Planet ISKCON

1966 May 14:
"Dasami. Paul was paid for Expenditure $1.00. There was meeting at noon. Sanskrit class contribution $4.00. I went to Ananda Ashram there was Keertan in the evening."
Prabhupada Journal :: 1966

1968 may 14: "Our only business is to spread Krishna Consciousness to the best of our possibility, and Krishna has given us discrimination and judgment. So, Krishna is within you, you chant and ask Him, Krishna, and He will give you proper instruction."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1968

1969 May 14: "You should always have Sankirtana going on. All other things are subsidiary. This chanting is our life and soul, so we must arrange there will be as much chanting on the streets and at college engagements as possible."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1969

1970 May 14: "My hearty thanks are to George Harrison because now he is chanting Hare Krsna so enthusiastically. I am marking that George has the serving spirit, and that is making him advance gradually."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1970

1972 May 14: "Too much business or paperwork, vouchers, plans, these things become too much cumbersome for our spiritual growth, they take us away from our real emphasis of work, namely, to go back to Home, back to Godhead."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1972

1973 May 14: "Then it is to be understood that all the sevaits have combined together to evict us. Then we'll have to take the matter to the rent controller. In India we have got experience, there are so many cheaters. So be very careful of them."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1973

1975 May 14: "This policy is not good. Why this change has been made? I never said they should not use their beads. That is the trouble with you Westerners, always changing."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1975

1975 May 14: "I wanted to see you very urgently to know about your family affairs. When I was grhastha, I had visited your home two or three times. Now, I am a sannyasi. So, it will be very kind of you to write me how I can see you."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1975

1969 May 13: "It is not wise to pick up quarrel with a crocodile while living in the jurisdiction of the water. Therefore we may agree to his desire so in future if required we may increase the term of lease."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1969

1970 May 13: "So I am simply interested in the book distribution and when there is question of printing books certainly I shall pay as I have been doing. What I want is that I may not tax my brain in the management of many departments."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1970

1970 May 13: "One of their important disciples tried his best to induce one English devotee, Krsnaprema, to become a disciple, but Krsnaprema never agreed. On the contrary Krsnaprema influenced him and he left their ashram and is now chanting Hare Krsna at Poona."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1970

1970 May 13: "There is a sort of conspiracy by some of our God-brothers as not to give me a place at Mayapur. The money is there, the sanction is there, the land is there, and still if it does not take place, I shall understand this is not the desire of Srila Prabhupada."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1970

1972 May 13: "The plan is very nice, that will be the grandest temple in Vrindaban so you execute it perfectly. It may be a little costly, but you must construct something wonderful. Otherwise, it will be a discredit to you American boys."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1972

1972 may 13: "Open a branch there, there are so many poor children. Spiritual food and education, that is proper. Simply supplying food is nonsense. Spiritual education means to inject in their ears our philosophy without any discrimination of Hindu or Muslim or anything."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1972

1974 May 13: "In our preaching we will meet with many tribulations and we must tolerate, that is patience. Now you are recuperating from an operation, so spend this extra time reading all my books, chanting as many rounds as possible, and go on doing my tapes."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1974

1973 May 13: "Bimalananda Tarkatirtha, the great ayurvedic physician felt my pulse and said there is something very wrong. But I left the next day to the Western countries and everywhere the climate is not at all suitable. He wants that I should come back to India immediately. So I am coming back, and I will stay at Mayapur."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1973

The post May 13th, 2014 – Darshan – Chandan Yatra – Day 12 appeared first on Mayapur.com.

About the Depths of Self-deception

In 2007 I attended a talk at Cornell University by Dr. Steve Weinberg, the 1979 Nobel Laureate in physics for his work on electromagnetic and weak forces, on the topic of “Science and Religion.” Dr. Weinberg did not mince any words when he categorically stated that religion is the cause of major problems in today’s world. Science, he stated, has proven to be objective in its outlook, and it only speaks the beneficial truth.

As I returned to my dorm after the talk, I mulled over Dr. Weinberg’s statements. As a young seeker, I looked towards both physics and religion for answers to the big questions about the purpose of my existence. I was often puzzled by the fact that every person that I admired on both sides seemed to have a different version of what life ought to be, what a “good” man is, how to live, and so on. It became quite apparent to me that both science and religion could be used for positive transformational work and for the perpetration of deeply hurtful activities, and both had the capacity to explain “truth” in deeply philosophical and practical ways. It was not a question of which was better; it was more a question of who used it and for what purpose. It became evident that the core problem in this debate is that of human nature itself — its hopelessly self-fulfilling side called the ego.

