Practically any fool can understand that we are not this body, but unfortunately our entire civilization is based on a mistake, which is the assumption that we are these bodies. And so because it is based on a mistake, everything is coming out wrong. That “I am an American, I’m Chinese, I’m black, I’m white, I’m Catholic, I’m Hindu, I’m Jewish, I’m Christian, I’m Muslim,” etc., but these things only describe the body, and I am not the body. And so we build big cities to solve all our problems, but unfortunately, there are juvenile gangs, so much crime, no free space, new diseases…our solutions cause more problems. The first mistake is thinking that we are these bodies, and the second mistake is thinking that the purpose of life is to gratify these bodies. If this is what you think then don’t talk about God, don’t talk about spiritual life, don’t talk about religion, because you won’t find this in any religion. “I’m Christian, I’m Jewish, I’m Hindu, I’m Muslim.” If you want to go on thinking you’re a body, then you should not be hypocrites and claim you belong to some religion.

So this is the first point of spiritual life…how can we talk about spiritual life unless we admit ourselves to be spirit? If we are not spirit then what is the use of anything “spiritual?” Because spiritual means “pertaining to spirit.” And if there is such a thing as spirit, then what is that spirit? That spirit is a soul within the body, and we are that soul. This body is just like an outward dress…like when you take your clothes off and put on new ones, we are simply changing our bodies at the time of death and accepting new ones in another womb. Death is exactly like taking off your clothes and going to sleep. This body is just like a dress, you take it off at the time of death, you go to sleep inside the womb of another mother, and you come out again in a new dress…a new body. That’s a fact. This is called transmigration of the soul. Because we are eternal. So you have to go somewhere. Just like you may go from one room to another in your house, or you may travel from one city to another, so the soul is moving from one body to another body. This is called karma.

So the question should be, “Why am I going from one body to another?” And the answer is plain and simple common sense…because you want to. Just like you may go to a place because you want to, and you will leave because you want to. And God is very kind and generous, so He will give you as many bodies as you want. And we can go on trying as long as we want to enjoy this material world, but unfortunately there remains the problem of birth, disease, old age and death. Freedom means to please God and go home to our eternal spiritual life.

#Karma #materialworld #NotTheBody #BackToGodhead #EternalSouls