Spirit soul is... (Lectures, SB)

Expressions researched:
"spirit soul is" |"spirit souls are"

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

Lecture on SB 1.1.3 -- London, August 20, 1971:

Pradyumna: Sometimes love affairs between two persons culminate in ghastly murder scenes. Such rasas are displayed between man and man and between animal and animal. There is no possibility of an exchange or rasa between a man and an animal or between a man and any other species of living beings within the material world. The rasas are exchanged between members of the same species. But as far as the spirit souls are concerned,..."

Prabhupāda: You have seen sometimes the pigeons fighting. But a pigeon and crow does not fight. A pigeon and pigeon fights. So this is also another indirect way of love. You'll see the pigeons, they will fight and again sit down in the assembly of the pigeons, not that the pigeon is going to the assembly of crows. Go on.

Pradyumna: "The rasas are exchanged between members of the same species. But as far as the spirit souls are concerned, they are one qualitatively with the Supreme Lord. Therefore, the rasas were originally exchanged between the spiritual living being and the spiritual whole, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The spiritual exchange, or rasa, is fully exhibited in spiritual existence between living beings and the Supreme Lord. The Supreme Personality of Godhead is therefore described in the śruti-mantras, Vedic hymns, as "the fountainhead of all rasas."

Prabhupāda: Raso vai saḥ.

Lecture on SB 1.2.1 -- New Vrindaban, September 1, 1972:

Prabhupāda: Evolution means changing of different bodies. The spirit soul is changing from one body to another, and finally he's coming in the human form of body. This is a chance to know the actual position. And if he takes this chance, he can go back home to, back to Godhead. Otherwise, he is again put into the cycle of birth and death in different species of life.

Guest: From what I've heard, I've heard it explained that the body is made up of many, many different living entities.

Prabhupāda: Huh?

Lecture on SB 1.2.6 -- Hyderabad, April 18, 1974:

Paṇḍita, one who is actually learned, sama-darśinaḥ, he does not see that "Here is a learned brāhmaṇa and here is a dog." He knows that in the dog also the same spirit soul is there, and here is a learned brāhmaṇa, the spirit soul is there. So he is acting on account of possessing different body. Paṇḍitaḥ sama-darśinaḥ (BG 5.18).

Therefore yato bhaktir adhokṣaje, when one is transcendental to the material senses, then bhakti begins. Yato bhaktir adhokṣaje. Bhakti is not ordinary thing.

Lecture on SB 1.2.12 -- Vrndavana, October 23, 1972:

Just like here is an eucalyptus tree standing. Then I'll have to stand for thousands of years. And I have to suffer scorching heat, shivering cold, and blast wind, and so many things.

So people have no education, unfortunately, that the spirit soul is permanent. It is changing different types of body in order to suffer different types of miserable condition of life. They're thinking, easy-going... "I have got now very nice body, eating, sleeping mating and..." That is the business of the hogs and dogs. That is not the business of human being. Human being must be serious to understand the value of life and prepare himself for the next life. The next life, if you go back to Kṛṣṇa... Yad gatvā na nivartante tad dhāma paramaṁ mama (BG 15.6). Kṛṣṇa says, "You can go back to Kṛṣṇa."

Lecture on SB 1.2.17 -- San Francisco, March 25, 1967:

That we are discussing for the last few weeks, that we are not this body. We are consciousness. Not exactly consciousness. Consciousness is the symptom of my real identity. I am pure soul. I am merged within this material body... And the modern material science, they have no stress of it. Therefore they are sometimes misled about this understanding of the spirit soul. But the spirit soul is a fact. And everyone can understand by the presence of consciousness. Any child can understand. The consciousness is the symptom of the spirit soul. So the whole process now we are trying from the Bhagavad-gītā is to bring one to get him on the platform of consciousness. And if we act from the platform of consciousness, then we may not be pushed again into the platform of this bodily conception.

Lecture on SB 1.2.22 -- Vrndavana, November 2, 1972:

And advancement of spiritual knowledge means more and more liberation. But our problem is how to liberate ourselves from this material bondage. We are bound up. Just like I am a spirit soul, you are spirit soul, but we are put into this material bondage. Because we are in material bondage, therefore we have no freedom. People do not understand this. Just like spirit soul is described as sarva-ga. Sarva-ga means the spirit soul can go anywhere he likes. But due to this material bondage, because we have this material body, we are checked. Even we cannot go to the other planet. But we have got instances... Just like Nārada Muni. Nārada Muni is traveling all over the universes, not only within the material world, but in the spiritual world, because he has got spiritual body. There is no material bondage.

Lecture on SB 1.2.22 -- Vrndavana, November 2, 1972:

There are some books about the yogis. These things are written there. And actually we met some yogis and they said how quickly they can go from one place to another. That we can understand from our experience. Just like the mind. Mind is so swift that in a second the mind can reach thousands of miles away.

So the spirit soul is still more subtle. And the speed of spirit soul is very, very great. Just like in the Bhagavad-gītā it is said, tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti kaunteya (BG 4.9). Tyaktvā deham. "Just after giving up this body, he immediately comes to Me in the spiritual world." These are the Vedic statement. You can try to understand. Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti: (BG 4.9) we accept another body immediately after death.

Lecture on SB 1.2.31 -- Vrndavana, November 10, 1972:

Matter does not evolve; matter is dead. It is due to the presence of the spirit soul it evolves. That they do not understand, although actually we are seeing. Just like a child born. If the child is born dead, it is simply dead matter. It does not grow. It is our practical experience. But if the child is living, or the spirit soul is within that body, then it develops. Similarly, the whole cosmic manifestation, this big universe, unless there is, in the center, the Supreme Spirit, how it develops? It cannot develop. Either you take this body or take this universal body—without the spirit being entered within it, there cannot be development. The modern scientists, they have no knowledge. They cannot understand this. They are so poor fund of knowledge. Practically we are seeing every day. This body has developed, your body, my body, how it has developed?

Lecture on SB 1.3.1-3 -- San Francisco, March 28, 1968:

Even those who get some mystic powers by perfection of yoga practice, they can also exhibit some powers. So why? As we become free from material conditions, our original freedom comes.

So one of the qualification of the spirit soul is sarva-ga. Sarva-ga means he can go anywhere and everywhere. But because we are conditional stage, we are trying so much to go to the moon planet, we cannot go. But Nārada, because he is free, he has got full spiritual body, he can go anywhere he likes. Go on.

Lecture on SB 1.3.17 -- Los Angeles, September 22, 1972:

All scientists, all philosophers, they are the same concept, that "I am this body. Beyond this body there is nothing." All big, big professors, scientists, that "After this body is finished, everything is finished." But actually, that is not a fact. From Bhagavad-gītā you understand that na jāyate na mriyate. The spirit soul is never born, never dies. It is the body, material body, that takes birth and dies. But spirit soul remains. Dehāntara-prāptiḥ. Tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ (BG 2.13). He transmigrates to another body, just like we are transmigrating from one body to another. There are so many children here. Now they are doing so many things foolish, but we enjoy because we know that this body is foolish body. Nobody grudges if a child does something which not to be done.

Lecture on SB 1.3.26 -- Los Angeles, October 1, 1972:

At that time he becomes completely spiritualized. He is spirit soul.

Every one of us, we are spirit soul, part and parcel of God, but we have been now covered by the material qualities. So the example is given... I think I have several times recited this example. When the spirit soul is separated from God... Just like a small sparks is separated from the whole fire, (knocking sound) falls down... What is that sound? So the sparks falls down on the ground. So there are three possibilities. If the sparks falls on dry grass, then immediately there is little fire, because grass is dry. And if it falls down on the green vegetation, then it is not immediately extinguished. There is little heat. But if the sparks falls down in the water, then immediately extinguished.

