THE INTRANSIGENT FALSE EGO

SANKALPA KAUMUDI

CHAPTER 13

THE INTRANSIGENT FALSE EGO 

The reader will recognise the pivotal role the intelligence plays in bringing both the subtle and the gross body into a surrendered service attitude. And as explained in the previous chapter, for the intelligence to be successful in its mission it needs to bring the rebellious mind to heel. To make clear why the mind is such a rebel, why sense gratification is its second nature, we will elaborate on a statement that Baladeva Vidyabhiisana makes in his commentary on the Bhagavad-gita verse beginning with asamsayam maha-baho. The acarya writes, 

“The mind, freed of its unsteadiness, becomes easy to control. Steadiness is accomplished by counteracting the mind’s spiritual indifference with the practice of tasting the bliss of the ātmā, and by counteracting the mind’s restless nature by avoiding the taste for material sense objects.”! 

The point to highlight here is encapsulated by the phrase: 

“The mind’s spiritual indifference.” 

The mind has an inherent spiritual indifference that every sadhaka encounters as one of his main challenges to attaining bhava. And of course, spiritual indifference implies material fascination. The mind is fascinated by the Lord’s illusory potency. However, since the mind is but the instrument of the soul, it means that at some point the living entity acquires both indifference to the Lord’s service and 

fascination with His illusory potency. And then those same attrib. utes are passed on to the mind. 

“How and when does this happen?” 

In his book Brahmana O Vaisnaver-laratamya-visayaka-siddhānta Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura describes this Phenomenon in relationship to the entry of the living entity into the material atmosphere. We will elaborate on points described by Sarasvati Thakur, as they relate to the acquired spiritual indifference of the mind. 

The above-mentioned reference is from a lecture to an assembly of bribmanas in Midnapura that Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati gave at the behest of Thakura Bhaktivinoda. The purpose of the talk was to show that pure Vaisnavas are superior to those born as brahmanas. Later, Sarasvati Thakura expanded his lecture into a smal book generally abbreviated as Brabmana O Vaisnaver. 

We begin with the undisputed understanding that the living entity-as a part and parcel of the Supreme Lord-is, in its very essential and fundamental state, pure, and free of material designation. Caitanya Mahaprabhu explains the same to Sanatana Gosvami: 

nitya-siddha krsna-prema ‘sadhya’ kabhu naya 

sravanddi-suddha-citte karaye udaya 

“Pure love for Krsna is eternally established in the hearts of the living entities. It is not something to be gained from another source. When the heart is purified by hearing and chanting, this love naturally awakens.” 

Members of ISKCON are divided over the origins of the jiva. However, whether one is convinced that the living entity was in Krsna’s pastimes, or whether one is adamant that the jiva was distant from the Lord, it is clear that the serving propensity is present within souls, either in an active or passive state. And so, too, is the free will, to which Srila Prabhupada so often makes reference. The initial impulse or tipping point for the misuse of free will takes place in either of the above-mentioned states when the jiva contemplates an identity other than that of a servant. Such deliberation gives room for indifference to set in, which then becomes the choreographer for the actions of free will. 

Although indifference means that the living entity subdues non-devotional as well as devotional propensities, because he cannot long remain with such an undefined identity, his momentum towards non-devotional life causes him to contemplate it and in due course he enters the material realm. Thus his misuse of free will is complete. 

Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura explores the subtleties of the transition, trom the dawning of indifference to entry into the material world. 

The acarya explains that the state of indifference is like a neutral, inactive condition in which the living entity manifests just the tiniest degree of apathy to serving the Lord. This apathy is the soil in which the seed of material enjoyment takes root. Thus, indifference becomes the foundation upon which the subtleties of material desire grow. Because of the unstable condition of indifference - neither devotional nor non-devotional - and because of the ascendancy of material desire, the living entity begins to actually contemplate “unconstitutional activities from his marginal position.” 

