Text 23] What Prahlada Learned in the Womb 69
soul; na—not; iti—thus; na—not; iti—thus; iti—in this way; atat—
what is not spirit; tyajan—giving up.

TRANSLATION

There are two kinds of bodies for every individual soul—a gross
body made of five gross elements and a subtle body made of three
subtle elements. Within these bodies, however, is the spirit soul.
One must find the soul by analysis, saying, ‘“This is not it. This is
not it.”” Thus one must separate spirit from matter.
PURPORT
As previously stated, svarnam yatha gravasu hema-karah ksetresu
yogais tad-abhijria apnuyat. An expert in the study of soil can find out
where gold is and then dig there. He can then analyze the stone and test
the gold with nitric acid. Similarly, one must analyze the whole body to
find within the body the spirit soul. In studying one’s own body, one
must ask himself whether his head is his soul, his fingers are his soul, his
hand is his soul, and so on. In this way, one must gradually reject all the
material elements and the combinations of material elements in the body.
Then, if one is expert and follows the dcdrya, he can understand that he
is the spiritual soul living within the body. The greatest dcarya, Krsna,
begins His teachings in Bhagavad-gita by saying:
dehino ’smin yatha dehe
kaumaram yauvanam jara
tathé 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) The
spirit soul possesses the body and is within the body. This is the real
analysis. The soul never mixes with the bodily elements. Although the
soul is within the body, it is separate and always pure. One must analyze
and understand his self. This is self-realization. Neti neti is the analytical
process of rejecting matter. By expertly conducting such an analysis, one
