10
Beyond Birth and Death
In  Bhagavad-gītā  Śrī Kṛṣṇa points out that all of our miseries are due to false identification with the body.
mātrā-sparśās tu kaunteya sītoṣṇa-sukha-duḥkha-dāḥ āgamāpāyino 'nityās tāṅs titikṣasva bhārata
“O son of Kuntī, the nonpermanent appearance of heat and cold, happiness and distress, and their disappearance in due course, are like the appearance and disappearance of winter and summer seasons. They arise from sense perception, O scion of Bharata, and one must learn to tolerate them without being disturbed.” (Bg. 2.14)
In the summertime we may feel pleasure from contact with water, but in the winter we may shun that very water because it is too cold. In either case, the water is the same, but we perceive it as pleasant or painful due to its contact with the body. All feelings of distress and happiness are due to the body. Under certain conditions the body and mind feel happiness and distress. Factually we are hankering after happiness, for the soul’s constitutional position is that of happiness. The soul is part and parcel of the Supreme Being, who is  sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ —the embodiment of knowledge, bliss and eternity. Indeed, the very name Kṛṣṇa, which is nonsectarian, means “the greatest pleasure.”  Kṛṣ  means greatest and  ṇa  means pleasure. Kṛṣṇa is the epitome of pleasure, and being part and parcel of Him, we