70
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
[Canto 7, Ch. 7]
can understand where the soul is. One who is not expert, however, cannot distinguish gold from earth, nor the soul from the body.
TEXT 24
अन्वयन्यतिरेकेण विवेकेनोशतत्मना । स्वर्गस्थानसमान्नायैर्विमृशद्धिरसत्वरैः ॥२४॥
anvaya-vyatirekeṇa vivekenośatātmanā svarga-sthāna-samāmnāyair vimṛśadbhir asatvaraiḥ
anvaya —directly;  vyatirekeṇa —and indirectly;  vivekena —by mature discrimination;  uśatā —purified;  ātmanā —with the mind;  svarga —creation;  sthāna —maintenance;  samāmnāyaiḥ —and with destruction;  vimṛśadbhiḥ —by those making a serious analysis;  asatvaraiḥ —very sober.
TRANSLATION
Sober and expert persons should search for the spirit soul with minds purified through analytical study in terms of the soul's connection with and distinction from all things that undergo creation, maintenance and destruction.
PURPORT
A sober person can study himself and distinguish the soul from the body by analytical study. For example, when one considers his body—his head, his hands and so on—one can certainly understand the difference between the spirit soul and the body. No one says, “I head.” Everyone says, “My head.” Thus there are two entities—the head and “I.” They are not identical, although they appear to be one conglomeration.
One may argue, “When we analyze the body we find a head, hands, legs, a belly, blood, bones, urine, stool and so on, but after everything is considered, where is the existence of the soul?” A sober man, however, avails himself of this Vedic instruction: