Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrī Caitanya Caritāmrita Madhya 9.194

aprākrita vastu nahe prākrita-gocara

veda-purānete ei kahe nirantara

SYNONYMS

aprākrita — spiritual; vastu — substance; nahe — not; prākrita — of matter; gocara — within the jurisdiction; veda-purānete — the Vedas and the Purānas; ei — this; kahe — say; nirantara — always.

TRANSLATION

"Spiritual substance is never within the jurisdiction of the material conception. This is always the verdict of the Vedas and Purānas."

PURPORT

As stated in the Katha Upanishad (2.3.9, 12):

na sandriśe tishthati rūpam asya

na cakshushā paśyati kaścanainam

hridā manīshā manasābhiklpto

ya etad vidur amritās te bhavanti

naiva vācā na manasā

prāptum śakyo na cakshushā

"Spirit is not within the jurisdiction of material eyes, words or mind."

Similarly, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (10.84.13) states:

yasyātma-buddhih kunape tri-dhātuke

sva-dhīh kalatrādishu bhauma ijya-dhīh

yat-tīrtha-buddhih salile na karhicij

janeshv abhijñeshu sa eva go-kharah

"A human being who identifies his body made of three elements with his self, who considers the by-products of his body to be his kinsmen, who considers the land of his birth worshipable, and who goes to a place of pilgrimage simply to take a bath rather than to meet men of transcendental knowledge there is to be considered like an ass or a cow."

These are some Vedic statements about spiritual substance. Spiritual substance cannot be seen by the unintelligent, because they do not have the eyes or the mentality to see the spirit soul. Consequently they think that there is no such thing as spirit. But the followers of the Vedic injunctions take their information from Vedic statements, such as the verses from the Katha Upanishad and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam quoted above..

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His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Founder Ācārya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness