Am I My Body?

[Gauracandra]

This week’s Srila Siddhaswarupananda television program looks at “Am I My Body?”

 

Who are you? What is a person? Like most people you have likely filled out forms on age, color, and other identities. “I’m 30 years old, I’m black, I’m a librarian, I’m female.” All these different labels based on the body.

 

We answer according to these labels. Most people identify with their physical body. What if I ask how old you are and you identify with your 2 year old shirt. Most people are like this and identify with their titles.

 

Are we our bodies? Le me ask you three questions:

 

1) Do you know that you exist – Yes.

2) Do you know that you existed 7 years ago – Yes.

3) Are you your body? – Yes.

 

Most would say this. The problem is that the body you have today is not the same body you had 7 years ago. That body no longer exists. Seven years ago you thought the same way.

 

Each body is made up of countless particles of matter. These cells are constantly changing. Read here [handing a book to an attendee] .

 

Audience Member [paraphrased reading of book]: “Dr. Paul C. Eversoll has recorded and is convinced that 98% of cells are replaced annually. The stomach lining is replaced every day. The liver, skin, hemoglobin replaces after X number of days… After five years one can consider the body completely new.”

 

Srila Siddhaswarupananda: For people who identify with the body this is very heavy. Who are you? Some people say they are the brain. “I’m the center of the brain.” But all the matter in the cell has changed. The brain in the skull changes every three days. Here read this.

 

Audience Member: “Recent studies of the turnover of the cells of the matter making up the brain is replaced every three days.”

 

Srila Siddhaswarupananda: Your memories are supposed to be stored in the brain. But my brain is different. There is a constant change in the body. What am I? If a person answers their body then they are speaking out of ignorance.

 

Most people understand this intuitively when they look in the mirror or look at old photographs. Sit down and look at the family album. They see the baby body, the boy body, the childhood body. “Johnny have you seen this picture of Linda?” It’s of a baby in diapers drooling. “Mom don’t show that picture.” We flash on this. Now we are bitter 60 instead of sweet 16. Where is the sweet 16 body? This is the way to appreciate that the gross physical body cannot be considered the self. Although you have a different body still you are you. Do you understand? I hope after this discussion, the next time you have to fill out one of those forms asking for your identity that you can dwell upon this.

[Guest guest]

Its true that we are not this body, but as long as the soul lives in the physical body, we have to identify ourselves with that body and there is no choice. Just because we arenot this body, one cannot neglect the body when the body falls sick or get into accident. This body is essential for the soul until it gets renounced and reach Lord and this body is given by God for us to properly perform the deovtional services to Him. While the athma inside changes the body as per the Karma and decision of Lord, one is still identified with this and thats why we are advised not to engage ourselves in illicit activities and spoil this body, since this body is responsible for the purity of the soul based on its actions performed when alive.

[theist]

 

Its true that we are not this body, but as long as the soul lives in the physical body, we have to identify ourselves with that body and there is no choice.

 

 

No we don't have to identify with it. that is the whole point. Yes we should keep it healthy in the Lord's service, but that does not mean identify with it.

 

Please rethink the word identify. We only need to identify our self as Krsna's servant,a spiritual part of Him.

[Guest guest]

I guess, you did not understand my point, or probably I was not clear in explaining....

 

When I say "Identify" this does not mean, that idenntification of the soul, but the identification of the body for material performance right from getting birth certificate to death certificate for record purposes. even a saint while living in a body, is identified by His body. We see Sankara or Chaithanya or Prabupadha for our mind to think of them based on the body they came in to this world, but their soul did not belong to that body permenantly and hence they left that body, yet living among us and hence we talk about them.

 

When we say Shri Krishna, certainly for sure He was not that material body, He is OMNIPRESENT, yet for us to think of a physical form, we portray Krishna based on how HE was figured in olden days. OK Leave Krishna, we cant pull HIM for our discussion since He is GOD. HE could take any body He wants.

 

Take Jesus christ, He was a Guru, yet in church we pray to HIM and identify as Jesus based on the body He took form.. Hitler was identified by his body with which he killed many other bodies, and must be facing the karma now in some other body for what ever his soul performed the evil actions while residing in that body.

 

So this body and soul are intricately related to each other in performing the actions. Whether the soul get renounced or affected badly depends on the karma this body performs. Right. So thats why we are all advised to keep this body away from illicit activities for the renunciation of the soul. An individual can be a good person at heart, think good for others, do good deeds, yet if he has a bad habit like going to prostitute or eat meat, to satisfy his physical hunger, his soul is not pure and the soul has to undergo the karmic reactions of his bodily actions.

So the soul is recognised by the body as long as it lives in the body and incur the karmic reactions based on the present bodily actions and suffer go the next body and suffer again and this cycle keeps continuing until the soul stops all the nonsensical actions of the body described as irreligious. Only after stopping all the irreligious actions of the body, then only the soul gets totally renounced becasue the sense organs of the body controls the soul as long as the soul lives in it. When the soul overcomes the sense organs control and fix it towards the ultimate goal of going back Home (Godhead), it takes different body and gets recognised by that body and face the karma.

 

R

[Guest guest]

Please add the word "UNtil" instead of "When" to the following sentence

 

When the soul overcomes the sense organs control and fix it towards the ultimate goal of going back Home (Godhead), it takes different body and gets recognised by that body and face the karma.

 

and read as follows:

 

Until the soul overcomes the sense organs control and fix it towards the ultimate goal of going back Home (Godhead), it takes different body and gets recognised by that body and face the karma.

 

 

[theist]

Yes I misunderstood. I agree,even though we may understand that we are spirit, in common interactions or when speaking we must use common manners and language.

 

You mentioned a birth certificate. Sometimes someone will ask our birthday. We can't very well say I am unborn.lol We have tp play along sometimes.

[Guest guest]

To explain it with a simple example, when Draupathi was insulted, Krishna was not giving a lecture on body and soul, rather He atonce saved her. So when the soul residing in the body becomes one with Paramathma in its devotion through the body, which is having senses of which thought is one, and action is another, the insult to the body residing in the soul is saved by Lord at once. Thats why the Karma of soul is determined by body as they are intricately related to each other.

R....

Raghavan