3: "You Are Not The Material Body"
The Power of Identity
The belief that you hold about who you are and your identity, is very powerful; the way you see yourself in relationship to everything else determines your behaviour and your goals.
The transcendentalist is constantly endeavoring to realise himself as a spiritual soul, different from any of the temporary bodily designations to which we so strongly identify ourselves.
You are an eternal spirit; we were never born and we will never die. This is the first point Krishna explains in the Bhagavad-gita. Understanding this is the first step in spiritual life
Common Arguments:
- What is the difference between a dead body and a living body? When someone dies, we say, "Oh, he has gone." Even a child can understand that the person is no longer there.
- Any combination of non-conscious atoms or dull material elements cannot produce consciousness. This is common sense.
- Energy is never lost or destroyed. So what happens to the source of consciousness, the living force, at the time of death?
- We even say, "My body." That indicates that we intuitively know that the "I" owns the body; they are two different things.
- People's testimonies about out of body experiences and past life memories give us powerful evidence.
- The Vedas conclude: Matter, which can be percieved by the material senses, is temporal and unconscious. Spirit, which is imperceptible to the material senses, is the eternal consciousness.
- Together they make up the whole of reality which we experience in this universe.
Some common objections:
Objection
But the soul can't be percieved in any way or measured with any instrument. Why should we believe in a hypothetical entity for which there is no evidence?
Counter-argument
Actually, you can see the soul; it is just a matter of training, just as you must study in the university for many years to see how an atom exists. The soul is like a spiritual atom. The symptom of its presence is consciousness.
Objection
Evolution theory has proven that life is a result of chemical combinations — everyone knows that.
Counter-argument
Evolution theory is still a theory, and scientists know that it has many problems. And a significant body of discoveries defies the theory. It is far from having proven anything. We challenge people to prove that life comes from chemicals by demonstrating it in the laboratory.
Objection
The brain is so complex, we cannot understand how it works, but you can tell that it is the source of consciousness because if certain parts are damaged, the consciousness is impaired.
Counter-argument
Not necessarily. If a computer is damaged, the user's ability to operate through the computer will be impaired, but that doesn't mean that the user is created by the computer. Consciousness may work through the brain but that doesn't mean that the brain is conscious. It is still a collection of material elements. Atoms, electrons, and molecules cannot see, no matter what combination you put them in.
< Previous || Next >