“I’m very interested in technology, and anything progressive that might change people’s lives for the better,” Valery Spiridonov from the Russian city of Vladimir, told RT. Spiridonov, a 30-year-old qualified computer scientist, works for an IT firm.
He said that his disease is getting worse every year, and usually people with Werdnig-Hoffman disorder – a disease that wastes muscles – don’t live longer than 20 years, so it would be a chance to prolong his life and help scientific research in the process.
“Doing this isn’t only an excellent opportunity for me, but will also create a scientific basis for future generations, no matter what the actual outcome of the surgery is,” he said.
SSR 1 Learning the Science of the Self
As far as heart transplant is concerned, there is no question of success UNLESS THE SOUL IS THERE IN THE HEART. So the presence of the soul has to be accepted.
LCFL Life Comes From Life
Dr. Singh. But the heart is changed, and the heart contains the spirit soul.
Srila Prabhupada. The Vedas describe the heart as a sitting place for the soul. So when they transplant hearts, they simply change the soul’s seat. The same soul remains. If they could prove that by changing the heart they have increased the patient’s duration of life, then that would prove they’ve caught the spirit soul. But they cannot increase the duration of life, because people have acquired their bodies by a superior arrangement. YOU HAVE THIS BODY, AND YOU MUST LIVE WITHIN IT FOR A CERTAIN PERIOD. IF YOU SIMPLY CHANGE ONE OF THE PARTS OF YOUR BODY, THAT WILL NOT HELP YOU PROLONG YOUR LIFE. THAT IS IMPOSSIBLE. The doctors think that by changing the heart they will increase the duration of life, but that is not possible. Dr. Singh. So a heart transplant is a kind of artificial transmigration of the soul from an old heart to a new one?
Srila Prabhupada. Yes, it is something like that. Krsna explains in the Bhagavad-gita (2.13):dehino ‘smin yatha dehe
kaumaram yauvanam jara
tatha dehantara-praptir
dhiras tatra na muhyati“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.” Changing hearts is just a change of material bodily organs. The heart is not the real source of life, and therefore changing the heart does not prolong the duration of life.
Dr. Singh. Yes, most heart transplant patients live only a very short time after the operation. But is it ever possible to transplant the soul from one body to another?
Srila Prabhupada. Sometimes certain yogis can do that. They can find a better body and transfer themselves into it.
Dr. Singh. When the doctors perform a heart transplant, they take a heart from someone who has just died and exchange it for a weak heart in someone else’s body. Does the soul from the dead heart change places with the soul in the weak living heart?
Srila Prabhupada. No. The soul has already left the dead heart. There is no question of bringing in another soul.
Dr. Singh. Let me see if I understand you correctly. When the doctors remove the heart of a man who has just died, the soul has already left his heart. Then, when they transplant his dead heart into the body of the patient, the patient’s soul passes into the transplanted heart.
Srila Prabhupada. YES. THE SOUL IS DESTINED TO LIVE IN A PARTICULAR BODY FOR A CERTAIN NUMBER OF YEARS. YOU MAY CHANGE WHATEVER PART OF THE BODY YOU LIKE, BUT YOU CANNOT CHANGE THE DURATION OF THE LIFE OF THAT BODY.
Dr. Singh. So the heart is just a machine–an instrument?
Srila Prabhupada. YES. IT IS THE SITTING PLACE OF THE SOUL.
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Note: the other point is Lord Siva replaced Lord Ganesa’s head with Elephant head. The SOUL was STILL in the HEART – so it was done.
Note: the soul is FIXED UP in a certain body. Transplanting the heart does NOT mean the soul is transplanted. The SITTING PLACE of the soul is changed.
750714mw.phi Conversations
Devotee (2): Srila Prabhupada, what does it mean that the soul is immovable?
Prabhupada: Immovable? Where it is?
Devotee (2): It states this in Bhagavad-gita.
Prabhupada: What is this? What is the verse?
Devotee (2): I don’t know exactly. It’s in the Second Chapter. Krsna’s describing the nature of the spirit soul to Arjuna. Does anyone know that verse?
Nitai: Sthanur acalo ‘yam…?
Prabhupada: IMMOVABLE IN THIS SENSE: WHEN HE IS FIXED UP IN A CERTAIN BODY, THEN HE IS IMMOVABLE FROM THAT BODY. Acalo ‘yam sthanuh, sthanuh. JUST LIKE WE’RE SPEAKING OF TRANSPLANTING THE HEART. THAT DOES NOT MEAN YOU MOVE THE SOUL. THAT IS IMMOVABLE.
