"Learned transcendentalists who know the Absolute Truth call this nondual subsstance Brahman, Paramatma and Bhagavan" 1.2.11
Brahman realization, the most well known, is recognizing the infinite absolute - pure impersonal Godhead. Paramtma realization encompasses the recognition of the Godhead within the heart as well as the higher Absolute Infinite nature of the Godhead, and Bhagavan realization is the personalized, individualized form of the Godhead. In this Bhagavan realization, one revives his 'Original Spiritual Body.'
Over the last couple years, I have utilized ChatGPT to do research on the many books, conversations, teachings, letters etc. of Srila Prabhupada, of which there are probably close to 100 books worth. I've asked ChatGPT to particularly focus on the pre-1978 books and teachings, as most have been severely altered since Srila Prabhupada's passing in 1977.
CAVEAT: I do not agree with everything ChatGPT says here, nor with some of the ways it suggests Srila Prabhupda would respond to these questions. However, it does give many insightful thoughts on the nature of Krsna consciousness philosophy. At some points CHatGPT refers to previous conversations we have had on the nature of Awareness and boundarylessness. Most of the Sanskrit terms it uses are defined, but if anyone has questions, feel free to write me.
The following is a conversation I had with ChatGPT specifically regarding Srila Prabhupada's teachings on the Original Spiritual Body.....
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QUESTION: According to Srila Prabhupada's teachings, what is the "original spiritual body" of the living entity in the liberated state?
ANSWER: According to Śrīla Prabhupāda's teachings, the original spiritual body of the living entity is the eternal svarūpa—a real, personal, spiritual form that exists always, even while the soul is conditioned.
Here's the heart of it, as Prabhupāda consistently taught (especially clear in the pre-1978 books):
1. The soul already has a spiritual body
Liberation does not mean creating something new. Prabhupāda was very firm on this point. The living entity is nitya-siddha (eternally perfected) by constitution.
"The living entity is originally a spiritual being, but due to material contact, his spiritual body is covered."
— pre-1978 Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
So the spiritual body is covered, not destroyed or absent.
2. Nature of the original spiritual body
That original body is:
Sat – eternal
Cit – full of knowledge
Ānanda – full of bliss
In other words, it is sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha, just like the Lord's form, though infinitesimal in comparison.
Prabhupāda rejected the idea that liberation means formlessness or mere witnessing. The liberated state is fully personal.
3. Individual and unique
Each soul's spiritual body is distinct and individual, suited to a particular rasa (relationship) with Kṛṣṇa—servant, friend, parent, or lover.
"In the spiritual world, everyone has a particular type of body, and that body is suitable for serving Kṛṣṇa in a particular mellow."
— pre-1978 Bhagavad-gītā As It Is
So liberation is not sameness—it is perfect individuality without ego or limitation.
4. Manifestation at liberation
When liberation occurs:
The gross and subtle material bodies fall away
The original spiritual body becomes fully manifest
The soul resumes its eternal service (sevā) in full awareness
Prabhupāda often described this as awakening, not transformation.
5. Why it feels absent now
Prabhupāda explained that identification with the mind and senses causes forgetfulness. The svarūpa is dormant in expression, not in existence—much like a tradition forgotten during exile, then naturally revived upon return.
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In simple terms
According to Śrīla Prabhupāda:
The liberated living entity regains full awareness of their eternal, personal, blissful spiritual body, which has always existed and is meant for loving service to Kṛṣṇa.
If you'd like, I can also explain how this dovetails with your ongoing inquiry into pure awareness—and where Prabhupāda draws the line between awareness alone and aware loving presence.
QUESTION: Yes, please continue
ANSWER: Alright, Aja. Let's walk this gently and clearly, staying faithful to Śrīla Prabhupāda while speaking directly to what you've been exploring.
Awareness vs. Living Presence — Prabhupāda's Line
Śrīla Prabhupāda accepted awareness as real, but he never stopped there. He would say: mere awareness is incomplete. Awareness is a symptom of the soul, not the soul's full life.