Modern psychology has been wrestling with the vast territory of the human ego for a great while now, and its complexity continues to mystify us. Even before I learned about Freudian ideas on the ego, I first encountered the concept of the ego explicitly mentioned in the Bhagavad Gita. According to the Gita there is a fundamental difference between “real” ego and what it defines as the “false” ego. Real ego is our very essence, the consciousness that makes us aware and awake to reality. The false ego is a false identity crafted to preserve the sense of being the most significant and the most important all the time. In short, it is a narcissistic search for being loved, validated and appreciated. This is what some refer to as the ego. The Gita further describes the subtleties of the ego and how it manifests moment to moment in our thoughts, words, and deeds.

The concept seems to be stretched too far when we first read about it. But when we honestly study our own lives, we can clearly isolate various episodes of how this tendency manifests itself in our personality, either covertly or explicitly. The events can range from simple conversations on which football team is the best, to intense debates in boardrooms on the next important decision for the organization. What’s worse is that the ego blinds us from seeing its own ploy, the ultimate of which is rationalized excuses for avoiding honest introspection and admittance.

None of us have navigated through life without encountering the effects of the ego, be it in the workplace or home. Our own behavior is, at times, strange, unsettling, and un-objective. Some of this is tolerable and some of this is decidedly unpleasant or outright disastrous. Yet, while everyone is busy gathering insight into the way other people act and behave, few are willing to look so intently at themselves. This dynamic of interaction also applies to the way groups of people interact with each other. We want to know what makes other people or groups tick, yet are afraid to discover anything upsetting about ourselves. We would like to point out the faults of systems and people as if we had X-ray vision, while not really wanting others to see our weaknesses and shortcomings.

Capitalism further aggravates this mentality by simply rewarding us for producing enjoyable and affirmative content. Even academia, which prides itself on objectivity, is more geared towards pleasing companies and corporations that can provide grants and financial assistance. In this atmosphere, we are less conscious of our severe mental shortcomings and less inclined to be skeptical of our own opinions. Charlie Munger of Berkshire Hathaway once gave a speech called “The Psychology of Human Misjudgment,” and in his talk he revealed our natural weakness, in which we only pick out evidence that supports our views, or we pick out weakness in the other that makes us look better. We are cognitive misers; we try to think as little as possible, especially about our deep inner motivations. In today’s times where we pride ourselves on progress in cognitive science and search capabilities, this tendency leaves a huge cognitive deficit. And the thought of internal combat further takes us away from attempting to rid ourselves from the shackles of the false ego.

The false ego is a master of disguise. One of the greatest dangers of progressive work is that the false ego tempts to sidestep deep introspective work by leaping into self-righteous advancement too soon. This is because the false ego fancies itself as more “advanced” than it actually is. How many “rational” decisions made by heads of state have caused havoc in the lives of millions of people? How much scientific research has been employed to cause direct harm to our environment? How many first-year novices of religion have persuaded themselves to believe that they are just about ready for sainthood only to find their misconceptions and behavior give rise to scandals and violence?

The Bhagavad Gita’s prescription to combat this crafty enemy within us is to create a culture of introspection and self-knowledge whose basic components lie in courage and humility — a healthy skepticism of our own “goodness” combined with an unending desire to learn more about ourselves. They work as powerful radars that uncover the camouflage of the ego and disarm it. Real self-knowledge is an invaluable guardian against self-deception mechanisms of the false ego, and any true and beneficial culture of transformation will teach us this. The more we practice this awareness, the more we can realize that it is not necessarily the systems that are good or evil; rather it is more likely our ego-centric adoption of those systems that we need to explore before we make judgments.

About the Depths of Self-deception

In 2007 I attended a talk at Cornell University by Dr. Steve Weinberg, the 1979 Nobel Laureate in physics for his work on electromagnetic and weak forces, on the topic of “Science and Religion.” Dr. Weinberg did not mince any words when he categorically stated that religion is the cause of major problems in today’s world. Science, he stated, has proven to be objective in its outlook, and it only speaks the beneficial truth.