Lecture on SB 1.3.30 -- Los Angeles, October 5, 1972:

There is no limit how many there are.

So that small particle, atomic spiritual energy, takes shelter by superior control. When a man dies... I am speaking of man. Every living entity is dying. So the spirit soul is taken to the court of judgment of Yamarāja. And according to his work, he is given a body, next life. How? By superior arrangement. That is stated in the Śrīmad... Karmaṇā daiva-netreṇa (SB 3.31.1). Just like your... Ordinarily, suppose you are working somewhere. So your service record is there. Now, at the end of the year, or at the end of some period, the service record is checked, and you are given promotion or increase, increment. So many things are judged. Similarly, all our activities what we are doing now, that is being recorded. There is record.

Lecture on SB 1.3.30 -- Los Angeles, October 5, 1972:

Therefore as your bodily functions are going on nicely because that spiritual spark is within, similarly, you see all these material activities, they are going nicely because the Supreme Lord is there. The rascal scientists, they cannot understand it. But any sane man can understand that these bodily functions are going on very nicely so long the spirit soul is there. Similarly, all this material, big manifestation of material world is going on nicely because Kṛṣṇa is there. What is the difficulty? Because Kṛṣṇa is there. That is explained in the Bhagavad-gītā, viṣṭabhyāham idam jagat, ekāṁśena sthito jagat (BG 10.42). "My dear Arjuna..." Arjuna asked, "Kṛṣṇa, kindly explain how Your energies are acting." So He explained in the Twelfth Chapter.

Lecture on SB 1.5.35 -- Vrndavana, August 16, 1974:

Without spiritual touch, there is no question of material manifestation. That is not possible. This body, your body, my body, this is material—everyone knows. It is made of earth, air, water, fire, like that. But how it is manifested? How the beautiful body is manifested? Because there is spiritual touch. The spirit soul is there. Dehino 'smin yathā dehe kaumāraṁ yauvanaṁ jarā tathā... (BG 2.13). This external body is changing, but it is forming on account of that spiritual touch. That spiritual touch means Kṛṣṇa. Bījo 'haṁ sarva-bhūtānām. So therefore the origin of everything is Kṛṣṇa. Just like the origin of a big tree is the root. Similarly, Kṛṣṇa is the ādi-puruṣam. Govindam ādi-puruṣam, sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam (Bs. 5.1). Just like in the tree there are trunk, branches, twigs, sub-branches, leaves, flowers, so many things. But the cause is the root.

Lecture on SB 1.7.2-4 -- Durban, October 14, 1975:

Manute anartham, tat-kṛtaṁ cābhipadyate. And by that designation, he is thinking, "I am Indian, I must act as Indian," "I am European, I must act as European." Tat-kṛtaṁ ca abhipadyate. This is called anartha: unnecessarily. The spirit soul is originally part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa. He should develop his Kṛṣṇa consciousness and go back to home, back to Godhead. That is his real business. But on account of this anartha, created designation, he is suffering. And he is trying to adjust things materially. That will never be possible. Punaḥ punaś carvita-carvaṇānām (SB 7.5.30). You go on trying to adjust things on the material platform, it will never be done. Durāśayā. This has been described, durāśayā ye bahir-artha-māninaḥ. Na te viduḥ svārtha-gatiṁ hi viṣṇuṁ durāśayā ye bahir-artha-māninaḥ (SB 7.5.31). This is durāśayā. This hope will never be fulfilled. One must know it certain.

Lecture on SB 1.7.6 -- Vrndavana, April 23, 1975:

Brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā (BG 18.54).

So in order to educate people to this understanding... That is the basic principle of all Vedic knowledge, that "I am not this body. I am spirit soul, and I must find out the ultimate goal of the spiritual body or the spirit soul." So some of the transcendentalists, they think that if the spirit soul is merged into the Supreme Soul—that is called brahma-lina(?), to become one with Brahman—that is the solution of this anartha. Anartha means this body. And some of them, they think that with our spiritual body, spiritual vision, if we can observe continuously the Supreme Spirit, Paramātmā, then that is the solution of anartha. That is the yogi. Jñānī, yogi. And the karmīs, those who have no knowledge, ajānataḥ, fools, rascals... Ajānataḥ means one who does not know.

Lecture on SB 1.7.18 -- Vrndavana, September 15, 1976:

This is not education. Education means bhāgavata education: to understand God. That is wanted. Athāto brahma jijñāsā. Education should be given in such a way that the student should be very, very inquisitive. Inquisitive what about? Inquisitive about Brahman, not about this body. The body is matter, and the spirit soul is Brahman. Athāto brahma jijñāsā. This is human life. One should be inquisitive to know about spiritual life, what is spirit soul. That is the first education. But where is that education? There is no such education. Prahlāda Mahārāja teaches that immediately, from the beginning of life, as soon as one is four or five years old, he should be educated about Brahman. That is called brahma-jijñāsā. Beginning. That is wanted. And for him there is need of guru. One who is inquisitive or serious about inquiring about Brahman, he requires guru. Guru is not a fashion. Guru is necessity. Tad-vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum evābhigacchet (MU 1.2.12).

Lecture on SB 1.7.24 -- Vrndavana, September 21, 1976:

That is my position." Dharma means characteristic. Just like sugar has to become sweet. That is dharma. A chili has to be hot. Sugar, if it is chili taste-useless. A chili's sweet taste—it is useless. So this taste of a particular thing is called dharma. So this dharma according to the body is developed in this material world. But the original dharma... Original is the spirit soul. That spirit soul is the part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa, and his duty is to serve Kṛṣṇa. That is original dharma. So in order to teach that original dharma, Kṛṣṇa comes. Yadā yadā hi dharmasya glānir bhavati (BG 4.7). Glāni means discrepancies. When the conditioned soul is, by the influence of māyā, is engaged in sense gratification, that is called dharmasya glāniḥ.

Lecture on SB 1.8.19 -- Mayapura, September 29, 1974:

Just like we are tilling the field. And the tiller, the kṛṣāṇa. Similarly, we are, we have got this field, and we are growing our own, harvesting our own grains. Just like you are doing. So according to our labor, according to our attempt, we are getting food grains. Similarly, we have got this body, and I am, the spirit soul is the tiller. So according to my karma, I am getting the result. So similarly... Not only I am there, but Kṛṣṇa is also there. He's seeing what you are doing, what you are doing, what you want more. Sarvasya cāhaṁ hṛdi sanniviṣṭaḥ (BG 15.15). Kṛṣṇa says, "I am sitting in everyone's heart." Why? "Just to give him the facilities.

Lecture on SB 1.8.23 -- Los Angeles, April 15, 1973:

When your senses will be uncontaminated with all these designations, that is the beginning of bhakti. If I think, "I am American. Why shall I take Kṛṣṇa consciousness? It is Hindu God," that is foolishness. If I think "I am Muhammadan," "I am Christian," then you are gone. But if we purify the senses that "I am spirit soul. The Supreme Spirit Soul is Kṛṣṇa. I am part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa; therefore it is my duty to serve Kṛṣṇa," then you become free immediately. Immediately. You are no more American, Indian or African or this or that. You are Kṛṣṇized, Kṛṣṇa conscious. That is wanted.

Lecture on SB 1.8.28 -- Mayapura, October 8, 1974:

He says this... Kṛṣṇa says, mamaivāṁśo jīva-bhūtaḥ: (BG 15.7) "All living entities are My part and parcel." Why he shall take the skin? Because the skin is made by Muhammadan or the skin is made by Christian or skin is made by Hindu... He's not the skin-observer. He is observed the within. Dehino 'smin yathā dehe kaumāraṁ yauvanaṁ jarā (BG 2.13). Within this body the spirit soul is there. This is the education of spiritual education in the beginning—just see inside, introspective, not outward seeing. Those who are seeing outwardly, yasyātma-buddhiḥ kuṇape tri-dhātu..., they are asses.