Bg 2.24 T Contents of the Gita Summarized
acchedyo ‘yam adahyo ‘yam
akledyo ‘sosya eva ca
nityah sarva-gatah sthanur
acalo ‘yam sanatanahSYNONYMS
acchedyah–unbreakable; ayam–this soul; adahyah–cannot be burned; ayam–this soul; akledyah–insoluble; asosyah–cannot be dried; eva–certainly; ca–and; nityah–everlasting; sarva-gatah–all-pervading; sthanuh–unchangeable; acalah–immovable; ayam–this soul; sanatanah–eternally the same.TRANSLATION
This individual soul is unbreakable and insoluble, and can be neither burned nor dried. He is everlasting, all-pervading, unchangeable, IMMOVABLE and eternally the same.
Note: Lord Siva cut-off Daksa’s head and REPLACED it with a GOATS HEAD. Since the SOUL of Daksa was IMMOVABLE in that body he spoke with INTELLIGENCE from his body which had a goat’s head. The goat did not speak:Daksa spoke.
SB 4.7.5 The Sacrifice Performed by Daksa
Those who have had their arms cut off will have to work with the arms of Asvini-kumara, and those whose hands were cut off will have to do their work with the hands of Pusa. The priests will also have to act in that manner. As for Bhrgu, he will have the beard from the goat’s head.PURPORT
Bhrgu Muni, a great supporter of Daksa, was awarded the beard of the goat’s head which was substituted for the head of Daksa. IT APPEARS FROM THE EXCHANGE OF DAKSA’S HEAD THAT THE MODERN SCIENTIFIC THEORY THAT THE BRAIN SUBSTANCE IS THE CAUSE OF ALL INTELLIGENT WORK IS NOT VALID. THE BRAIN SUBSTANCE OF DAKSA AND THAT OF A GOAT ARE DIFFERENT, BUT DAKSA STILL ACTED LIKE HIMSELF, EVEN THOUGH HIS HEAD WAS REPLACED BY THAT OF A GOAT. THE CONCLUSION IS THAT IT IS THE PARTICULAR CONSCIOUSNESS OF AN INDIVIDUAL SOUL WHICH ACTS. THE BRAIN SUBSTANCE IS ONLY AN INSTRUMENT WHICH HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH REAL INTELLIGENCE. THE REAL INTELLIGENCE, MIND AND CONSCIOUSNESS ARE PART OF THE PARTICULAR INDIVIDUAL SOUL. IT WILL BE FOUND IN THE VERSES AHEAD THAT AFTER DAKSA’S HEAD WAS REPLACED BY THE GOAT’S HEAD, HE WAS AS INTELLIGENT AS HE HAD PREVIOUSLY BEEN. HE PRAYED VERY NICELY TO SATISFY LORD SIVA AND LORD VISNU, WHICH IS NOT POSSIBLE FOR A GOAT TO DO. THEREFORE IT IS DEFINITELY CONCLUDED THAT THE BRAIN SUBSTANCE IS NOT THE CENTER OF INTELLIGENCE; IT IS THE CONSCIOUSNESS OF A PARTICULAR SOUL THAT WORKS INTELLIGENTLY. The whole movement of Krsna consciousness is to purify the consciousness. It doesn’t matter what kind of brain one has because if he simply transfers his consciousness from matter to Krsna, his life becomes successful. It is confirmed by the Lord Himself in Bhagavad-gita that anyone who takes up Krsna consciousness achieves the highest perfection of life, regardless of whatever abominable condition of life he may have fallen into. Specifically, anyone in Krsna consciousness goes back to Godhead, back to home, on leaving his present material body.
Note: there is much speculation on terms of “brain dead” etc when the doctors switch the machine off to say he has died. So the question is WHEN does the soul ACTUALLY leave the body?
This is showing EVIDENCE of soul has LEFT THE BODY when CIRCULATION of BLOOD and AIR STOPS: this is death.
SB 4.28.46 P Puranjana Becomes a Woman in the Next Life
AS SOON AS THE CIRCULATION OF BLOOD AND AIR WITHIN THE BODY STOPS, IT IS TO BE UNDERSTOOD THAT THE SOUL WITHIN THE BODY HAS LEFT. The stoppage of the blood’s circulation is perceived when the hands and feet lose heat. ONE TESTS WHETHER A BODY IS ALIVE OR NOT BY FEELING THE HEART’S PALPITATIONS AND THE COLDNESS OF THE FEET AND HANDS.