As I returned to my dorm after the talk, I mulled over Dr. Weinberg’s statements. As a young seeker, I looked towards both physics and religion for answers to the big questions about the purpose of my existence. I was often puzzled by the fact that every person that I admired on both sides seemed to have a different version of what life ought to be, what a “good” man is, how to live, and so on. It became quite apparent to me that both science and religion could be used for positive transformational work and for the perpetration of deeply hurtful activities, and both had the capacity to explain “truth” in deeply philosophical and practical ways. It was not a question of which was better; it was more a question of who used it and for what purpose. It became evident that the core problem in this debate is that of human nature itself — its hopelessly self-fulfilling side called the ego.

Modern psychology has been wrestling with the vast territory of the human ego for a great while now, and its complexity continues to mystify us. Even before I learned about Freudian ideas on the ego, I first encountered the concept of the ego explicitly mentioned in the Bhagavad Gita. According to the Gita there is a fundamental difference between “real” ego and what it defines as the “false” ego. Real ego is our very essence, the consciousness that makes us aware and awake to reality. The false ego is a false identity crafted to preserve the sense of being the most significant and the most important all the time. In short, it is a narcissistic search for being loved, validated and appreciated. This is what some refer to as the ego. The Gita further describes the subtleties of the ego and how it manifests moment to moment in our thoughts, words, and deeds.

The concept seems to be stretched too far when we first read about it. But when we honestly study our own lives, we can clearly isolate various episodes of how this tendency manifests itself in our personality, either covertly or explicitly. The events can range from simple conversations on which football team is the best, to intense debates in boardrooms on the next important decision for the organization. What’s worse is that the ego blinds us from seeing its own ploy, the ultimate of which is rationalized excuses for avoiding honest introspection and admittance.

None of us have navigated through life without encountering the effects of the ego, be it in the workplace or home. Our own behavior is, at times, strange, unsettling, and un-objective. Some of this is tolerable and some of this is decidedly unpleasant or outright disastrous. Yet, while everyone is busy gathering insight into the way other people act and behave, few are willing to look so intently at themselves. This dynamic of interaction also applies to the way groups of people interact with each other. We want to know what makes other people or groups tick, yet are afraid to discover anything upsetting about ourselves. We would like to point out the faults of systems and people as if we had X-ray vision, while not really wanting others to see our weaknesses and shortcomings.

Capitalism further aggravates this mentality by simply rewarding us for producing enjoyable and affirmative content. Even academia, which prides itself on objectivity, is more geared towards pleasing companies and corporations that can provide grants and financial assistance. In this atmosphere, we are less conscious of our severe mental shortcomings and less inclined to be skeptical of our own opinions. Charlie Munger of Berkshire Hathaway once gave a speech called “The Psychology of Human Misjudgment,” and in his talk he revealed our natural weakness, in which we only pick out evidence that supports our views, or we pick out weakness in the other that makes us look better. We are cognitive misers; we try to think as little as possible, especially about our deep inner motivations. In today’s times where we pride ourselves on progress in cognitive science and search capabilities, this tendency leaves a huge cognitive deficit. And the thought of internal combat further takes us away from attempting to rid ourselves from the shackles of the false ego.

The false ego is a master of disguise. One of the greatest dangers of progressive work is that the false ego tempts to sidestep deep introspective work by leaping into self-righteous advancement too soon. This is because the false ego fancies itself as more “advanced” than it actually is. How many “rational” decisions made by heads of state have caused havoc in the lives of millions of people? How much scientific research has been employed to cause direct harm to our environment? How many first-year novices of religion have persuaded themselves to believe that they are just about ready for sainthood only to find their misconceptions and behavior give rise to scandals and violence?

The Bhagavad Gita’s prescription to combat this crafty enemy within us is to create a culture of introspection and self-knowledge whose basic components lie in courage and humility — a healthy skepticism of our own “goodness” combined with an unending desire to learn more about ourselves. They work as powerful radars that uncover the camouflage of the ego and disarm it. Real self-knowledge is an invaluable guardian against self-deception mechanisms of the false ego, and any true and beneficial culture of transformation will teach us this. The more we practice this awareness, the more we can realize that it is not necessarily the systems that are good or evil; rather it is more likely our ego-centric adoption of those systems that we need to explore before we make judgments.

13-04-2014 SB 1.2.9 Proper Engagement of Ones Fruits, Ramesh Prabhu’s Home, Tongaat, South Africa.mp3

 

This week was a busy one in the garden. The first of our summer crops was planted, tomatoes. We planted three varieties this week Sungolds (exceptionally sweet, bright tangerine-orange cherry tomatoes), Rutgers (The legendary Jersey tomato, introduced in 1934 great tasting both fresh and for cooking), and Hillbillies (large bi-color heirloom with red and yellow marbling. Large with a rich, sweet flavor. An heirloom believed to be from West Virginia). The tomatoes were planted on red tomato mulch. This red plastic is used for both tomatoes and peppers it allows for more light transferring and has show to increase yields up to 20%. It also decreases the number of nematodes which are harmful insects to tomato plants.

