Source
Texts:
Lord
Krishna's Explanation of the Vedic Path
Text
1
S'rî
Uddhava said: 'O Lord of the Universe, how many basic
elements
of creation have been enumerated by the seers? O master nine,
eleven, five plus three I heard You speak of [see also
11.19:
14]. Some
say there are twenty-six, others speak of twenty-five or seven,
some speak of nine, some of four and others of eleven, while
some speak of sixteen, seventeen or thirteen.
To
us o Eternal Supreme You should explain this what the sages had
in mind who so differently do express
themselves.'
Uddhava
inquired: My dear Lord, O master of the universe, how many
different elements of creation have been enumerated by the
great sages? I have heard You personally describe a total of
twenty-eight - God, the jîva soul, the mahat-tattva,
false ego, the five gross elements, the ten senses, the
mind, the five subtle objects of perception and the three
modes of nature. But some authorities say that there are
twenty-six elements, while others cite twenty-five or else
seven, nine, six, four or eleven, and even others say that
there are seventeen, sixteen or thirteen. What did each of
these sages have in mind when he calculated the creative
elements in such different ways? O supreme eternal, kindly
explain this to me.
Text
4
The Supreme
Lord said: 'With them [the elements] being everywhere
do the brahmins, taking it up with My mâyâ,
accordingly speak the way it suits them; after all, what would
be impossible for them as they speak?
Lord
Krishna replied - Because all material elements are present
everywhere, it is reasonable that different learned
brâhmanas have analyzed them in different ways. All
such philosophers spoke under the shelter of My mystic
potency, and thus they could say anything without
contradicting the truth.
Text
5
'This
is not as you say, what I am saying is that it is as such':
this is what my unfathomable energies do to those logically
arguing [see also 6.4:
31].
When
philosophers argue, 'I don't choose to analyze this
particular case in the same way that you have,' it is simply
My own insurmountable energies that are motivating their
analytic disagreements.
Text
6
Of those who by
their interaction argue on the subject will, when one has
achieved equanimity and sense-control, the difference in their
point of view disappear and the argument consequently
subside.
By
interaction of My energies different opinions arise. But for
those who have fixed their intelligence on Me and controlled
their senses, differences of perception disappear, and
consequently the very cause for argument is removed.
Text
7
Because the
various elements mutually pervade one another, o best among
men, does the speaker accordingly want to give a description
enumerating their causes and resultant effects.
O
best among men, because subtle and gross elements mutually
enter into one another, philosophers may calculate the
number of basic material elements in different ways,
according to their personal desire.
Text
8
In each of
those [descriptions] one sees other elements that have
entered a prior one or either a later one even, or that some
element has entered into others [*].
All
subtle material elements are actually present within their
gross effects; similarly, all gross elements are present
within their subtle causes, since material creation takes
place by progressive manifestation of elements from subtle
to gross. Thus we can find all material elements within any
single element.
Text
9
Therefore,
however these speakers intend upon calculations express
themselves in terms of elements beforehand or elements in
effect, We do accept as it springs from reason.
Therefore,
no matter which of these thinkers is speaking, and
regardless of whether in their calculations they include
material elements within their previous subtle causes or
else within their subsequent manifest products, I accept
their conclusions as authoritative, because a logical
explanation can always be given for each of the different
theories.
Text
10
The process of
selfrealization of a person caught in ignorance is without a
beginning; it cannot occur by dint of his own strength, so
there must be someone else knowing the reality who can bestow
the spiritual knowledge [compare 11.21:
10].
Because
a person who has been covered by ignorance since time
immemorial is not capable of effecting his own
self-realization, there must be some other personality who
is in factual knowledge of the Absolute Truth and can impart
this knowledge to him.
Text
11
The according
knowledge is a quality of material nature [called
sattva]; there is to this [quality] not the
slightest dissimilarity between the person and the Controller,
the notion of them being different [as such] is a
useless one [see B.G. 18:
20 and
9:
15 and
**].
According
to knowledge in the material mode of goodness, there is no
qualitative difference between the living entity and the
supreme controller. The imagination of qualitative
difference between them is useless speculation.
Text
12
Material nature
[prakriti]
is what binds together the modes; these modes as the causes of
keeping, producing and ending and accordingly being of
goodness, passion and ignorance, belong to the material world
and not to the spirit soul [see also B.G.
