Are You Alive or Dead?
Are you alive or dead? Do you identity with matter or with spirit? If you identify with matter, you are living in a state of virtual death. You are not truly alive. You are cheating yourself out of the bliss of your eternal unlimitedly ecstatic existence. So it's your choice now to be either a fool or a wise man. I hope you make the right choice, the smart choice.
Please accept my humble obeisances.
All glories to you.
I am just not able to make practical this philosophy of "I am not this body; I am soul." I can't get it down my throat. It is true philosophically, but there is something wrong in the way I am applying it practically.
Many devotees taught me that I am not this body, I am soul. So my father is not my father; my brothers are not my brothers; and none of my relatives are my relatives actually because I am soul. My only business is to advance in Krishna consciousness. So now what should I do? This philosophy, although true philosophically, does not make any practical sense to me.
Tomorrow when I marry my wife, she will not be my wife, nor will my children be my children because I am soul and they are all souls. Isn't it? And so we have to continue in our own Krishna consciousness. But actually this doesn't make any practical sense. It kills the spirit of loving relationships and makes us unemotional.
I humbly beg you to please help me understand the you practical application clearly so I can be at ease.
Begging your mercy,
Your servant
Please accept my blessings.
All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
It is very simple. Even though your bodily relationships, including your relationship of being a temporary resident in your own body, have nothing to do with your eternal identity as one of Krishna's servants in the spiritual sky, by the merciful guidance of the spiritual master you can engage those bodily relationships in Krishna's service in such a way that is conducive for you to transcend them and regain your original true identity. For example, even though you are not your body, you are meant to feed it and give it sufficient sleep so that you can engage yourself nicely in Krishna's service so that you can liberated from material existence.
There is a nice analogy in this connection: If you are driving from Delhi to Mumbai, will you think that you are your car? No, of course not. But your non-identification with your car does not mean that you will neglect its proper maintenance. To make your journey successful, even though are you are not your car, you will do proper duties regarding the car, such as changing the oil, putting air in the tires, and filling the gasoline tank, in order to successfully make your journey. It is the same thing with you bodily duties.
When you understand that your relatives are also the eternal servants of Krishna, but now due to ignorance are entangled in the cycle of birth and death, you will feel stronger loving emotions for them than you have ever felt before in your entire life. You will feel now genuine love for them as eternal spiritual beings that you must try to somehow or other save from their imprisonment within the three modes of material nature. Now for the first time in your entire life you will actually be able to purely love them free from any ulterior motive.
Sankarshan Das Adhikari
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Question: How to Make "I Am Not This Body" Practical?
Dear Srila Gurudeva,Please accept my humble obeisances.
All glories to you.
I am just not able to make practical this philosophy of "I am not this body; I am soul." I can't get it down my throat. It is true philosophically, but there is something wrong in the way I am applying it practically.
Many devotees taught me that I am not this body, I am soul. So my father is not my father; my brothers are not my brothers; and none of my relatives are my relatives actually because I am soul. My only business is to advance in Krishna consciousness. So now what should I do? This philosophy, although true philosophically, does not make any practical sense to me.
Tomorrow when I marry my wife, she will not be my wife, nor will my children be my children because I am soul and they are all souls. Isn't it? And so we have to continue in our own Krishna consciousness. But actually this doesn't make any practical sense. It kills the spirit of loving relationships and makes us unemotional.
I humbly beg you to please help me understand the you practical application clearly so I can be at ease.
Begging your mercy,
Your servant
Answer: Engage Your Body in Krishna's Service
My Dear Disciple,Please accept my blessings.
All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
It is very simple. Even though your bodily relationships, including your relationship of being a temporary resident in your own body, have nothing to do with your eternal identity as one of Krishna's servants in the spiritual sky, by the merciful guidance of the spiritual master you can engage those bodily relationships in Krishna's service in such a way that is conducive for you to transcend them and regain your original true identity. For example, even though you are not your body, you are meant to feed it and give it sufficient sleep so that you can engage yourself nicely in Krishna's service so that you can liberated from material existence.
There is a nice analogy in this connection: If you are driving from Delhi to Mumbai, will you think that you are your car? No, of course not. But your non-identification with your car does not mean that you will neglect its proper maintenance. To make your journey successful, even though are you are not your car, you will do proper duties regarding the car, such as changing the oil, putting air in the tires, and filling the gasoline tank, in order to successfully make your journey. It is the same thing with you bodily duties.
When you understand that your relatives are also the eternal servants of Krishna, but now due to ignorance are entangled in the cycle of birth and death, you will feel stronger loving emotions for them than you have ever felt before in your entire life. You will feel now genuine love for them as eternal spiritual beings that you must try to somehow or other save from their imprisonment within the three modes of material nature. Now for the first time in your entire life you will actually be able to purely love them free from any ulterior motive.
Sankarshan Das Adhikari
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