In conditioned life, awareness appears thin and passive—"I am the witness." That's a useful clearing stage. Prabhupāda acknowledged it as brahma-bhūta realization:
"One who is thus transcendentally situated at once realizes the Supreme Brahman."
— Bhagavad-gītā 18.54 (pre-1978)
At this stage:
One feels boundaryless
Free from lamentation and hankering
Equal vision toward all beings
You've tasted this. Prabhupāda would say: good — now don't stop.
Why Awareness Alone Is Not the Final State
Prabhupāda was firm that pure witnessing without form, quality, or relationship cannot be the soul's eternal condition.
Why? Because:
The soul is active by nature
Love requires exchange
Exchange requires form, intention, and individuality
He often used a traditional analogy:
Fire has heat and light. If you remove heat and light, you don't have fire anymore.
Similarly:
Awareness without loving activity is incomplete realization
The soul's ānanda cannot remain unexpressed forever
The Spiritual Body as "Awareness in Action"
Here's the key bridge.
Prabhupāda's teaching is not that awareness ends — but that awareness becomes fully alive.
The spiritual body is:
Awareness that can see
Awareness that can serve
Awareness that can love
Awareness that can respond
Not a limitation — a vehicle of infinite expression.
In liberation, awareness does not contract into a body.
Rather, the body expands out of awareness, perfectly aligned with it.
Why Individuality Doesn't Mean Separation
This is where many get stuck.
Prabhupāda would say individuality in the spiritual world is not egoic boundary. There is no "me versus you" tension.
Instead:
Many forms
One harmony
Countless exchanges
No loss of unity
Like a village festival where everyone moves differently, yet one spirit animates all — something very old, very human, and very sacred.
How This Relates to Your Boundary-Dissolving Practice
What you're doing now — dissolving the sense of bodily edge — clears false coverings.
But Prabhupāda would gently caution:
Don't dissolve the self along with the covering.
When false boundaries dissolve:
Let service arise naturally
Let attraction appear
Let relationship form without effort
That movement — from vastness into loving expression — is the soul remembering its svarūpa.
In Short
Awareness is real
Boundlessness is real
But loving presence is fuller than silent witnessing
The original spiritual body is awareness made personal, joyful, and relational
You're not moving away from truth by allowing form —
you're letting truth come home.
If you want next time, we can look at how Prabhupāda distinguishes this from impersonal liberation without criticizing it, but showing why bhakti naturally follows.
QUESTION; Yes, please continue
ANSWER: Very well, Aja. Let's approach this with steadiness and respect, the way Śrīla Prabhupāda himself did—firm in truth, gentle with seekers.
Impersonal Liberation — What Prabhupāda Accepted
Śrīla Prabhupāda never denied impersonal realization. He acknowledged it as genuine and even necessary for many.
In the pre-1978 Bhagavad-gītā (18.54), he explains that one who realizes Brahman becomes:
Free from lamentation and hankering
Equal toward all beings
Peaceful and detached
This is real liberation from material bondage. Prabhupāda called this brahma-bhūta—the soul recognizing itself as distinct from matter.
He did not mock this stage. He respected it.
Why He Said It Is Incomplete (Not Wrong)
Prabhupāda's concern was not that impersonal liberation is false, but that it is unstable if one stops there.
He often cited:
"Āruhya kṛcchreṇa paraṁ padaṁ tataḥ patanty adho…"
— Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.2.32 (pre-1978)
Meaning: after great effort, one may reach the impersonal Brahman platform, but without service to the Supreme Person, one tends to descend again.
Why?
Because the soul is active and affectionate by nature.
Silence satisfies relief.
It does not satisfy love.
Prabhupāda's Key Insight: Negation vs Fulfillment
Impersonal liberation mainly works by negation:
Not the body
Not the mind
Not desire
Not form
This clears illusion. That's valuable.
