some nice questions

[Guest guest]

Bhagavati DD has compiled some nice questions and answers taken from mine

and Srila Prabhupada's teachings:

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Questions:

a.. what happens after the atma leaves the body ?

b.. What is the time [ in days/months/years ] to enter into the next body ?

c.. how does the atma enter the next body?

d.. what happens to the suttle body [ mind/intellegence/false ego ] after

quiting the old body and entering the new one ?

e.. the atma is energetic so what will be activity during this transition?

f.. what exactly will be the feelings/happenings when the atma leaves the

body ? and when it enters a new one ?

Answers:

This soul is eternal. It is... The soul is covered by two kinds of body. One

is

subtle body. Just like you have got your mind; I have got my mind. Do you

see

your mind? Do I see your mind? So the soul is carried by two kinds of body.

One body is this gross, made of earth, water, air, sky, like that. And the

other... They are like shirt and coat. This is the coating, and there is

another body, shirt, which is made of mind, intelligence, and ego. So when

this

gross body is finished, the subtle body is there. So at the time of your

death

the mental condition will carry you to a similar body. This mental body you

do

not see. Therefore you say that this man is dead. It

is not dead. The gross body is changed, and the mental body carries him to

another gross body.

This is the process of the soul·s transmigration from one body to another.

At the time of death, according to his mental condition, the living being is

carried by the subtle body, consisting of mind, intelligence and ego, to

another gross body. When higher authorities have decided what kind of gross

body the living entity will have, he is forced to enter such a body, and

thus

he automatically gives up his previous body.

Srimad Bhagavatam 1.12.7 purport

Death generally involves remaining in trance for seven months. A living

being,

according to his own action, is allowed to enter into the womb of a mother

by

the vehicle of a father·s semina, and thus he develops his desired body.

This

is the law of birth in specific bodies according to one·s past actions.

 

Bhagavad-Gita 7.28 - 8.6 Lecture NY October 23, 1966

 

Death is nothing but sleeping for seven months. That·s all. Sleeping for

seven

months, that is called death. Just like, in the operation table, one becomes

unconscious for one hour, half an hour. Then he comes to his consciousness.

Again he comes to the same point. So similarly, death is nothing but to

remain

practically unconscious for seven months. That·s all.

This body is left, and we enter into a particular womb of mother, and just

to develop another body it takes about seven months. Then, after seven

months, when the body is fit, then our consciousness comes back. Then we

want to come out of the womb. And at the tenth month we come out. That is a

very miserable condition. That is the miserable condition of birth.

c.Srimad Bhagavatam 7.9.30 Mayapur, March 8, 1976

After sex, the living entity takes shelter within the semina and ovum of the

father and mother, and it be... It is... The formation is just like a small

grain. That grain develops because the spirit soul has taken shelter. Then

body... It is not that the body develops automatically, and at seven months

there is life.

 

Bhagavad Gita 2.11, Rotary Club Address-- Hotel Imperial, Delhi, March 25,

1976

 

In the first day of intercourse of the father-mother, the secretion mix

together, emulsified, and if the living entity is allowed to enter into

that, it grows. That is the beginning of our body. But if the living entity

is not allowed into the, that emulsified, small pealike form, then there is

no pregnancy. So attempt is made to pollute that emulsification. Therefore

the living entity cannot enter into it and there is no pregnancy. Otherwise

there must be pregnancy. After sex, the living entity takes shelter within

the semina and ovum of the father and mother, and it be... It is... The

formation is just like a small grain. That grain develops because the spirit

soul has taken shelter. Then body... It is not that the body develops

automatically, and at seven months there is life.

 

d, e, and f seem to be answered by the above commentaries.

 

Jayapataka Swami (GBC) / Prabhupada

 

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