As a sentient being, the jiva tries to rationalise his misconduct by speculating that the Supreme is impersonal and not an object of service. With his intelligence thus infected by impersonalism, aversion to the Lord increasingly manifests. 

In the following well-known verse, the demigods beautifully explain how aversion becomes the cause of the living entity being cast into the material atmosphere: 

ye 'nye 'ravindākṣa vimukta-māninas

tvayy asta-bhāvād aviśuddha-buddhayaḥ

āruhya kṛcchreṇa paraṁ padaṁ tataḥ

patanty adho 'nādṛta-yuṣmad-aṅghrayaḥ

“O lotus-eyed Lord, although non-devotees who accept severe austerities and penances to achieve the highest position may think themselves liberated, their intelligence is impure. They fall down from their position of imagined superiority because they have no regard for Your lotus feet.” 

Thus, fascination with the realm of material enjoyment gives way to a willingness to overlord and enjoy. Since Krsna already occupies the role of Supreme Enjoyer in Vaikuntha, the living entity accepts the alternative offered by the material energy. In this Way he hands himself over to the authority of Maya and accepts the role of Brahma, and thereafter of so many lesser lords. Each of the tight million four-hundred thousand species of life offer a different kind of enjoyment and a unique standard of lordship. 

The point to emphasise is this: 

As long as the living entity is in contact with the material energy, this underlying indifference of mind persists and remains a continual obstacle on the path of spiritual progress. 

As already mentioned, the condition described above is an inevitable state of the mind. The mind is the mirror of the material world with which the soul identifies. So the mind is also the mirror of the soul. If the soul is indifferent, the mind is indifferent. This truth is nicely expressed by the Avanti Brahmana in the following verse: 

anīha ātmā manasā samīhatā

hiraṇ-mayo mat-sakha udvicaṣṭe

manaḥ sva-liṅgaṁ parigṛhya kāmān

juṣan nibaddho guṇa-saṅgato 'sau

“Although present along with the struggling mind within the material body, the Supersoul is not endeavouring, because He is already endowed with transcendental enlightenment. Acting as my friend, He simply witnesses from His transcendental position. I, the infinitesimal spirit soul, on the other hand, have embraced this mind, which is the mirror reflecting the image of the material world. Thus I have become engaged in enjoying objects of desire, and am entangled due to contact with the modes of nature.”

This addendum to the interaction between the intelligence and senses, in which the conditioned mind plays a pivotal role, is meant to call the reader’s attention to the reason why the mind display such deeply-rooted indifference to devotional service. The misuse of free will etches indifference to Krsna into the mind and gives it an underlying reasoning to persist with its rebellion. 

Indifference is a difficult antagonist to overcome, but once the mind is reconnected to constitutional acts - devotional service -, indifference and its ramifications loosen their grip on the sadhaka. With free will less constrained, a devotee is able to commit to the evel of determination required to progress towards bhava. Until a sadhaka attains bhava, this indifference remains a part of the soul’s conditioned nature, and so he continues to struggle with this mental condition. 

Fortunately, that struggle decreases in proportion to the purification of the heart, and more specifically in proportion to the degree of awakened spontaneous attraction. To be more precise, indifference is almost eradicated at ruci, however it remains in more subtle features until transcendence. 

Nonetheless, the mind’s indifference is an obstacle to the intelligence as it moves a sddhaka from sankalpa to sankalpa. 

We have described the existential workings of the subtle and gross senses with the intent of giving a clearer picture of a prime player in a sankalpa, the mind. Let us now turn to other features of the subtle body: the self, consciousness, and most importantly, the false ego. 

The self and consciousness have been described in the chariot allegory as being the passenger, and the impetus for moving, respectively, The false ego is described in another Srimad-Bhagavatam analogy as being two weapons on the chariot.

A question often arises in relation to the study of the subtle ody: 

“We conditioned souls are bound to the gross effects of the modes of nature. How can we scrutinise the nature of subtle substances like consciousness? And if we can, what is the means?” 

