Transmigration Beyond the Young Body
Śrīla Prabhupāda brilliantly demystifies the concept of reincarnation by pointing to our direct, everyday experience of growing up. By studying his purports, we can easily understand the difference between the changing material body and the eternal spirit soul, the inevitable loss of our young body, and the logical reality of transmigration at the time of death.
The Continuous Change of the Material Body
We often think of ourselves as having one single body for our entire lives, but Śrīla Prabhupāda explains that we actually inhabit many bodies within one lifetime. Drawing from the Bhagavad-gītā, he points out that we constantly change from a baby, to a boy, to a youth, and finally to an old man.
- The living being, the soul, is constantly changing bodies one after another. Even in the present life, the body changes from childhood to boyhood, from boyhood to youth, and from youth to old age.
- As the embodied soul continually passes, in this body, from boyhood to youth to old age, the soul similarly passes into another body at death. The self-realized soul is not bewildered by such a change - BG 2.13.
- Just like your body, my body - progress means from babyhood, childhood, boyhood, youthhood. That is, up to that, youthhood, progress. Then as soon as youthhood passed, old age comes in, then dwindling, then finish. That means janma-sthiti-pralaya.
The Impermanence of Youth
People naturally cherish a young body because of its beauty, energy, and capacity for sense enjoyment. Śrīla Prabhupāda notes that while everyone wants to remain young, the inescapable influence of time forces the body to age and deteriorate, regardless of our desires or medical advancements.
- The child is changing body to boy. The boy is changing his body to youth. But young man does not like to change his body to old age. Rather, the old man wants to come back to his youthful ages.
- We build up a very nice house, and after fifty years it deteriorates, and after one hundred years it deteriorates even more. Similarly, when the body is young, people care for it, always lavishing affection upon it and kissing it.
- Your body, my body, in youthhood it is very beautiful, and in due course of time it will be ugly like me. So this is the work of the time. Similarly, nature's way, there are four ages: Satya-yuga, Treta-yuga, Dvapara-yuga, Kali-yuga. Seasonal changes.
The Eternal Nature of the Spirit Soul
Despite the constant metamorphosis of the physical form, our sense of identity remains constant. Śrīla Prabhupāda reveals that this active, unchanging principle within the shifting material dress is the eternal spirit soul, the true self that merely witnesses the body's transitions.
- Since every living entity is an individual soul, each is changing his body every moment, manifesting sometimes as a child, sometimes as a youth, & sometimes as an old man. Yet the same spirit soul is there & does not undergo any change.
- This is self-realization. That active principle is soul, and the soul is migrating from one body to another as you are migrating from childhood to babyhood, babyhood to boyhood, boyhood to youthhood. So the soul is the same. The body is different.
Transmigration at the Time of Death
Understanding the changing of bodies in this life leads directly to understanding the process of death. Śrīla Prabhupāda logically concludes that just as we seamlessly accept a youthful body after leaving a childhood body, the soul must accept an entirely new body when the old, aged body becomes useless.
- Just like you are being incarnated from baby's body to child's body, child's body to boy's body, boy's body to youthhood body, this is reincarnation. There is no question of believing. It is a fact. If you do not know it, it is ignorance. But it is a fact.
- As I have got consecutively from boyhood to childhood, I have, from childhood to boyhood, boyhood to youthhood, aged body, so why not next body? This is simple truth, that the living entity, or the soul, is transmigrating from one body to another.
- The child is giving up his childhood body, accepting the boyhood body. The boy is giving up his boyhood body, accepting youthhood body. Similarly, this body of old age, when giving up, natural conclusion is that I will have to accept another body.
Conclusion
Śrīla Prabhupāda uses the undeniable reality of our own changing bodies to dispel all ignorance surrounding the science of reincarnation. We have already experienced the loss of our childhood body and the acquisition of a young body, yet we remained the exact same person throughout the process. Although material society works desperately to preserve the beauty and vitality of youth, the laws of nature strictly enforce old age and the eventual shedding of the material dress. However, a sober person who understands the instructions of Lord Kṛṣṇa is not bewildered by this process. Recognizing that the eternal ātmā simply changes garments, the self-realized soul focuses not on the temporary youthful body, but on achieving eternal, spiritual life beyond the cycle of birth and death.
Dive Deeper into Śrīla Prabhupāda's Vani
Śrīla Prabhupāda lives within his instructions. This article is a summary of the profound truths found in the Vaniquotes category Young Body. We invite you to visit this link to study the complete compilation and experience Śrīla Prabhupāda's teachings in their direct, verbatim form.