View source for If people are not educated on this understanding that the soul is different from body, that is . . . The beginning of education is wrong. Therefore whatever further advancement of so-called education is wrong, because the basic principle is wrong

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[[Category:People Are Not Educated]]
[[Category:Understanding]]
[[Category:Souls]]
[[Category:Different From]]
[[Category:Body]]
[[Category:Beginning of Education]]
[[Category:Wrong]]
[[Category:Therefore]]
[[Category:Whatever]]
[[Category:Further]]
[[Category:Advancement]]
[[Category:So-called]]
[[Category:Because]]
[[Category:Basic Principles]]
[[Category:Pages Needing Audio - SHARMISTHA]]
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<h2>Lectures</h2>
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<h3>Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures</h3>
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If people are not educated on this understanding that the soul is different from body, that is . . . The beginning of education is wrong. Therefore whatever further advancement of so-called education is wrong, because the basic principle is wrong.
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[[Vanisource:750725 - Lecture SB 06.01.44 - Los Angeles|750725 - Lecture SB 06.01.44 - Los Angeles]]
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Deha means the body, and vān means one who possesses. Asty arthe vatup. This vat-pratyāya is affixed when there is the meaning of possessing. Therefore Bhagavān. Bhāga means opulence, and vān means one who possesses. That is Bhagavān. So same thing, in the same process: dehavān. Dehavān, every one of us, dehavān. The dog is also dehavān; he has got body. I am also dehavān, every one of us.

So anyone who has got this material body, he cannot stop even for a moment working something. Na hy akarma-kṛt. This is the nature. He must do some . . . Just like child. Child is always restless. Similarly . . . "Child is the father of man." One who becomes father, the same restlessness, because that is the nature. Na hi dehavān akarma-kṛt. So if you are not engaged in good work, then you must act badly. That is natural. You have to work. Therefore idle brain is devil's workshop. If you are sitting idly, then brain also will work, mind also will work. The bodily function will go. So if you don't engage yourself in good work, then you must be engaged in bad work. And if you are not engaged in good work and if you are engaged in . . . There are two things, good or bad. So in one of them we must be engaged.

So if we are not instructed or trained up to act in good work, then we must be doing bad work. Bad work means māyā and good work means God. There are two things: God and māyā. If we do not act in godly situation then we must be acting in māyā's clutches. That is explained in the Caitanya-caritāmṛta in a very simple verse, haiyā māyāra dāsa, kari nāna abhilāṣa: "As soon as I become servant of māyā, then I shall create so many rascaldom in the name of philosophy and science." This is going on. So-called philosophy and science means all rascaldom, bad work. It is very challenging word, but this is the fact. If we do not . . . Take, for example, there are so many scientists, so many philosophers and so many hippies also, LSD men. Why this has happened? Because there is no good engagement. Some are passing in the name of so-called scientist and so-called philosopher, and some of them are hippies, but all of them are engaged in bad, asat. Asat and sat. Sat means permanent, and asat means temporary.

So we must know what is our constitutional position. That we do not know. We are sat, eternal; therefore we shall act in such a way that will benefit my eternal life. That is sat. Therefore the Vedas instruct, asato mā sad gamaḥ: "Don't be engaged in temporary activities, bodily . . ." Bodily necessities means temporary. If I am child, my body is of a child's body, then my necessities are different from my father's necessities. So everyone is engaged in bodily necessities. Therefore it is said, dehavān na hy akarma-kṛt. And kāriṇāṁ guṇa-saṅgo 'sti. Infection. We have got this practical understanding. If your body infects some disease, then you have to suffer. And if your body remains uninfected, unaffected by any poisonous. . . then you remain healthy. Therefore it is said, sambhavanti hi bhadrāṇi viparītāni ca anaghaḥ. Viparītāni. Viparī means just opposite. Sambhavanti bhadrāṇi. One is acting in auspicity, and one is acting viparītāni, just the opposite, inauspicity. In this way we are becoming entangled, life after life. Karinam guṇa-sango 'sti.

In other place it is said, karmaṇā daiva-netreṇa ([[Vanisource:SB 3.31.1|SB 3.31.1]]): "As we are acting auspicious or inauspicious, by higher supervision, higher consideration, judgment, we are getting different body." Otherwise why there are so many varieties of body? This is the cause. One is getting auspicious body, one is getting inauspicious body, but there is one opportunity that . . . If you want to change materially your auspicious or inauspicious position, that cannot be done. It is fixed up. It cannot be done otherwise. Suppose a man has got a nice body; a dog has got inferior body. You cannot change the . . . Bodily, you cannot make a man dog or a dog man. That is not possible. But spiritually you can do. Spiritually, a bad man or bad dog even can be elevated to the highest perfection.

Therefore the conclusion is if you act spiritually, then it is bhadrāṇi, or auspicious. If you act materially, on the bodily concept of life, that is inauspicious. This is the conclusion. And that is being watched by the authorities, as we have already explained, the witnesses. God is the original chastiser or awarder, but there are so many witnesses—that we have already discussed—sūryaḥ agniḥ khaṁ marud devaḥ somaḥ. Everywhere it is thoroughly watched. So we must be very careful, that we have got this human form of body—how to act? The act means first of all you know what is your position. That is the first instruction in the Bhagavad-gītā, that "Your position is that you are not this body. Your position is that you are the proprietor of the body; you are spirit soul." So if people are not educated on this understanding that the soul is different from body, that is . . . The beginning of education is wrong. Therefore whatever further advancement of so-called education is wrong, because the basic principle is wrong.

So the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement means they want to educate people, rectifying the basic principle of misconception: "I am body." "I am American," "I am Indian," "I am fat," "I am thin," "I am black," "I am white"—all bodily conception. This has to be removed first of all. So the śāstra says that if one is in the bodily concept of life, then he is no more better than an animal. No better than an animal. Yasyātma-buddhiḥ kunape tri-dhātuke ([[Vanisource:SB 10.84.13|SB 10.84.13]]), we have discussed many times. This bodily concept of life should be first of all removed. We must be enlightened. Otherwise, if we act on the bodily concept of life, then—not bhadrāṇi, not auspicious—everything is inauspicious, viparītāni. Sambhavanti hi bhadrāṇi viparītāni ca anaghaḥ, kāriṇām. Kāriṇām means one who is working. Nobody is . . . Because dead stone, that is sitting idly, but any. . . even a small ant, it is also working. That is the difference between matter and the spirit. So we cannot understand this difference, that what is the difference between matter and spirit. Why the big mountain does not move? Because it is dead matter. And a small ant, it moves. Why it is so? That is the difference between matter and spirit. Why you are misunderstanding that "The spirit is also matter; it is coming from chemical"? This miseducation is going on, that spirit is also chemical composition, although I cannot experiment it by mixing chemical, producing . . .

So under this misconception of life we are simply acting inauspiciously. Why inauspiciously? Because we are working blindly. We do not know what is my next life, or we do not believe in next life. But you believe or not believe; next life is there. As the child has his next life, the boy has his next life, the youth has his next life, similarly, the old man has got his next life. You believe or not believe; you have to accept next life. Vāsāṁsi jīrṇāni yathā vihāya ([[Vanisource:BG 2.22 (1972)|BG 2.22]]). This is real education.
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