As with all aspects of our study, the means of understanding the soul and its connection with the material world is primarily through the Vedas, and secondarily through inference. 

In this regard, Hamsa-avatara tells the Kumaras, sanchidya hārdam anumāna-sad-ukti-tiksna jnānāsinā: 

“You should utilise the sharpened sword of knowledge, acquired by logical reflection and from the instructions of sages and Vedic literatures.”

Readers may also recall Lord Kapila’s previously cited guideling for grasping the truths of the subtle senses. The Lord advises that we understand their functions and characteristics rather than their sensually perceived qualities, bhedo vrttyā laksana-rūpayā: 

“Distinctions between them can be made only by different functions, since they represent different characteristics.”

Although some bewildered philosophers and modern-day scientists argue for the non-existence of the soul and attribute consciousness to a combination of material ingredients, the teachings of the Vedas are clear: we exist as eternal spiritual entities! 

eṣo ’ṇur ātmā cetasā veditavyo

yasmin prāṇaḥ pañcadhā saṁviveśa

prāṇaiś cittaṁ sarvam otaṁ prajānāṁ

yasmin viśuddhe vibhavaty eṣa ātmā 

“The soul is atomic in size and can be perceived by perfect intelligence. This atomic soul is floating in the five kinds of air (prāṇa, apāna, vyāna, samāna and udāna), is situated within the heart, and spreads its influence all over the body of the embodied living entities. When the soul is purified from the contamination of the five kinds of material air, its spiritual influence is exhibited.” 

The soul exists! And our objective perception of other states of awareness infers the separate existence of the soul, as does our gbjective perception of the constant changing of this body. The Srimad-Bhagavatam and the Bhagavad-gita teach this logic.” 

Thus the living entity is spiritual, eternal, and conscious. Indeed, hat consciousness is an inseparable characteristic of the soul. The primordial Vedic declaration is, aham brahmasmi: 

“Tam Brahman! I am spirit!”"! 

This aphorism establishes not only the existence of the soul, but the soul’s sense of self-that the soul is conscious of itself! 

The most well-known example of logical inference that indicates the presence of the soul, consciousness, false-ego, intelligence, and mind is Lord Krsna’s initial teaching in the Bhagavad-gita: 

dehino ’smin yatha dehe kaumāram yauvanam jara 

tatha dehantara-praptir dhiras tatra na muhyati 

“As the embodied soul continuously passes, in this body, from boyhood to youth to old age, the soul similarly passes into another body at death. A sober person isnot bewildered by such a change.” 

From his first lessons to his disciples until his final lessons before leaving this world, Srila Prabhupada quoted and taught this verse, Which remains the banner of ISKCON’s preaching to this day. A further examination of the nature of consciousness will help us put the spotlight on the false ego and how it distances us from Krsna. We have already touched on how the living entities who opt to enter the material world are dormant in the subtle, undifferentiated sum total of all material elements, pradhāna. Thereafter, when pradhana was agitated by the me factor, it manifests the mahat-tattva, which then passes through stages of creation in which living entities gradually awaken. The initial, pure stage of the mahat-tattva is known as vāsudeva, whase presiding deity ts Lord Sankarsana. This is the unfettered mode of goodness in which consciousness ts still unadulterated, and in which awareness of the Supreme Lord is still natural. Such pristine consciousness is Characteristic of the pure ego, the onginal identity of the living entity. Let us briefly define the terms relating to consciousness. 

“What ts the ego?” 

“The sense of self!” 

In its original state the soul’s identity is pure, but in contact with the transformations of the mabat-tattva it becomes contaminated, and gives an erroneous sense of selfness. That erroneous sense of identity is the false ego, ahankāra. Finally, awareness itself, or that state in which one is aware of one's self and of other things, is consciousness, citta. 

So, to the question posed earlier: 

“What is our pramāna for studying the soul and its subtle coverings?” 

