Live the Bhāgavatam · SB 10.4.19
Mukti· LiberationThe Soul Remains Through Bodily Change
“In this world, we can see that pots, dolls and other products of the earth appear, break and then disappear, mixing with the earth. Similarly, the bodies of all conditioned living entities are annihilated, but the living entities, like the earth itself, are unchanging and never annihilated [na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre].”
What the purport teaches
- Pots and dolls appear from earth and return to it when broken. Similarly, bodily forms appear and disappear, but the soul is not annihilated.
- The body undergoes birth, growth, sustenance, by-products, dwindling and annihilation. The soul undergoes none of these changes.
- Kṛṣṇa explains that the Supreme Lord sits in everyone’s heart and directs living entities seated in bodily machines. Neither Paramātmā nor the individual soul loses the original spiritual identity.
Try this today
Reflect for one minute today: “My body changes, but the soul is not destroyed with the body.”
Ask yourself
How might distinguishing the soul from the changing body affect my sense of who I am?
Carry the question through the day, then answer it in your own words before sleep.
The study points, practice and question are short summaries drawn from Śrīla Prabhupāda's translation and purport. Read the full purport to go deeper.