Secrets of the Soul 18

dehino ’smin yathā dehe
kaumāraṁ yauvanaṁ jarā
tathā dehāntara-prāptir
dhīras tatra na muhyati

“As the embodied soul continuously passes, in this body, from boyhood to youth to old age, the soul similarly passes into another body at death. A sober person is not bewildered by such a change.” [Bhagavad-gita 2.13]

This very important sloka of Bhagavad-gita teaches us the first step of real spiritual knowledge. Those who understand their eternal identity as spirit soul are truly situated in knowledge, jnana. But to consider one’s identity solely in terms of this material body is ignorant, ajnana. If you consider your identity on the basis of this temporary bodily dress, then you are ajnani, ignorant. You are ajnani because you do not know your real identity as a spirit soul. Therefore the Esoteric Teaching says,

yasyātma-buddhiḥ kuṇape tri-dhātuke
sva-dhīḥ kalatrādiṣu bhauma ijya-dhīḥ
yat-tīrtha-buddhiḥ salile na karhicij
janeṣv abhijñeṣu sa eva go-kharaḥ

“A human being who identifies this body made of three elements with his self, who considers the by-products of the body to be his kinsmen, who considers the land of birth worshipable, and who goes to the place of pilgrimage simply to take a bath rather than meet men of transcendental knowledge there, is to be considered like an ass or a cow.” [Srimad-Bhagavatam 10.84.13]

Tri-dhatu means kapha-pitta-vayu. According to Ayurvedic medicine, this body is a combination of kapha-pitta-vayu: mucus, bile, and air. So the Vedic sastra says that if anyone identifies himself with this bag of kapha-pitta-vayu, bones, flesh, blood and stool, his own kinsmen, his wife and children, worships the land of his birth, and goes to a place of religious pilgrimage but does not approach an actual Master Teacher for spiritual instruction, then sa eva go-kharah: such a person is no better than a cow or ass.

Thus the Esoteric Teaching enjoins that our identification with the material body is simply animal consciousness. An animal, like a dog, knows only that he is this material body. If a human being, with so-called advanced intelligence, also thinks like that, then how is he more advanced than an animal? He may have much so-called knowledge, but his consciousness is no better than the cats and dogs. This whole sorry material world is going around on the basis of that wrong impression, the misidentification with the material body. Therefore because of this misunderstanding there is fighting between one nation and another, one person and another, and so many unnecessary problems and useless suffering.

So a jnani means one who is above the primitive animalistic bodily concept of life. He alone is a jnani who understands that “I am an eternal spirit soul. Ultimately I have nothing to do with this temporary body.” Therefore to help Arjuna become a true jnani, the first instruction Kṛṣṇa gives to Arjuna is, “You are not this body. My dear Arjuna, you are declining to fight because you are infected with the bodily misconception of life. You are hesitating to do your duty as a responsible king because of your bodily, blood relationship with the Kurus, namely your cousin-brothers, nephews and others. But that is a wrong conception because you are not this body.”

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