SSMY 4

Science of the soul

The ABC of Bhagavad-gita

The first and most fundamental knowledge that a disciple learns from a guru is, “You are not the body;
you are a spirit soul.” This knowledge is the ABC of Bhagavad-gita and one of the first instructions that
Lord Krishna gave Arjuna, when Arjuna surrendered to Him [BG 2.13]. Let us understand this
fundamental knowledge of the scriptures in this lesson.

Doctors dissect and study a dead body. What makes a living body possess emotions and feelings like pain,
pleasure, happiness, distress, etc? The soul is the spark of life that makes the body appear alive and when
the soul leaves the body, we say the person is dead.

According to the Vedic knowledge, the body is always dead. For example, a microphone is made of metal.
When electric energy passes through the microphone, the sound is broadcast over loudspeakers. But
when there is no electricity in the system, nothing happens. Whether the microphone is working or not, it
remains nothing more than an assembly of metal, plastic, etc. Similarly, the human body works because of
the living force within. When this living force leaves the body, it is said that the body is dead. But actually
it is always dead. The living force is the important element; its presence alone makes the body appear to
be alive. But “alive” or “dead,” the physical body is nothing more than a collection of dead matter.

Direct experience, inference, logic, empiric observation and religious faith all concur: some sort of
conscious self-energy exists within the body. The body is an instrument; the conscious energy, soul is the
user of that instrument. Say, I use a bicycle to travel from one place to another. If my cycle is destroyed, I
will have to get another one to ride – or I will have to stop using a bicycle altogether. But I exist apart
from the bicycle. Analogically, if my body is destroyed, I, the soul, am not destroyed with it. I continue to
exist as much as the bicycle driver continues to exist after the destruction of the bicycle. One bicycle may
breakdown, but I can get a new one. One body may grow from childhood to youth to old age and die one
day; but I can get another body. If one has a desire to drive a scooter, then one might change from a
bicycle to a scooter. If one can pay a higher price and wants to drive a car to save himself from the chasing
dogs, then one may give up a scooter and buy a car, etc. The vehicles may change, but the driver is the
same. Similarly, the soul, in order to satisfy his unfulfilled desires, leaves the material body at death and
acquires a new material body – be it human or animal or demigod/devata – depending on his karma and
desires.

Scientific Proof of the Soul’s Existence

When people hear about the soul, the first thing they ask is, “Can you show me the soul?” or “What is the
proof of the soul’s existence?” For gaining awareness of any knowledge we need an appropriate
instrument. For example, the ears cannot see a picture, nor can the eyes hear the sound of music. The soul
is not made up of matter. It is beyond matter. Is it possible to perceive the soul? A Physicist, or an
Electronics Engineer, cannot capture an electron with his fingers or hands, nor can he see it with his eyes;
but he can see the light reflection coming from an electron on the CRT screen. This is the proof of
existence of the electron. You cannot see X-rays with your eyes, but you can understand the presence of
X-rays by seeing the effect it produces on a X-ray photograph sheet, when the X-rays are passed through a
body. This is called ‘inferential logic’. Using the same logic the presence of the soul in a living body can be
easily proved. The following points may help us better understand the presence of the soul empirically.

Common Sense

Prof. Durckheim: Why does it appear to be so difficult to understand that one is different from the body?

Srila Prabhupada: It is not difficult. You can experience it. It is only because of foolishness that people
think differently; but everyone really knows, “I am not this body.” This is very easy to experience. I am
existing. I understand that I have existed in a baby’s body, I have existed in a child’s body, and also in a
boy’s body. I have existed in so many bodies, and now I am in an old man’s body. Or, for example, say you
have now put on a black coat. The next moment you may put on a white coat. But you are not that black
or white coat; you have simply changed coats. If I call you “Mr. Black Coat,” that is my foolishness.
Similarly, in my lifetime I have changed bodies many times, but I am not any of these bodies. This is real
knowledge.

When a person dies we say, “He has passed away.” Now who has passed away? The body of the person
still lies there. The fact is that the source of life, the soul, has passed away from the body and therefore
the person is now called dead.

Intuitive Understanding
Prof. Durckheim: Consider this. One of your students might say, “I am spirit,” but he might not be able to
experience it.

Srila Prabhupada: How can he not experience it? He knows that he is the active principle. Everyone
ultimately knows that they are not the body. Even a child knows it. We can observe this by examining the
way we speak. We say, “This is my finger.” We never say, “I finger.” So what is that “I”? This is self-
realization—“I am not this body.”

