How can we act on the spiritual platform instead of the bodily platform?

Answer Podcast

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Any other questions? So, if we know we are not the body or the soul, how do we act on that platform? See, we can’t act on the platform, I am not the body. Because the body needs food, the body needs rest. What we can act on is the platform, I am more than the body.
I am more than the body means that the body’s desires alone are not my desires. The body’s pleasures are not my pleasures. So, sometimes for the sake of bhakti, we may need to do something which are inconvenient for the body.
We are ready to do that austerity. And gradually, as we start acting at this platform, I am more than my body. Then we start realizing, yes, it’s really true.
I fasted on Ekadashi, but I was absorbed in Krishna. And instead of feeling misery, I was feeling so much joy. The body was suffering, but there must be something within me that was feeling that joy and that something is actually modifying me.
So, slowly we start getting that realization that the spiritual part of me is actually more important, that is more defining. So, when we say that we should remember that we are not the body and not act on the bodily platform, that simply means that we don’t act for bodily pleasures. Bodily pleasures are not the driving purposes of our actions.
But it doesn’t mean that we neglect the body or we reject the body. The whole system of Varnashram was based on bodily type. Brahmanas are expected to act as Brahmanas.
Kshatriyas are expected to act as Kshatriyas. So, it’s not that a Brahmana is told, you are not the body, so now you function as a Vaishya. Or a Vaishya is told that you function as a Brahmana.
No. Even after we understand that we are not the body, still this is the body that I have. And I have to use that body.
So, acting on the bodily platform, when it is said you should not do that, that simply means we don’t act simply to fulfill the body’s base desires. But we do have to acknowledge what kind of body I have and I use that in Krishna’s service. So, there is, broadly speaking, there are bodily needs and there are spiritual needs.
And both can go in parallel. There are times when these two can become contradictory. The bodily needs and the spiritual needs.
For example, on fasting days, the body needs food but the spiritual principle is fast. So, at that time, according to our capacity, we try to subordinate the bodily needs to the spiritual needs. So, that’s how we act on the spiritual platform.
But it’s not that we deny or reject the body. Is it that constantly we are meant to remember, Oh, I am not the body and the soul, I am not the body and the soul. No, it’s good, it’s okay if you do that.
But that’s not the point. The more important thing is, we are meant to serve Krishna. Just thinking I am not the body, I am the soul, that can actually make us very hard-hearted.
If somebody is in pain, we tell them, you are not the body, you are the soul. They tell, wait till you are in pain, I will tell you that. No, we should see that at that time, if somebody else is in pain, we should see that as a possibility for service.
That means, let me try to serve this person. Let me try to serve this devotee. So, actually more than constantly remembering I am not the body and the soul, it’s more important to remember Krishna and to remember serving Krishna.
So, if we can have that service attitude, that is a much more personal and relishable way of staying on the spiritual platform than simply the negative way, I am not the body, I am not the body. Okay, you are not the body, but what are you? That’s the important question, isn’t it? So, we focus on what we are, that we are servants of Krishna and this body is what we have for serving Krishna, so we acknowledge the body. But if the body starts taking us away from the service of Krishna, that is the time, no, I am not going to do this because I am not the body.
Does that answer your question?