3:
27].
Nature
exists originally as the equilibrium of the three material
modes, which pertain only to nature, not to the
transcendental spirit soul. These modes - goodness, passion
and ignorance - are the effective causes of the creation,
maintenance and destruction of this universe.
Text
13
In this world
is the mode of goodness of knowledge, the mode of passion of
fruitive labor [karma] and the mode of darkness of
ignorance; the interaction of the modes is called Time and
what's there by nature is the thread [the
mahat-tattva
is the sûtra,
see also 11.12:
19 -21].
In
this world the mode of goodness is recognized as knowledge,
the mode of passion as fruitive work, and the mode of
darkness as ignorance. Time is perceived as the agitated
interaction of the material modes, and the totality of
functional propensity is embodied by the primeval
sûtra, or mahat-tattva.
Text
14
The soul
enjoying [purusha], the material nature
[prakriti], the intelligible [mahat-tattva],
the identification with the form [ahankâra], the
ether, the air, the fire, the water and the earth are thus the
nine elements of creation described by Me.
I
have described the nine basic elements as the enjoying soul,
nature, nature's primeval manifestation of the mahat-tattva,
false ego, ether, air, fire, water and earth.
Text
15
Hearing,
touching, seeing, smelling and tasting are the five
[senses] by which the knowledge is acquired; the organ
of speech, the hands, the genitals, the anus and the legs
constitute their operation, o dear one, and the mind is there
to both.
Hearing,
touch, sight, smell and taste are the five knowledge
acquiring senses, My dear Uddhava, and speech, the hands,
the genitals, the anus and the legs constitute the five
working senses. The mind belongs to both these
categories.
Text
16
Sounds, tactile
qualities, tastes, fragrances, and forms [or colors]
are the categories of the sense objects [see
vishaya]
and speech, manufacturing, excretion [by anus and
genitals] and locomotion are the functions covered by
them.
Sound,
touch, taste, smell and form are the objects of the
knowledge-acquiring senses, and movement, speech, excretion
and manufacture are functions of the working senses.
Text
17
In the
beginning of creation is the person of the enjoyer uninvolved
given to witnessing the material nature of this universe that
by the modes of sattva
and the others embodies the gross manifestations and subtler
causes [2.10:
10].
In
the beginning of creation nature assumes, by the modes of
goodness, passion and ignorance, its form as the embodiment
of all subtle causes and gross manifestations within the
universe. The Supreme Personality of Godhead does not enter
the interaction of material manifestation but merely glances
upon nature.
Text
18
The elements in
all the manifest reality undergoing transformation do,
amalgamated by the power of nature, form the egg of the
universe, by the glance of the Lord having attained their
potencies [2.5:
35,
3.20:
14-15,
3.26:
51-53,
3.32:
29,
5.26:
38,
11.6:
16].
As
the material elements, headed by the mahat-tattva, are
transformed, they receive their specific potencies from the
glance of the Supreme Lord, and being amalgamated by the
power of nature, they create the universal egg.
Text
19
Speaking of it
as having only seven elements: the five of the physical
elements beginning with the ether and the individual knower
with the Supreme Soul, are there from the fundamental basis of
these two the body, the senses and the life air [or all the
material phenomena produced].
According
to some philosophers there are seven elements, namely earth,
water, fire, air and ether, along with the conscious spirit
soul and the Supreme Soul, who is the basis of both the
material elements and the ordinary spirit soul. According to
this theory, the body, senses, life air and all material
phenomena are produced from these seven elements.
Text
20
Herein thus
also of six: the five elements with the Transcendental Person
as the sixth element conjoined with them, has this creation
created from Himself been send forth with Him
entering.
Other
philosophers state that there are six elements - the five
physical elements (earth, water, fire, air and ether) and
the sixth element, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. That
Supreme Lord, endowed with the elements that He has brought
forth from Himself, creates this universe and then
personally enters within it.
Text
21
In the case of
so having four do fire, water and earth arise from the Self and
came by them the birth then of the manifest product of this
cosmos about.
Some
philosophers propose the existence of four basic elements,
of which three - fire, water and earth - emanate from the
fourth, the Self. Once existing, these elements produce the
cosmic manifestation, in which all material creation takes
place.
Text
22
Counting
seventeen is there the consideration of the five gross
elements, the five objects and the five senses along with the
one mind and the soul as the seventeenth.
