Text 24] What Prahlāda Learned in the Womb
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yato vā imāni bhūtāni jāyante. yena jātāni jīvanti. yat prayanty abhisaṁviśanti. tad vijjñāsasva. tad brahmeti.  (Taittirīya Upaniṣad 3.1.1)
Thus he can understand that the head, hands, legs and indeed the entire body have grown on the basis of the soul. If the soul is within, the body, head, hands and legs grow, but otherwise they do not. A dead child does not grow up, for the soul is not present. If by a careful analysis of the body one still cannot find the existence of the soul, this is due to his ignorance. How can a gross man fully engaged in materialistic activities understand the soul, which is a small particle of spirit one tenthousandth the size of the tip of a hair? Such a person foolishly thinks that the material body has grown from a combination of chemicals, although he cannot find them. The  Vedas  inform us, however, that chemical combinations do not constitute the living force; the living force is the  ātmā  and Paramātmā, and the body grows on the basis of that living force. The fruit of a tree grows and undergoes six kinds of change because of the presence of the tree. If there were no tree, there could be no question of the growth and maturity of fruit. Therefore, beyond the existence of the body are the Paramātmā and  ātmā  within the body. This is the first understanding of spiritual knowledge explained in  Bhagavad-gītā .  Dehino 'min yathā dehe . The body exists because of the presence of the Supreme Lord and the  jīva , which is part of the Lord. This is further explained by the Lord Himself in  Bhagavad-gītā  (9.4):
mayā tatam idaṁ sarvaṁ jagad avyakta-mūrtinā mat-sthāni sarva-bhūtāni na cāhaṁ teṣv avasthitaḥ
“By Me, in My unmanifested form, this entire universe is pervaded. All beings are in Me, but I am not in them.” The Supreme Soul exists everywhere. The  Vedas  enjoin,  sarvaṁ khalv idaṁ brahma : everything is Brahman or an expansion of Brahman’s energies.  Sūtre maṇi-gaṇā iva : everything rests on the Lord, just like pearls strung together on a thread. The thread is the principal Brahman. He is the supreme cause, the