The Teaching Garden which this year is in it’s first phase of becoming a medicinal apothecary garden has been receiving a ton of TLC. Dr. Nick Tsacrios and his crew have been working on a beautiful new fence. Marty Wach has been taking the lead on the planting in the Apothecary Garden. Marty and his wife Delia write children’s book and she is an accomplished artist. Marty the Gardener has an amazing history with medicinal plants. In the early 1990’s Marty went to Suriname, South America, for business and by chance met a Maroon Medicine Man. This led to a trip into the rain forest and meetings with the chiefs of the four Maroon Indian Tribes to discuss their need to create trade and commerce with America. Marty suggested the creation of sustainable micro-businesses as a solution to creating new trade relationships. The projects included the search for new medicines, aviculture, butterfly farming, poison dart frog research and eco-tourism. Now many years later he is bringing his great ideas to New Vrindaban. This year the garden will have flowers, vegetables, and medicinal herbs. Beside the tool shed is a wonderful area that Marty hopes to hold educational gardening classes in the future. Until next week happy gardening to all……

 

“As Your hot claws roughly dig into the chest of the enemy (Hiranyakasipu) like thunderbolts, You happily bear the redness of his blood upon Your body just as a peak is born by a mountain. Your abdomen is nicely folded, and Your navel is very deep. O auspicious one! O intolerable Nrsimha! Burn, burn and [...]

In your Gita daily article,

http://www.gitadaily.com/2014/05/09/watch-the-watchdog-of-the-conscience-that-watches-for-us-and-watches-us/

you state

"The Bhagavad-gita (15.15) states that Krishna is the source of knowledge, remembrance and forgetfulness. As conscience is usually the subconscious recollection of the right choice based on our prior knowledge, we can infer that conscience ultimately comes from Krishna."

Where is this concept talked about in our scriptures?

Answer Podcast

References:

"Why does the Supreme Personality of Godhead permit sinful activities? The Supreme Lord does not want any living being to act sinfully, and He begs him through his good conscience to refrain from sin. But when someone insists upon acting sinfully, the Supreme Lord gives him the sanction to act at his own risk (mattah smrtir jnanam apohanam ca [Bg. 15.15])."

Srimad Bhagavatam 5.18.3 purport

"A materialistic person works throughout the whole week very, very hard. He is always asking, "Where is money? Where is money?" Then, at the end of the week, he wants to retire from these activities and go to some secluded place to rest. King Puraïjana returned to his home because he was very much fatigued from hunting animals in the forest. In this way his conscience came to stop him from committing further sinful activities and make him return home."

Srimad Bhagavatam 4.26.11 purport

 

 

 

 

Answer Podcast

Answer Podcast

Lecture Podcast

Lecture Podcast

Lecture Summary: Overview of Srimad Bhagavatam 07.10.01-23:

1. Narada sets the scene
2. Please don’t tempt me
3. “Do I tempt my devotees?” No, you want to demonstrate how your devotees don’t succumb to temptation
4. “What are the qualities of the devotee?” Selfless servitorship
5. “What are the qualities of the master?” Selfless lordship
6. I want that selfless relationship with you
7. If you want to fulfill any desire of mine, fulfill my desire for freedom from material desires
8. “Why?” Desire destroys the resources that I can use for serving you
9. Desirelessness makes one eligible for liberation [But I don’t want that]

10. [I simply want to be your servant] so I offer obeisances to my eternal Lord

11. The Lord speaks: My devotees such as you are selfless, but I want to reward them, so accept the kingdom for just one Manavantara

12. “Why are you punishing me like this?” Not a punishment, but a service. By being centered on Me, practice bhakti-yoga, not karma-yoga

13. “Will I not be bound by karma?” By bhakti, you will be jivan-mukta and eventually you will be videha-mukta

1. 14.  “Why do all this?” For benefitting others

15. -17. Please deliver my father

18. 21 generations already purified

19. Even place of living of devotee gets purified

20-21. Set an example for people

22. Do last rites for your father – by your devotion, he will attain sublime destination

23. Rule the kingdom on my behalf

 

 

Conversation with guests in Istanbul.

