“The Soul is so subtle, you cannot see”

Prabhupada, Vrindavana, November 7, 1976: Mind is subtle. Everyone, you have got mind, I have got mind, but I cannot see your mind; you cannot see my mind. Subtle. This is a material thing. Bhumir apo’nalo vayuh kham mano, mano. The sky, ether, we cannot see but we can perceive. When you press the sky like this, (claps) there is sound. You can understand, “Here is sky.” But mind you cannot see, still subtle.

indriyani parany ahur indriyebhyah param manah manasas tu paro buddhir buddhes para tu yah [Bg. 3.42]

So the soul is so subtle, you cannot see. You cannot see sky, and still finer is the mind, still finer is intelligence, and still finer, the soul. So how can you see? With your gross eyes it is not possible. Therefore they are bewildered, how the soul is being transferred from one body to another. They see the gross body. Krishna says, na hanyate hanyamane sarire [Bg. 2.20], tatha dehantara praptih. But doctors, medical men, scientists, they cannot see that where is the soul, how the soul is transmigrating. These are all durvibhavya, inconceivable.

Therefore we have to hear from the authorities, from Krishna, that there is soul; there is atma; there is transmigration. And everything, what is spoken in the sastra, they are fact, but we do not consult sastra. We become scientists. We become philosophers. With gross understanding, dull understanding, poor understanding, how you can understand yourself and God? So there is no question of self- realization by your gross understanding. You have to understand by hearing. Therefore to get real knowledge is not by the eyes and senses but by the ear. Therefore Vedic knowledge is called sruti. You have to receive knowledge—sruti. Tad-vijnanartham sa gurum evabhigacchet [MU 1.2.12] Why? The guru means who is fully aware of the sruti, srotriyam, one who has perfectly listened to his guru. Srotriyam brahma-nistham. And by hearing only, he has become brahma-nistham, without any doubt: “Yes, there is God. Yes.” We have to approach such person who has perfectly listened to his… Evam parampara-praptam imam rajarsayo viduh [Bg. 4.2]. So by sruti, by hearing oral reception.