The soul changes bodies like changing coats; understand yourself, understand God.Listen — Srila Prabhupada Uvaca
Bhagavad-gītā 2.13 — September 13, 1971, Mombasa 710913BG-MOMBASA [26:07 Minutes] Bg-02.13_710913BG-MOMBASA Prabhupāda: dehino 'smin yathā dehe kaumāraṁ yauvanaṁ jarā tathā dehāntara-prāptir dhīras tatra na muhyati [Bg. 2.13] "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." This is the basic principle of spiritual understanding. Everyone is talking of spiritual knowledge, but very few of them may have what is actually the basic principle of spiritual knowledge. Here in this verse of Bhagavad-gītā... [aside:] I think they understand English, everyone? Devotee: Yes, Śrīla Prabhupāda. Prabhupāda: The basic principle of spiritual understanding...
The basic principle of spiritual understanding is to know the spirit soul first of all. What is that spirit soul? That spirit soul is within this body. Dehinaḥ asmin dehe.
Asmin, "this"; asmin means this, and dehe means the body. Asmin dehe, in this body, there is spirit soul who is called dehī. Dehī means one who possesses this body. Just like your coat, your shirt, you possess this coat and shirt, not that you are the coat and the shirt. Try to understand clearly.
This is my shirt; I am not this. I am different. I am within the shirt. Similarly, this body, this is gross, coat.
Just like you, when you put on your dress, you have one underwear, shirt, and then over that shirt there is coat. It is very easy to understand; there is no difficulty. Similarly, the spirit soul is within this coat and shirt. What is this coat? This gross body.
There are five..., eight material elements: earth, water, fire, air, ether, mind, intelligence and ego. These are eight material elements. And out of these eight, gross elements we can see or perceive with your material senses. I can touch this earth; I can taste the water; I can smell the air; I can feel the sky.
In this way. These are gross. And still there are finer elements, just like mind. Every one of us knows that there is a mind, but we cannot see it. What is that mind?