Lecture on SB 1.8.34 -- Los Angeles, April 26, 1973:

Not that by development of matter spirit grows. No. That's not a fact. This is... Everyone knows. Why a dead child does not grow? Because the spirit is not there. A tree grows so long there is life in it. A small seed of banyan tree, you sow in the soil and pour water favorably, then it grows. Because the spirit soul is there. But if somehow or other... Take for example you take one grain and fry it in the fire. If you sow it, it will not grow. Because the spirit soul is not there. Therefore they are searching after what is the original cause of creation. The original cause of creation is the spirit soul as everything is growing. Matter is growing, developing on account of the spirit soul. Similarly the whole universe is growing on account of presence of Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu. Creation. Go on.

Lecture on SB 1.8.34 -- Los Angeles, April 26, 1973:

Now... Just like sometimes we see. Take for example Brahmā. He grew from the lotus flower. So one can say this lotus flower is matter. No. The lotus flower has grown from the navel of Viṣṇu, the original cause is Viṣṇu. If you take the lotus flower as matter, then it has also grown from the spirit. This is the beginning. The spirit soul is the basis of creation. What is the difficulty to understand? We can see practically. Unless there is spirit soul, there cannot be...

Lecture on SB 1.8.34 -- Los Angeles, April 26, 1973:

Just like this body, your body, my body, even elephant's body... It has grown. It has grown because the spirit soul is there. As soon as the spirit soul is not there, there will be no more growth, no more growth and the body will be heavy. Due to the spirit soul within the body, the body is light. You can make an experiment. You just have a weight of a dead body and of a living body. You will find difference. What is the difference. Where is our scientist?

Lecture on SB 1.8.34 -- Los Angeles, April 26, 1973:

No, you, it, find the difference that the dead body is more weight. Why? Why? Because the spirit soul is not there. These are experimented even by the scientists. So the, the, this world is floating in the air because the spirit soul is within it. Therefore it is floating. That is explained in the Bhagavad-gītā. Gām āviśya (BG 15.13). "I enter" and dhārayāmy aham ojasā. So as soon as the spirit soul will be off, everything will be destroyed. The destruction of this cosmic manifestation is like that. Go on.

Lecture on SB 1.8.35 -- Mayapura, October 15, 1974:

These so-called scientists, medical men, they cannot see the subtle body, although one has to accept. Just like I have got mind, you have got mind—but I cannot see your mind; you cannot see my mind. I have got intelligence; you have got intelligence. Everyone knows. But you cannot see my intelligence; I cannot see your intelligence. They are very subtle. So, and beyond that, the spirit soul is still subtle, so minute quantity. So what these material scientists will see? They cannot see the mind, intelligence, ego, and what to speak of the soul? Therefore they say, "This body is everything, and there is nothing more." But actually that is not the fact. The fact is that the spirit soul is very, very small. Keśāgra-śata-bhāgasya śatadhā kalpitasya ca (CC Madhya 19.140). Keśāgra, the tip of the hair, agra-bhāga, front portion, front portion, śata-bhāgasya, you divide into... Can you do it? Take one hair and divide into hundred parts? No, that is not possible. But if... The direction is there. If you can, you can do it.

Lecture on SB 1.15.21 -- Los Angeles, December 1, 1973:

When the body is dead... It is dead from the very beginning, but it was moving. Just like so long petrol is there, the motorcar moves. But as soon as there is... Now there is crisis. So how their motorcars will move? They are concerned. So why their crisis? Because the petrol is the life of the movement of the motorcar. Similarly, that spiritual spark, or spirit soul, is the petrol of this body.

So without knowledge of this, sa eva go-kharaḥ (SB 10.84.13), just like cats and dogs, they cannot understand how he is moving. That he does not know. If a human being also does not understand that how this body is moving, neither they can discover what it is, then what is this? It may be very so-called decoration of the body.

Lecture on SB 1.15.41 -- Los Angeles, December 19, 1973:

And unless the senses are controlled... The whole thing is sense. Therefore consciousness, it depends on the senses, purifying the senses. Spirit soul is eternal, so his senses are eternal. You cannot stop the activities of his senses. That is not possible. Just like others. They think that "If we stop... " Just like Viśvāmitra Muni. He was a great yogi. He stopped the senses. He wanted to stop. He closed the eyes, "I'll not see a beautiful woman." But he failed as soon as he heard the tinkling sound of the bangles of the apsarā, Menakā.

Lecture on SB 1.15.44 -- Los Angeles, December 22, 1973:

Therefore there are so many varieties of apartment. It is a commonsense affair. Otherwise all apartments would have been the same, of the same size, same quality, same... No. There are different tenants, they pay differently; therefore there are different kinds of apartment. Similarly, this is also apartment. Dehino 'smin yathā dehe (BG 2.13). The spirit soul is within this apartment body. So according to karma, according to payment, one has got American body, one has got African body, one has got Indian body, one has got this body, that body, dog's body, cat's body, tree's body. This is karma. This is karma. This is our real problem. And this human life is especially meant for solving this problem, not the problem of petrol. But they have forgotten this. They are so rascals, the real problem they have forgotten.

Therefore here it is said, dhyāyan na āvarteta yato gataḥ.

Lecture on SB 1.15.50 -- Los Angeles, December 27, 1973:

So what is the necessity of the spirit soul? The necessity of spirit soul, because it is part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa, he is hankering to unite with Kṛṣṇa. That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. That is Kṛṣṇa conscious... The soul is hankering after uniting with the supreme soul. That is natural. You study your body. Why do you love your body? Or why do you love your son's body? So long the spirit soul is there. As soon as the spirit soul is off, you do not care for the son's body or daughter's body or your wife's body. Then who is the lovable object? The soul. It is very natural to understand. Why don't you love a dead body? Because the soul is not there. The soul is the object of your love, not this body. And why you take care of the soul? Because it is part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa. Therefore Kṛṣṇa is the ultimate object of love. That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. But they do not know.

Lecture on SB 1.16.8 -- Los Angeles, January 5, 1974:

That is fact. The Aryans and non-Aryans. There are divisions: civilized, noncivilized; educated, noneducated; cultured, noncultured; black, white; this and that. There are... Externally these divisions... But that distinction is of the body.

But spirit soul is not this body. He is spirit. That quality is one. There is no such distinction, "This is better," "This is lower," "This is black," "This is white," "This is civilized." In the spirit soul platform, everyone is one, one. Samaḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣu. Samaḥ. Samatā. Samatā means equality. Where? Brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā (BG 18.54).

Lecture on SB 1.16.19 -- Hawaii, January 15, 1974:

That is dis... That is the variety. So if you want good brain... Good brain means how to get relief from all the troubles of material existence. That is good brain. And bad brain means to become implicated more and more. They do not know... Because they have got bad brain, they do not know how spirit soul is transmigrating from one body to another, how he is becoming entangled. Today I have got very nice body, American body, but what is the guarantee next life? But they do not believe in the next life because they have no good brain. So in order to understand things as they are, you require good brain, and for good brain, you require milk preparation. In this way, as they've suggested a routine in the śāstra also, and guided by sādhu-guru-śāstra, if we accept, then we shall become very happy in this life and next life also. That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement.

Lecture on SB 1.16.21 -- Hawaii, January 17, 1974:

Devotee (4): I have a question about the living entity, the spirit soul. Is the living entity in the area of the heart, in the heart, or in the lotus of the heart?

Prabhupāda: What is that? I could not follow.

Sudāmā: Would you say it again?

Devotee (4): If the living entity, the spirit soul, is in the heart, in the area of the heart, or in the lotus of the heart?

