Welcome to the Purely Prabhupada YouTube channel. This video series is called “Reality distinguished from illusion for the welfare of all.” My name is Kamra devi dasi, and I am a disciple of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada.
This is the ninth video of the series. It is called, “We are not what we do.”
The foundational understanding of real spiritual life is that we are not this material body in which we find ourselves. By accepting this truth, even just logically, we can change the way we act in this world for achieving the highest benefit. Even if we examine how we speak of this body, we can be led to a realized understanding of our true nature, that we are spirit, and that our inherent position is in proper alignment with the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Sri Krsna. For starters, we say “my body,” we do not address it as “I body.” My foot, my shoulder, my nose, my head, not I foot, I shoulder, I nose, I head…. Who is the “I” who is proclaiming that this is “my body?” This is us, the soul, the consciousness that moves this body. If we study what is the difference between a dead body and a living one, there is not a single element that can be found different, except that the soul, the consciousness, has departed. We are not this body.
When one understands that he is not the body, but spirit soul, this is real ego. It is our true identity, and cannot be given up. False ego, which means accepting the body as the self, will never lead to happiness, and must be given up in order for the soul to fulfill his innate and pure pleasure-seeking tendencies and return to the eternal kingdom of God.
When we act out of false ego, the belief that we are this body and identify with its activities, we are trapped in the world of material designations, attachments, and actions. Rich person, poor person, man, woman, doctor, lawyer, athlete, entertainer, and so on are all bodily identifications, or designations, and the designations then create more attachment to the body. For one who sees himself as an athlete, there are always more muscles to build and records to be broken, for one who sees himself as a politician, there are always bigger and better positions to achieve by hook or crook, and so on. The false ego, under the influence of matter, asserts that we are matter, and that material acquisitions are mine. Material attachments and desires grow and grow insatiably, plunging the spirit soul ever more deeply into insanity and delusion, forcing him to act in ways that are ultimately detrimental to himself and to others.
But the pure spirit soul is not to be identified by what he does in this world. His actions are only a playing out of his association with material nature, his false sense of self according to what he does, and his material aspirations and the karmic results of his past aspirations and activities. Yet, the deluded, covered, unfortunate soul takes his material sojourn very seriously, having wrongly accepted that he is the body, and he fights very hard to preserve and embolden that illusion. He is forced to unduly serve that which he is not by indulging the senses of the body in many ways that take up his time, focus, energy, and resources, with no tangible benefit to the soul. The analogy is given of polishing the bird cage while neglecting the needs of the poor bird within. The only way to break out of this cycle is to become detached from matter by accepting devotional service to the Lord under the guidance of a bonafide spiritual master.
We are not these bodies, and acting with this knowledge is the first stage in spiritual realization. There is spiritual guidance required, and practical application to the science of devotion. This is the only hope for the spirit soul to return to his constitutional position of eternal happiness in relationship with God. The acceptance of the simple practice of devotional service to the Lord, under the guidance of proper spiritual authority, is the key to attaining never ending happiness and to returning to the eternal kingdom of God, Krsna.
In Bhagavad-gita As It Is, by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada, we read in the third chapter, verse 27-
The bewildered spirit soul, under the influence of the three modes of material nature, thinks himself to be the doer of activities, which are in actuality carried out by nature.
PURPORT
Two persons, one in Kṛṣṇa consciousness and the other in material consciousness, working on the same level, may appear to be working on the same platform, but there is a wide gulf of difference in their respective positions. The person in material consciousness is convinced by false ego that he is the doer of everything. He does not know that the mechanism of the body is produced by material nature, which works under the supervision of the Supreme Lord. The materialistic person has no knowledge that ultimately he is under the control of Kṛṣṇa. The person in false ego takes all credit for doing everything independently, and that is the symptom of his nescience. He does not know that this gross and subtle body is the creation of material nature, under the order of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and as such his bodily and mental activities should be engaged in the service of Kṛṣṇa, in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. The ignorant man forgets that the Supreme Personality of Godhead is known as Hṛṣīkeśa, or the master of the senses of the material body, for due to his long misuse of the senses in sense gratification, he is factually bewildered by the false ego, which makes him forget his eternal relationship with Kṛṣṇa.
Ch 5 TEXT 14
The embodied spirit, master of the city of his body, does not create activities, nor does he induce people to act, nor does he create the fruits of action. All this is enacted by the modes of material nature.
PURPORT
The living entity, …., is one in nature with the Supreme Lord, distinguished from matter, which is another nature—called inferior—of the Lord. Somehow, the superior nature, the living entity, has been in contact with material nature since time immemorial. The temporary body or material dwelling place which he obtains is the cause of varieties of activities and their resultant reactions. Living in such a conditional atmosphere, one suffers the results of the activities of the body by identifying himself (in ignorance) with the body. It is ignorance acquired from time immemorial that is the cause of bodily suffering and distress. As soon as the living entity becomes aloof from the activities of the body, he becomes free from the reactions as well. As long as he is in the city of body, he appears to be the master of it, but actually he is neither its proprietor nor controller of its actions and reactions. He is simply in the midst of the material ocean, struggling for existence. The waves of the ocean are tossing him, and he has no control over them. His best solution is to get out of the water by transcendental Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That alone will save him from all turmoil.