We have an intuitive understanding that the real self, the ‘I’, is distinct from the body, mind and
intelligence. We speak in terms of ‘my hand’, ‘my head’, ‘my suitcase’, etc. This indicates that these things
– hand, head, suitcase – belong to somebody, an owner. The eyes, ears and brain are merely organs,
through which we see, hear or think. These organs in themselves cannot do any activity. There are eyes,
ears and brain even in a dead body. The activities have stopped because the driver, the soul, has left the
body.

Awareness, Thinking, Feeling and Willing

Someone may argue, “But the soul can’t be perceived in any way or measured with any instrument. Why
should we believe in a hypothetical entity for which there is no evidence?” Actually, you can see the soul;
it is just a matter of training, just as you must study in the university for many years to see how an atom
exists. The soul is like a spiritual atom. The symptom of its presence is consciousness.
There is consciousness in a living body. Just like the sun spreads heat and light all around, the soul
spreads consciousness all around the body, from the tip of the toes and fingers to the top of the head. It is
this consciousness that enables us to think, feel, move and so on. Thus, consciousness is the symptom of
the soul. Consciousness is what distinguishes a dead body from a living one.

By a combination of servomotors and microprocessor, you can easily make a robotic machine perform
aratik ceremony for Lord Vishnu using incense sticks and a ghee lamp. You also perform aratik for the
Lord everyday. What is the difference? You have loving feelings for the Lord in the heart, while a robot
has no consciousness or awareness of itself or the Lord. When you appreciate a tape recorder for
broadcasting a sweet music, it feels no emotions; but when you appreciate your friend who sings sweetly,
you will find a smile on his/her face. This is consciousness – the ability to be aware of one’s existence, to
think, to feel and to will. As Thomas Huxley rightly said, “There is a third thing in the universe, to wit,
consciousness, which I cannot see to be matter or force.” Consciousness gives the proof of the soul.

Near Death Experience (NDE)

NDEs, as the name suggests, involve people who have a close call with death. Many people having NDEs
also have Out-of-Body Experiences (OBEs) in which they report observing their physical body and events
relating to it from a perspective outside the body during severe illness or physical trauma resulting in
unconsciousness. A typical case might involve a person who is resuscitated from a heart attack and
reports that he observed, from a point outside his body, the medical personnel endeavoring to revive him.
At such times, according to standard medical opinion, the normal functioning of the brain, as indicated by
certain brain waves, is impaired, and the patient should be unconscious, if indeed consciousness is a
manifestation of the brain.

A real life NDE of a boy who had a brush with death can be presented as an example. Once a boy
sitting in a rickshaw was relaxing carefree while a bullock cart carrying reinforced steel bars was
ahead of the rickshaw. Owing to the dark night, the rickshaw driver did not notice one of the bars that
was protruding. As he drove ahead, the rod entered right into the abdomen of the boy in the rickshaw
who screamed and gasped for life as the rod pierced his stomach and came out from his back. He was
rushed to the emergency ward and to the operation theatre. He was almost dead, while the nurses
operated on his abdomen. When he recovered, he could recollect each and every instrument used by
the nurses for operating on him, as well as the talks that went on between the doctor and the nurses.
The greatly surprised hospital officials inquired from him as to how an unconscious person, whose
brain waves were flat, could remember everything that had happened during the operation. In
response the boy said that he was out of his body, at a point four feet above the body observing
everything happening to his own material body. This is a classical example of an NDE case.

The book ‘Into the Unknown’ published by ‘The Readers Digest’ even gives evidences of people who had
OBEs or Out-of-Body Experiences. Such people who could perform OBE, were made to lie on a bed closing
their eyes, go out of the body, observe the different types of objects like triangular prism, rectangular,
circular plates, etc., kept on a loft, again return into the body and draw the objects that they saw on the
loft on a sheet of paper. Such drawings perfectly matched with the objects kept high up on the loft that no
one could observe from the ground level. This is called OBE or Out-of-Body Experience.
There is enough research work in NDE and OBE presented by individuals with impeccable scientific
credentials. For example, Dr. Michael B.Sabom, a cardiologist and professor at the Emory University
Medical School, was openly skeptical of NDEs but changed his mind after investigating them.

Past Life Memories

Rigorous, unbiased studies have been carried out by serious researchers on past-life memories. Ian
Stevenson, Carlson Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Virginia, has extensively investigated
spontaneous reincarnation memories recounted by children. In such cases he has been able to positively
corroborate what the child has claimed by thoroughly investigating details of the place and people they
describe, including the dead person they claim to have been. Stevenson has assembled numerous
accounts of over 3000 cases of reincarnation and verified them, always taking great care to screen out
fabrications. His studies give convincing evidence that the conscious self can travel from one physical
body to the next.

