Live the Bhāgavatam · SB 11.22.50
Mukti· LiberationThe Observer Is Separate From the Body
“One who observes the birth of a tree from its seed and the ultimate death of the tree after maturity certainly remains a distinct observer separate from the tree. In the same way, the witness of the birth and death of the material body remains separate from it.”
What the purport teaches
- Someone observing a tree’s birth from a seed and its eventual death remains distinct from the tree.
- Similarly, the witness of the material body’s birth and death remains separate from that body.
- For trees, vipāka indicates the final transformation of death; for plants such as rice, it indicates maturity, when death also occurs. Common observation helps one understand the body and oneself as its transcendental observer.
Try this today
Look at a tree or another plant and reflect on the difference between its changing life stages and you, its observer.
Ask yourself
What can observing a plant’s changes teach me about being distinct from my body?
Carry the question through the day, then answer it in your own words before sleep.
From Canto 10, chapter 14 onward, the translation and purports were completed by Śrīla Prabhupāda's disciples after his departure, and published by the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust.