Reincarnation and Beyond
Mike Robinson, an interviewer for London Broadcasting Company, inquires about the science of the soul: Have we been here before? Will we be back again, or...? Śrīla Prabhupāda calls upon the age-old Vedic literatures for some striking answers.
Mike Robinson:  Can you tell me what you believe—what the philosophy of the Hare Kṛṣṇa movement is?
Śrīla Prabhupāda:  Yes. Kṛṣṇa consciousness is not a question of belief; it is a science. The first step is to know the difference between a living body and a dead body. What is the difference? The difference is that when someone dies, the spirit soul, or the living force, leaves the body. And therefore the body is called “dead.” So, there are two things: one, this body; and the other, the living force within the body. We speak of the living force within the body. That is the difference between the science of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, which is spiritual, and ordinary material science. As such, in the beginning it is very, very difficult for an ordinary man to appreciate our movement. One must first understand that he is a soul, or something other than his body.
Mike Robinson:  And when will we understand that?
Śrīla Prabhupāda:  You can understand at any moment, but it requires a little intelligence. For example, as a child grows, he becomes a boy, the boy becomes a young man, the young man becomes an adult, and the adult becomes an old man. Throughout all this time, although his body is changing from a child to an old man, he still feels himself to be the same person, with the same identity. Just see: the body is changing, but the occupier of the body, the soul, is remaining the same. So we should logically conclude that when our present body dies, we get another body.
This is called transmigration of the soul.
Mike Robinson:  So when people die it is just the physical body that dies?
Śrīla Prabhupāda:  Yes. That is explained very elaborately in the
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