2.22: The Embodied Soul

So, from here, from the 22nd verse through to the 29th, Krishna really continues to kind of expand his description of this or that, which is beyond description, the undying essence or sometimes people might like to refer to it as the soul or the spirit or the essence. And in the 22nd verse, we get this kind of quite striking image. And Krishna says, Va santsya ji naniyata vihaya navani grandhati naru parani tathasari rani vihaya ji nani niyani sunniyati navani dehi So Krishna here uses a comparison. He says, just as a human being, when our clothes get worn out, we replace them with other clothes. Similarly, the embodied soul, when the body it's inhabiting gets worn out, then the soul moves to another one.

Now, one of the traditional commentators says the soul actually moves like a leech. So you imagine for leech on the skin, it stays in contact until it's made the next contact. And so this is what one of the commentators says, that the soul knows where it's going. Before it leaves, it knows where it's going to dive in next into which outfit, which body it's going to move. The basic idea, just as we in the course of our life move through different outfits, similarly, the soul on its journey moves through different bodies.

So for example, you may be able to see behind there is the sea. And I was very fortunate to actually bathe in the sea yesterday. And here you can bathe in the sea, naked, or you could if it wasn't the United States where naked bathing is rather controversial. I'm a European, and that's just much more easily done. But if we were further north, I might want to wear a wetsuit, because it's really rather cold further north in the Pacific Ocean.

But if I wear a wetsuit here in the midday sun, it won't do at all, so I'll happily take it off. It's no longer serving any purpose for me. When I'm in the freezing cold water, I'm very happy with my wetsuit. I keep it on. But when I come out into the warm sunshine, I happily take it off.

The edge of the soul knows where it needs to go. And it takes the body that it needs to do particular work. Similarly, in life, we may have a particular shirt, let's say. We're very fond of. Maybe we keep it for special occasions.

But after so many special occasions, it starts to get a little ragged, and then we use it for more general use. And then eventually, the one's most precious item in the wardrobe becomes the precious item in the cleaning cabinet, and we use it to clean the floor. And then it disintegrates, and it's no longer any use. And Krishna says it's the same with the body. The soul moves through bodies, just like we move through outfits, as we need to.

As the body, as the soul needs to, it moves from one to another. And so it's the idea the soul knows what it's doing. It's undying. It's going to find its way. However, at the same time, each individual body has its own miraculous gifts.

So it's not something to be taken lightly. There's the idea in yoga that a soul without a body is stuck. A body without a soul is a corpse, but when you have the soul in the body, it's this beautiful opportunity for the journey to continue. And so there's also the idea in yoga that when you have a body, you are blessed. Because this body has this conscious power.

It has so many miraculous, wonderful gifts. And as we start to pay attention to them, we can work with them to really learn and really grow and so really make the most of this part of the journey.