lesson one - You are not that body

You're Not That Body
by
Bir Krishna ,Swami
Cover Painting and Illustrations
by
Madhava priya devi dasi
Explanation


You're not that body!
Five thousand years ago Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead,
spoke the Bhagavad-gita (the Song of God) which contains information
about God, the living entities, karma (action and reaction in this
world), time, and the material energy.


The Bhagavad-gita is one of the Vedic literatures. The word veda (from
which the word Vedic comes) means knowledge. The Vedic literatures
deal with spiritual and material subject matters. The knowledge they
contain is perfect, because of its perfect source. God, or God's
devotees in disciplic succession from God.


The Bhagavad-gita teaches us that the soul is unbreakable,
unchangeable, insoluble, everlasting, immovable, and neither burnt nor
dried. l The Vedic literatures inform us that there are many eternal
souls of whom the chief is Krishna, who
is maintaining all of the other souls. The Bhagavad-gita explains that
the body, which we (who are souls) identify ourselves with in the
material world, is simply a machine. It is, of course, a very complex,
wonderful machine. Nonetheless, it is still a machine.


In the way that one drives a car, the soul is driving the body.
Unfortunately the soul thinks that it is the body, so the
characteristics that pertain to a particular body are thought by the
soul to be its characteristics. For example: if the body is white, has
a gigantic nose, is female, and is born in the United States; the soul
thinks that it is an American white woman that needs a nose job.



Because of the soul's identification with the characteristics of the
body, he (the soul) identifiesothers according to their machine,body
characteristics, and forms alliances andanimosities accordingly. Thus
he develops family attachment,racism,nationalism and even specism;
which are
all manifestations of the same disease (misidentification of the self
with the body). When the soul becomes Krishna conscious he no longer
distinguishes between living entities because of the
differences in the bodily encagement; therefore he sees the true
equality of all beings.

The soul is situated along with God (the Supersoul) in the heart of
this machine. The soul is driving this machine according to his
desires. The Supersoul is observing the soul's actions, and waiting
patiently for the soul to become frustrated in its attempts to enjoy
through manipulating the machine body.

When the soul decides that its attempts at enjoyment have been futile
and that all future endeavors will miserably fail, he may decide to
seek out God. At this point Krishna sends His representative in the
form of the spiritual master to guide the soul on its spiritual path.
The soul, being
covered by the material energy, is not capable of perceiving the
existence and direction of the Supersoul who is situated next to him
in the heart. Therefore the Supersoul directs His external
representative (the spiritual master) to help the sincere searcher.
1. Bhagavad-gita 2.24
2. Katha Upanisad 2.2.13
3. Bhagavad-gita 18.61
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