Prabhupada 0631 - I am Eternal, the Body is not Eternal, This is the Fact
Lecture on BG 2.28 -- London, August 30, 1973
One point in this connection is that at night when I am dreaming I forget this body. This body, in dream, I am seeing that I have gone in a different place, talking with different men, and my position is different. But at that time I don't remember that actually my body is lying on the bed in the apartment where I have come. But we don't remember this body. It is everyone's experience. Similarly, when you come again, awakening stage in the morning after getting up from the bed, I forget all the bodies I created in my dream. So which one is correct? This is correct? This body's correct, or that body's correct? Because at night I forget this body, and in daytime I forget the other dreaming body. So both of them not correct. It is simply hallucination. But I am correct because I see at night, I see in daytime. So I am eternal, the body is not eternal. This is the fact. Antavanta ime dehā nityasyoktāḥ śarīriṇaḥ (BG 2.18). Śarīriṇaḥ, the owner of the body, is eternal, but not the body. In so many ways, Kṛṣṇa is explaining about the material condition of this body. But those who are not very intelligent, with poor fund of knowledge, it is very difficult for them to understand. Otherwise, things are very clear. This point is very clear. That at night I forget this body, and in daytime I forget the body at night. This is a fact. Similarly, I may forget the body of my last appearance, last duration of life, or I may not know the future body. But I will exist, and the body may change, but I'll have to accept another body which is temporary. But I, as I exist, it means I have got a body. That is spiritual body.
So spiritual body is existing, and spiritual advancement means first of all to know spiritual identification of myself. Just like Sanātana Gosvāmī went to Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu after retiring from his ministership. So he first of all said that, ke āmi, kene āmāya jāre tāpa-traya: "Actually, I do not know what I am, and why I am subjected to the miserable condition of life." Therefore the miserable condition of life is this body. Because I get... In dream also. When I get another body, sometimes we find that on top of the very tall bamboo or tall mountain I am just now, I'm falling down . And I'm afraid, I sometimes cry, "Now, I am now falling down." So this body, this material body, which body I belong to, which I am... Actually, I do not belong to any of these bodies. I have got a separate spiritual body.
So this human life is meant for that realization, that "I am not this material body, I have a spiritual body." Then next question will be, "Then what is my function?" In the present body under some material condition I am thinking, "This is my body," and the body is produced under certain condition of this country or this family; therefore, "This is my family, this is my country, this is my nation." Everything in bodily concept of life. And if I am not this body, then in relationship with this body, either my family or my country or my society, or my other relationships, they are also false because the body is false.