Text 22] What Prahlada Learned in the Womb 65
the soul is within matter. One who has not been trained cannot dis-
tinguish between gold and stone. Similarly, fools and rascals who have
not learned from an expert spiritual master what is soul and what is mat-
ter cannot understand the existence of the soul within the body. To
understand such knowledge, one must be trained in the mystic yoga
system, or, finally, in the bhakti-yoga system. As stated in Bhagavad-
gita (18.55), bhaktya mam abhijanati. Unless one takes shelter of the
bhakti-yoga process, one cannot understand the existence of the soul
within the body. Therefore Bhagavad-gita begins by teaching:
dehino ’smin yatha dehe
kaumaram yauvanam jara
tatha dehantara-praptir
dhiras tatra na muhyati
“*As the embodied soul continually passes, in this body, from boyhood to
youth to old age, the soul similarly passes into another body at death. The
self-realized soul is not bewildered by such a change.” (Bg. 2.13) Thus
the first instruction is that one should understand that the soul is within
the body and is transmigrating from one body to another. This is the
beginning of spiritual knowledge. Any person who is not expert in
understanding this science or is unwilling to understand it remains in the
bodily conception of life, or the animalistic conception of life, as con-
firmed in Srimad-Bhégavatam (yasydtma-buddhih kunape _tri-
dhatuke ...sa eva go-kharah). Every member of human society should
clearly understand the instructions of Bhagavad-gita, for only in this
way can one be spiritually elevated and automatically give up the false,
illusory knowledge by which one thinks, “I am this body, and everything
belonging to this body is mine [aharm mameti].” This doggish conception
should be rejected immediately. One should be prepared to understand
the spirit soul and the supreme spirit, God, who are eternally related.
Thus one may return home, back to Godhead, having solved all the
problems of life.
TEXT 22
ae ara: ArmA os FE aN |
free: Tears: Tarts TATA NR
