Physical, what is that physical thing which cannot be burned, which cannot be cut, which cannot be soaked? There is no such thing to the physical exterior. Is there anything?

Svarūpa Dāmodara: No.

Prabhupāda: Therefore not physical. This is definition by negation. In the logic, there is a process of definition by negation. The Māyāvādīs, they define this Brahman, neti, neti, neti, neti, negation. "It is not this, it is not this." What is, that they cannot tell. They simply negate. That is a partial definition.