Material Body & the Eternal Spirit Soul

Millions of years ago, the Bhagavad-Gita, the greatest manual (science) book for everyone was spoken by
Lord Sri Krishna, the Supreme Scientist, Supreme Father or Supreme Godhead to the sun-god, Vivasvan or
Surya Deva. And it was repeated by the Lord again to Arjuna about five thousand years ago.

Millions or thousands of years ago, Lord Krishna instructed the imperishable science to Vivasvan and
Arjuna that we are eternal souls, not these mortal bodies.

#Material_Body : –
Our body is made up of the separated material energies of the Supreme Lord. Our body has two parts. One is
gross body - Earth, water, fire, air, ether; and another one is subtle body - mind, intelligence and false
ego.
bhūmir āpo 'nalo vāyuḥ
khaṁ mano buddhir eva ca
ahaṅkāra itīyaṁ me
bhinnā prakṛtir aṣṭadhā
"Earth, water, fire, air, ether, mind, intelligence and false ego — all together these eight constitute My
separated material energies." - (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-Gita, 7.4)

#The_six_changes_of_mortal_Body : –
The body is subject to six kinds of transformations. It takes its birth from the womb of the mother's body,
remains for some time, grows, produces some effects, gradually dwindles, and at last vanishes into oblivion.
The soul, however, does not go through such changes.
dehino 'smin yathā dehe
kaumāraṁ yauvanaṁ jarā
tathā dehāntara-prāptir
dhīras tatra na muhyati
"As the embodied soul continuously passes, in this body, from boyhood to youth to old age, the soul
similarly passes into another body at death. A sober person is not bewildered by such a change." –
Bhagavad-Gita 2.13

#We_are_soul_and_we_have_a_body : -
yathā prakāśayaty ekaḥ
kṛtsnaṁ lokam imaṁ raviḥ
kṣetraṁ kṣetrī tathā kṛtsnaṁ
prakāśayati bhārata
"Just as the sun illuminates the whole universe with light, the soul illuminates the whole body with
consciousness." (Sri Krishna, Bhagavad-Gita 13.34)

#The_soul_is_situated_in_the_heart : -
In the Mundaka Upanishad (3.1.9) the measurement of the atomic spirit soul is further explained: "The
soul is atomic in size and can be perceived by perfect intelligence. This atomic soul is floating in the
five kinds of air (prana, apana, vyana, samana and udana), is situated within the heart, and spreads its
influence all over the body of the embodied living entities. When the soul is purified from the
contamination of the five kinds of material air, its spiritual influence is exhibited."

#The_two_coverings_of_the_soul : -
The soul has two coverings. One is the gross body consisting of earth, water, fire, air, and ether which
combine together to form the visible appearance of an individual. The other is the subtle body which
cannot be seen by the eyes but consists of three subtle elements known as the mind, intelligence and
false ego. When the time of death arrives, the soul leaves the gross body, but the subtle body goes along
with the soul.
One element of the subtle body is the mind, which carries all the desires of the soul. According to the
desires which are stored in the mind, the soul attains its future destination. This is achieved under the
direction of the Supersoul, the constant companion of the soul.
#The_size_of_the_soul : -
The Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad (5.9) confirms this:
bālāgra-śata-bhāgasya
śatadhā kalpitasya ca
bhāgo jīvaḥ vijñeyaḥ
sa cānantyāya kalpate
"When the upper point of a hair is divided into one hundred parts and again each of such parts is
further divided into one hundred parts, each such part is the measurement of the dimension of the
spirit soul."

