Step 1 for Spiritual Life

Learn what they don't teach you at any universityCompiled from the teachings of His Divine Grace Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada

LESSON - 1 - Spirit Soulcomplied by Nitin Mahendru

Do you remember your body when you were a 2 year old child?

and your body when you were 10 year old ... and 20 year old ... and 30 ...

your body has undergone considerable changes ... huh...

and it will continue to change...

in fact your body is changing every moment ... every second...

But what is it that is not changing ...

its YOU

YOU the personnever

changes

Lets see how do you relate to the things around you?

I am John.

This is my carThat is my book

This is my handThis is my toe

This is my fingerThis is my body

You do not say...

I am this handI am this toe

I am this fingerI am this body

who is this person you call"I"

This "I" has seen all the bodily changes

but "I" remain the

same"I" am a

person, an individual, an entity ...

a living entity

"I" have consciousness that spreads across my body

suddenly on death ... the body has no consciousness ... the "I" is gone within a lightening flash

who provided that consciousness to the body ... what was so powerful ... where did

that "I" go ...

that "I" is the

SOUL

Minute SOUL

..spreads Consciousness

across the body

The body is just a machinedriven by the soul ...

like a man drives a car.

"I" am not this body.

"I" am a spirit soul

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. - Bhagavad Gita As it Is 2.13

ABC of spiritual life ...

eternal

indestructible

imperishable

atomic

unborn undying

immutable

cannot be cut

cannot be burnt

cannot be moistened by water

cannot be withered by wind

insoluble

everlasting

cannot be dried

immovableunchangeable

Properties of a Soul

Soul has a propensity to ...

Enjoy

it is always seeking pleasure

The body is not the enjoyer,

but the soul is the enjoyer.

it is not possible for the body to experience enjoyment...

...without the presence of this

spiritual spark.

If a man is offered the dead body of a beautiful woman, will he accept it?

No, not a sane one

Not only was the soul enjoying within the body, but it was maintaining the body.

When the soul leaves, the body

simply deteriorates.

Every one of us is searching after happiness,

but we do not know what real happiness is.

Real happiness is that joyous state, where one is situated in boundless transcendental happiness and enjoys himself through transcendental senses.

Real happiness is spiritual happiness

As we begin to relish spiritual happiness, we proportionately abandon material happiness.