The post Questions and Answers (Part 3) appeared first on SivaramaSwami.com.

Nrsimhadeva (nri-SING-ha-deva) is Krishna’s half-man and half-lion incarnation. After Krishna’s incarnation as a boar, Varahadeva, killed the demon Hiranyaksha, the demon’s younger brother, Hiranyakashipu, was determined to get revenge and conquer the universe. He performed severe austerities to get the attention of Brahma, and asked to be granted immortality. Brahma, the engineer of the universe, was himself a mortal being and so could not grant him immortality. But he did give Hiranyakashipu the boons that he could not be killed by any man or animal, by anything living or dead, during the day or night, inside or outside, on the land or in the sea or sky. Although seemingly invincible, when Hiranyakashipu tormented his youngest son Prahlada, a pure devotee of the Lord, Krishna burst out of a palace column as Nrisimhadeva. By killing Hiranyakashipu in the form of a half-man and half-lion, with his fingernails, at dusk, in the threshold of the palace and on his lap, Nrisimhadeva simultaneously respected the boons given by Brahma and saved His dear devotee Prahlada Maharaja. Read more ›

Vladivostok is a city and the administrative center of Primorsky Krai, Russia, located at the head of the Golden Horn Bay, not far from Russia's borders with China and North Korea Read more ›

“Bhagavan will not accept anything which is offered by a person who doesn’t chant Harinama one-hundred thousand times daily and such a person is considered a ‘patita’. By sincerely endeavoring to chant Harinama without offenses and remaining fixed in chanting constantly, one’s offenses will fade and pure Harinama will arise on the tongue.” Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur in an article in The Gaudiya, 1934 Read more ›

A small vegetarian "cafe" in downtown Vladivostok run by the local Hare Krishna devotees. Read more ›

HG Narakata Gopal Devi Dasi – SB 10.66.25-31 – 12.05.2014

ALL GLORIES TO LORD NRSIMHADEVA!

A Deity installation at New Vrindaban.

An article from the Brijabasi Spirit, 1986.

By Umapati dasa

Once, when Lord Nityananda took Jiva Gosvami on parikrama, They came to a place called Devapali, on the edge of the Navadvlpa district. Devapali had been well known in Satya-yuga, and Lord Nityananda told Jiva Gosvami that a temple of Lord Nrsimhadeva had once existed there.

After killing Hiranyakasipu, Lord Nrsimhadeva bathed in a river next to Ahovalam, a holy place in the mountains of South India. Rocks from this place are worshiped today as Nrsimha-tadiya, the paraphernalia of Lord Nrsimhadeva, and there are nine temples of Lord Nrsimhadeva in this region.

From Ahovalam, Lord Nrsimhadeva went to Devapali to rest on the bank of the MandakinI Ganga, accompanied by Lord Brahma and other demigods. Here Visvakarma, the celestial architect of the demigods, built jewelled houses for the demigods.

“Here is Surya’s house,” said Lord Nityananda, “and here is Brahma’s. Here is Ganesha’s, and here is Indra’s.

Sometime after the killing of Hiranyakasipu, a devotee came to live here. One day as he was bathing, he found a beautiful marble Deity of Nrsimhadeva killing Hi­ranyakasipu, with Praladha offering a garland. He estab­lished a large temple for the Lord and worshipped Him in great opulence. Nearby one can see the hills upon which the demigods resided, and a small lake marks the Mandakim river course.

Actually, the devotees of New Vrindaban had already decided to fulfill a long-cherished desire, so last October, Soma dasa, a devotee sculptor, started work on a Deity of Lord Nrsimhadeva.

Deities should not be confused with statues. The Scriptures say that the Deity is the Lord Himself, appearing in a form of wood or stone for the benefit of all. The materially conditioned living entity, who cannot see spirit but only wood or stone, can thus see the Lord and serve Him, and the self-realized soul, who indeed has spiritual vision, worships the Deity because he sees it as the Lord Himself.

His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, the spiritual master who brought the Krsna con­sciousness movement to the Western world, compared the Deity to a mailbox. The mailbox is nondifferent from the post office, because whether a letter is deposited in a mailbox or at a post of­fice, it will reach the same destination. But, he cautioned, it must be an au­thorized mailbox; an ordinary box will not do.

In this way, even a materialist can see that the Deity is nondifferent from the Lord because worship offered to the Deity bears the same fruit as worship of­fered to the Lord Himself—love of God. We cannot attain love of God by wor­shipping a statue, but if we worship the Deity according to the directions of the Vedic scriptures, the results are guaranteed.

