Daily Devotion -Mar 16, 2026 (English)- Soul’s Amnesia
You have assumed a body, which is called the human body. However, you are not the body - you possess a human body. You say - "my body, my eyes, my mind, my intellect," which implies that "I" is a separate entity. The scriptures call this entity the soul.
When the soul departs, it becomes clear that the body and the "I" are distinct. Without the soul, the body cannot last even twenty-four hours - it begins to decay and decompose. As long as the soul is present, the body holds great value - it is someone's mother or father, or even a prime minister. The moment the soul leaves, that same body is called a "corpse," and people immediately make arrangements to remove it from the house.
Just as the soul is distinct and the body is its servant, in the same way, the senses, the mind, and the intellect all serve the soul together. The soul desires bliss; therefore, the senses turn outward toward external objects, gathering material things in an attempt to make the soul happy. This effort has been going on for endless ages, yet the soul says, "These things are not mine; my joy lies in the Paramātma, for I am His fragmental part."
Thus, just as the soul is the life-force of the body and the body is its servant, the soul too is the body of God -
tasyedaṃ śarīraṃ -
And God is the soul of the soul.
kṛṣṇamenamavehi tvaṃ ātmānaṃ sarva-dehinām -
Shri Krishna, the Paramātmā, is the soul of all souls. Therefore, Rādhāvallabh Shri Krishna is your prān - the very life-force of the soul. Just as you are the life-force of your body, Shri Krishna is your life-force. And just as your body is your servant, you too are the servant of Shri Krishna - but you have forgotten this fact.
You have reversed the order - the senses, mind, and intellect were meant to be your servants, but instead you have become their servants. Whatever the mind dictates, you follow. As a result, māyā has kept you wandering through eighty-four lakh species, subjecting you to endless suffering.
Now you have received the finest of all bodies - the human body - yet you remain unhappy. Afflictions of the body, desires of the mind, lust, anger, greed, and attachment to worldly relationships - all of these cause you constant suffering. It is quite remarkable that despite enduring so much pain, a person continues to live and does not even wish to die.
Your mistake lies precisely here - you have forgotten that you are a servant of Shri Krishna. The body, senses, mind, and intellect are servants of the soul, yet they are moving in the wrong direction - it is like churning water in an attempt to extract ghee. The senses and mind tell you that joy exists in the world, and so you continue to run after it - first to earn a hundred thousand, then ten million, then a billion, then to attain the position of Indra, then that of Brahma - this desire never ends. Even after countless births, this understanding has not arisen that happiness cannot be obtained from the world.
Having received the human body, you must understand that any single relation - whether mother, father, husband, or wife - sometimes gives happiness and sometimes pain; at times you feel attachment toward them, and at other times detachment. In practical terms, you have not firmly accepted yourself as a servant of God; you have not strengthened this understanding through repeated contemplation. Just as you remain constantly careful to keep your body covered, in the same way you should remain aware at every moment of God's presence within you: "He is seated in my heart. I am with Him; He is my master. It is from Him alone that I will receive bliss. The world exists only for sustaining the body - to provide it with food, water, vitamins, and protein, so that devotional practice may continue."
Life is passing, and yet you have not cultivated this practice. There is no certainty that anyone will live even up to sixty or seventy years. Death can come at any moment - it does not wait even for an instant. Whether one is a king, a pauper, a renunciate, or even Indra, the lord of heaven, when the time comes, one must depart. Therefore, having received the human body, you must not be careless.
Each night before sleeping, you should reflect on the day - how long did you do sādhanā today? How long did you remember God? - and resolve that from tomorrow there will be no more carelessness. In this way, review yourself daily and gradually increase your sādhanā.
Then, when you say or hear the words "Rādhā Vallabh mere prāṇ," every pore of your being will be filled with bliss. At present, when you sing "Rādhā Vallabh mero prāṇ," you do not feel from within who Radha Vallabh truly is to you - He is your closest relation; there is no relation greater than Him. Then how much love should arise simply upon hearing His name?
As it stands, the happiness you feel when you hear the name of your worldly child is greater than what you feel while singing the name of God - this is carelessness. It should not be so.
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