BG 2.22
SYNONYMS
vasamsi — garments; jirnani — old and worn out; yatha — just as; vihaya — giving up; navani — new garments; grihnati — does accept; narah — a man; aparani — others; tatha — in the same way; sarirani — bodies; vihaya — giving up; jirnani — old and useless; anyani — different; samyati — verily accepts; navani — new sets; dehi — the embodied.
Translation:
As a person puts on new garments, giving up old ones, the soul similarly accepts new material bodies, giving up the old and useless ones.
We are discussing Ch2 of BG where Sri Krishna is responding to Arjuna’s various arguments, so the first argument was about compassion, how can I kill my relatives? Krishna is responding from 2.11 to 2.30 by saying that actually your relatives are souls who are indestructible and their bodies are unavoidably destructible; therefore do not give up your duty that is the crux of the argument. And Sri Krishna is essentially using the strategy of Naiti-Naiti, not this not this, to explain that soul by negation of the material, so that some indication of spiritual will be conveyed.
So now let us look at the process by which soul moves from one body to another body.
So vasamsi jirnani, vasamsi is dress, jirnani when they become old, yatha vihaya, vihaya is to give up old garments. navani grihnati, navani, new grihnati naro ‘parani, human beings takes another garment which is new.naro ‘parani, similarly there is body, vihaya jirnany, when old is given up; anyani samyati, he is accepted new navani dehi, the occupier of the body the soul.
Essentially the process of transmigration is described. Usually, we use word reincarnation and transmigration interchangeable so are the two exactly the same? Not necessarily, the emphasis is different. In transmigration the focus is on journey; for example the birds migrate when the seasons change, likewise when there are natural calamity, people migrate from one place to another. Basically travel, so transmigration talks about the travel of the soul from trans, trans means across, so from one body to another body.
In transmigration, the focus is on the journey aspect, the transmigration of the soul through 8.4 million species; whereas in re-incarnation the focus is on coming into flesh. As we have discussed earlier that incarnation is to come in flesh again. In reincarnation the focus to come into body; whereas in transmigration the focus is on going from one body to another body. The essential point is life does not begin with birth and does not end with death, so what happens after that is conveyed through an example in this verse.
So this verse conveys how the body is peripheral and superficial to the soul. When we are wearing a dress, the dress is important to us but at the same time we don’t have a permanent relationship with the dress. I will wear a dress today and after it is old I will change to another dress, so the essential person is different form the dress. Similarly, if we consider body to be dress, we consider body to be different from the soul, the real we. And different bodies are like different dresses which serve different purposes. So we wear different dresses based on our activity. For example, going to polar area-people wear different dress, likewise when they go for work or party; dressing follows according to purpose.
But the essential point is; we dress but we remain the same; but the dress keeps changing. Similarly the soul remains the same, but the body keeps changing. If the dress becomes old person, discard the old dress and takes a new dress; similarly in the process of re-incarnation there are three stages: (1) soul leaves the body (2) the soul goes to stage where next body is (3) the soul enters into a situation where it acquires a next body.
For example, if a person has done a karma by which he will be born again, as a human being then: (1) first stage would be giving up the old dress, so the person gives up the body then, (2) under the guidance of Super Soul the soul travels to the next body this is also arranged by various factors, (3) and finally the soul acquires a new body.
In case of human body it is described in 3rd canto in teachings of Lord Kapila—Karmana Netra Daivena, Janto Deha Prapatyaye —under the supervision of Daiva Netra the divine eye, it is referring to acquiring of body by the living entity based on their karma, under the supervision of the Lord. And what kinds of body will the soul acquire, how does the soul get a body? Pravistha Estriya Udaram, so the soul enters into the womb of a women how? Pumsaha Reta Kanashrayah by taking shelter of particle in semen in a male. So now the essential point is that when the procreational act happens the soul is in the sperm and through sperm the soul enters in the womb and then the child is born.
Now of these three stages (1) the first is souls leaving the body, how does the soul leave the body? Generally it leaves through one of the nine holes in the human body. Of course the soul has the power to break through and also go, but generally the soul leaves through one of the nine holes.
In Upanishad it is said, if the soul leaves the body through lower holes generally that is considered inauspicious departure, and the soul is going to lower destinations, lower species, lower planets. If the soul leaves through upper holes it is considered auspicious, e.g. eyes, ears, nose, mouth. Realized yogis who attain samadhi, they aim that when the soul leaves it will burst the skull and go out. If they will go out that way then, they will attain liberation.
For most of us, we don’t have such an awareness of the soul, and we don’t have any control on how the soul will leave the body. But the most important thing is that we remember Krishna’s statement in the eighth chapter, Naite Stuti Parth Janam Yogi Muhyati Kaschanan Tasmad Serve Su Kalesu Yoga Yukto Bhava Arjuna.
