Live the Bhāgavatam · SB 11.3.38
Mukti· LiberationThe Soul Remains Beyond Bodily Changes
“Brahman, the eternal soul, was never born and will never die, nor does it grow or decay. That spiritual soul is actually the knower of the youth, middle age and death of the material body. Thus the soul can be understood to be pure consciousness, existing everywhere at all times and never being destroyed. Just as the life air within the body, although one, becomes manifest as many in contact with the various material senses, the one soul appears to assume various material designations in contact with the material body.”
What the purport teaches
- The soul is never born and never dies, grows or decays. Although the body changes, the soul remains an eternally conscious person.
- The individual soul exists in all material conditions but is not all-pervading. Consciousness appears in different ways through the senses, yet consciousness itself remains eternal.
- Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is the original source and proprietor of everything. Becoming Kṛṣṇa conscious frees one from bewilderment caused by identifying with the body's changes.
Try this today
Take one minute today to reflect: “My body changes, but I remain an eternally conscious soul, part of the Lord's potency.”
Ask yourself
Which change in my body have I been treating as a change in my true self?
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.