Lectures, 9 December, 1975, Vrindavana

Generally the old man does not know what is going to happen. He is in the hands of the nature. Ask anybody, any big, big man, old man, "What you are going to do?" I met some very important old man in London, one… He was Lord…

Hamsaduta: Brockway. Lord Brockway?

Prabhupada: Brockway, I think. I asked him, "What you will do? What is the end of your life?" "No, I shall die peacefully." That's all. He does not know that what is going to happen. Because the Christians, they do not believe in the next life; they think this life is finished, everything is finished. But that is not the fact. Because they cannot find out the soul. But that requires expert knowledge. Just like gold mine, apparently it appears that it is a stone. But one who is expert, soil expert, he can understand, "Here is gold." Just like when I was in South Africa, even in the city Johannesburg there are so many gold mines within the city, gold mines. So ordinary man, how it will… How he'll know that there is gold in the soil? He must be expert. To find out the soul within this body, it is not the business of rascals and fools. He must be very expert, exactly like the soil expert.

And then, by analysis… This is called neti neti, na iti. It is very easy.  If you think, study your body, take this finger, so you'll say, "My finger." Nobody will say, "I finger." Just like we sometimes examine little child, "What is this?" "Finger." "So a finger, which finger?" "My finger." "Head?" "My head." "Leg?" "My leg." Everything, "my, my." And where is "I"? This is intelligence.

Everything, he is studying, "my," and who is "I"? This very question will establish the fact, dehino 'smin yatha dehe, that "I" is within this body. Therefore I am speaking, "my."

So if one is expert in understanding, in analyzing this body, neti neti — "This is blood. This is skin. This is this. This is this. This is urine. This is stool" — then whole body we analyze. Then where is that "I"? We cannot see. But why you cannot see? As soon as the "I" is off, [gone] then whose stool, whose skin, whose bone? So in this way, if we analyze, then we can understand that asmin dehe, within this body, the "I" is there. And what is this "I"? Again, aham brahmasmi. This is further advancement. But these rascals — "Aham brahmasmi means 'I am God.' " No. Take, consult Bhagavad-gita what is this aham. Aham means the part and parcel of the Supreme Brahman, Parabrahman. Krsna is Parabrahman. Param brahma param dhama pavitram paramam bhavan. So Krsna says, "These Brahmans, these living entities, they are My part and parcel." That is aham understanding, "I." What I am? I am part and parcel of Krsna.

Within each of these saved tomato seeds is a soul waiting to be planted in the earth and sprout as a tomato plant. Without that soul’s presence, the plant will not grow. Soul in the Vedas is described as 1/10,000 size of the tip of a hair.

Compiled by Damaghosa das