Sudāmā: How is the living entity, or the spirit soul, situated...

Prabhupāda: So why you are anxious to know so particular? He's in the heart. That's all right. Are you medical man?

Lecture on SB 1.16.25 -- Hawaii, January 21, 1974:

Prabhupāda: Cowherds boy, they were equally on the same level. Although not same level, but they were given the opportunity to speak, to stand, to talk, to eat on the same level with Kṛṣṇa. Now our position is different. Any other questions?

Devotee (1): Prabhupāda? I was wondering about... You were saying before, I heard, that before you start to learn, you must realize that you're not this body and you're spirit soul. Is realization different from knowing that you're spirit soul?

Prabhupāda: Eh?

Bali-mardana: He said what is realization of the spirit soul?

Prabhupāda: The spirit soul?

Bali-mardana: How does one realize, how does one know that...

Devotee (1): That, that you are...

Lecture on SB 2.1.5 -- Los Angeles, August 13, 1972:

Now, if at the ultimate end of this body, if we can remember Kṛṣṇa, then our life is successful. What? How is that? Now as soon as we remember Kṛṣṇa, immediately we are transferred to the spiritual world, the abode of Kṛṣṇa or Goloka Vṛndāvana. It does not take even a second's time. Spirit soul is so forceful that anywhere... The yogic success is like that. Yogic, those who are successful yogis, they, at the..., they do not die by nature's law. They control even their death. How is that? They make yoga practice, and when they think that one is perfect now, so he leaves this body and he transfers himself to any planet he likes. There is no need of sputnik. Similarly, the bhakta-yogī, he does not like to stay in any one of the planets within the material world, because he knows from the authoritative description of Bhagavad-gītā and Vedic literature.

Lecture on SB 2.1.5 -- Delhi, November 8, 1973:

A child talks all foolish things; nobody cares for it. But the same child, when he gets another body, if he talks foolish, then he will be called, "Oh, you are so fool. You are talking like this." Because the body has changed. So body is changing. That's a fact. But apaśyatām ātma-tattvam (SB 2.1.2), one who does not know that the spirit soul is eternal and changing body, they are blind, apaśyatām ātma-tattvam (SB 2.1.2). They are simply engrossed in this bodily concept of life. Gṛheṣu gṛha-medhinām. Compact, encaged in this body, encaged in society, encaged in nationalism, encaged in religion, encaged in ideas, philosophy. But there is no question of discussing about the soul. Apaśyatām ātma-tattvam (SB 2.1.2).

Lecture on SB 2.3.14-15 -- Los Angeles, May 31, 1972:

That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. So when I walk on the street and go anywhere, I simply think how these nice bungalows, house, but still, they're not satisfied. It is "For Sale." Why? There is no Kṛṣṇa. Aprāṇasyeva dehasya maṇḍanaṁ loka-rañjanam. Just like a body, beautiful body, lying down on the street, dead. Nobody cares. Because the life is not there. The spirit soul is not there. Nobody cares. Similarly, bhagavad-bhakti-hīnasya jātiḥ śāstraṁ japas tapaḥ.

Lecture on SB 2.3.23 -- Los Angeles, June 20, 1972:

To take the dust of the lotus feet of a bhāgavata. Simple thing. Therefore it is said, jīvañ chavaḥ. Jīvañ chavo bhāgavatāṅghri-reṇuṁ na jātu martyo 'bhilabheta yas tu. After all, this body is dead. Everyone knows. It is simply moving on account of the presence of the spirit soul.

As soon as the spirit soul is out of this body, out of this bag of flesh and bone ... We are so much attached to this bag of flesh and bones, but those who are learned, they know that this body is nothing but flesh and bones. The real person, the real force, is the soul. Yasyātma-buddhiḥ kuṇape tri-dhātuke (SB 10.84.13). A bag of bones and fleshes. This is not our identification. I am not this body. Do you think if you take some bones and flesh and accumulate them and bundle them, will they produce any intelligence? If I am this body, then this body means a bundle of flesh and bones.

Lecture on SB 2.4.2 -- Los Angeles, June 26, 1972:

The mother creates the body, and as soon as the body's fit, it comes out. So the period when I give up this body, enter into the womb of mother and manufacture another body and come out, it takes about seven months. So during that seven months, we do not know what is happening. That is death. Death means that. Otherwise, there is no death. The spirit soul is eternal. So we do not know what is our eternal need. We do not know. There is no such education, neither these rascals know that they're eternal. They think that "By chance, we have got this body, some way or other, and as soon as the body's finished, everything's finished. So long this body is there, the senses are there, let us enjoy sense enjoyment."

Lecture on SB 2.9.1 -- Tokyo, April 20, 1972:

Karandhara: "The spirit soul is distinct from the material conception of his life."

Prabhupāda: Yes. Distinct. Always distinct. Next?

Karandhara: "But he is absorbed in such a material conception because of being influenced by the external energy of the Lord, called ātma-māyā. This is already explained in the First Canto in connection with Vyāsadeva's realization of the Supreme Lord and His external energy. The external energy is controlled by the Lord and the living entities are controlled by the external energy."

Prabhupāda: Kṛṣṇa says, mām eva ye prapadyante māyām etāṁ taranti te: (BG 7.14) "As soon as one surrenders unto Me, he has no more illusion." Māyām etaṁ taranti. Immediately. So people are conditioned, encaged. So many big, big words The Māyāvādīs, they are undergoing austerities or penances just to become liberated.

Lecture on SB 2.9.10 -- Tokyo, April 26, 1972:

We get all information. Is there any doubt? So why should we take so much trouble? Chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, take information, be prepared, and at the time of death, think of Kṛṣṇa. Immediately transferred within a second. Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti kaunteya (BG 4.9). Within a second, transferred. Because spirit soul is finer than the mind. So mind can be transferred immediately within a second millions of miles away. So how much speed is there for spirit soul, you can imagine. Mind, you can immediately... You are sitting here. Immediately you can transfer mind, Bombay. You are seeing. The kīrtana is going on. It is practical. Manaso vāyuḥ. Vāyu, the velocity of the air, and finer than the... Because air is gross matter and mind is subtle matter, so the speed of mind is far greater than the velocity of air. Air, the velocity of air is two thousand miles or per... Two hundred miles, like that?

Lecture on SB 2.9.13 -- Melbourne, April 12, 1972:

As we find lightning in the cloud, very beautiful, similarly, when these aeroplanes fly in the outer space or Vaikuṇṭha sky, it looks like lightning in the cloud. Pramada uttamādyubhiḥ. Uttamādyubhiḥ.

Here the beauty is also false because it is material. A woman is very beautiful, but as soon as the spirit soul is gone, if somebody says that "You can take this woman at your house," nobody will like. Nobody will like, because the real thing is gone. It is false beauty. The same woman, beautiful, everyone is after this: "Oh, very nice woman." But as soon as the spirit soul is gone... Just like dolls. There are very, very beautiful women's dolls in the tailor's showroom, and nobody cares for it. Well, everyone knows this is false. Therefore Śaṅkarācārya said that "Why you are being attracted by this woman? It is simply lump of matter. It is a simply lump of matter."

Lecture on SB 2.9.14 -- Melbourne, April 13, 1972:

It is meant for them. It is not for the ordinary men. I have kicked out all the so-called religious system, dharma artha kāma." People are very much Nowadays they are not even for dharma or artha. They are simply kāma, sense gratification. Sense gratification because every one of us, we come here for sense gratification. The spirit soul is originally spiritual spark." Why he has come here?"—this question is sometimes raised. That is answered. We are reading. Ātma-māyām ṛte rājan. It is a māyā. We cannot enjoy. It is māyā. We have created. "Can I not enjoy like Kṛṣṇa? Can I not become God?" This is māyā. This is māyā. Therefore we are reading this verse, ātma-māyām ṛte rājan parasya... What is that?