Clearly, when one body dies, the contents of its brain are destroyed, and there is no physical process by
which they can influence the contents of another brain. The logical interpretation is that the conscious
self must be an entity distinct from the brain.

Practical Benefits of the knowledge about the soul

The knowledge and realization of the soul, as explained in Bhagavad-gita by Lord Shri Krishna to Arjuna
has several practical benefits for one even in the modern age as outlined below:

Acquiring Divine Assets and Freedom from Demoniac nature: To live a life with the consciousness, ‘I
am not this material body; I am pure spirit soul’ directs one to cultivate divine qualities as humility,
contentment, tolerance, patience, sweetness, equipoise, universal love, honesty, sincerity, etc. Cultivation
of such qualities brings peace and happiness now, and at the same time leads one to the world of eternal
joy. On the other hand the qualities normally found in those leading a life of bodily consciousness are
selfishness, intolerance, craving for flickering pleasures, arrogance, false pride, anger, etc., which take one
away from harmony with nature and God.
People who think that everything is finished at death try to selfishly accumulate as much as they can
without caring for others, like Duryodhana. Ignoring God, considering themselves to be the ultimate
controller and center of everything, they consider everything as objects of their enjoyment. If you draw
millions of circles with a common center, there will be no clash; similarly when one understands God to
be the center of the universe, then all living beings can live without quarrel. When everyone considers, ‘I
am the center’ then it is like drawing multiple circles with different centers all clashing with one another.
Freedom from Lamentation, Fear and Illusion: Everyone in this world laments when some near and
dear ones pass away. We have seen once when the wife of a big government officer died, he lamented like
a child flapping his hands and legs on the ground. When one knows the knowledge of the soul, one can
understand that the soul has passed away to the next body, and that death is nothing but the transfer of
the soul from one body to another. When old age sets in, people fear that death may come at anytime. But
one who knows that he is different from the body, does not fear death, rather prepares his consciousness
to achieve the blessings of God’s remembrance at the time of leaving the body. When bombs were being
dropped during the second world war, Srila Prabhupada was making kachoris singing Hare Krishna
happily. A devotee has no fear, because he chants God’s names when he is alive and returns with his
spiritual body to God’s kingdom when he dies.
One who thinks, ‘I am the body’ spends all the time in illusory enjoyment like smoking, drinking and
activities that degrade the body, mind and soul. In modern times there are hundreds of varieties of shoes,
coats, suits, hairstyles, cosmetics, soaps, hair oils, etc. – all meant for pampering the dying material body.
Such an attempt is compared to the efforts of the lady who polished the cage, but forgot to feed the parrot
within the cage. Modern man is pampering the material body due to illusion, forgetting the soul within.
But one who knows that the actual self is the soul, and that the body is like a mere dress, acts on the
spiritual platform according to the good instructions of the scriptures. This leads to the benefit of body,
mind and soul.
Universal Brotherhood: The above qualities bring about universal brotherhood under the Fatherhood
of one Supreme God. A spiritualist endeavors to stabilize his awareness of the soul and strengthen his
loving relationship with God and all other living beings. This leads to peace, happiness, purity, knowledge
for the welfare of everyone. In other words the ‘Vaikuntha’ (place of no anxiety) atmosphere can be
created even in this world when God is kept in the center of everyone’s life, and the knowledge of the soul
in relation to God is understood and practiced by all.
Hitler killed millions of innocent Jews in gas chambers, considering them his enemy. The quarrel between
whites and blacks is simply based on superficial skin identity. All these quarrels can be stopped at once as
soon as one understands the soul. Man against man, family against family, country against country have
quarrels simply on the basis of self-imposed, demarcated, false superficial identities. When one
understands the real identity as the soul, then not only other humans, but even animals, birds, trees all
become our brothers under the protective shelter of God. This can put an end to mass scale slaughter of
innocent cows and abortion of millions of children in the womb.
Positive Outlook and Attitude to life: Understanding the knowledge of the soul changes man’s outlook
and attitudes, and helps one act correctly while facing different situations in life. The attitude
transformation and spiritual upliftment that one gains by the knowledge of the soul proves that there is
potentiality of goodness in man, and it can be awakened by loving service to God and by removing the
negativity of the enjoying mentality. The transformation of heart leads to the attitudes of goodwill, co-
operation, sympathy, love and serving others with humility.
When one understands the knowledge of the self, then one gains self-awareness that can lead to self-
management. We can observe ourselves, our chemistry or nature, our right and wrong behavior, our
strengths and weaknesses and where we need to improve. Just as we have the courage to direct others as
to what they should be doing, why they should be doing it and how they should be doing it, similarly, we
are able to direct our sense organs with proper understanding of these aspects. For example, the tongue
has no bones, but it can break bones if not managed properly. On most occasions, the information slips
through the tongue in the wrong place, at the wrong time, in front of the wrong person, and one cannot
avoid the consequences that arise. This is the difficulty in managing oneself. If I am not able to take the
responsibility of managing my own sense organs, how can I take up the responsibility of managing my
life, my family or my workplace, and maintain a balance in all the different areas of my life ? In short,
therefore, we need the courage to manage our own selves. This is so helpful in our practical life situations
– both in the family and in the office.
If I really want to improve my situation or relationship with a partner, I can work on the one thing over
which I have control – myself. I can stop trying to shape up my wife/subordinate/friend and work on my
own weaknesses. I can focus on being a great partner, and a source of unconditional love and support.
Hopefully, that person will feel the power of my example and respond in kind. But whether that person
does or doesn’t, the most positive way I can influence my situation is to work on myself, on my BEING.
There are so may ways to improve our life – to BE a better listener, to BE a more loving marriage partner,
to BE a better student, to BE a more co-operative employee.

