Who Am I? with Nimisha A Way to Understand
Who We Really Are
Dedication
This book is dedicated to A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada who came to the Western countries with Transcendental Knowledge —and—
To the children of this world who are the future of this planet —and—
To any parent who takes the time to impart this wonderful truth
Readers interested in the subject matter of this book, or to order copies, are invited to correspond with the publisher at: vmadhavadas@gmail.com
First edition:February 2011 all rights reserved
Soul Science University Press expresses its gratitude to the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International BBT(I) for use of quotes from Bhagavad-gita As It Is by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. copyright- Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International BBT(I) www.SoulScienceUniversity.com
ISBN - 978-81-909760-7-7
INTRODUCTION
Sometimes the most obvious truths are the most elusive to comprehend and remember.
In a simple exercise, Nimisha shows us that we are not our material bodies, but something far more valuable, mysterious, and rewarding, if we can just remember and realize it.
Presently, we live in a violent world where people are often judged, and sometimes even killed, due to their outward bodily appearances and bodily identifications. How wonderful would it be if we educated our children, the future of our planet, to respect all life as spirit. This is not a fairy tale, but a simple truth that was commonly understood and taught by the ancient forefathers of humanity.
According to the ancient Vedas of India and its enlightened sages, there is a spark of spirit in our body, This subatomic particle of spirit is located in the heart region. Although it is not perceivable by material science, we experience it every day of our lives. This spirit soul distributes consciousness throughout the body through the blood.
O Arjuna, just as one sun illuminates the entire world with its light, the soul within the body illuminates the entire body with consciousness. Bhagavad-gita 13:34
According to Krishna in Bhagavad-gita, this spirit soul is eternal and is who we are.
O Arjuna, You should know that the spirit soul which pervades the entire body (as consciousness) is imperishable and indestructible (eternal). No one is able to destroy the spirit soul. Bg 2:17 For the soul there is never birth nor death. Nor, having once been, does he ever cease to be. He is unborn, eternal, ever-existing, undying and primeval.—Bg 2.20
Never was there a time when I did not exist, nor you, nor all these kings. and never will there be a time in the future when any of us will cease to exist.” Bg 2:12
The idea that a spiritual force animates the biological body has been part of human cultures since prehistoric times. The great civilizations, including Greek, Egyptian, Chinese, and East Indian, had this understanding. It has also been a common traditional belief in the major world religions—Hinduism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Although conventional Buddhism does not formally recognize the soul, Buddhists believe the same person reincarnates. It should also be noted that the spiritual understanding of those practicing other world religions varies according to how they perceive spirit or the individual soul. But the common agreement is that the soul survives the temporary material body.
I was brought up Catholic on the east coast of the US. I served as an altarboy for 9 years and was around priests my whole childhood. Yet I heard that “I had an immortal soul,” not that I was one. The understanding that I am the spirit soul in my body only became clear after I heard from A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami and read his Bhagavad-gita As It Is.
Most pious people in India understand this truth as part of their spiritual culture. So it is fitting that Nimisha devi presents this to us. My thanks to her and her parents Srividya devi and Sri Sharma for allowing me to work with her.
I also want to express my gratitude to Dr. Sahadeva das for facilitating the completion of this project at his temple in Secunderabad, South India. And I would like to thank Radhanarupini devi dasi for her support for this project.
My hope is that this book helps many children to realize the sacred spirit within themselves as well as in every living thing around them. Such a basic understanding of spirit has the power to change the way we relate to everyone and everything in this world.
Your humble servant, v. madhava das
Realizing the Spirit Soul
In the 1960s, A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada was invited to address the faculty and students at MIT. At the program he asked the audience if they could tell him the difference between a dead person and a living one. No one ventured a reply so the Swami answered his own question. “It is consciousness.” He then explained that consciousness is a symptom of the soul.
Besides consciousness, the symptoms of life are birth, growth, by products (including pro-creation), dwindling, and dying. These life symptoms are only manifest when there is a spirit in the body. Material bodies are lifeless and inactive unless a spirit soul is animating them. As soon as the soul leaves, the body becomes inactive, loses it’s luster, and immediately starts to decompose.
According to the Vedas, there are 8.4 million species of life which include plants, insects, aquatics, reptiles, animals, and human beings. All living bodies have a soul in them. It is amazing that such a tiny spirit particle can animate the gigantic body of a blue whale, as well as the bodies of unseen microbes.
Some perceive the soul as amazing; some speak of the soul as amazing; and others who hear about the soul accept it as amazing, Yet others, even after hearing about the soul, cannot understand the soul at all. Bg 2:29
The human form of life is meant for realizing our spiritual nature. The lower forms of life, namely the animals, etc. do not have this opportunity as they do not have enough developed intelligence. As human beings, we know we will die one day. The human form is a life of responsibility, for not only can we choose to do the right thing, we can also choose to do wrong. And there are consequences to our actions. Just as Newton’s 3rd law of physics states, “Every action has an equal and opposite reaction.” human actions work similarly on the subtle plane and this is called karma. As Jesus so succinctly put it, “As you sow, so shall you reap.”
As eternal spirit souls, we are accepting new bodies and throwing off old ones. All this is op-
erating under the laws of material nature and this is very unnatural for the soul. What keeps us coming back and accepting new bodies are our material attachments and desires here.
As the soul passes, in this life, from a child’s body to an adult body and to an old-age body, the soul similarly passes into another body after death. The wise understand this and are therefore not bewildered by these changes. Bg 2:13
Realized souls understand reincarnation and the cycle of birth and death. They also understand we are meant to be with God. The Vedas describe our spiritual nature as eternal, full of knowledge and bliss. We are the same in quality as God (spirit) but, as small parts of God, we are not all-powerful like Him. Thus, our spiritual consciousness can be covered by the influence of illusion due to wanting to exploit and enjoy this material energy..
God has created us and everything we see around us with a spark of Himself. He resides in the spiritual world and is waiting for us to awaken spiritually and turn towards Him. He wants us to come to home to Him.
That abode of Mine (the eternal spiritual world) is not illumined by the sun or moon, nor by electricity. One who reaches it never returns to this material world. Bg 15.6
Because of our material condition and our strong identification with our material bodies, it takes time to realize that we are spirit. But one can hardly think of a more noble pursuit in the human form of life.
The spiritual journey is not completed in a day, a week or a year. But once it is begun, one’s life becomes full of purpose and one day we will all succeed and come face to face with God.
All of the above is explained in detail in Bhagavad-gita As It Is by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. The readers are encouraged to discover the spiritual wisdom of this book and other books translated by Srila Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. You can access this library at: https://vedabase.io/en/ Or you may contact the author for more information: vmadhavadas@gmail.com.
sometimes the simplest truths are the hardest to comprehend and remember.
This easy-to-read book is a child teaching other children something very special about ourselves.
It is a lesson that can be repeated until the child has become spiritually enlightened by its simple truth.
How wonderful the world would be if we learned to respect all life as sacred and lived by that truth.
And this is not something sentimental.
It is something that has been realized and taught by genuine saints for thousands of years.