Lecture on SB 3.25.19 -- Bombay, November 19, 1974:

Yogi... Yogi means connecting, and brahma-siddhaye... Brahma-siddhaye means self-realization, ahaṁ brahmāsmi. Simply to know that "I am spirit soul" is not sufficient. It must be further advanced. Then it will be siddha, perfection, brahma-siddhaye. To realize "I am Brahman, ahaṁ brahmāsmi," that is not sufficient. You have to make further progress. Just like to become feverless... Suppose one is suffering from fever. So medicine is given and the no more fever, fever stops. That is not sufficient. Not only fever should stop, but you should get strength, you should get appetite, you should have normal life. Then it is perfect cure of the disease. Similarly, brahma-siddhaye, to realize that "I am spirit soul," is not sufficient. You have to be engaged in the spiritual activities. That is bhakti.

Lecture on SB 3.25.19 -- Bombay, November 19, 1974:

This universe, the whole universe, is going on because there is the Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu. Eko 'py asau racayituṁ jagad-aṇḍa-koṭim (Bs. 5.35). There are not only one universe; there are koṭi, millions. And ekāṁśena sthito jagat (BG 10.42). One aṁśa of Kṛṣṇa, that Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu, is there. Just like this body is working nicely because the soul, the spirit soul, is within this body, similarly, the whole universe, its activities are going the, going nicely, regularly, everything, because the Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu is there. It is not difficult. Matter cannot work so nicely. Don't think that the so many planets, they are floating in the air without any arrangement.

Lecture on SB 3.25.21 -- Bombay, November 21, 1974:

Ātmā is the same, spirit soul. He has got the same form. But they are different dresses. They are having different dresses. Just like we are sitting so many. As human beings, we are the same, but we have got different dresses. Similarly, ātmā, the soul, the spirit soul, is the same. There is no difference. Therefore paṇḍitāḥ sama-darśinaḥ. One who knows what is the form of ātmā, he sees... Vidyā-vinaya-sampanne brāhmaṇe gavi hastini... sama-darśinaḥ (BG 5.18). He sees the animal, the cats and dogs, and a learned brāhmaṇa-sama-darśinaḥ. Samatā means not that brāhmaṇa is equal to the dog. No, not that. But he sees that brāhmaṇa is also a spirit soul, and the dog is also a spirit soul.

Lecture on SB 3.26.3 -- Bombay, December 15, 1974:

Because you have got leg and hand, therefore the coat has got leg and hand. You can... Everyone can understand. It is very easy. So the original, the spirit soul, has got form. Therefore the cloth has been cut into form. It is very easy to understand. Otherwise how you get the form? And in this form the spirit soul is trying to enjoy this material world. But it is not puruṣa. It cannot enjoy. That is false. That is illusion. Ato gṛha-kṣetra-sutāpta-vittair janasya moho 'yam ahaṁ mameti (SB 5.5.8).

So by our desire we get a particular type of form. It may be human being, it may be demigod, it may be elephant, it may be cat, it may be dog, it may be tree—in this way, in different forms, 8,400,000 different forms, we are trying to enjoy this material world. This is called material conditional life. Because we are failing to understand ātma-darśana. Because the purpose is ātma-darśana. Jñānaṁ niḥśreyasārthāya puruṣasya ātma-darśanam. Ātmā, one should see his real identification: "What I am?"

Lecture on SB 3.26.7 -- Bombay, December 19, 1974:

Nitāi: "Material consciousness is the cause of one's conditional life. Conditions are enforced upon the living entity by the material energy. Although he does not do anything and is transcendental to such activities, the spirit soul is thus affected by conditional life."

Prabhupāda:

tad asya saṁsṛtir bandhaḥ

pāra-tantryaṁ ca tat-kṛtam

bhavaty akartur īśasya

sākṣiṇo nirvṛtātmanaḥ

(SB 3.26.7)

So karmasu kriyamāṇeṣu guṇair ātmani manyate. The conditioned soul... We say "conditioned." It was not conditioned, but now it has become conditioned, pāra-tantrya.

Lecture on SB 3.26.19 -- Bombay, December 28, 1974:

They have no information that within the body there is the spirit soul. That is the basic principle of material development. Matter is coming out of spirit, not that spirit is coming out of matter. They think by combination of matter there is a stage when living symptoms are visible. That is not the fact. The fact is that spirit soul is there, and therefore matter is developing.

Matter is external, and spirit soul is internal. So this internal spirit soul is coming from the Supreme Soul. Therefore it is said, daivāt kṣubhita-dharmiṇyāṁ svasyāṁ yonau paraḥ pumān (SB 3.26.19). Paraḥ pumān, the Supreme Person, the supreme living entity... Nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām (Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.13). The supreme living entity is Kṛṣṇa, and Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā, ahaṁ bīja-pradaḥ pitā (BG 14.4).

Lecture on SB 3.26.29 -- Bombay, January 6, 1975:

They say that the soul has developed from the body. No. Soul has not developed from the body, but the body has developed from the soul. Just the opposite. The material scientists, they think that combination of these physical elements creates a situation where is..., when there is living, life symptoms. No. That is not. The real is that, fact is, that the spirit soul is there. They are wandering all over the universe. Brahmāṇḍa brahman. Brahmāṇḍa means all over the universe. The spirit soul is sometimes in one species of life; sometimes he's another species of life. Sometimes he is in this planet; sometimes another planet. In this way, according to his karma, he is wandering. That is his material life. So ei rūpe brahmāṇḍa bhramite (CC Madhya 19.151).

Lecture on SB 3.26.35-36 -- Bombay, January 12, 1975:

So in the Bhagavad-gītā it is said, mātrā-sparśās tu kaunteya śītoṣṇa-sukha-duḥkha-dāḥ (BG 2.14). So our, these material pains and pleasure, are felt on account of this sparśa and arrangement of the ether and transformation of ethereal activities. Actually, it has nothing to do with the spirit soul. Spirit soul is untouched by all these thing. It requires simply realization. Great devotees like Bharata Mahārāja or Prahlāda Mahārāja, Haridāsa Ṭhākura, because they were very, very much advanced in spiritual consciousness, these ethereal activities on the external body did not touch them. Even in our Western world, Lord Jesus Christ, he was also crucified, but it did not touch him.

Lecture on SB 5.5.1 -- Delhi, November 28, 1975:

You are spirit soul and you are within this body. You are now entrapped with this material body, and so long you will act irresponsibly, you will get another material... Tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ. You will get another body, and that body is not guaranteed. There are 8,400,000 different forms of body. Sarva-yoniṣu kaunteya (BG 14.4). Although the spirit soul is there, but this particular body, the hog's body or the man's body or the demigod's body There are so many. Jalajā nava-lakṣāni sthāvarā lakṣa-viṁśati. There are 900,000 forms of body within the body. Sthāvarā lakṣa-viṁśati. And there are trees, plants, two million forms of body. So we have already gone through all this body, and we have got this human form of body after many, many millions of years by evolutionary process.

Lecture on SB 5.5.1-2 -- London (Tittenhurst), September 13, 1969:

Because spiritual perfection means to stop the transmigration of the soul from one body to another. That is real spiritual perfection. Stopping. Stopping the soul, the spirit soul, transmigrating. This process is going on. Ei rūpe brahmāṇḍa bhramite kona bhāgyavān jīva (CC Madhya 19.151). Lord Caitanya says that each and every spirit soul is just wandering throughout the whole universe from one planet to another, one body to another. This business is going on. But the basic principle of that continued transmigration is sex life or sense gratification. Anyway, as long we have got a pinch of sense gratification we have to take birth in any form or any shape within this material world. That is the whole process. Therefore if we are at all interested... And that interest must be there in human life; otherwise it is spoiling.