So there are many ways in previous verse Krishna has talked about two different wings Devyan and Pitrayan, but essentially Krishna said don’t worry about this, practice Yoga. And it is already mentioned that best yoga is bhakti yoga, this is mentioned in BG 8.14 BG 6.47. As devotees we are not concerned about from which holes we are living the body. Instead, we have to focus on how we will be remembering Krishna.
Generally the soul leaves the body and goes to the next body depending on two factors: the Kama and the Karma. Kama is the desire, and Karma is the destiny (the kind of Karmic destiny one has got).
So we wanted to purchase a new dress we will look at what is my desire, and then what is my budget? Similarly, all of us have a Karmic budget and accordingly the soul gets a new body. So we are actually dresses for and dresses by our desires which means say; if a male is attracted to female and female is attracted to a male then, if a male dies thinking of female, then male will get a female body in next life and vice versa (female will get a male body). So it depends on what we remember at the time of death, but what we remember at the time of death is also determined by what we remember throughout our life. What I have been desiring throughout our life. So the important thing in this discussion is the relationship between the body and soul should not be given too much emphasis, it is actually peripheral, it is not an eternal relationship, it is a temporary relationship.
This is something which many traditions do not understand like earlier; we have discussed the Abrahamic religions. The clear understanding about the soul as an ontological concrete higher dimensional entity is not there, and because of that there is some sign of conflation mixing up of the soul and the body. And in some of these traditions the idea is that they bury the body, because somehow the idea is that at the time of judgment eventually when the people will be taken back to heaven, they will be taken in the same body. Because there is no clear understanding of the body and soul, some people have the idea that the body has to be preserved in the coffin, when it is buried.
But of course even if we preserve in coffin the body will not stay, all the particles that the body is made of will be eventually destroyed. The souls will be in different bodies. So it is a very simplistic idea that the body and soul are somehow eternal and in the kingdom of God we will have same body. Going to heaven in this body poses a serious problem; suppose if one is having a crippled, blind or deformed body then that is the body they will be having throughout all eternity? That will be hell. People might say, no-no he will be having a healthy body. How about, a person dies before growing up or an old person dies, so will it be that his eternal body will always be a small child or always an old man? And if no is the answer then, it counters the argument of burying the body thinking that one day he will need this body again.
So this discussion was based in misunderstanding about body and soul. When people have bodily conception of life, then even if there is religion and there is religious belief, still that religions belief can also misunderstood. There are some atheist who says that religion is extremely dangerous because there are these Jihadis who have some suicide bombers and they are ready to destroy themselves and why they are ready to destroy themselves? Because they will be brainwashed to believe that they will enjoy wit 73 virgins in heavens. Janath for all time to come, and that is why what is wrong in dying for once for getting eternal life and eternal enjoyment. Atheist argue see how dangerous religions believe is, nothing else make a person suicide bomber like this, and not in such a large number. So religions contaminates human minds to such dangerous imaginations that people are ready to kill others in the hope of some imaginary pleasure in future life. So is this the effect of believe in afterlife?
Actually any belief can have any effect depending upon, how it is interpreted. So the problem here is not after life, the problem here is material conception of life. There is important difference between the two. After life means there is some life after this; the problem here is not that all people who believe in after life will become Jihadis. There are many people who believe in after life, but how many of them has become militants (actually they can become saintly since they will be afraid of committing sins). So actually what makes a person develop this kind of thinking is material conception of life, because of that people think that enjoyment means sensual enjoyment. Their thinking is: Now I am not taking sensual enjoyment, I will take better sensual enjoyment in future. Therefore let me do this, let me become a suicide bomber, and in future I will enjoy.
So the point is clear understanding between the body and the soul ensures that the person doesn’t continue in the material conception of life. And if the person doesn’t continue material conceptions of life, he acquires spiritual conceptions of life that actually the real enjoyment is not in sensuality, it is in loving services centered around God and connecting with all living beings.
Alternately, we can see the world’s greatest killer in recent times: Mao in China and Stalin in Russia, they were atheists. Hitler was an atheist and he also killed millions of people in Germany. Religion is the only domain that speaks about the sanctity of life, and since life is sacred, it is to be valued. Whereas Atheism thinks that life is a chance: enjoyment in this life is the goal, so what is the point in doing anything which will obstruct that self-enjoyment. Morality obstructs the enjoyment, so put it aside and just enjoy. Actually it is not reincarnation or after life, it is material conception of life that causes problems. And here we see the material conception of life is removed, it is shattered by Bhagavad Gita: right in the beginning it describes that we are different from the body, we are actually souls.
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