Such a positive attitude is possible only with one who has a high Spiritual Quotient (SQ). The knowledge
of the soul can help one conquer the problems of negative thinking that arise from previous experiences
stored in the mind, and help one live a life happily as a detached witness or observer. This is a very
essential quality for the common people as well as for those in high responsible positions. A lack of this
attitude can lead to stress, depression, revenge, grudge, boredom, defensiveness, etc.

Art and Science of Mantra Meditation: One who studies the soul also studies about the mind. The mind
is a storehouse of varieties of plans and desires for enjoyment. The mind constantly keeps accepting and
rejecting various desires and this causes the individual to suffer from stress, tension, depression,
inferiority complex, etc. But the knowledge of the soul as a non-material spiritual being combined with
Mantra Meditation, ‘Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama,
Rama Rama Hare Hare'’(see Appendix for more information), can offer one freedom from all mental
problems to begin with and eventually pure love of God.

Mantra Meditation is done with the understanding that as tiny souls we are helpless; God being the
Supreme father of the living being is eager to help us. Chanting is a loud call from the core of the heart to
the Supreme Lord to kindly elevate us from this suffering situation and to be placed in His loving
company. Thus the understanding of the soul offers one complete protection from all dangers and
worries of this world. One can simply hand over the charge of one’s life to God by such focused
meditation on the Holy names of God. On the other hand, there are those who consider themselves to be
their own body and avoid meditation, thinking of it as a waste of time. They are made to run from pillar to
post by their minds that hanker for practically everything in the world from a hamburger to the most
costly independent bungalow. Furthermore, they suffer from loneliness and boredom, with no knowledge
of the soul and its loving relationship with God.

Right use of resources: When people are conscious of the soul, they are aware that the material body is
temporary, and that the material world is a temporary place of suffering designed by God to reform and
purify us and prepare us to return to the eternal Kingdom of God. Thus they live a life socially, politically,
culturally and economically centered around God. This brings purity, peace, and prosperity, health,
wealth and happiness, all aimed at pleasing the Supreme Lord. Modern man absorbed in bodily
consciousness believes in ‘survival of the fittest’, and thus does not worry how he harms others in his rat
race to ‘eat, drink and be merry’. Claiming his forefathers to be apes, the origin of the universe to be a big
bang, modern man imagines himself to be no more than a bunch of chemicals or atoms colliding with one
another. Such a blunt, blind, superficial material outlook to life renders life meaningless, making the
world purposeless, and is neither useful to the individual nor beneficial to others in the world. The Vedic
life that centers around the awareness of the soul and its loving relation with God and all fellow beings,
teaches one to consider another man’s wife as a mother, other people’s wealth as garbage, and to warmly
treat others in the same way as one would want to be treated by others. Thus spiritual life is based on the
firm foundation of co-operation of all, welfare for all, proper utilization of God-given resources, and
freedom from greed and selfishness.