Some
calculate the existence of seventeen basic elements, namely
the five gross elements, the five objects of perception, the
five sensory organs, the mind, and the soul as the
seventeenth element.
Text
23
Likewise counts
one sixteen with indeed the soul identified as the mind and
thirteen so with the gross elements, the five senses, the mind
and the [individual and supreme of the]
soul.
According
to the calculation of sixteen elements, the only difference
from the previous theory is that the soul is identified with
the mind. If we think in terms of five physical elements,
five senses, the mind, the individual soul and the Supreme
Lord, there are thirteen elements.
Text
24
To the number
of eleven has one in this the soul, the gross elements and the
senses; and nine one has also with the eight natural elements
[the gross ones, mind, intelligence and false ego] as
surely also the Enjoyer on top of that.
Counting
eleven, there are the soul, the gross elements and the
senses. Eight gross and subtle elements plus the Supreme
Lord would make nine.
Text
25
This way have
various enumerations of the elements been contrived by the
sages. They are all logically supported by rational arguments;
what brilliance would one miss with the
learned?'
Thus
great philosophers have analyzed the material elements in
many different ways. All of their proposals are reasonable,
since they are all presented with ample logic. Indeed, such
philosophical brilliance is expected of the truly
learned.
Text
26
S'rî
Uddhava said: 'Because both nature and the enjoyer, although
constitutionally different, mutually shelter one another o
Krishna, seems there to be no difference between them; the soul
is seen within nature and nature in the soul as well [see
also B.G. 18:
16].
S'rî
Uddhava inquired - Although nature and the living entity are
constitutionally distinct, O Lord Krishna, there appears to
be no difference between them, because they are found
residing within one another. Thus the soul appears to be
within nature and nature within the soul.
Text
27
Please, o Lotus
eyed One, as the Omniscient, Very Expert in Reasoning, cut with
Your words down the great doubt in my heart.
O
lotus-eyed Krishna, O omniscient Lord, kindly cut this great
doubt out of my heart with Your own words, which exhibit
Your great skill in reasoning.
Text
28
The knowledge
do the living beings indeed have from You and by the potency of
You out here is it stolen away; You alone indeed know the
perfection of the illusory potency of Yourself and no one else
[see also B.G. 15:
15].'
From
You alone the knowledge of the living beings arises, and by
Your potency that knowledge is stolen away. Indeed, no one
but Yourself can understand the real nature of Your illusory
potency.
Text
29
The Supreme
Lord said: 'Prakriti and purusha [nature and the
enjoyer] subject to this transformation based upon the
mixing of the gunas of the creation, are thus distinct, o best
of persons.
The
Supreme Personality of Godhead said - O best among men,
material nature and its enjoyer are clearly distinct. This
manifest creation undergoes constant transformation, being
founded upon the agitation of the modes of nature.
Text
30
My dear, the
deluding energy consisting of the modes establishes the
manifold of the manifestations and perceptions of these
differences that, subject to change, know three aspects: that
of adhyâtma - the one, adhidaiva [- the nature]
and of adhibhûta, the other [see also
kles'as
and
1.17:
19].
My
dear Uddhava, My material energy, comprising three modes and
acting through them, manifests the varieties of creation
along with varieties of consciousness for perceiving them.
The manifest result of material transformation is understood
in three aspects - adhyâtmic, adhidaivic and
adhibhautic.
Text
31
The way the
sight [the one], the form [nature] and the
reflected image [the other] of the sun, on itself
present in the sky, in this cooperate to the opening of the eye
in order to manifest, is the Supersoul, who of these
[three] is separate present as the transcendental
experience [the One], the cause [the Nature],
and the phenomena to be seen [the Other], there as the
perfection of realization.
Sight,
visible form and the reflected image of the sun within the
aperture of the eye all work together to reveal one another.
But the original sun standing in the sky is self-manifested.
Similarly, the Supreme Soul, the original cause of all
entities, who is thus separate from all of them, acts by the
illumination of His own transcendental experience as the
ultimate source of manifestation of all mutually manifesting
objects.
Text
32
So it is too
with the [organ, the object and the function of the]
sense of touch and such, the hearing and such, the tongue and
such, the nose and such and with that what belongs to the
consciousness [the seer].
