by purujit dasa
IF THEY’RE DIFFERENT BODIES, WHY THERE’S RESEMBLANCE?
Some people also argue that the body is the same because there is a resemblance with my child body, neither do I change my race, gender. In other words, there’s continuity and this continuity preserves the consciousness of us throughout the life, whereas after death, that continuity might cease to be.
Devotee: It is explained in Bhagavad-gītā that one change body during the lifetime, but we see that a black man never becomes white, or that there is a constant, there is something constant within the body though it changes. What is it? How come this is, changes body but still we can recognize someone from his youth to his old age.
Prabhupāda: So when you further advance you'll find there is no distinction between black and white. Just like a flower is coming out, there are many colors. So it is coming from the same source. As such there is no such difference, but to make it beautiful there are so many colors. In the sunshine there are seven colors, and from that seven colors, multicolors are coming out, origin the one color white, and then so many colors coming.
Bhagavad-gītā 4.24 -- August 4, 1976, New Mayapur (French farm)
A famous singer Michael Jackson for example changed from a black to a white person thanks to surgeons. Also, there are transsexuals -people who change their gender from man to woman or from woman to man, but no matter how they change their body, their consciousness is not finished. They do not die by changing their gender.
It is said that by modern medical treatment a male can be transformed into a female, and a female into a male. The body, however, has no connection with the soul. The body can be changed, either in this life or the next. Therefore, one who has knowledge of the soul and how the soul transmigrates from one body to another does not pay attention to the body, which is nothing but a covering dress. Paṇḍitāḥ sama-darśinaḥ [Bg. 5.18]. Such a person sees the soul, which is part and parcel of the Supreme Lord. Therefore he is a sama-darśi, a learned person.
SB 9.1.33
It is the soul upon which the body grows. The soul is the same in the white Michael Jackson as it is in the black Michael Jackson. And as soon as the soul leaves the body, it is no longer changing. So whether it’s white or black doesn’t really make a difference. The successful yoga practitioner is able to perceive all living entities on equal spiritual platform due to his elevated consciousness.
The humble sage, by virtue of true knowledge, sees with equal vision a learned and gentle brāhmaṇa, a cow, an elephant, a dog and a dog-eater [outcaste] .
Bg 5.18
(to be continued...)
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