A Clear Understanding of Life and Death

The empirical evidences confirm that a conscious self is present in the material body. But if one has to
wait for science to provide complete understanding of the nature of the soul, and its qualities, one may
probably have to wait a million years. The attempt to understand reality by science, with its inherent
limitations, is like a child’s exploration of the vast expansive universe around him. Vedic knowledge on
the other hand is the timeless mature voice of the Supreme Father, God, coming since time immemorial.
We can get clear information about what is life and what is death from the scriptures directly without any
mental speculation.

The Gross Body and the Subtle Body

Lord Krishna says in the Bhagavad-gita (2.17):

avinasi tu tad viddhi yena sarvam idam tatam

vinasam avyayasyasya na kascit kartum arhati

“That which pervades the entire body is indestructible. No one can destroy the imperishable soul.”

The Lord also says in the Bhagavad-gita (7.4) :

bhumir apo nalo vayuh kham mano buddhir eva ca

ahankara itiyam me bhinna prakrtir ashtadha

“Earth, water, fire, air, ether, mind, intelligence and false ego are My eight separated inferior energies”.

These eight energies are always subject to change.

The gross body, also known as the ‘sthula sharira’ is made up of five elements - earth, water, fire, air and
ether – often known as ‘pancha maha bhuta’. Earth represents all solids, water represents all liquids, fire
represents heat, air represents all gases and ether represents space and sound in our body.

The Mind, Intelligence and False Ego constitute the subtle body. The subtle body is also called as the
‘sukshma sharira’. ‘True Ego’ is to understand that ‘I am spirit soul, eternal servant of God’. ‘False Ego’ is
to think in illusion that, ‘I am this body’. The subtle body and the gross body are coverings upon the soul.
Such a soul entrapped in these subtle and gross bodies is called a ‘Conditioned Soul’. One who becomes
free from these coverings and attains spiritual consciousness is called a ‘Liberated Soul’.
In the next verse, the Lord says:

apareyam itas tv anyam prakritim viddhi me param

jiva bhutam maha baho yayedam dharyate jagat

“Besides this inferior nature, there is a superior energy of Mine, that are all living entities who are
struggling with material nature and are sustaining the universe” (Bhagavad-gita 7.5).

Both inferior energy (matter: gross and subtle) and superior energy (spirit soul: sat-cit-ananda) are
subordinate to the Supreme Lord. The soul is life and the body is always dead. Just as when you wear
gloves on the hand and move the fingers, the gloves may appear to have life, similarly the soul moves the
body. The body is always dead even when the spirit soul is present in it, because the body is after all
made up of dead matter – earth, water, fire, air, ether, mind, intelligence and false ego; which have no life
in themselves.

The Nature of the Soul

The Soul is Indestructible
As soon as scientists come to know of any substance they want to study its physical and chemical properties. Thus Lord

Shri Krishna explains to Arjuna that the soul is not made up of matter like solids, liquids, or gases.

“The soul cannot be cut to pieces by any weapons; it cannot be burned by fire; it cannot be dried by wind;
nor can it be moistened by water.” [BG 2.23]

The Soul is an Individual

Each soul is a separate individual with separate consciousness. You are aware of your body, mind,
intelligence and false ego. I cannot perceive your headache and you cannot know what I am thinking. But
God is aware of every particle of this creation. [Read purport to BG2.12, BG15.7]

The Soul has form

The spirit soul is not some ‘impersonal light’ or ‘void’ as some people wrongly think. The soul is a
beautiful personality whose body is made up of sat-cit-ananda (eternity-bliss-knowledge).

Matter is formless – Spirit soul gives form to Matter

Matter in itself has no form. Matter acquires a form only when a spirit soul enters it. For example, if you
take a plain cloth it may be formless, but if you put your finger inside then it assumes a form. When you
remove your finger then it loses its form. Similarly, matter (the eight elements that constitute the body)
assumes a form when the soul enters it. At death, when the soul leaves the body, the body decomposes,
disintegrates and loses its form. So matter is formless, only the spirit gives form to matter. A table or
chair may have a form, although it is dead matter. Matter can assume form only when a soul manipulates
it. For example, a table has been given a form by a soul (carpenter).