Similarly,
the sense organs, namely the skin, ears, eyes, tongue and
nose - as well as the functions of the subtle body, namely
conditioned consciousness, mind, intelligence and false ego
- can all be analyzed in terms of the threefold distinction
of sense, object of perception and presiding deity.
Text
33
The
transformation effected by this agitation of the modes which
rooted from the primary nature [pradhâna]
is the cause of the bewilderment and variety of the false ego -
subject to change in ignorance lording it over - that in the
three aspects [as mentioned] was generated from the
greater reality [of the mahat-tattva,
see also ***].
When
the three modes of nature are agitated, the resultant
transformation appears as the element false ego in three
phases - goodness, passion and ignorance. Generated from the
mahat-tattva, which is itself produced from the unmanifest
pradhâna, this false ego becomes the cause of all
material illusion and duality.
Text
34
Lacking in the
full knowledge of the Supreme Soul is indeed the speculation of
saying 'it is there' and saying 'it is not there' [about
the difference between prakriti and purusha], focussed as
one is on discussing the difference, a useless one - although
it for sure lingers with people who have turned their attention
away from Me who is [qualitatively] alike
themselves.'
The
speculative argument of philosophers - 'This world is real',
'No, it is not real' - is based upon incomplete knowledge of
the Supreme Soul and is simply aimed at understanding
material dualities. Although such argument is useless,
persons who have turned their attention away from Me, their
own true Self, are unable to give it up.
Text
35-36
S'rî
Uddhava said: 'In what way do those whose minds diverted from
You by the fruitive activities they performed, o Master, accept
and give up higher and lower material bodies? Please Govinda
explain that to me what by those not so spiritual isn't
understood since they, for the greater part knowledgeable about
the world, suffer its imposition.'
S'rî
Uddhava said - O supreme master, the intelligence of those
dedicated to fruitive activities is certainly deviated from
You. Please explain to me how such persons accept superior
and inferior bodies by their materialistic activities and
then give up such bodies. O Govinda, this topic is very
difficult for foolish persons to understand. Being cheated
by illusion in this world, they generally do not become
aware of these facts.
Text
37
The Supreme
Lord said: 'The mind of men conjoined with their five senses is
shaped by the karma; it follows the spirit soul which, separate
from that, travels from one world to the other [see also
linga,
vâsanâ
and B.G. 2:
22].
Lord
Krishna said: The material mind of men is shaped by the
reactions of fruitive work. Along with the five senses, it
travels from one material body to another. The spirit soul,
although different from this mind, follows it.
Text
38
The mind
faithfully meditating the sense objects seen or that what is
heard in following [the vedic authority] rises and
dissolves dependent on the karma, after which the remembrance
is lost.
The
mind, bound to the reactions of fruitive work, always
meditates on the objects of the senses, both those that are
seen in this world and those that are heard about from Vedic
authority. Consequently, the mind appears to come into being
and to suffer annihilation along with its objects of
perception, and thus its ability to distinguish past and
future is lost.
Text
39
Being
absorbed in the objects of perception does he [in another
body] not remember his previous self anymore; the total
forgetfulness to this or that cause is known as death
indeed.
When
the living entity passes from the present body to the next
body, which is created by his own karma, he becomes absorbed
in the pleasurable and painful sensations of the new body
and completely forgets the experience of the previous body.
This total forgetfulness of one's previous material
identity, which comes about for one reason or another, is
called death.
Text
40
What one calls
birth, o great giver, is, just as in a dream or fantasy, the
identification of a person in every way.
O
most charitable Uddhava, what is called birth is simply a
person's total identification with a new body. One accepts
the new body just as one completely accepts the experience
of a dream or a fantasy as reality.
Text
41
And this way
sees he in that, like in a dream or fantasy not remembering
what was before, himself as if he wouldn't have a past
[*4
and B.G. 4:
5].
Just
as a person experiencing a dream or daydream does not
remember his previous dreams or daydreams, a person situated
in his present body, although having existed prior to it,
thinks that he has only recently come into being.
Text
42
Because of the
engrossing resting with the senses appears in the one objective
reality this threefold variety [in the qualities of a high,
middle or lower birth] which, like a person being the
progenitor of bad offspring, has the differences of the
internal and external reality as a consequence.
Because
the mind, which is the resting place of the senses, has
created the identification with a new body, the threefold
material variety of high, middle and low class appears as if
present within the reality of the soul. Thus the self
creates external and internal duality, just as a man might
give birth to a bad son.
Text
43
For created
bodies, my best, come into being and go out of being by the
momentum of time that one perceives, that isn't seen because of
its subtlety.
My
dear Uddhava, material bodies are constantly undergoing
creation and destruction by the force of time, whose
swiftness is imperceptible. But because of the subtle nature
of time, no one sees this.
Text
44
As of the
flames of a candle and the currents of a river or the fruits of
a tree are just so of all material bodies the situations and
such of the different stages created.
The
different stages of transformation of all material bodies
occur just like those of the flame of a candle, the current
of a river, or the fruits of a tree.
Text
45
'This is the
same physical person' is just as false a statement as 'This
light radiating from the lamp is the same' or 'that water
flowing in the river is the same'; this is the thought of men
who waste their lives [see also 6.16:
58,
7.6:
1-2]!
Although
the illumination of a lamp consists of innumerable rays of
light undergoing constant creation, transformation and
destruction, a person with illusory intelligence who sees
the light for a moment will speak falsely, saying, 'This is
the light of the lamp.' As one observes a flowing river,
ever-new water passes by and goes far away, yet a foolish
person, observing one point in the river, falsely states,
'This is the water of the river.' Similarly, although the
material body of a human being is constantly undergoing
transformation, those who are simply wasting their lives
falsely think and say that each particular stage of the body
is the person's real identity
Text
46
Like with the
fire locked up in wood does he from the seed of his activities
not take birth nor does this person die; he is
mistaken.
A
person does not actually take birth out of the seed of past
activities, nor, being immortal, does he die. By illusion
the living being appears to be born and to die, just as fire
in connection with firewood appears to begin and then cease
to exist.
Text
47
Impregnation,
gestation, birth, infancy, childhood, youth, middle age, old
age and death thus are the nine states of the
body.
Impregnation,
gestation, birth, infancy, childhood, youth, middle age, old
age and death are the nine ages of the body.
Text
48
From
associating with the modes does someone sometimes accept and
sometimes give up these certainly greater and lesser bodily
conditions achieved by his mental aspirations.
Although
the material body is different from the self, because of the
ignorance due to material association one falsely identifies
oneself with the superior and inferior bodily conditions.
Sometimes a fortunate person is able to give up such mental
concoction.
Text
49
One's own birth
and death one can surmise from the birth of one's son and the
death of one's father; of self-remembrance is one no longer of
all of that which, subject to generation and destruction, is
characterized by these dualities.
By
the death of one's father or grandfather one can surmise
one's own death, and by the birth of one's son one can
understand the condition of one's own birth. A person who
thus realistically understands the creation and destruction
of material bodies is no longer subject to these
dualities.
Text
50
The one who in
knowledge of a tree its seed and maturity is the witness
distinct from the birth and death of the tree is the same way
the witness separate of [the birth and death of] the
physical body.
One
who observes the birth of a tree from its seed and the
ultimate death of the tree after maturity certainly remains
a distinct observer separate from the tree. In the same way,
the witness of the birth and death of the material body
remains separate from it.
Text
51
The
unintelligent person this way failing to distinguish the person
from the material nature, does, by that contact with the
reality completely bewildered, return to the material ocean
[see also B.G. 9:
21-22 and
1.7:
5].
An
unintelligent man, failing to distinguish himself from
material nature, thinks nature to be real. By contact with
it he becomes completely bewildered and enters into the
cycle of material existence.
Text
52
In association
with the mode of goodness goes he according his karma to the
sages and gods, by the mode of passion goes he to the human and
unenlightened [or demoniac] and by the mode of darkness
goes he to the ghosts and the animal kingdom [see also B.G.
6.41-42,
9.25;
17:
4].
Made
to wander because of his fruitive work, the conditioned
soul, by contact with the mode of goodness, takes birth
among the sages or demigods. By contact with the mode of
passion he becomes a demon or human being, and by
association with the mode of ignorance he takes birth as a
ghost or in the animal kingdom.
Text
53
Just as with
observing dancing and singing persons one comes to imitate
them, is the same way the disinclined one [the soul],
in his intelligence facing the modal qualities, nevertheless
made to follow [see also 11.21:
19-21].
