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Kṛṣṇa spoke Bhagavad-gita to convince Arjuna that he should assert his rightful claim to the throne of the Vedic Empire, and chastise his unscrupulous relatives, headed by Duryodhana. Arjuna’s refusal to fight in the Battle of Kuruksetra was predicated on his understanding that killing his relatives would be against the principles of religion. Therefore, Kṛṣṇa’s instructions to Arjuna began with the eternality of the soul and the illusory nature of the material bodily conception of life.

na tv evaham jatu nasam
na tvam neme janadhipah
na caiva na bhavisyamah
sarve vayam atah param

“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.” [Bhagavad-gita 2.12]

Kṛṣṇa is trying to convince Arjuna that death does not take place for the soul. He says clearly, “I, Myself—the Supreme Personality of Godhead—you, and all the other kings and soldiers who have assembled in this great battlefield, are individual spirit souls. It is not a fact that we were ever nonexistent at any time in the past. In the present, we are face to face and we can see that we are existing as separate individuals. And in the future also, we shall exist individually eternally.”

I am an individual person; you are an individual person, and he is an individual person. So I, you, and he, or they—the first person, the second person and the third person—have always been individuals, and this individuality continues eternally into the future. It is not that the soul will ever die, merge into another entity, or in any other way lose his personality and individuality. Individuality of every living being is an eternal fact.

In our daily life and experience, we see that everyone has their own opinion. You may not agree with me, because you have your own individuality. Similarly, someone else may not agree with your thinking. So everyone has his or her own individuality. That is a fact. This individuality does not end with the body, because it is not based on the body. Individuality is an eternal quality of the eternal spirit soul.

It is not that the individuality of the soul is illusory or temporary. There is a class of Buddhist philosophers who say that the soul or mind is one homogeneous entity, and that after the annihilation of this body, the soul will merge into the total substance of mind or consciousness, and cease to exist as an individual. They compare the soul to water. If you keep water in different pots, the water takes the shape of the pot. Similarly, they say that the body is like a pot and the soul is like water, and our individuality is because of the body. Then at the time of death, when the soul is liberated from the body, it mixes up with the totality of soul and its individuality is lost. Just like when a drop of water taken from the sea is again put into the sea, it loses its identity.

This theory ignores the ontological fact that since the soul is eternal, the qualities of the soul are also eternal and unchangeable. Just like water is always wet, the soul is always conscious, personal and individual. Just like you cannot remove wetness from water, you cannot remove these qualities from the soul.

So here Lord Kṛṣṇa says that “Myself, yourself, and all others who have come here, are eternal individuals.” There were about sixty million kings and warriors assembled in that battle. It was not a small fight. Actually, that Battle of Kuruksetra was a World War, because all the kings of the world joined either Arjuna’s side or Duryodhana’s side. So it was a great assembly of all the world’s kings and their armies. And except for the five Pandavas and Kṛṣṇa, all of them would die, and the worldwide Vedic dynasty of kings would never recover. There would be no powerful kings left to protect the people against the influence of Kali-yuga.

Now, just before the beginning of this great and epochal battle, Kṛṣṇa says that “Myself, yourself, and all these persons who have assembled here, are individuals. They were individuals in the past, they are individuals now, and they will continue to be individuals even after the annihilation of this body.”

So, how to understand these two theories? The impersonal theory says that after liberation all these souls will become one. Just like if you put so many drops of water into the sea, they merge together into the ocean and become one entity. But Lord Kṛṣṇa says that “No, they keep their individuality. They do not mix.”

If we perform historical research, inquire into the most ancient writings of humankind, we find that all people in the ancient past were individuals. There is no history of any people who ever existed who were not individuals. And at the present time, we directly experience that all people are individuals. All living entities we can find—either human being, or animals or birds, or anything alive anywhere—we find that they are individuals. Each and every one is a unique and separate individual. Then why should we not conclude that in future they will also remain individual?

In the past they were individuals, in the present they are individuals; so why not conclude that in future they’ll remain individuals? Is there any evidence to the contrary? Can anyone show any living entity that is not an individual? Is such a thing even possible? So we naturally conclude that they will continue to be individuals. Even we do not have any philosophical knowledge of these two theories, impersonal or personal, by our own human reasoning reasoning we can understand that the impersonal theory is completely unsupported by any tangible evidence.

In the entire history of the human race, all were individual persons. At the present moment, we can see that all are individual persons. So why not in the future? How it is that in the future they’ll mix up and become one, homogeneous thing? It is quite unreasonable.

It is reasonable to assume that a natural process observed to be consistent in the past and present will also remain consistent in the future. In astronomy, if you find that on a particular date, the sun always rose at a particular time; and in the present, we also observe the sunrise at same exact time, then it is natural to conclude that the sun will continue to rise at that time on that date in the future.

So we can understand the difference between the impersonal and personal theories of the soul by our human reasoning. There are many spiritual things that are beyond the power of our reason. But when it is possible to apply our reason, then why not accept it? Can anyone show any evidence of any living being that is not an individual? Of course not; then why should we accept that at any time in the future there will be such a thing that has never existed in the past or present? That would be unreasonable, illogical.

There are other spiritual truths that are provable by our human reasoning. For example, by our reasoning, we can conclude that God exists because everything has a creator. Just like the computer that we are using to record this podcast. We know that this computer has a manufacturer. Similarly, there is a manufacturer for my car and my house. For everything that exists, there is a father, creator, builder or manufacturer. I myself am created by my father and mother. My father was created by his father. If we keep on reasoning in this way, naturally we can conclude that there is one creator of this whole cosmic situation, the whole material universe.

This is simple reasoning; it is not very hard to follow or understand. However, there are things many which are beyond our experience, beyond our reasoning, beyond our conception. Those things are called acintya, or inconceivable.

kavim puranam anusasitaram
anor aniyamsam anusmared yah
sarvasya dhataram acintya-rupam
aditya-varnam tamasah parastat

“One should meditate upon the Supreme Person as the one who knows everything, as He who is the oldest, who is the controller, who is smaller than the smallest, who is the maintainer of everything, who is beyond all material conception, who is inconceivable, and who is always a person. He is luminous like the sun, and He is transcendental, beyond this material nature.” [Bhagavad-gita 8.9]

How can we understand that which is inconceivable, beyond our human conception? The Esoteric Teaching says,

acintyah khalu ye bhava na
tams tarkena yojayet

“Anything which is acintya—beyond our conception, beyond our reasoning power, beyond the approach of our material senses—cannot be understood by reason and argument.” [Mahabharata, Bhisma-parva 5.22]

tarko ’pratisthah srutayo vibhinna
nasav rsir yasya matam na bhinnam
dharmasya tattvam nihitam guhayam
mahajano yena gatah sa panthah

“Dry arguments are inconclusive. A great personality whose opinion does not differ from others is not considered a great sage. Simply by studying the Vedas, which are variegated, one cannot come to the right path by which religious principles are understood. The solid truth of religious principles is hidden in the heart of an unadulterated, self-realized person. Consequently, as the sastras confirm, one should accept whatever progressive path the mahajanas advocate.” [Mahabharata, Vana-parva 313.117]

So the Vedic injunction is that tarkah apratistha: “We cannot establish what should be our real understanding simply by argument.” Tarkah apratisthah smrtayo vibhinnah: “If we consult different scriptures, then we’ll find that one scripture is speaking something, another scripture is speaking something else.”

For example, the Vedic scriptures say that cow-killing is irreligious. The Jews, Christian and Muhammadan scriptures say, “No, cow-killing is religious.” How can we adjust these different religious conceptions? In some scriptures it is said that cow-killing is irreligious, and another scripture says that cow-killing is religious. So which of them I shall accept?

Therefore it is said that smrtayo vibhinnah: if you consult different scriptures, you’ll find different contradictory statements. Your scripture may be different from my scripture. And nasau munir yasya matam na bhinnam. If you consult philosophers, you’ll find one philosopher is differing from another philosopher. A big philosopher means someone who has defeated other philosophers and put up his own theory.

So tarko ’pratisthah smrtayo vibhinna nasau munir yasya matam na bhinnam: our reason is imperfect, and the scriptures and philosophers do not agree. Then how to conclude what is the right path? I cannot establish it by my imperfect arguments; I cannot consult even the scriptures, and neither I can take instruction from different philosophers. Then what is the way of finding the real truth?

Dharmasya tattvam nihitam guhayam: “The truth of religiosity is very confidential, very secret.” So how to know it? Mahajano yena gatah sa panthah: “We have simply have to follow the great personalities, that’s all.” Just like in the Christian religion you may not understand all the Biblical injunctions or you may not have the time to study; but if you simply follow the ideal life of Lord Jesus Christ, then you get the same result. Similarly, the Muhammadans, if they follow the ideal life of Muhammad, Hazrat Muhammad, so they get the result.

Mahajano yena gatah sa panthah: “Follow the path of the great souls.” Trying to find the spiritual Supreme Absolute Truth is just like following an unknown path in a remote village. In the city, you can know where you are because the streets are numbered and signs are very clear. But in the country, every place is of similar nature and appearance: the same jungle, the same field, the same grass. How do we know where we are going?

Or at sea, everything looks the same: just water and waves. But the navigators have a chart. By latitude, longitude, by time and by chart, they are calculating the route and the position. So then how did they get these charts? The experienced sailors have made the charts. The captain can trust the chart to navigate the ship because it was made by experienced sailors. Similarly, best way to understand how to obtain our spiritual salvation is to follow the great souls who have already traversed the path of liberation. This experienced knowledge of the great souls is the Esoteric Teaching.

Next: There is no Death 2