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Those who are engaged in understanding the self as the combination of these earth, water, air, fire - sa eva go-kharah (SB 10.84.13). Such persons are defined in the sastra as no more intelligent than the cows and the asses

Expressions researched:
"those who are engaged in understanding the self as the combination of these earth, water, air, fire—sa eva go-kharaḥ" |"Such persons are defined in the śāstra as no more intelligent than the cows and the asses"

Lectures

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

If you take plaster of paris . . . They sometimes show artificial bone also in the medical college. But that is not. That is bone. That is earth. So do you think this combination of this earth, water, air, fire is life? Can you produce life? You take . . . You can get enough earth, water, air, fire, stool, urine, blood. You manufacture one life. That you cannot do. This is called analysis. And those who are engaged in understanding the self as the combination of these earth, water, air, fire—sa eva go-kharaḥ (SB 10.84.13). Such persons are defined in the śāstra as no more intelligent than the cows and the asses.

So Arjuna and Kṛṣṇa, they were friends, but still, to take right instruction without any argument, he accepted He is guru. Then after the acceptance Kṛṣṇa's first warning is,

aśocyān anvaśocas tvaṁ
prajñā-vādāṁś ca bhāṣase
gatāsūn agatāsūṁś ca
nānuśocanti paṇḍitāḥ
(BG 2.11)

"My dear Arjuna, you are talking like a very learned man, but the subject matter which you have touched is not at all taken seriously by the paṇḍita." Paṇḍita means learned man. That means, "You are talking like a fool. You are taking this body as self."

So actually this is not the fact. The body is not the self. The self is different. If you analyze this body, what you will find? Suppose we are breathing. What is this breathing? It is air only. Now, when the breathing is stopped, a man is dead. Now you are so much advanced in science, why don't you replace this breathing? It is nothing but air. So you can manufacture some machine working in electric battery, and put some air and fix up, and that same air will come: woosh, woosh, woosh, woosh. Will that give you life? No. Even if you artificially bring breathing, just like nowadays they, with oxygen gas, as if oxygen gas is life . . . That is not the fact.

So if you analyze every part of the body, then you will find that there is no life. This is called education. This is called scientific knowledge. Simply abruptly taking something without any proper understanding, that is not knowledge. Therefore Kṛṣṇa chastised him that "You are talking like very scientific, learned scholar, but you are a fool number one because you are accepting this material body as the self." This is ignorance.

This is confirmed in another place, yasyātma-buddhiḥ kuṇape tri-dhātuke (SB 10.84.13). This kuṇape, this bag of three elements, kapha, pitta, vāyu, or, take it, the skin, muscle, veins, bones, urine, stool, blood—what you will find if you dissect this body? They are all material things. What is blood? It is also water, red water. The urine, this is also water. And this bone, bone is nothing but earth hardened. If you take plaster of paris . . . They sometimes show artificial bone also in the medical college. But that is not. That is bone. That is earth. So do you think this combination of this earth, water, air, fire is life? Can you produce life? You take . . . You can get enough earth, water, air, fire, stool, urine, blood. You manufacture one life. That you cannot do. This is called analysis. And those who are engaged in understanding the self as the combination of these earth, water, air, fire—sa eva go-kharaḥ (SB 10.84.13). Such persons are defined in the śāstra as no more intelligent than the cows and the asses.

So from here spiritual knowledge begins. You analyze the body, but you won't find the real soul or real life, although it is within you. But why you cannot find? It is very, very small. Keśāgra-śata-bhāgasya śatadhā kalpitasya ca (CC Madhya 19.140). The formation of the soul, measurement of the soul, is very, very . . . It is smaller than the atom. Keśāgra-śata-bhāgasya. The tip of the hair you divide into hundred part, and take one part, again divide it into hundred parts. That one part is the measurement of the soul. That means one ten-thousandth part of the top of the hair. So how you can see? But that small particle is giving you living force. This knowledge we get from Bhagavad-gītā, and that is the fact. You cannot get life by analyzing this material body. That is not possible. You have to find out what is that small particle. You have to hear. Therefore you cannot get knowledge by your material activities. You have to hear it from the authorities; otherwise there is no possibility.

Page Title:Those who are engaged in understanding the self as the combination of these earth, water, air, fire - sa eva go-kharah (SB 10.84.13). Such persons are defined in the sastra as no more intelligent than the cows and the asses
Compiler:Nabakumar
Created:2022-11-06, 07:00:34
Totals by Section:BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=1, Con=0, Let=0
No. of Quotes:1