Lecture on SB 5.5.2 -- Johannesburg, October 22, 1975:

It will enter into the womb of another mother, and she will create another similar body like the mother, and when it is complete, then it will come out.

So the spirit soul is in this way bound up by the material gross body and subtle body. This is our disease. This is... Material existence means we are suffering from this disease. So in the first verse it was suggested by Ṛṣabhadeva to His sons, "My dear sons," tapo putrakā. Tapo divyaṁ putrakā yena śuddhyet sattvaṁ yasmād brahma-saukhyam anantam (SB 5.5.1). Our position is... As I explained the other day, we are part and parcel of God. So God's existence is sac-cid-ānanda vigrahaḥ: (Bs. 5.1) eternal, blissful, knowledge. So we are part and parcel. Our knowledge, our blissfulness, our eternity may be very small, but we possess the same quality. Ānandamayo 'bhyāsāt (Vedānta-sūtra 1.1.12).

Lecture on SB 5.5.2 -- Johannesburg, October 22, 1975:

"Now, one week before," that means the child has already died one week. From his duration of life, make one week minus. So we are dying every moment. Mṛtyu, death, is sure. "As sure as death." So... But we are not meant for death, neither we are meant for birth. That is explained in the Bhagavad-gītā. Na jāyate na mriyate vā: "The spirit soul is never born, neither he dies." Nityaḥ śāśvato 'yaṁ na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). The spirit soul, nitya, eternal, śāśvata, inexhaustible... Na hanyate, clearly says, na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). So this death is artificial. Therefore we do not like to die. We do not like to be unhappy. We do not like to be without any knowledge. This is our nature. But because this nature is hampered on material condition, therefore the business of the human being is to cure this disease—birth, death, old age and disease. This is the mission of life, not to waste time, not to waste our life, duration of life, just simply jumping like dog and hog. That is not human life. Tapo divyam (SB 5.5.1).

Lecture on SB 5.5.27 -- Vrndavana, November 14, 1976:

Vimūḍhātmā. Mahā-vimoha. This rascal is thinking that there is no other life. That is not the fact. It is very great entanglement.

So intelligent person, they will try to get out of this śarīra avidyā-jāl, joḍendriya tāhe kāl, to get out of these gross senses. Senses are there. The spirit soul is a person. Person. As Kṛṣṇa is person... Just like the father is person, the child is also person. It cannot be otherwise. Or if the child is a person, the father must be a person. Kṛṣṇa says, ahaṁ bīja-pradaḥ pitā (BG 14.4). So all living entities, we experience it, that we are all persons. Even a small insect, a small ant, it is a person. An ant is going this way. If you stop, it will struggle: "Why you are stopping me?" That is person. It will try its best to go this way and this way to avoid your checking. You will find it by practical experience.

Lecture on SB 6.1.1-4 -- Melbourne, May 20, 1975:

Now I am old man. I have changed my body. I cannot do that. I will have to take the stick. Because the body has changed. So where is the fallacy of logic? It is very clearly... And the authority says... Kṛṣṇa says, not an ordinary person. He says, "Within this body there is the soul, and as on account of the soul, the body is changing shape from childhood to boyhood, boyhood to youthhood, from youthhood to old man's body. Similarly, when this body will be useless, he will accept another body." This simply truth one has to understand first of all before anything spiritual knowledge. If one cannot understand that the spirit soul is different from this body, then he is cat and dog. He is not human being.

Lecture on SB 6.1.1-4 -- Melbourne, May 20, 1975:

"Thou shall not kill." But we are violating the order. We are killing so many animals. So this is not good. On the plea that "Lord Christ sometimes took some fish somewhere; therefore we will have to maintain a big slaughterhouse," this is not very good logic.

So anyway, we have to act according to the superior order. And so far the spirit soul is concerned, that is the first lesson of spiritual knowledge. Unless you understand what is spirit... We are present here. The body is there and the spirit is there. Now we must analyze according to the direction given in authoritative books. That is very easy. Kṛṣṇa says that within this body there is the spirit soul. And we can experience that unless the spirit soul is there, the body does not change, and as soon as the spirit soul goes away, the body is a dead lump of matter. That's all. Very easy to understand.

Lecture on SB 6.1.1-4 -- Melbourne, May 20, 1975:

Then if we understand that "I am not this body. I am spirit soul," then my duty will be assigned, that "I am spirit soul, ahaṁ brahmāsmi. So I am acting for the body only? The body is perishable." Antavanta ime dehāḥ. Everything is there. Antavat means perishable. Nityasyoktāḥ śarīriṇaḥ: "But the spirit soul is eternal." So I am working day and night so hard only for this body, how to eat, how to dress, how to have sex, how to defend. What I am doing for the spirit soul? That is knowledge. The spirit soul, I am the spirit soul, and because as spirit soul I am within this body, the body is working, moving, and I am simply taking care of the body. What care I am taking for myself, the spirit soul, who is going to change this body?

Lecture on SB 6.1.1-4 -- Melbourne, May 20, 1975:

Madhudviṣa: The question is that whether the eternal form of the spirit soul is a human form or is it...

Prabhupāda: Yes, human form. God is also human form. "Man is made after the shape of God." I think there is in the Bible. Is it not? So God is also like human form. Here you see Kṛṣṇa, two hands, two legs.

Hari-śauri: How do we understand, then, that there are peacocks and flowers and trees in the spiritual world? Are these not eternal forms?

Lecture on SB 6.1.1 -- Melbourne, May 21, 1975:

These three conception, this is called subtle. Subtle body. So we simply see the gross body, but we do not see the subtle body. When death take place—that means this gross body is finished—then the subtle body is there. And the subtle body carries the soul to another gross body. That we cannot see. Therefore we do not understand how this spirit soul is migrating, transmigrating from one body to another. We do not see. Therefore our seeing should be through knowledge, paśyati jñāna-cakṣuṣā, not this gross seeing. Gross seeing is imperfect. It has no value. We know. We should inquire that "This gross body is finished. Now what about the subtle body?"

Lecture on SB 6.1.3 -- Melbourne, May 22, 1975:

There are 900,000's forms in the water. Then there are two millions forms of trees, plants. And jalajā nava-lakṣāni sthāvarā lakṣa-viṁśati. Then insects, moths and flies, like that, they are 1,100,000 forms. Then birds, one millions forms. Then beast three million forms. And then human being, civilized or not civilized, there are 400,000. This is the total number of different forms of life. The living entity, spirit soul, is the same, but they are passing through different forms of life. Just like I am the same man. I have passed through my babyhood body, my childhood body, my youthhood body. Now I have come to another body. So it is a fact that I was staying in a baby's body. Now it is another body. A very simple thing, that we are changing body, but I am, the soul, the same. We have to understand this thing. The evolution is going on.

Lecture on SB 6.1.7 -- Honolulu, June 15, 1975, Sunday Feast Lecture:

They are very, very dull rascals. This is the challenge. Mandāḥ. Mandāḥ means dull, no intelligence. A simple truth, Kṛṣṇa is explaining to Arjuna. It is authoritative statement because Kṛṣṇa says, and Kṛṣṇa says not unreasonably, very reasonably, "I am giving very common example that smin dehe, within this body, the proprietor of the body or the spirit soul is there. And on account of this," dehino 'smin yathā dehe (BG 2.13), "because the living entity is within this body, therefore the bodily changes are taking place." What is that changing? Dehino 'smin yathā dehe kaumāraṁ yauvanaṁ jarā. "The body is sometimes child, and sometimes boy, sometimes young man, sometimes old man. So the body is changing." Who cannot understand this? The child, the small child, is dancing. Now, that child will get the body of a young man like you. Everyone knows it. This body will change.