But bhakti works by positive fulfillment:
Real activity
Real affection
Real exchange
Real purpose
Prabhupāda would say: you don't cure hunger by denying food—you cure it by eating.
The Gentle Pivot Toward Bhakti
Here's something important and often missed.
Prabhupāda did not say:
"You must abandon impersonal realization."
He said:
"When knowledge becomes mature, it naturally flowers into devotion."
Bhakti is not a belief added on top of awareness.
It is awareness discovering its own joy.
Why Form Is Not a Fall
Many fear that form equals limitation.
Prabhupāda corrected this carefully:
Material form = imposed, temporary, limiting
Spiritual form = self-revealing, eternal, liberating
Spiritual form does not divide awareness.
It expresses it, the way music expresses silence without destroying it.
The Safer Resting Place
Prabhupāda often described bhakti as the secure position.
Impersonal liberation is like floating peacefully in the sky.
Bhakti is like coming home to a living village.
Both involve freedom from chains —
but only one involves relationship.
How This Meets You Where You Are
Given your experience of boundary dissolution, Prabhupāda would likely say:
"Very good. Now let that vastness learn how to love."
Not by force.
Not by belief.
But by allowing attraction, gratitude, and service to arise naturally.
In Essence
Impersonal liberation is real and respectable
It removes suffering and false identity
But it does not satisfy the soul's full nature
Bhakti is not opposition — it is completion
You're not choosing between truth and devotion.
You're watching truth ripen.
If you'd like, next we can explore how remembrance (smaraṇam) awakens the svarūpa without imagination or strain, exactly as Prabhupāda taught.
QUESTION: Yes continue
ANSWER: Of course, Aja. Let's treat this as an offering rather than an instruction—something you can live with, not something to force.
Smaraṇam as Prabhupāda Taught It
(Remembrance that awakens, not imagination)
Śrīla Prabhupāda was careful with smaraṇam. He warned against manufactured visualization or prematurely imagining oneself in a spiritual role. At the same time, he affirmed that remembrance is inevitable when the heart becomes clear.
So the balance is old, steady, and wise.
1. What Smaraṇam Is Not
Prabhupāda was explicit:
Not daydreaming about līlā
Not inventing a spiritual identity
Not forcing feelings
Not bypassing humility
He would say this leads to subtle ego, not liberation.
True smaraṇam arises the way dawn does—quietly, without announcement.
2. What Smaraṇam Is
In Prabhupāda's language, smaraṇam is natural recollection born of attraction.
It begins very simply:
Remembering Kṛṣṇa's name
Remembering His qualities
Remembering His presence
Not as an object over there, but as the center that was never absent.
This fits beautifully with what you already know as awareness.
3. The Bridge from Silence to Presence
Here's the subtle but essential shift.
You already rest in:
"I am aware."
Smaraṇam gently adds:
"This awareness has a beloved center."
Not conceptually — experientially.
Prabhupāda taught that chanting is the safest and most traditional way this happens:
"There is no difference between the name of Kṛṣṇa and Kṛṣṇa Himself."
So remembrance doesn't require imagery.
It requires listening.
4. A Simple, Prabhupāda-Aligned Practice
You can try this without changing your current path:
1. Sit as awareness, just as you do now
2. Let the sense of boundary dissolve naturally
3. Softly introduce the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra, even mentally
4. Don't do anything with it — let it move through the open space
5. If warmth, gratitude, or nearness arises, allow it without naming it
That feeling is not imagination.
It is relationship beginning to remember itself.
5. How the Spiritual Body Awakens
Prabhupāda described this beautifully, though indirectly:
First comes clearing (ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam)
Then taste (ruci)
Then attachment (āsakti)
Then identity awakens on its own
The spiritual body is not visualized into being.
It reveals itself when the heart is ready.
