View source for When we merge, even in Brahman effulgence, we do not lose our individuality. Although it appears that we have lost our identity, individuality, but actually that is not the fact.

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{{terms|"Similarly, when we merge, even in Brahman effulgence, we do not lose our individuality. Although it appears that we have lost our identity, individuality, but actually that is not the fact"}}
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[[Category:When]]
[[Category:Merging Into the Brahman Effulgence of God]]
[[Category:We Do Not]]
[[Category:Lose]]
[[Category:Individuality]]
[[Category:Although]]
[[Category:Appear]]
[[Category:We Have]]
[[Category:Lost]]
[[Category:Individual Identity]]
[[Category:Actually]]
[[Category:That Is Not]]
[[Category:Not a Fact]]
[[Category:Pages Needing Audio - BHAVESVARI]]
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<h2>Lectures</h2>
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<h3>Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures</h3>
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Nitya . . . the Māyāvāda philosophy is that we are aja, and Supreme Brahman is aja. So when we are uncovered by this material body, we mix with the aja. That is their theory, monist. We merge into the existence of aja. But that is not fact. You merge. That is like merging a green bird into a green tree. When a green bird enters a green tree it appears that the green bird is now merged, and he . . . it has no more existence. No. That is not . . . one can understand: the bird enters into the green tree does not mean the bird has not lost his existence. His individuality is still there. Similarly, when we merge, even in Brahman effulgence, we do not lose our individuality. Although it appears that we have lost our identity, individuality, but actually that is not the fact.
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[[Vanisource:741010 - Lecture SB 01.08.30 - Mayapur|741010 - Lecture SB 01.08.30 - Mayapur]]
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So here Kuntī says, janma karma ca viśvātmann ajasya. Aja means who never takes birth. Ajasya. Aja, the living entities, they are also aja, but sometimes the living entity, being attracted by the material energy, they come to this material world. Then their quality of aja, or not to take birth, becomes vanquished. Because in the material world one has to take birth. But actually spirit soul, or the Supreme Spirit, Kṛṣṇa, they are aja. Ajo nityaḥ śāśvato 'yam ([[Vanisource:BG 2.20 (1972)|BG 2.20]]). In the Bhagavad-gītā it is said clearly that living entity is aja, nitya, śāśvata, ayam. "Then how he is dying?" one may question. That is also replied: na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre. Don't think . . . that dying means he's changing body, not dying. Therefore . . . because Kṛṣṇa says the living entity is aja, everyone can question that, "If he's aja, he does not take birth, then why he's taking birth? Why he's dying?" The answer is immediately there: na hanyate, "Don't think that he's dying." Na hanyate. "No, I see his body's being burned." No, na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre ([[Vanisource:BG 2.20 (1972)|BG 2.20]]). That body is being burned. That . . .

Suppose if your cloth is burned . . . in my childhood, when I was three, four years old, I was saved. My all cloth burned, and there is a scar. You have seen. I would have died that day, but fortunately I was saved. The cloth was burning. That, what is that called, matches color? So I was trying to burn, and it caught my cloth. So the cloth burned, but I did not burn. Similarly, this body also burns, but the soul . . . nainaṁ śastrāṇi chindanti na dahati pāvakaḥ, the soul is never cut into pieces by any weapon, neither it is burned by the fire, soul. That is eternity. Anything material, it will burn, it will be cut into pieces, it can be dried up, it can be moistened. Because we cannot see the soul, so Kṛṣṇa has explained in a negative definition what is the characteristic of the soul: nainaṁ chindanti śastrāṇi nainaṁ dahati pāvakaḥ, na śoṣayati mārutaḥ ([[Vanisource:BG 2.23 (1972)|BG 2.23]]). Like that.

So aja . . . we are also aja, because we are part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa. And nitya. Nityaḥ śāśva . . . ajo nityaḥ. Nitya . . . the Māyāvāda philosophy is that we are aja, and Supreme Brahman is aja. So when we are uncovered by this material body, we mix with the aja. That is their theory, monist. We merge into the existence of aja. But that is not fact. You merge. That is like merging a green bird into a green tree. When a green bird enters a green tree it appears that the green bird is now merged, and he . . . it has no more existence. No. That is not . . . one can understand: the bird enters into the green tree does not mean the bird has not lost his existence. His individuality is still there. Similarly, when we merge, even in Brahman effulgence, we do not lose our individuality. Although it appears that we have lost our identity, individuality, but actually that is not the fact. And because it is not fact, therefore our another quality is ānandamayo 'bhyāsāt (Vedānta-sūtra 1.1.12): we want ānanda.
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