[Posted June 6, 2008]

What a Pringles can cannot contain

A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami

Left behind one invention to reinvent himself

Time Magazine June 4, 2008 - JEREMY CAPLAN

The Man Buried in a Pringles Can

Fredric Baur dreamed up the original Pringles can. Now he's buried in one.

In 1966, Baur came up with a clever way for Procter & Gamble to stack chips uniformly rather than tossing them in a bag. He was so proud of the achievement, he wanted to go to his grave with it. So when Baur died last month, his children buried the 89-year-old's ashes in one of his iconic cans. go to story

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Dead Bodies

Misplaced concern over dead bodies A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami

What is this body? A combination of matter. It is already dead. Because the living soul is there, it is moving, and as soon as the living soul is out of the body, it is useless, dead matter. So what is there important talking about this dead body? It is made of this earth, earthly ingredient, bhumir apo 'nalo, and it will become again. There are three, how do you say, transformation of this body. One transformation is ash. Another transformation is stool. Another transformation is earth. There are three different types of transformations. Just like Christian people, they bury the body. So, in due course of time you'll find, say, after ten years, twenty, your body's finished. It is now earth. The body has become earth. And Hindus, they burn it, so the body becomes ash. And the Parsees, they throw the body to be eaten by the vultures. It becomes stool. That is the last, how would you say, transformation of this body. And we are so much busy about this ash, stool, and earth. Just see how foolish we are. Therefore Krishna said to Arjuna, gatasun agatasumsh cha. Just like motorcar, with driver or no driver, what is it? It is dead matter. That's all. Why one should be busy about this motorcar? One should be busy about the driver, whether he's [indistinct] nicely, whether he's eating nicely, he'll drive. If you don't take care of the driver, simply you wash the car, what is the use? The car will not be moving without driver. Similarly, the whole civilization should be on the basis of understanding the soul. That is civilization. more

Who survives death?

excerpt from Evening Darshan, Washington D.C., July 7, 1976

EUGENE THOREAU: May I ask a question? Is it possible to aim at any form of personal existence after death?

PRABHUPADA: Yes, you are personally existing, you are old man. When you were a child, you were person. When you were young man, you were a person. Now you are old man, you are a person. We are personalities continuing although the body is changing. You are not missing your personality. So therefore personality continues even when you change this body. That is explained in the Bhagavad-gita, in the Second Chapter. Krishna says... [Aside, to disciple:] Find out this verse.

PUSTA KRSNA: [Reads:] Dehino 'smin yatha dehe kaumaram yauvanam jara [Bg. 2.13].

HARI-SAURI: Na hanyate hanyamane sharire [Bg. 2.20]?

PRABHUPADA: No, there is another verse where Krishna says, "My dear Arjuna, you and Me and all these persons who are assembled here..."

HARI-SAURI: Na tv evaham jatu nasam.

PRABHUPADA: Ah, that verse.

PUSTA KRSNA: [Reads:]

na tv evaham jatu nasam
na tvam neme janadhipah
na chaiva na bhavishyamah
sarve vayam atah param

Translation, "Never was there a time when I did not exist, nor you, nor all these kings, nor in the future shall any of us cease to be."

PRABHUPADA: Yes, that means in the past we existed, at present we are existing, and in future we shall continue to exist, individually. And that is our experience. I existed in the past as a child. So I existed as a person. I existed as a young man, so I existed as a person. I am an old man now, now I am existing as a person. Naturally, the conclusion is when I shall change this body, I shall remain as a person. How we can change this conclusion? I am continuing to exist as a person. I am still existing as a person. And here is the authority, He says in the future also you remain a person. So there is time factor, past, present and future, and in all these time factors I live as a person. Not only I, but also Krishna. He says "I also remain as person. You Arjuna, you also person, I am also person, and all these soldiers and kings who have assembled, they are also persons." So our personality continues, past, present and future.

MR. DAVIS: Then when you die and you are buried, they bury your body.

PRABHUPADA: My body you bury, but I go away.

MR. DAVIS: They bury my body, they bury your name, they write it on a stone maybe, but they bury your name, they bury your memory. What survives, I was going to ask, and then what survives—no memory, no body, no name—is the spirit.

PRABHUPADA: That is soul.

MR. DAVIS: And the spirit would not necessarily have the ability to point and say "I used to be in that body or that body or that."

PRABHUPADA: No, that he forgets. Death means forgetfulness. Just like accepting that I was existing in previous life, but now I do not remember. This is death. But I am existing, that's a fact. The same example. Everyone knows that he was existing as a child, he was existing as a young man. So because it is short period, I remember, but when the body is completely changed, the atmosphere is completely changed, we forget. But actually I exist continually. Na hanyate hanyamane sharire [Bg. 2.20]. This is the authoritative statement, that I am not annihilated on account of my body being annihilated. So they bury the body or giving some name, some tomb, that is the business of my relatives, my friends, my family members. But as I am, I am aloof from this. I have accepted another body. And then begin my life in a different way.

So people do not try to understand this science, how it is happening. That is all described in the Bhagavad-gita. If we study Bhagavad-gita very carefully, we can understand the philosophy of life correctly.

Sri Guru and Gauranga