Soul's Journey through Boyhood
The journey through the various stages of life—from infancy to boyhood, and from boyhood to youth—provides the most practical evidence for the soul's immortality. Śrīla Prabhupāda frequently utilizes the "body of a boy" as a clear example to demonstrate that while the material covering constantly changes, the individual soul remains eternal. This article explores how the transition through boyhood serves as a proof of reincarnation and challenges the modern ignorance regarding the nature of the self.
Constant Change of Body
Śrīla Prabhupāda explains that our material existence is a continuous flux. We have all experienced the body of a baby, which grew into the body of a child, and then into the body of a boy. Although those previous bodies no longer exist, the person who inhabited them remains. This observable fact is the basis for understanding the soul's distinction from matter.
- As the embodied soul continually passes, in this body, from boyhood to youth to old age, the soul similarly passes into another body at death. The self-realized soul is not bewildered by such a change.
- A child gives up his childhood body and accepts the body of a boy, and the boy gives up his boyhood body to accept a youthful body, which he then gives up for an old body.
- The living being, the soul, is constantly changing bodies one after another. Even in the present life, the body changes from childhood to boyhood, from boyhood to youth, and from youth to old age.
Unchanging Identity
Despite the total transformation of the physical form, the sense of identity persists. A person remembers their activities as a boy, proving that the "I"—the spirit soul—is the constant observer. Śrīla Prabhupāda argues that if we were merely the body, our identity would cease when the body of the boy changed into the body of the youth.
- Although the body is changing, the dweller within the body remains the same. Although the boy grows into manhood, the living entity within the body is not changed. It is not that the self who was there as a boy has gone away.
- Changes (of material body), you can understand, that you had a body like a baby; a body like a child; you had a body like a boy. Now you have got youthful body. Some days after, you will get a body like me. So the body is changing, and I am the same.
- Where is that body when I was a child? Where is that body when I was a boy? Where is that body when I was young man? I have got my photograph, my studentship. "Oh, Swamiji, you were like this?" Where is that body? Where it has gone.
Logical Proof of Reincarnation
If the soul survives the "death" of the childhood body and the "death" of the boyhood body, it logically follows that the soul will survive the death of the old man's body. Śrīla Prabhupāda uses this simple logic to dismantle the fear of death, showing that it is merely another change of dress for the eternal living entity.
- As I have got consecutively from boyhood to childhood, I have, from childhood to boyhood, boyhood to youthhood, aged body, so why not next body? This is simple truth, that the living entity, or the soul, is transmigrating from one body to another.
- This is the proof. There is no difficulty to understand. As I am still living, in spite of my changing childhood body, babyhood body, boyhood body, youthhood body, so naturally it should be concluded when I give up this body.
- The child is giving up his childhood body, accepting the boyhood body. The boy is giving up his boyhood body, accepting youthhood body. Similarly, this body of old age, when giving up, natural conclusion is that I will have to accept another body.
Conclusion
The transition through boyhood is not just a biological event but a profound lesson in spiritual science. Śrīla Prabhupāda emphasizes that this daily experience of bodily change is the key to understanding the eternity of the soul. By realizing that we have already changed bodies many times in this life without dying, we can confidently understand that the soul continues its journey even after the final change of the present body.
Dive Deeper into Śrīla Prabhupāda's Vani
Śrīla Prabhupāda lives within his instructions. This article is a summary of the profound truths found in the Vaniquotes category Body of a Boy. We invite you to visit this link to study the complete compilation and experience Śrīla Prabhupāda's teachings in their direct, verbatim form.