Live the Bhāgavatam · SB 7.2.42
Mukti· LiberationThe Body Is Not Its Owner
“Just as a householder, although different from the identity of his house, thinks his house to be identical with him, so the conditioned soul, due to ignorance, accepts the body to be himself, although the body is actually different from the soul. This body is obtained through a combination of portions of earth, water and fire, and when the earth, water and fire are transformed in the course of time, the body is vanquished. The soul has nothing to do with this creation and dissolution of the body.”
What the purport teaches
- A house or car is different from its owner, but attachment can make the owner identify with it. In the same way, ignorance makes the conditioned soul identify with the body.
- The body exists through a combination of material elements. When those elements change and separate, the body is destroyed.
- The spirit soul remains distinct from the body’s creation and dissolution. Although we pass from one body to another, as spirit souls we remain separate from material, conditional life.
Try this today
Look at a house or car today and reflect: “The owner is different from this possession, just as the soul is different from the body.”
Ask yourself
How does the example of an owner and a house help me understand my relationship with my 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.