The Soul Is Eternal

“For the soul there is never birth nor death. Nor having once been, does he ever cease to be. He is unborn,
eternal, ever-existing, undying and primeval. He is not slain when the body is slain.” [BG 2.20]
The Soul has a form of Eternity (sat)- Knowledge (cit)- Bliss (ananda)
The soul comes from the Kingdom of God and he has a spiritual body of eternity, knowledge and bliss to
relate with the Lord. But when the soul desires to become an independent enjoyer, he is dispatched to the
material world, where he is entrapped in a material body. Why do we suffer? Because the ‘sat-cit-ananda’
soul is entrapped in an ‘asat-acit-nirananda’ (temporary-ignorant-miserable) body, there is a great
amount of incompatibility that causes suffering. We all can easily see that we are seeking knowledge by
going to schools and colleges. We want to live forever, and in order to do that we go to a doctor to set
right the bodily problems, and also we always try to protect the body from all possible dangers. We want
to increase happiness unlimitedly and put a full stop to all pains. Our advancement in the use of modern
comforts shows that we want to make life always enjoyable and without any sufferings or worries. These
three aspirations can be fulfilled when one realizes, “I am not the body, I am the soul.”

The Soul is situated in the region of the Heart

The soul pervades the body with consciousness as a lamp fills a room with light. The lamp that gives light
to the entire room may be in one corner of the room. Similarly the soul is situated in the region of our
heart. The soul is not removed during heart transplantation, as he is spiritual. For example, when the
stepney / radiator of a car is changed, nothing happens to the driver.

Similarly one heart (which is just like a radiator pumping blood) may be replaced by another, but that
does not affect the soul. If somebody undergoes a heart transplant, do you see his intrinsic behavior or
nature change after the operation? No. Thus the soul, the owner of the body does not change when any
transplant is done.

The Size of the Soul

The Upanishads and the Shrimad Bhagavatam describe the size of the soul (seed form): “If you divide the
tip of the hair into 100 parts, and if you further divide one of those parts into 100 parts - that 1/10,000
part of the tip of the hair is the size of the soul.” (Svetasvatara Upanishad 5.9)

This is the size of the soul in the seed form, in which he wanders in the material universe. But the soul has
an original, beautiful, spiritual sat-cit-ananda form in the spiritual world, which is known as svarupa
(spiritual constitutional position). The soul has an eternal sweet relationship with God in this svarupa.

Are we Gods or God’s?

God, by definition, is supremely independent and is never controlled; He is the supreme controller. In the
Isopanisad, the word ‘isha’ is used to describe the Supreme Personality of Godhead. ‘isha’ means ‘controller’.
Is there any person anywhere within this universe who is not controlled? Can anyone say, “I am not
controlled”? Nobody can say that. None of us wants to grow old, get diseased and die; yet it is happening to
us all the time and we have no control over it whatsoever. No one wants to suffer, but sufferings are
constantly coming in our lives and we have no control to stop them. Thus we are thoroughly controlled by
the stringent laws of nature. Mayavadi impersonalists claim, “I am God, you are God, everyone is God.” But
when they get a toothache it controls them so much that they can do nothing about it except moan in pain. So
if they are controlled, how can they be God? Does this make any sense? God is never controlled; He is the
supreme controller. So if somebody is controlled, immediately we should know that he is not God.

Now, this is not to say that the living entities are not controllers to some extent. In the Bhagavad-gita
Lord Krishna says that the living entities are His superior energy. The living entities are superior because
they are conscious, whereas material energy is not conscious. Therefore the living entities can control the
material energy to some extent. For example, a scientist may produce and pilot a plane to fly great
heights, but when the fuel is finished the aeroplane must come down. Thus living entities have limited
freedom to manipulate matter. But when they manipulate matter for their own selfish enjoyment, then
the material energy dominates them and makes them suffer.

The following examples illustrate the relationship between matter and spirit and the difference between the
infinitesimal living entity and the infinite Supersoul:

 A big airplane can fly nicely in the sky, but if the spiritual energy – the pilot – is not there, it is useless. The
jet plane may be in the airport for thousands of years; it cannot budge an inch, unless the small particle of
spiritual energy, the pilot, comes and operates it. Thus an ordinary living entity can control an airplane,
but God being the supreme controller can control this gigantic manifestation of material energy, the
entire cosmic manifestation.

 A scientist, a tiny living entity, can put a satellite in orbit after years of research; but God can float millions
of huge planets in orbit effortlessly.

 A human being, a tiny living entity, can create at best a 200 storied skyscraper building, but God can
create millions of universes (ananta koti brahmanda nayak).

 A human being can make a small swimming pool, but God can make gigantic swimming pools, the vast
oceans.

Thus the superior spiritual energy can have some control over the inferior material energy. But we have
forgotten that, although we are superior to matter, we are still subordinate to God. And so that superiority is
being misused to exploit matter for sense gratification. This is the cause of our suffering.

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