Who Am I?with Nimisha

A Way toUnderstand

Who We Really Are

Readers who would like to comment, ask questions, or order copies are invited to correspond with the publisher at:vmadhavadas@gmail.com

May 2012

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Soul Science University Press expresses its gratitude to the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International (BBT) 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)

www.SoulScienceUniversity.com

DedicationThis book is dedicated to

A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupadawho came to the Western countrieswith the Torchlight of Knowledge

—and—

To the children of this worldwho are the future of this planet

—and—

To any parent who takes the timeto impart this wonderful truth

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.

We live in a violent world where people are often judged, and sometimes even killed, due to their outward bodily appearances and bodily designations,

How wonderful would it be if children, the future of our planet, were educated to respect all life, not with a fairy tale, but with a simple truth that has been forgotten except by the most saintly among us.

Everything in this short book is based on the ancient literary spiritual classic, Bhagavad-gita, as translated and iluminated by A.C. Bhaktive-danta Swami Prabhupada.

Never was there a time when I did not exist, nor you, nor all these kings; nor in the future shall any of us cease to be. . —B.gita 2.12

As the embodied soul continuously passes, in this body, from boyhood to youth to old age, the soul similarly passes into another body at death. A sober person is not bewildered by such a change. —B.gita 2.13

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. —B.gita 2.20

Earth, water, fire, air, ether, mind, intelligence, and false ego constitute My separated material energies.

Besides these there is another superior energy of Mine, which comprises the living entities who are exploiting this material, inferior nature. —B.gita 7.4-5

One who is free from illusion, false prestige, and false association, who understands the eternal, who is done with material lust and is free from the duality of happiness and distress, and who knows how to surrender unto the Supreme Per-son, attains to that eternal kingdom. —B.gita 15.5

That abode of Mine (the eternal spiritual world) is not illumined by the sun or moon, nor by elec-tricity. One who reaches it never returns to this material world. —B.gita 15.6

Most pious people in India understand these truths 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.

I also want to express my gratitude to Dr. Sahadeva das for facilitating the completion of this project at his temple in Secundabad, South India. And I would like to thank my wife Rad-hanarupini devi dasi for her support for this project.

According to Bhagavad-gita, the goal of the human form of life is to realize our spiritual na-ture and our relationship with God. This is the ancient path to peace and prosperty and for achieving lasting happiness.

My hope is that this book helps many chil-dren to realize the sacred spirit within them-selves 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 every-thing in this world.

Your humble servant,

v. madhava das

IntroductIon

The Vedic Science of the Soul

According to the ancient vedas of India the soul is described as being 10,000th of the tip of a hair (Svetas-vatara Upanishad 5.9). This sub-atomic particle of spirit is located in the heart region. Due to the presence of this spirit, conscious flows throughout the body as the blood is circulated.

The symptoms of life are birth, growth, by products (including pro-creation), dwindling, and dying. If these symptoms are present, it indicates the presence of a soul or spirit. The material elements (earth, water, fire, air, and ether) are lifeless unless a spirit soul is animating them.(Bhagavad-gita.7.4-5)

In the 1960s, A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhu-pada posed a question to the faculty and students at a program at MIT. He asked if anyone could tell him what the difference was 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 presence of the soul.

The 5,000 year old vedas (books of knowledge) state that there are 8,400,000 species of life which include the plants, insects, aquatics, reptiles, animals, and human beings. It is wonderous that such a tiny spirit particle animates the gigantic body of a blue whale, as well as, the unseen microbes.

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 are largely acting on the instinct to survive.

As humans we have developed intelligence and free will. We know we will die one day. It is a life of respon-sibilty, for not only can we choose to do the right thing, we can also choose to do wrong. And there are conse-quences.

The universally accepted law of physics reads; “For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.” This same principle works on the subtle plane and is called karma.

As eternal spirit souls, we are accepting new bodies and throwing off old ones (Bhagavad-gita 2.22). All this is conducted under the laws of material nature and karma. Somehow or other we have fallen into this ocean of birth and death in this material world which is very unnatural for the soul.

We are meant to be with God. According to the vedas, our original spiritual nature is eternal, full of knowledge and blissful (sat, chit, anandam). We are the same in quality as God (spirit) but, as small parts and parcels of God, we may also be covered by the influence of God’s material energy, whereas God is eternallty tran-scendental. Thus a prayer for God’s assistance is found in the Brhadaranyaka Upanishad — I.iii.28 asato ma sadgamaya...

Lead me from the temporary to the permanentLead me from darkness to light.Lead me from death to immortality.”God has created us and everything we see 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 Him in the spiritual world.

Some look on the soul as amazing, some describe him as amazing, and some hear of him as amazing, while others, even after hearing about him, cannot un-derstand him at all. (Bhagavad-gita 2.29)

Because of our conditioning and our strong identi-fication 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 can be found in details in the Bhagavad-gita As It Is by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. The readers are encouraged to look into this further and the book is available from the publisher, vmadhavadas@gmail.com, or Krishna.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.