Th answer: 

“Primarily, scripture; and secondarily, inference.” 

In a discusson on the false ego, an important point should also be clarified: 

When we sometimes say, “the soul becomes contaminated,” we should understand that to mean “the soul's sense of self, the ego, becomes contaminated.” The soul always remains pure. It is the aspects of the antah-karana - the soul's coverings, like the mind - that become contaminated, giving the sense that the soul is equally covered. But the self, as Krishna goes to great pains to explain, can never be cut, dried, withered, deluted, and so on. It is the smallest ibdivisible spiritual substance and always retains its integrity. 

Having established our pramāna, let us return to our dissertation on the false ego. 

When the pure stage of the mahat-tattva, vāasudeva, is further agitated by time, the three modes of nature become active, and their first effect is the false ego, ahankara. Thus, the false ego is invested with three kinds of power - good, passionate, and ignorant, also expressed as serene, active, and dull. And it is from the three forms of false ego that all subsequent creation, subtle and gross, takes place. The predominating deity of this false ego is Lord Sankarsana, and it is by His grace that one is again freed from the grasp of false misconceptions, ahankāra. 

To re-emphasise, and in summary, when in the mahat-tattva the modes of material nature become activated by the influence of time, then false ego manifests in the living entity. Because the active mahat-tattva means creation, because creation means bodies, and because bodies mean instruments of misidentification, it is at this stage that the living entity again consciously turns away from Krsna and enters the material atmosphere. In Lord Kapila’s words: 

guṇair vicitrāḥ sṛjatīṁ

sa-rūpāḥ prakṛtiṁ prajāḥ

vilokya mumuhe sadyaḥ

sa iha jñāna-gūhayā

evaṁ parābhidhyānena

kartṛtvaṁ prakṛteḥ pumān

karmasu kriyamāṇeṣu

guṇair ātmani manyate

Divided into varieties by her threefold modes, material nature creates the forms of the living entities, and the living entities, seeing this, are illusioned by the knowledge-covering feature of the illusory energy. Because of his forgetfulness, the transcendental living entity accepts the influence of material energy as his field of activities, and thus actuated, he wrongly applies the activities to himself.

Whatever exists as a transformanen of false ego, thus in one sense false ego is all-pervading, which explains why it is so difficult to attain liberanon from it. For example, false ego manitests as the doer in the torm of the demigods, as the instrument in the form of the senses, and as the combinanen of doer and instrument in the form of matenal objects. 

While false ego manifests everything created, it continues to remain as the cause, the subtlest aspect of the matenal energy, the juncture between matter and spirit. Like the air, false ego pervades all created beings and induces two kinds of thinking -  ahantā and mamatā

"I am this body!" 

and,

“Everything related to this body is mine!” 

These are the two weapons in the aforementioned analogy of the chariot. In Chapter Four we have described the purification and spiritualisauion of these two aspects of ego. 

Further attributes evolving trom these states of mind are: 

Lust for more; greed for what is not needed; anger at loss; fear of loss, especially from death; happiness and distress arising from these, and so on. 

In reality, all thinking behind conduct that is not in pursuance of pure devotional service - even if it is under other Vedic injunctions - is caused by false ego and results in desire and further bondage. 

While we have previously explained how indifference to spiritual practice is inherent in the mind due to its misuse of independence, now, after elaborating on the manifestation and behaviour of the false ego, we can see how that indifference is further compounded by an equally ingrained attachment to self and to acquired belongings. 