Krsna is never alone. He is always with His devotees, and the liberated devotee can appear in Deity form, so Soma also started work on a Deity of Prahlada Maharaja.

Soma had been working the sculptures continuously, put the finish­ing touches on the Deities under supervision and with advice from Sampatkumar Bhattacarya, the head priest of the famous Tirupati temple in India.

But there was more to be done. Soma had made clay originals to be cast in resin. It was time for Kumar dasa, New Vrindaban’s casting specialist, to take over. Kumar made molds from Soma’s originals and poured in the resin. There was just one hitch: it had to work the first time or everything would be lost.

It worked. When the fateful day came, Kumar opened the mold to find a beautiful, 400-pound Deity of Lord Nrsimha, colored black with powdered West Virginia coal mixed in the resin. Prahlada Maharaja appeared the same day.

On January 6, 1986, Lord Nrsimhadeva and Prahlada were brought to New Vrindaban’s Temple of Under­standing. They were greeted by devo­tees who had come from all over the world for the occasion. The appearance of the Lord and His pure devotee is al­ways a joyous event, and the fes­tivities—chanting, dancing, feasting— continued for three days.

Now, the devotees can look up and see Lord Nrsimhadeva, with His be­loved devotee Prahlada Maharaja, as they chant the prayers in His honor:

“I offer my obeisances to Lord Nrsimhadeva, who gives joy to Prahlada Maharaja and whose nails are like chisels on the stonelike chest of the demon Hiranyakasipu.

“Lord Nrsimhadeva is here and also there. Wherever I go, Lord Nrsim­hadeva is there. He is in the heart and is outside as well. I surrender to Lord Nrsimhadeva, the origin of all things and the supreme refuge.

“0 Kesava! 0 Lord of the universe! 0 Lord Hari, who have assumed the form of half-man half-lion! All Glories to You! Just as one can easily crush a wasp between one’s fingernails, so in the same way, the body of the wasp-like demon Hiranyakasipu has been ripped apart by the wonderful pointed nails on Your beautiful lotus hands.”

By the Madhavas Rock Band.

“That which pervades the entire body is indestructible. No one is able to destroy that imperishable soul.” (Bhagavad-gita 2.17)

Here Krishna is giving a practical way of understanding the presence of the soul. He says that the one thing which is spread all over the body is immortal. So what is that which is spread all over the body? It is not the skin, the bone, the marrow, or the blood. The active principle within the body is consciousness or the soul.

Nowadays, by medical science they can replace bones, flesh, blood, all of the organs. It seems that everything can be replaced by scientific advancement. But that thing which is immortal, when gone, it cannot be replaced. Nowadays they can even replace the heart, but no medical science, or any science, is able to replace life. So Krishna is giving an example that the presence of the soul is perceived by consciousness. The flesh may be there, the bone may be there, the blood may be there, but if the consciousness is not there, there is no life. When the consciousness is in the body, the sensation of pain and pleasure can be experienced. Without consciousness, the body is a pile of dead matter.

Krishna teaches here that the consciousness is the symptom of the soul and it is immortal; it does not perish when the body perishes.

From Srila Prabhupada’s lecture on Bhagavad-gita 2.17 — Mexico, February 17, 1975

“That which pervades the entire body is indestructible. No one is able to destroy that imperishable soul.” (Bhagavad-gita 2.17)

Here Krishna is giving a practical way of understanding the presence of the soul. He says that the one thing which is spread all over the body is immortal. So what is that which is spread all over the body? It is not the skin, the bone, the marrow, or the blood. The active principle within the body is consciousness or the soul.

Nowadays, by medical science they can replace bones, flesh, blood, all of the organs. It seems that everything can be replaced by scientific advancement. But that thing which is immortal, when gone, it cannot be replaced. Nowadays they can even replace the heart, but no medical science, or any science, is able to replace life. So Krishna is giving an example that the presence of the soul is perceived by consciousness. The flesh may be there, the bone may be there, the blood may be there, but if the consciousness is not there, there is no life. When the consciousness is in the body, the sensation of pain and pleasure can be experienced. Without consciousness, the body is a pile of dead matter.

Krishna teaches here that the consciousness is the symptom of the soul and it is immortal; it does not perish when the body perishes.

From Srila Prabhupada’s lecture on Bhagavad-gita 2.17 — Mexico, February 17, 1975