“Material Pains and Pleasure, they are simply touching this Body, not the Soul”

Prabhupada, Honolulu, May 9, 1976: […] These material pains and pleasure, they are simply touching this body, not the soul. Soul is always aloof. Just like we are on a car. Suppose there is some accident: the car is broken, but not the person, the driver, is broken. The car is broken. But because the driver or the proprietor of the car is too much adhered to the car, when the car is broken, his heart fails. Actually the person has nothing to do with the car, but because he is too much attached to the car, when the car is broken, he thinks, “I am finished.” Heart is broken. Like that.

So we are part and parcel of God, every one of us. So we remain always pure, but on account of material attachment, we are suffering. This is the position. So therefore the diseased condition of our present life has to be treated. What is that treatment? To become detached. On account of attachment we are suffering. But… (aside:) You should… Outside. Detachment. So the detachment, there are many different processes of becoming detached: karma-yoga, jnana-yoga, dhyana-yoga, and many other processes. But the most perfect process is bhakti-yoga. Bhakti-yoga. That is stated, vasudeve bhagavati bhakti-yoga-prayojitah, janayaty asu vairagyam. If one is trained up to become devotee of Vasudeva, Krsna… Vasudeva means Krsna. Vasudeve bhagavati. Vasudeva is the Supreme Personality, Bhagavan. Bhagavati. Vasudeve bhagavati bhakti-yogam prayojitah. If we engage ourself in the bhakti-yoga process to Vasudeva, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, then what happens? Janaty asu vairagyam. Then very soon one becomes detached. Vairagya. The bhakti-yoga means vairagya-vidya, how to become detached. That is the test. “Whether I am making progress in the bhakti-yoga?”—the test is within yourself. You haven’t got to take a certificate from others. How much you are becoming detached to this material world, that is the test. Read More