Secrets of the Soul 27

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]

Kṛṣṇa says in this sloka that the soul, dehi, is passing or transmigrating through different types of bodies, even within this life. First of all, he gets a small body, a fetus within the womb of the mother. It starts out as a simple blastocyte, then develops through many other forms resembling more primitive reptiles and animals. When the human form is complete, the body comes out of the womb as an infant. Then again the body changes from babyhood to childhood, from childhood to boyhood, boyhood to youth. These changes continue throughout life, culminating in death.

In this way, the living entity is changing his body constantly. The living entity is not changing; he is simply changing the body in different ways. That is explained in this sloka, Bhagavad-gita 2.13. The point was to convince Arjuna, “Do not lament because your grandfather will change the body.” So He was presenting the argument logically: “Now, even if your grandfather is killed, why should you lament? He’ll get a fresh, new body, another youthful body. Rather you should become joyful that your old grandfather is going to have a new body.”

That was Kṛṣṇa’s argument to Arjuna. But the actual point we should take away from this, is that we should not identify our self with this body. That bodily identification is ignorance, because it is not a fact. We should understand that “I am Brahman. I am an eternal spirit soul, different from this temporary material body.” Otherwise there is no advancement of spiritual education, self-realization or enlightenment.

Therefore, in Bhagavad-gita you’ll find that as soon as one realizes that he is not this body—that he’s Brahman, spirit soul—then he attains the exalted state of brahma-bhuta:

brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā
na śocati na kāṅkṣati
samaḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣu
mad-bhaktiṁ labhate parām

“One who is thus transcendentally situated at once realizes the Supreme Brahman and becomes fully joyful. He never laments or desires to have anything. He is equally disposed toward every living entity. In that state he attains pure devotional service unto Me.” [Bhagavad-gita 18.54]

When one becomes brahma-bhuta or self-realized, understanding that “I am not this body,” immediately one becomes jubilant, prasannatma. Actually, because of being identified with this body, we are suffering. The brahma-bhuta stage is complete spiritual happiness, without the disturbance of desiring what one does not have, and lamenting for what one has lost. The joy of brahma-bhuta is described in the Esoteric Teaching:

manye giraṁ te jagatāṁ vimohinīṁ
varaṁ vṛṇīṣveti bhajantam āttha yat
vācā nu tantyā yadi te jano ’sitaḥ
kathaṁ punaḥ karma karoti mohitaḥ

“Always engaging in the activities of devotional service, devotees feel ever-increasingly fresh and new in all their activities. The all-knower, the Supersoul within the heart of the devotee, makes everything increasingly fresh. This is known as Brahman realization by the advocates of the Absolute Truth. In such a liberated stage [brahma-bhuta], one is never bewildered. Nor does one lament or become unnecessarily jubilant. This is due to the brahma-bhuta situation.” [Srimad-Bhagavatam 4.20.30]

This spiritual realization is the perfection of yoga attainable by the Esoteric Teaching.

Next