Spiritual not Material Body - The Third Miracle
BY: BHAGAVAT DAS (ACBSP)
Dec 15, USA (SUN) — The following pastimes demonstrate how a pure devotee is simultaneously present in this materiel world and yet totally disconnected from it and therefore not under its jurisdiction.
When Srila Prabhupada had his heart operation in the US many years ago the doctors put him under anesthesia as usual. However Srila Prabhupada remained conscious and chanted the holy name of Krishna throughout the procedure. The doctors of course were astounded, as any one would be who knows the powerful effects of anesthesia. It completely shuts down your brain and nervous system so that you feel and remember nothing. The subtle body consisting of mind, intelligence, and false ego, would not be able to perceive anything since the physical mechanism for expressing the subtle body, the brain, and nervous system would be shut down. For someone to remain conscious through such a procedure they would have to be completely transcendental to their physical body by inhabiting the physical body directly with their spiritual body, mind, intelligence, ego, and senses without the filter of the subtle body mind, intelligence, and false ego, even existing as a buffer.
This is the sign of a mukta purusha, a fully liberated soul, one whose consciousness cannot be affected by the materiel energy and hence the nervous system, the brain, the mind, and the intelligence, could not be shut down because they were spiritual not materiel. Srila Gour Govinda Maharaja performed this same feat when he had his operation in India, only he chanted the verses from the tenth canto of Srimad Bhagavatam during the procedure. The doctors were again astounded. Knowing how completely impossible it was for an ordinary man to perform such a task they all immediately recognized that he was a great mukta purusha, a perfectly liberated person. This concept is confirmed by Srila Prabhupada in a Srimad Bhagavatam Purport as follows: "An advanced devotee, therefore, does not live within the material body but within his spiritual body, just as a dry coconut lives detached from the coconut husk, even though within the husk. The pure devotee's body is therefore called cin-maya-sarira ("spiritualized body"). In other words, a devotee's body is not connected with material activities, and as such, a devotee is always liberated (brahma-bhuyaya kalpate), as confirmed in Bhagavad-gita (14.26). Srila Rupa Goswami also confirms this:
iha yasya harer dasye
karmana manasa gira
nikhilasv apy avasthasu
jivan-muktah sa ucyate
"Whatever his condition may be, one who is engaged fully with his body, mind and speech in the service of the Lord is liberated, even within this body." (Srimad Bhagavatam 4:22:26 Purport)
We can understand from these pastimes that both Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gour Govinda Maharaja did not have a subtle materiel body which contains the false ego, the materiel mind and the materiel intelligence. A pure devotee would never accept the 5 kinds of ignorance, moha, maha moha, tamishram, andha tamishram, and tamash, as described in the 3rd Canto of Srimad Bhagavatam. Therefore they could not have a subtle materiel body which contains the false ego. This means that the Spiritual body, the siddha deha directly inhabits the materiel body which then becomes completely spiritualized cin-maya-sarira.