Since karma-yoga and jnana-yoga focus on the effects of both indifference and false ego, and not on their cause, those forms of yoga are unable to deliver the conditioned soul from bondage. Only pure bhakti cleanses the consciousness of the jiva and revives its desire to serve. This is confirmed in Sanat-kumara’s advice to King Prthu: 

yat-pāda-paṅkaja-palāśa-vilāsa-bhaktyā

karmāśayaṁ grathitam udgrathayanti santaḥ

tadvan na rikta-matayo yatayo 'pi ruddha-

sroto-gaṇās tam araṇaṁ bhaja vāsudevam

The devotees, who are always engaged in the service of the toes of the lotus feet of the Lord, can very easily overcome hard-knotted desires for fruitive activities. Because this is very difficult, the nondevotees — the jñānīs and yogīs — although trying to stop the waves of sense gratification, cannot do so. Therefore you are advised to engage in the devotional service of Kṛṣṇa, the son of Vasudeva.

In the previously mentioned Srimad-Bhdgavatam analogy involving the mind and the chariot, the consciousness was the impetus for movement. And we have mentioned that consciousness is the sense of awareness. The senses have their individual functions, which means they are empowered with a certain kind of awareness - seeing, hearing, and so on. By sensory awareness, the living entity connects with sense objects and thus charts a path through the jungle of sense gratificatory objects and experiences. In that way, consciousness becomes the impetus for the movement of the living entity. 

However, that consciousness becomes contaminated by many base qualities sprouting from the sense of “I” and “mine.” And it is that contaminated consciousness and its role in the life of the conditioned soul that is worthy of brief attention. 

However, before proceeding further, a fine point should be clarified in our definition of consciousness being identified as awareness. And that point is: Srila Prabhupada at times equates contaminated consciousness with false ego, which in fact is more than awareness, it is the awareness of something. 

So why in this book have we chosen the former definition? 

The reason is that at other times, Srila Prabhupdada and scriptures also define consciousness as awareness; they make a distinction between contaminated consciousness and false ego, and they also define the sequence in which the two appear. Let us look at an example of these quotes and their resolution. 

In his commentary to the following verse, which clearly differentiates contaminated consciousness from false ego, Srila Prabhupada equates the two: 

mano buddhir ahaṅkāraś

cittam ity antar-ātmakam

caturdhā lakṣyate bhedo

vṛttyā lakṣaṇa-rūpayā

The internal, subtle senses are experienced as having four aspects, in the shape of mind, intelligence, ego and contaminated consciousness. Distinctions between them can be made only by different functions, since they represent different characteristics.

The following is the entire purport to the verse:

The four internal senses, or subtle senses, described herein are defined by different characteristics. When pure consciousness is polluted by material contamination and when identification with the body becomes prominent, one is said to be situated under false ego. Consciousness is the function of the soul, and therefore behind consciousness there is soul. Consciousness polluted by material contamination is called ahaṅkāra.

In the verse, Kapiladeva lists ego and contaminated consciousness as separate features of the antar-ātmakam, the internal, subtle senses. And in the beginning of his purport, Srila Prabhupada acknowledges that listing, and then summarises how both come into being. However, in the last line of the purport, Srila Prabhupada clearly identifies contaminated consciousness as false ego: 

“Consciousness polluted by material contamination is called ahankara.” 

We have what seems to be a contradiction in the same purport: 

Srila Prabhupada states both things. But in two other purports Srila Prabhupada clearly differentiates between false ego and contaminated consciousness: 

“The appearance of consciousness after the appearance of false ego.”

and, 

“The subtle body is made of mind, intelligence, false ego, and contaminated consciousness.” 

What is the resolution of Srila Prabhupada’s seemingly contradictory statements? The answer lies in Lord Kapila’s words, bhedo vrttyā laksana-rūpayā: 

“Distinctions between them can be made only by different functions, since they represent different characteristics.” 

Since both contaminated consciousness and false ego are part of the internal subtle senses, in one way they are the same; however in another way, when viewed from their functions and characteristics, they are different. Thus Srila Prabhupada’s different statements simply represent different contexts in which these two features of the subtle body are mentioned.

Therefore, returning to our definitions of consciousness and false ego, from the viewpoint of functions and characteristics, consciousness is awareness itself, false ego is awareness of the body as the self, and contaminated consciousness is false awareness covering the soul infected by false ego. 

