Live the Bhāgavatam · SB 2.10.23
Sarga· CreationPhysical Knowledge Is Not Self-Knowledge
“When there was a desire to perceive the physical characteristics of matter, such as softness, hardness, warmth, cold, lightness and heaviness, the background of sensation, the skin, the skin pores, the hairs on the body and their controlling deities (the trees) were generated. Within and outside the skin is a covering of air through which sense perception became prominent.”
What the purport teaches
- Touch gives knowledge of physical qualities such as softness, temperature and weight. The skin, its pores and bodily hairs are interdependent with this sensation.
- Physical and physiological knowledge are subordinate to knowledge of the Self. Knowledge of the Self can expand to knowledge of phenomena, but physical knowledge cannot lead to knowledge of the Self.
- The hairs of the body have an intimate relation with the earth’s vegetation. Vegetables nourish the skin as both food and medicine.
Try this today
Lift a light object and notice what touch tells you, then reread the purport’s distinction between physical knowledge and knowledge of the Self.
Ask yourself
Do I give knowledge of the Self the importance I give knowledge of the body?
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.