Just
as one may imitate persons whom one sees dancing and
singing, similarly the soul, although never the doer of
material activities, becomes captivated by material
intelligence and is thus forced to imitate its
qualities.
Text
54-55
The way trees
move by water also moving and the earth seems to spin with eyes
spinning around, is the experience of the mental impressions of
the sense objects not true since they are figments, alike the
things one sees in a dream, as is also the case with the
material life of the soul [viz. the wrong life to be
avoided by the wise].
The
soul's material life, his experience of sense gratification,
is actually false, O descendant of Das'ârha, just like
trees' appearance of quivering when the trees are reflected
in agitated water, or like the earth's appearance of
spinning due to one's spinning his eyes around, or like the
world of a fantasy or dream.
Text
56
For the one
meditating the objects of the senses does the material
existence, even though absent [viz. as a soul not being
material], not cease to be, just like unpleasant things
don't that come up in a dream [*5].
For
one who is meditating on sense gratification, material life,
although lacking factual existence, does not go away, just
as the unpleasant experiences of a dream do not.
Text
57
Therefore
Uddhava, do not delight in the sense-objects being untrue with
the senses, see how based on the illusion of the material
duality one fails in realizing the soul.
Therefore,
O Uddhava, do not try to enjoy sense gratification with the
material senses. See how illusion based on material
dualities prevents one from realizing the self.
Text
58-59
When insulted,
neglected, ridiculed or envied by bad people, or else
chastised, tied up or deprived of his means of livelihood; or
when repeatedly spat upon or urinated upon by ignorant people,
should the one desiring the Supreme thus being shaken having
difficulties, save himself by resorting to his essence [see
also 5.5:
30].'
Even
though neglected, insulted, ridiculed or envied by bad men,
or even though repeatedly agitated by being beaten, tied up
or deprived of one's occupation, spat upon or polluted with
urine by ignorant people, one who desires the highest goal
in life should in spite of all these difficulties use his
intelligence to keep himself safe on the spiritual
platform.
Text
60
S'rî
Uddhava said: 'How can I keep that in mind, please, o Best of
All Speakers, tell us that.
S'rî
Uddhava said: O best of all speakers, please explain to me
how I may properly understand this.
Text
61
The attacks of
other people on myself is what I consider most difficult;
except to those who fixed in Your dharma in peace reside at
Your lotus feet, is even to the learned, o Soul of the
Universe, no doubt the material conditioning the most
strong.'
O
soul of the universe, the conditioning of one's personality
in material life is very strong, and therefore it is very
difficult even for learned men to tolerate the offenses
committed against them by ignorant people. Only Your
devotees, who are fixed in Your loving service and who have
achieved peace by residing at Your lotus feet, are able to
tolerate such offenses.
*:
Two examples: pots are of the earth that existed as a prior
element or belong to rubble that is there as a later resultant
substance, or either time as another element took them all
together by entering them. Or the elements of nature appeared
expanding in the space prior to them and all belong to the
physical form that came about afterwards, and the vital breath
entered them all as another element.
**:
The paramparâ adds here: 'S'rî Caitanya
Mahâprabhu described the actual situation as
acintya-bhedâbheda-tattva - the supreme controller
and the controlled living entities are simultaneously one and
different. In the material mode of goodness the oneness is
perceived. As one proceeds further, to the stage of
vis'uddha-sattva, or purified spiritual goodness, one
finds spiritual variety within the qualitative oneness,
completing one's knowledge of the Absolute Truth' [see also
siddhânta].
***
To differentiate the basic terms used in this chapter:
Prakriti is the material nature with its living beings and
gunas, pradhâna is the primordial,
undifferentiated state of matter without the specific creatures
and gunas and the mahat-tattva is the totality of the
greater reality of it all, also known as the principle of
intellect or the cosmic intelligence. The purusha is the
original person that is the enjoyer: the Lord and the living
beings that are the same in quality.
*
4 To the well-known exception that establishes the rule says
S'rîla Vis'vanâtha Cakravartî Thhâkura
here that by the mystic power of jâti-smara one
can remember one's previous body. Patañjali in the
Yoga Sutra III.18 says: 'In the observation of the
subliminal impressions or samskâras is there the
knowledge of a previous life'.
*5
The classical philosophical stance defended here is: 'When one
has a body one is a soul, when one is a body one is a pig',
where the pig is here the fallen soul returning over and over
to a materialistic life.
