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| quote: | Originally posted by Moti
We've experienced in our practical lifetime that we were very tiny, youth, we had a small body, child's body: kaumaram yauvanam. Then youthful body, then we're having old man, old woman's body, like this. So practically speaking, this body is constantly changing. Although Krsna gives this example because He is trying to explain a very fine point of understanding, namely transmigration of the soul: that in reality the body that we have is changing at every moment, at every instant. But we can not see that because our consciousness is not so sharp to pick up when there's change of body. But Krsna explains, "You can see that you had a small body, now you have a youthful body, now you have an old man's body." Actually there is a continuum of change at every moment. So this is the changing material body, and the mind likewise is changing, but the soul, the living entity, is not changing. And this is experienced practically by the fact that in spite of so many changes of body that we had we've still the same person. Just like we can remember when we were young children playing in the park or at the streets, and then older, older, older; going to school; older, family life; older, now retired; now like this. So like this the body is changing in so many ways but still I'm the same person. This can be practically experienced. Everyone has this understanding: different bodies but you're still the same person. |
What you seem to have trouble understanding is that the progressive change of our physical and mental beings does not necessitate any spiritual explanation.
Science cannot presently espouse a precise explanation of each and every process which contributes to this change. Instead, it can provide only theory, which it as of yet is unable to prove.
Spirituality, similarly, can provide only theory. However, not only are spiritual individuals unable to prove the validity of their theories, but they make no serious attempt to do so. Instead, they insist that you accept the truth of their assertions without providing any empirical evidence whatsoever to support their claims.
So, one has three choices, it seems:
1. Accept one's own ignorance of the truth and live as best we can without such knowledge while seeking to advance our understanding of such matters through scientific processes of observation.
2. Consider scientific theory to espouse absolute truth despite a lack of proof.
3. Consider spiritual theory to espouse absolute truth despite a lack of proof.
Both #2 and #3 are instances of bad faith, whereby one deceives himself into the belief that he possesses knowledge when in fact he remains ignorant. The only rational course of action is #1.
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and vice versa.