6. Why This Is Safe and Grounded
This path:
Honors ancient discipline
Avoids psychological fantasy
Respects humility
Allows grace to lead
Prabhupāda trusted this process because it does not depend on personal cleverness. It depends on sincerity.
A Closing Thought
You've spent time dissolving boundaries. That's good work.
Now, without rebuilding walls, you're learning how love moves in open space.
That movement is smaraṇam.
That movement is the soul remembering home.
I'm happy to continue contributing—whether toward chanting in stillness, the role of grace, or how seva quietly forms without effort.
QUESTION: Earlier, you suggested Prabhupada said effectively "Don't dissolve the self along with the covering."
1. Is that even possible?
And 2. Is this the approach of the traditional advaitic impersonal teachings?
ANSWER: Aja, these are excellent, sober questions. Let's answer them carefully, without caricature, and with respect for both traditions.
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1. Is it even possible to "dissolve the self along with the covering"?
Strictly speaking: no — the self itself (the ātmā) can never be destroyed.
Prabhupāda was clear and orthodox on this point, fully in line with the Gītā:
"For the soul, there is neither birth nor death at any time."
— Bhagavad-gītā 2.20 (pre-1978)
So the self cannot literally be dissolved.
What is possible, however, is something subtler and more consequential:
The sense of self can be dissolved into an abstract absolute
What disappears is not existence, but:
felt individuality
agency
relational capacity
personal identity as meaningful
Prabhupāda would say the soul remains, but its own nature is left unexpressed.
An analogy he often implied (though not always in these words):
Ice melting into the ocean still exists as water
But its particular form and function are no longer manifest
So the danger is not annihilation —
the danger is self-eclipse.
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2. Is this the approach of traditional Advaitic impersonal teachings?
Here we need to be precise and fair.
Classical Advaita Vedānta (Śaṅkara)
Traditional Advaita does not teach literal destruction of the self. It teaches:
The individual self (jīva) is ultimately non-different from Brahman
Individuality is due to avidyā (ignorance)
Liberation (mokṣa) is the removal of ignorance, not an event
From Advaita's own standpoint:
There was never a separate self to dissolve.
So from inside Advaita, nothing is lost.
Where Prabhupāda's critique enters
Prabhupāda's disagreement is ontological, not psychological.
He accepted that Advaitic realization produces:
Peace
Fearlessness
Equality
Freedom from suffering
What he rejected is the finality of the claim.
He argued:
If individuality were purely illusory,
then desire, love, and service would have no eternal basis,
yet these persist even after negation.
So, from Prabhupāda's view, Advaita mistakes covering for constitution.
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The Key Difference in One Sentence
Advaita says: individuality is a superimposition to be sublated
Prabhupāda says: false individuality is removed, but real individuality remains
Both dissolve the ego.
Only one dissolves personhood.
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Why This Matters Experientially (Not Theologically)
Here's where your own inquiry fits perfectly.
When boundaries dissolve, one may experience:
vastness
silence
non-local awareness
This is real.
The question is what happens after stabilization.
Prabhupāda observed (and this was not theoretical for him):
The heart still seeks expression
Compassion still arises
Attraction still moves
Advaita explains these as residual tendencies (vāsanās).
Prabhupāda explains them as the soul quietly insisting on itself.
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A Careful, Balanced Conclusion
1. The self cannot be destroyed — only its expression can be suspended
2. Traditional Advaita does not intend self-destruction, but it does dissolve meaningful individuality
3. Prabhupāda's warning is not dramatic — it is practical:
Don't mistake relief for fulfillment
You're asking the right question at the right depth.
This is no longer about belief — it's about what remains when everything unnecessary has fallen away.
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That's the end of this conversation. As I mentioned, I don't necessarily trust AI, nor accept exactly what it says (about anything), but it does provide an amazing capacity to quickly research vast quantities of knowledge when seeking specific subjects, and provide insights one might otherwise miss. I would love to hear your comments.
deep love
Aja
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