Body Is Not the Real Self
Dahyati iti dehah—That which is burnt is called the body. This is the derivative meaning of the word deha (body). It is a matter of common knowledge that the body is burnt after death. But even when it is alive, the body experiences burning due to worries. The body is inert. It is a storehouse of filth and subject to all kinds of diseases. It is a bundle of bones and flesh and cannot help you to cross the ocean of births and deaths. So, Oh Mind! Instead of relying on such a flimsy body, better cling to the lotus feet of Lord Hari. This was the prayer of the sages. The body that is made up of the five elements is impermanent. But you who have put on this body are verily the supreme God who is eternal and unchanging. It is therefore, up to you to use your power of discrimination in using the body wisely and thereby to derive joy from it.
Man is prone to three kinds of misconceptions in relation to his body. One is to mistake himself to be something that is not his real self. Another is to regard people or objects that do not belong to him as his own. The third is to believe the evanescent to be the everlasting. Man considers the body as his real self. If that is the case, why should he say, this is my body. This statement clearly implies that he is different from the body, because the owner is different from what he owns…
Secondly, in worldly matters man is misled by the belief that he is the owner of various kinds of properties like houses, lands, vehicles, etc. You build a house and call it yours. When you sell it, it is no longer yours. Likewise, you buy a car and call it yours. When it is sold, it ceases to be yours. So, things are yours only as long as you own and use them. Forgetting that all these possessions are temporary, like fleeting clouds, you develop undue attachments for them. In fact, nothing is yours. How can those that belong to the body be yours? All these misconceptions are caused by the veil of maya (delusion) and the resultant sense of possessiveness are the aberrations of the mind…
Nothing belongs to you. Forgetting your own reality and mistaking the unreal as the real in this illusory world, you are creating problems for yourself. You are always yourself only. You don’t belong to anybody, nor does anyone belong to you. There is only one thing that exists. Despite the unequivocal declaration of the scriptures that reality is One, but sages call it differently—we continue to believe wrongly that diversity is real. Keep this instrument of the body in good trim by regulating your food and other habits.
Also, look upon the body as your vesture or clothing, and resort to washing it clean from time to time, just as soiled clothes are cleaned by the dhobi [the man who washes clothes]. All that the dhobi does is to remove the dirt from the cloth enabling it to regain its original whiteness. So, too, purity is natural to the human body, but it becomes dirty due to improper use; and therefore you should get it cleaned with the help of God, the dhobi, by resorting to such practices as prayer, japa, meditation, and love of God. The dhobi alone can wash the clothes, but not a barber. So, also, God alone, and none else, can cleanse your heart of its impurities. Never forget that this body is only a garment. It is due to the ignorance that you look upon the body as your real self. Only when you get rid of this ignorance, will you shine as the effulgent Sun of wisdom.
Summer Showers 1990, excerpts from May 20th 1990 discourse
