The Science of Identity

Gauracandra · March 24, 2002

This week’s Siddhasvarupananda television program was a summary program about “Identity”. It was not intended to be detailed but rather a brief overview of the philosophical meaning of Identity. There are three components to identity that were discussed:

1) What is my essence? (ie. Who am I?)

2) What is my position? (ie. How do I relate to the world?)

3) What is my function? (ie. What is my purpose in life?)

Question of Essence

You the person are not the material body. The body is simply a vehicle you are in temporarily. There are a number of ways we can understand this. For instance, people who lose body limbs in an accident often notice this. If someone has lost their legs, people start to look at them differently, like a different person. However, the individual who has lost their legs feels bad because they know “They” are still the same person. They are not their legs.

We can also understand that our body is constantly changing. We do not have the same body as we had seven years ago (whether it be limbs or brain cells).

So what is your essence? You are the life force, the spirit soul. I am spirit, I am eternal. My existence does not depend on the body, rather the body depends on the soul. Without the life force, matter will simply break down and decay.

Question of Position

There are many people who understand point number one “I am spirit”, but they fall into a trap with point number two. I am a spirit, but I am not the Supreme spirit. Some people come to believe that they are God. They will say that “You are God, but you have simply forgotten that you are God.” Thus they meditate trying to remember that they are in fact God. Siddhasvarupananda then asks a child in the audience what is wrong with this notion. The kid had a very hoarse throat but said “God is supposed to know everything. So how can God forget?” Siddhasvarupananda then said “See even a child can see the problem with this philosophy”. So what they are saying is that material nature is supreme, not God. This is simply atheism disguising itself as religion. We reject it.

Question of Function

If I am spirit soul and I am dominated, then what should I be doing with my eternal life? The hedonist thinks that satisfaction comes from “sense flashes”. But if I’m not matter, then how can matter truly satisfy me? It can’t.

We must understand that no matter what position we are in we are always serving someone. This is our fundamental nature. But our eternal and natural function is in rendering loving service to God. This is not sentimental, not just feelings… rather you actively work in this world to serve God. Your eternal life should be centered around God. Developing love for God should be the purpose of one’s life, whether we are in the material or spiritual world. Simply love God. This is the message coming from our gurus and scripture.

gHari · March 24, 2002

My eyes read "Science of Humility". Maybe it's more or less the same thing.

stonehearted · March 25, 2002

Thanks, as usual, for posting this summary. I have been occaisionally going to the Sunday evening program at Garuda das' farm near Opihikao, here on the Big Island. The kirtan is great--he'll chant one easy-to-follow tune for 45-50 minutes and give a short, basic lecture. The coup-de-grace is the prasadam, most of which is simple and healthy, and includes the best pizza on the island. I've known Garuda and his wife Mukunda dasi since 1976, when we lived on Maui. They have been solid devotees for many, many years, and their farm is quite nice.

mahak · March 25, 2002

Opihikao, now there is a way cool place. Much bettah than little chicago (honomu), eh, stony. Give me luvin regards to di big bird, his family and all di friends oveh dere, eh.

haribol, ys, mahaksadasa

Gauracandra · March 26, 2002

No problem on the summary. I rather enjoy taking the notes and writing it up. I've missed a number of weeks of summaries for a few reasons. First, sometimes I have scheduling conflicts and (I know I'm stupid) I can't figure out how to program my VCR. Second, sometimes the channel advertises the program and then doesn't show it. Like a few weeks back instead of Siddhaswarupananda I got another guy from Hawaii. Some Christian evangelist, and it was really bad. Not sure how big of a following this guy has, and this has nothing against Christianity, but he was awful. He was like a big clown and I kept thinking "Poor Jesus." Anyways, thats a side track. And sometimes they have repeats of past episodes, and so I don't type them up again. Anyways, I'll do my best to keep up the summaries.

stonehearted · March 26, 2002

Originally posted by mahak:

Opihikao, now there is a way cool place. Much bettah than little chicago (honomu), eh, stony. Give me luvin regards to di big bird, his family and all di friends oveh dere, eh.

Will do, brah. BTW, Honomu seems a better place to live than when Satyaki and I lived there in the mid '70s. Get plenty little artsy shops 4 da tourist. Still, cheaper stay Puna. We're in the process of buying a place out toward Garuda's in Paradise Park.