Consciousness belongs to the soul. That is the symptom of presence of soul. At the present moment, because the soul is in the body, if I pinch your body then you feel—consciousness—feel pains or pleasure. But as soon as the soul is gone out of the body, if I chop off your body with a dagger, you will not protest. The consciousness is gone. Yena sarvam idaṁ tatam. Avināśi tu tad viddhi yena sarvam idaṁ tatam (BG 2.17), Kṛṣṇa says. Sarvam idam, this body. This body, wherever you pinch, you feel pain. Why? Because the consciousness is there. So Kṛṣṇa advises that consciousness is eternal, not this body. Avināśi tu tad viddhi yena sarvam idaṁ tatam. So the consciousness eternal. Therefore we have to purify our consciousness, then our life is successful.
Consciousness will go with us. At the time of death, the consciousness carries me to another body. Sūkṣma, the fine, or the subtle body, the mind, intelligence and ego. But we do not see that mind, intelligence, and ego and the soul, it is still finer. Mind is . . . we know you have got mind, you know I have got mind, but you do not see. I know you have got intelligence, you know I have got intelligence, but you can not see. But how the mind, intelligence carry the soul to another body, how you can see? We see that this gross body is stopped, we say it is everything finished, because we have got gross intelligence, we have no sūkṣma in . . . therefore we have to approach guru, just like Arjuna approached guru. And Arjuna, Kṛṣṇa teaching that "You are thinking of this body like a rascal." Nānuśocanti paṇḍitāḥ. He said in a very gentlemanly language, "No learned man thinks like that." That means "You are a fool." Nānuśocanti paṇḍitāḥ, that, "You are not a paṇḍita, you are a fool." Just try to understand that real life is for the soul; therefore you should take care of the soul. The whole Vedic language, Vedic education, means to take care of the soul. The soul is entangled, embodied, engaged in this material affair, and he is suffering, and to rescue him, to get him out of this material clutches, that is called education. That is called education, and for that education one has to approach a proper guru like Kapiladeva. Kapiladeva is incarnation of Kṛṣṇa.
So guru is there, Kṛṣṇa, and His instruction is there in the Bhagavad-gītā. Why you are not taking advantage? You have become so foolish. The instruction is there. Guru is there. Somebody says that "Arjuna had the opportunity, good opportunity, to talk with Kṛṣṇa face to face, but we haven't got that." But what is that talk? The talk is already there. You hear it from His representative, the same instruction. Where is the difficulty? But they will not do that. They will take Bhagavad-gītā and misinterpret in a foolish way, a rascaldom, and spoil his career and others' career. That's all. Otherwise everything is there. Where is the difficulty? Kṛṣṇa says that there is the owner of the body within the body, and He has explained in so many ways—acchedyo 'yam adāhyo 'yam (BG 2.24), distinguishing the quality that the soul is never to be cut into pieces, acchedyo 'yam. It cannot be burned into the fire. It cannot be moistened by water. That means everything matter, there is interruption. Any matter will be interrupted by another matter, but the soul is not anything of this material world. In the material world, any hard thing—the iron, the stone—can be cut into pieces if you have got the instrument. But Kṛṣṇa says the soul is acchedyo 'yam, it cannot be cut into pieces. So it is above all material action and reaction. Adāhyo 'yam. In material, even the iron can be melted, even a stone can be melted nowadays. But adāhyo 'yam, aśoṣyaḥ 'yam, in so many ways. That means it is different from this material thing, the soul. Therefore, na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre.
This instruction, the common sense is that if my position is like that, acchedyo 'yam adāhyo 'yam, na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20), then what is that life? How I can attain that life? That is brahma-jijñāsā. One should be inquisitive. If we remain fools and rascals like cats and dogs to maintain this body only, then what is the benefit of this human life? Human life is meant for understanding this science that, "I am not this body, but I am busy with this bodily comfort. I am soul within the body. What I am doing for that which is Brahman?" This is required. Therefore tad vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum eva abhigacchet (MU 1.2.12). If you want to learn about that, then you must find out a guru. What kind of guru? Just like Kapiladeva, Kṛṣṇa, or His representative. Not a bogus guru. Then you will be cheated. Andhā yathāndair upanīyamānāḥ (SB 7.5.31). The so-called rascal guru, he does not know also what is the aim of life, and if he makes some disciples, then śāstra says, andhā yathāndair upanīyamānāḥ: one blind man is trying to guide many other blind men. So what is the benefit? There is no benefit.
So if you want to be guided by somebody, he must have opened eyes. Tattva-darśinaḥ. Upadekṣyanti tad jñānaṁ tad jñānīnas tattva-darśinaḥ (BG 4.34). Darśi. Darśi means who has got eyes to see what is the Absolute Truth. Don't go to a blind man, who has no knowledge about the Absolute Truth. The Absolute Truth is there, Kṛṣṇa. The sun is there, everyone can see. Sun is not hiding, but I am hiding. I am closing my door—how can I see sun? Come to the field, open to the sun, and you will see sun. There is sun, there is light. Similarly, God is there: Kṛṣṇa. You come to Kṛṣṇa, take His lesson from Bhagavad-gītā, you will learn what is God.
But the rascals will not do that. They will manufacture some meaning. This meaning this, this meaning that, this meaning that. They will not accept Kṛṣṇa. That is the difficulty. Otherwise, there is no difficulty. Even there is difficulty, one can say that, "Yes, it is all right. Kṛṣṇa's instruction is there, Kṛṣṇa's Deity is there, but still, how can I see? How can I understand?" This is obstinacy. That Kṛṣṇa is so kind, "All right, you see Me in the water. Come on. Raso 'ham apsu kaunteya prabhāsmi śaśi-sūryayoḥ (BG 7.8). Why don't you see Me? You are seeing water, and why you take water? For satisfying your thirst. And that quality of satisfying your thirst, I am," Kṛṣṇa says. So if you think of Kṛṣṇa when you become satisfied by drinking water, if you think of Kṛṣṇa, you will become one step advanced, immediately. Is that very difficult? Nothing difficult, but we are obstinate; we will not do that. We will not try to understand Kṛṣṇa, we'll not take Kṛṣṇa's instruction.
Why it is so? Māyā. Daivī hy eṣā guṇamayī mama māyā duratyayā (BG 7.14). That is very, very strong. As soon as I'll try to accept Kṛṣṇa as the Supreme Lord, māyā will whisper in my ear, "No, no, no. There are many Gods. Why you are accepting Kṛṣṇa?" Immediately. "There are many Gods. Why you are accepting Kṛṣṇa?" But śāstra says, kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam (SB 1.3.28), īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ (Bs. 5.1). That we will not hear. I'll not take lesson from the śāstra, from the ācāryas. At least in India we have got big, big ācāryas—Rāmānujācārya, Madhvācārya, Viṣṇu Svāmī, even Śaṅkarācārya, even Guru Nanak—they have accepted, all, Kṛṣṇa as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Why should we not? Why I shall bring another competitor to Kṛṣṇa? This is our misfortune. Therefore Bhagavān says, na māṁ duṣkṛtino mūḍhāḥ prapadyante narādhamāḥ (BG 7.15). Because we are sinful, because we are rascals, we do not accept Kṛṣṇa as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. You are searching after Kṛṣṇa, making speculation, philosophical. Don't do that. Accept Kṛṣṇa and be in Kṛṣṇa consciousness and be happy.