#The_soul_can_never_be_killed : -
nainaṁ chindanti śastrāṇi
nainaṁ dahati pāvakaḥ
na cainaṁ kledayanty āpo
na śoṣayati mārutaḥ
"The soul can never be cut to pieces by any weapon, nor burned by fire, nor moistened by water, nor
withered by the wind." – Bhagavad-Gita 2.23

#The_soul_never_dies : -
na jāyate mriyate vā kadācin
"For the soul there is neither birth nor death at any time." – Bhagavad-Gita 2.20

#What_happens_to_the_soul_at_death_of_the_body?
In this material world, the soul has two coverings. One is the gross body consisting of earth, water,
fire, air, and ether which combine together to form the visible appearance of an individual. The other
is the subtle body which cannot be seen by the eyes but consists of three subtle elements known as the
mind, intelligence and false ego. When the time of death arrives, the soul leaves the gross body, but the
subtle body goes along with the soul.
One element of the subtle body is the mind, which carries all the desires of the soul. According to the
desires which are stored in the mind, the soul attains its future destination. This is achieved under the
direction of the Supersoul, the constant companion of the soul.

nārada uvāca
yenaivārabhate karma
tenaivāmutra tat pumān
bhuṅkte hy avyavadhānena
liṅgena manasā svayam
"The great sage Nārada continued: The living entity acts in a gross body in this life. This body is
forced to act by the subtle body, composed of mind, intelligence and ego. After the gross body is lost,
the subtle body is still there to enjoy or suffer. Thus there is no change." - (Srimad-Bhagavatam
4.29.60)

yathā tṛṇa- jalūkeyaṁ

nāpayāty apayāti ca
na tyajen mriyamāṇo ’pi
prāg - dehābhimatiṁ janaḥ
yāvad anyaṁ na vindeta
vyavadhānena karmaṇām
mana eva manuṣyendra
bhūtānāṁ bhava - bhāvanam
"The caterpillar transports itself from one leaf to another by capturing one leaf before giving up the
other. Similarly, according to his previous work, the living entity must capture another body before
giving up the one he has. This is because the mind is the reservoir of all kinds of desires." - (Srimad-
Bhagavatam 4.29.76-77)
#The_soul_takes_new_body_at_death : -
dehino 'smin yathā dehe
kaumāraṁ yauvanaṁ jarā
tathā dehāntara-prāptir
dhīras tatra na muhyati
"As the embodied soul continuously passes, in this body, from boyhood to youth to old age, the soul
similarly passes into another body at death. A sober person is not bewildered by such a change." –
Bhagavad-Gita 2.13

śarīraṁ yad avāpnoti

yac cāpy utkrāmatīśvaraḥ
gṛhītvaitāni saṁyāti
vāyur gandhān ivāśayāt
―The living entity in the material world carries his different conceptions of life from one body to
another as the air carries aromas. Thus he takes one kind of body and again quits it to take another.‖
– Bhagavad-Gita 15.8

#The_soul_gets_a_body_according_to_his_fruitive_activities : –
jīvo hy asyānugo deho
bhūtendriya-mano-mayaḥ
tan-nirodho 'sya maraṇam
āvirbhāvas tu sambhavaḥ
―In this way the living entity gets a suitable body with a material mind and senses, according to his
fruitive activities. When the reaction of his particular activity comes to an end, that end is called
death, and when a particular type of reaction begins, that beginning is called birth.‖ – (Srimad-
Bhagavatam 3.31.44)

#If_I_had_past_lives_then_why_dont_I_remember_them?
Firstly, it’s our tendency to forget; can we remember what we were doing at this very moment one year ago,
one month ago or even one week ago? Unlikely. Similarly, to remember our past lives is highly unlikely.
Just because we can’t remember a past event doesn’t prove the non-occurrence of that event.
Memory is such a thing that we put down our car keys and later can’t remember where.
We can’t remember being in the womb. Were we there?
Forgetting one’s previous birth upon taking the next appears to be a law of nature (though a law that
apparently has exceptions).
Srimad-Bhagavatam, a Vedic scripture, says that by the trauma of birth a child forgets his previous life.
It might also be said that if we could remember our previous births, the burden of the memories would be
unbearable. The memories we carry around from just one life are sometimes sorely distressing. Multiply
such memories manyfold, and they would surpass our ability to deal with them.