Lecture on SB 6.1.8 -- New York, July 22, 1971:

So this is going on, but people do not know what is this science, how the spirit soul is transmigrating from one body to another, not only in one duration of life. In one duration of life, there are so many changes of body. The body first manufactured within the womb of the mother is very small, just like chick pea, small. And it develops. And there are holes. The holes develop into nine holes: two eyes, two ears, two nostrils, one mouth, one genital, one rectum. In this way the body develops. And so long it requires to develop within the embryo, within the mother's womb, it remains there. And when it is sufficiently developed to grow outside, it comes out. Then it grows, the body grows.

Lecture on SB 6.1.18 -- Denver, July 1, 1975:

Bhakti means purificatory process. We are impure. Because we are impure, therefore we are undergoing so many tribulations, so many miserable condition of life. Otherwise we are spirit soul, ānandamayo 'bhyāsāt (Vedānta-sūtra 1.1.12). Our position is ānandamaya. Ānandamaya, the Vedānta-sūtra says, ānandamaya..., "By nature, spirit soul is ānandamaya, always full of jolly." You see Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is full of jolly. Always you see pictures of Kṛṣṇa, either He is playing with the cowherds boy or either He is killing some demon, He is laughing, very sportively He is killing. And what to speak of with the gopīs and Rādhārāṇī? Because He is sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ (Bs. 5.1), always full of happiness and bliss. And we are also part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa. Therefore our position is the same, maybe in small scale. The position is the same, ānandamayo 'bhyāsāt (Vedānta-sūtra 1.1.12). Ānandamaya. So why should we be morose?

Lecture on SB 6.1.18 -- Honolulu, May 18, 1976:

Similarly, in this material world everything is punishment, but by the illusory energy you are thinking, "This is all right." Every step there is punishment. Just study your life or my life. What is that? That beginning from the womb of my mother, when the body is formed, the soul, spirit soul, is injected in the womb of the woman, and then the formation of the body takes place. So the body grows. And now imagine when we are in the womb of the mother, how much difficult position packed up in a bag, airtight bag. If we, at the present moment, if I put into some airtight condition, within three minutes I shall die. Within three minutes.

Lecture on SB 6.1.19 -- Los Angeles, January 15, 1970:

Someway or other, if anybody fixes his mind on the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa, then, he says, na te yamaṁ pāśa-bhṛtaś ca tad-bhaṭān svapne 'pi paśyanti. It is, according to Vedic scripture, the sinful persons are taken to the superintendent of death, and there, according to his different volumes or proportion of sinful activities, a living entity is punished. The spirit soul is taken in that planet where the Yamarāja is there, and in the subtle form... Subtle form means the spirit covered in the subtle form of mind, intelligence and false ego, he is put into various trouble. Sometimes, just like we are also, even in this life, we are put into such troublesome position in dream. That is our experience. Suppose we are put into some narrow space and I am just going to be suffocated, or I am in the face of some dangerous animal, or deep into the ocean.

Lecture on SB 6.1.25 -- Honolulu, May 25, 1976:

"Whom I love." Say for the first time, I love my body. If there is some danger I try to protect myself from the danger. That means I love my body. So the next question will be: "Then why don't you love a dead body?" Suppose your wife or husband, you love, because the husband and wife is in the body, dehino 'smin yathā dehe (BG 2.13). So I love the body because the spirit soul is there. This is right conclusion. Otherwise who is going to love a dead body? Nobody. Now if wife's husband has died, son has died, he's crying. You can say that "Why you are crying?" "Oh, my son is gone, my husband is gone." "Nobody gone. It is lying here." "No, no, no. He's not." So after death we understand that this dead body is neither my husband nor my son. Late experience. But in the beginning there is no such experience.

Lecture on SB 6.1.34-39 -- Surat, December 19, 1970:

Sarve ca nūtna-vayasaḥ. In the Vaikuṇṭhaloka, the inhabitants are always young, just like Kṛṣṇa or Viṣṇu is always young. There is no old age. Old age is here in this material world because this material body becomes old, not the spirit soul. Spirit soul is always fresh. Nityaḥ śāśvato 'yaṁ na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). So they are describing that "You are... You look all just very young." And sarve cāru-caturbhujāḥ: "And you are beautifully embodied with four hands." Sarve cāru-caturbhujāḥ. (aside:) What is that? Dhanur-niṣaṅgāsi-gadā-śaṅkha-cakrāmbuja-śriyaḥ: "And exactly like Viṣṇu, you have got dhanur, bows; and śaṅkha, conchshell; cakra, disc; gadā, club; and ambuja, padma, lotus flower. Everyone." That means everyone in the Vaikuṇṭhaloka, they are exactly like the bodily feature of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Nārāyaṇa.

Lecture on SB 6.1.49 -- Detroit, June 15, 1976:

So why there are different types of body? That means the living entity, spirit soul, he is contacting different types of material modes of nature. And according to that, we are developing a gross body. The transmigration of the soul means the gross body is lost. Because anything material, it will be finished. That is the nature of material, anything material. It will be finished. But the spirit soul is not finished.

So we have got this body according to our past work. Karmaṇā daivā-netreṇa jantra jantor deha upapatti (SB 3.31.1). How one gets a particular type of body? Because according to his past karma. Nature will automatically act. Just like if you contact some contaminous disease, nature will act. You will have to undergo the process of disease or develop that disease. So nature's law is working so nicely.

Lecture on SB 6.1.55 -- London, August 13, 1975:

So for them the śāstra says, ye 'nye 'ravindākṣa vimukta-māninas tvayy asta-bhāvād (SB 10.2.32). Tvayy means "unto You, Kṛṣṇa." They have not understood yet what is Kṛṣṇa, the Puruṣa, the Supreme Puruṣa. Tvayy asta-bhāvād aviśuddha-buddhayaḥ. Therefore their intelligence is not yet clear. Simply understanding that "I am not this material body; I am spirit soul," is not sufficient because unless you come to the point to understand Kṛṣṇa, this will not stand.

Therefore many sannyāsīs, they give up the brahma satyaṁ jagan mithyā. I mean to... Māyāvādī sannyāsī. Again they fall down in this mithyā jagat. They come for political work, they come for social work, daridra-nārāyaṇa-seva and this and that. That's all.

Lecture on SB 6.3.25-26 -- Gorakhpur, February 18, 1971:

Just like if you put a drop of oil in the water it does not mix—although it is in the water, it does not mix—similarly the spirit soul, part and parcel of God, Kṛṣṇa, although in the material world, he does not mix. Therefore if there is a process... Just like you can pick up the spot of oil floating in the water by some process immediately, similarly, by bhakti-yoga process, although the spirit soul is floating in this material ocean, he can be picked up immediately. He can be picked up. And asaṅgo 'yaṁ puruṣaḥ. The Veda says that "This puruṣa, the spirit soul, is always unmixed, unmixed." Therefore Māyāvādī philosophers, they say that "This material association is simply a bewilderment. Actually it does not exist. I am Brahman; I am the same."

Lecture on SB 7.6.1 -- Boston, May 8, 1968:

So it is so nice that even one falls down, it will not Whatever he has done, whatever you have done, that is your permanent asset. Permanent because it is spiritual. This Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is spiritual. As spirit soul is eternal, permanent, similarly, any activity on the spiritual platform is eternal. It will never be lost. So there are many instructions like this.

So Prahlāda Mahārāja is also stressing on that point, that durlabhaṁ mānuṣaṁ janma tad apy adhruvam arthadam. Although this human form of life is not very long, but you can get the very nice result out of it. Arthadam. Artha. Artha means profit. So real profit is spiritual profit. That is real profit because that will never be lost. And material profit, suppose you become MA, PhD, Doctor, or Rockefeller, or Ford, or something like that.

Lecture on SB 7.6.2 -- Vrndavana, December 3, 1975:

So eko yo bahūnāṁ vidadhāti kāmān. Therefore our relationship is very intimate. Not only my, but everyone, every living entity. Yad eṣa sarva-bhūtānāṁ priya ātmeśvaraḥ. Ātmeśvara, ātmā, self. So everyone's self means himself, the spirit soul, is very, very dear. Just like if there is some danger immediately, then we shall leave this place immediately and try to save our body from the danger. Why you are trying to save your body? "No, because it is very dear to me." Why it is so dear? "Because I am living within this body." So I love my body because I am living within the body. Anywhere you take. You love your house, love your home. Why? Because you are living there. So you are loving yourself. Then why you are loving yourself? What is the source of yourself? Viṣṇu, Kṛṣṇa. Mamaivāṁśo jīva-bhūtaḥ (BG 15.7).

Lecture on SB 7.6.3-4 -- San Francisco, March 8, 1967:

Prabhupāda: Begin from the lips. Then you go to the mind.

Śyāmasundara: Do different spirit souls have different activities, spiritual activities?

Prabhupāda: No. Spirit soul is one; therefore, only one activity, to serve the Lord. That's all. The Lord is one, and the spirit soul, qualitatively one, and the activities also one. That is our mission: one God, one mantra, one scripture, one activity. One God: Kṛṣṇa. One mantra: Hare Kṛṣṇa. One scripture: Bhagavad-gītā. And one activity: to serve Kṛṣṇa. That's all. There is no two. One. Yes?

Gargamuni: Swamijī, as the ages progress, the population in the ages, are they more conditioned?

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Lecture on SB 7.6.8 -- Vrndavana, December 10, 1975:

This whole world, people are suffering on account of these different circumstantial position, the three guṇas and the mind being polluted by these three stages, jāgriti, svapna, suṣupti, and so many things—they are described, twenty-four elements. On account of this packing of the soul, as it is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, asmin dehe, dehi... Dehi asmin yathā dehe: the real spirit soul is packed up within the body in so many coverings. So our so-called pleasure and pains in this material world, they're artificial. They are not factual, on account of being packed in so many material things. Therefore it is called moha, illusion. It is not fact.

Lecture on SB 7.7.19-20 -- Bombay, March 18, 1971:

Even in fire the ātmā can live because according to the information we receive from Bhagavad-gītā, the ātmā is never burned even in the fire. It is never moistened in the water. It cannot be cut into pieces. These things are there. This material body can be cut into pieces, it can be burned, it can be wetted in water, but ātmā, spirit soul, is different from this body.

The material scientists, they have no information of ātmā. Therefore they think that in the moon planet there is no life, in the sun planet there is no life. Simply... This is kūpa-maṇḍūka-nyāya. Dr. Frog PhD., he's thinking in his own way. Dr. Frog thinks that this three feet dimension of the well is all in all, there cannot be anything. These rascal philosopher and rascal scientist, they think in that way, Dr. Frog. There cannot be Atlantic Ocean. That three feet dimension, well water is sufficient. Therefore we have to receive knowledge from authorities. We cannot speculate. Speculation will not help us in approaching the real destination.

Lecture on SB 7.9.8 -- Calcutta, March 5, 1972:

Anywhere we are going, we are making the whole atmosphere purified. It is not here in India, we have got branches all over the world. In Africa, even those black men, they are also. Because in the spiritual world, there is no such consideration the black, white. Because it is the spiritual platform. The spirit soul is neither black, neither white, neither yellow. This is dress. Just like within the dress we are everyone. The dress may be black, white, yellow, that does not matter.

Lecture on SB 7.9.11 -- Montreal, August 17, 1968:

So whole Kṛṣṇa consciousness activity is purification of the mind, of the intelligence, of the ego, everything, purifying process. Sarvopādhi-vinirmuktaṁ tat-paratvena nirmalam (CC Madhya 19.170). The impurification is that upādhi, designation. I'm thinking "I am American," "I am Indian." This is designation. Actually, spirit soul is neither American nor Indian nor Hindu nor Muslim. So one has to get out of this entanglement, material entanglement. Sarvopādhi-vinirmuktaṁ tat-paratvena nirmalam (CC Madhya 19.170). And how one can become purified? Tat-paratvena, when he identifies himself, ahaṁ brahmāsmi, "I am servant of Kṛṣṇa. I am Brahman, I am pure self. I'm not matter. I'm not this body."

Lecture on SB 7.9.23 -- Mayapur, March 1, 1976:

That can be possible as we advance in Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

Then bhaktiḥ pareśānubhavo viraktir anyatra syāt (SB 11.2.42). You haven't got to... The jñānīs, yogis, they try to detach from this material things by speculation, by knowledge. Brahma satyaṁ jagan mithyā. By speculating, jagan mithyā, "This world is false. Brahman, ātmā, spirit soul is satya, the truth," they do. But it is not possible. Simply by speculating, it is not possible. You have to engage yourself in bhakti.

Lecture on SB 7.9.30 -- Mayapur, March 8, 1976:

It is said here clearly, tair avasitas tad anupraviṣṭaḥ: "Because You have entered, therefore things have developed." Aṇḍāntara-sthaṁ paramāṇu-cayāntara... Without spiritual touch, nothing can develop. We have got practical experience that without the spirit soul, the body cannot develop. If a dead child comes out, the body does not develop. Because the spirit soul is there... So this nonsense theory that "Within the womb of the mother, unless the body is developed to seven months, there is no life," what is this nonsense? The body has developed to that seven months' condition because there is a spirit soul. Otherwise how it becomes seven months' developed? You'll find this description in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Therefore the knowledge received from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is perfect. Any knowledge which does not corroborate with the knowledge in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, that is useless knowledge. Therefore, in the beginning of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam it is said, dharmaḥ projjhita-kaitavo 'tra paramo nirmatsarāṇāṁ satāṁ vāstava-vastu vedyam atra (SB 1.1.2).

Lecture on SB 7.9.32 -- Mayapur, March 10, 1976:

Otherwise there is no creation. There must be. We have used this example often, that matter... A dead child means matter. This body is lump of matter, but on account of presence of the spirit soul we have got working arrangement of this body. There is hand, there is leg, there is head, there is ear—everything is being utilized. But when the spirit soul is not there, what is the value of this head, leg or hand? Anyone can see to it.

So the same principle is applicable to the whole cosmic creation, that even within the ant the same principle, within Brahmā the same principle, and within the gigantic universe, the same principle. Without the spirit soul, there is no question of creation.

Lecture on SB 7th Canto -- Calcutta, March 7, 1972:

So long one identifies with the body, he is jīva-bhūtaḥ. Jīva-bhūtāṁ mahā-bāho yayedaṁ dhāryate jagat (BG 7.5). And when one realizes ahaṁ brahmāsmi, "I am Brahman..." But unfortunately Māyāvādī philosophers, they take it ahaṁ brahmāsmi means "I am the Supreme Brahman." No. Brahmāsmi means "I am spirit soul." Spirit soul is Brahman, and the Supreme Brahman is different. Supreme Brahman, paraṁ brahma paraṁ dhāma pavitraṁ paramaṁ bhavān (BG 10.12), that is Kṛṣṇa, Viṣṇu-tattva. So unfortunately these Māyāvādī philosophers, they accept brahmāsmi means "I am the Supreme." We are not the Supreme. We are subordinate. So long this knowledge lacks, one is not completely in knowledge. Kṛṣṇa says, therefore, bahūnāṁ janmanām ante jñānavān māṁ prapadyate (BG 7.19). Amongst the persons who are realized themselves as Brahman, as spirit soul, they also, after trying many, many births, that means they are not muktas, that is still baddha, conditioned. Bahūnāṁ janmanām ante jñānavān māṁ prapadyate.