(Image Courtesy Mahanidhiswami)

To Satisfy Its Cravings, The Jeeva Want To Communicate With Prakriti It Surrounds Itself With The Mind And The Five Senses In Order To Do So

शरीरं यदवाप्नोति यच्चाप्युत्क्रामतीश्वर: |
गृहीत्वैतानि संयाति वायुर्गन्धानिवाशयात् || 15.8||

śharīraṁ yad avāpnoti yach chāpy utkrāmatīśhvaraḥ
gṛihītvaitāni sanyāti vāyur gandhān ivāśhayāt|| 15.8||

Shloka Translation
BG – Ch. 15- Ver. 8:

When the embodied soul leaves an old body and enters a new one, it carries the mind and senses with it, just as the air spreads fragrance from place to place.

Explanation

Shree Krishna uses the metaphor of a breeze to explain the process of a soul’s migration from one body to another. Similar to how a breeze spreads the fragrances of flowers, the soul carries the subtle and causal bodies, which include the senses and mind, when the gross body dies. Even after the physical body dies, the soul continues to transport the mind and the memories of previous lives from one body to the next.

Verse & what we can learn

The jeeva, or individual soul, needs to engage with Prakriti in order to fulfill its aspirations. It surrounds itself with the intellect which includes the desires and the five senses in order to accomplish so. Because it is invisible, the subtle body is also known as the collection of jeeva, mind, and senses.

To express itself, a subtle body requires a physical body. When one human body’s time span expires, the subtle body must seek for another physical body to fulfil its goals. According to Shri Krishna, in such a situation, the subtle body, the jeeva with the mind and senses, ejects itself from the physical body and seeks out a new home.

Because the mind and senses follow the jeeva, it is called Ishvara or Lord here, not to be confused with the definition of Ishvara used throughout the Gita. Once the jeeva has found a new home, it begins unpacking its stuff, including the intellect and senses, in order.

To acquire knowledge and to implement that knowledge in life one needs to be mentally and physically active and healthy and for that daily meditation is a great tool.

There are various types of meditation like Buddhist meditation, heartfulness meditation, mindfulness meditation, meditation for stress, and each meditation benefits are countless. There is also numerous meditation techniques for beginners which help in practicing daily meditation so go ahead and start your journey towards a peaceful and balanced life.

Shree Krishna discusses what the soul does with the thoughts and senses it carries with it when it leaves its current body in the next verse.

Let’s learn to live with “The Gita” via Meditation Affinity…