Continuing our study of contaminated consciousness, it is interesting to note that in another Srimad-Bhagavatam verse, Srila Prabhupada’s translation of the word cittena is “along with reason.” This is quite understandable, as consciousness activates the reasoning faculty within the intelligence and, to a lesser extent, within the mind. 

Consciousness is the symptom of the soul, and consciousness activates both the subtle and gross bodies with its power. Krsna says, ksetram ksetrī tathā krtsnam prakāšayati: 

“The living entity, one within the body, illuminates the entire body with consciousness.”

Therefore, where the soul is present, consciousness is found. When the soul appears in the mahat-tattva with a contaminated intent of being the enjoyer instead of the enjoyed, then its consciousness becomes equally contaminated. That contamination is caused by identification with the active modes of material nature, and thus manifests, and is manifested through, a variety of bodies. 

The modes of nature are three in number, whilst their combinations are practically without limit. Thus the different conditions of these modes facilitate different bodies, and they in turn reflect variety in contaminated consciousness. Lord Kapila says: 

sva-yoniṣu yathā jyotir

ekaṁ nānā pratīyate

yonīnāṁ guṇa-vaiṣamyāt

tathātmā prakṛtau sthitaḥ

As fire is exhibited in different forms of wood, so, under different conditions of the modes of material nature, the pure spirit soul manifests itself in different bodies.

While in its pure state, the living entity’s consciousness spiritually enlivens the ego, mind, intelligence, and body. But when that same pure consciousness becomes adulterated by the effect of the modes of nature, the bewildered soul embraces many kinds of false ego, with which are connected many kinds of bodies - subtle and gross - displaying a spectrum of contaminated consciousness. 

For a conditioned soul, both bondage and liberation are diffcult to conceive of, just as a person absorbed in a dream has little understanding of either the illusion of dreaming or the reality of being awake. 

Srimad-Bhagavatam repeatedly likens contaminated consciousness, its perception of the material world, and its absorption in sense gratification to the experience of a person engrossed in a dream. Such a contaminated state, while real, is temporary, and like a dream it is but a product of the material mind. Liberation means to awaken from the dream, and waking up is the call by which the Vedic literatures address humans. Bhaktivinoda Thakura sings: 

jīv jāgo, jīv jāgo, gauracānda bole

kota nidrā jāo māya-pisācīra kole 

“Wake up sleeping soul! Wake up sleeping soul! Lord Caitanya is calling ‘How long will you sleep in the lap of maya.” 

The answer to Lord Caitanya’s question is that the living entity continues to dream as long as it voluntarily embraces the illusory potency of the Lord, maya, which convinces the jiva that dreaming is both reality and natural. Lord Brahma admits to Krsna: 

tasmād idaṁ jagad aśeṣam asat-svarūpaṁ

svapnābham asta-dhiṣaṇaṁ puru-duḥkha-duḥkham

tvayy eva nitya-sukha-bodha-tanāv anante

māyāta udyad api yat sad ivāvabhāti

Therefore this entire universe, which like a dream is by nature unreal, nevertheless appears real, and thus it covers one’s consciousness and assails one with repeated miseries. This universe appears real because it is manifested by the potency of illusion emanating from You, whose unlimited transcendental forms are full of eternal happiness and knowledge.

A living entity begins the process of waking up when, by the acquisition of transcendental knowledge, it realises its folly and takes up sadbana-bhakti. And liberation, bhāva-bhakti, is the waking state. Srila Prabhupada comments on the verse, muktir hitvānyathā rūpam svarūpena vyavasthitih: 

“Mukti means liberation from the contaminated consciousness of this material world and becoming situated in pure consciousness. ”

King Rantideva is an example of a pure devotee who, being always fully Krsna conscious, was both free of material enchantment and entirely oblivious of māyā, in the way that a dream has no existence for one who is awake. To understand what is real and what is a dream, Narada Muni gives us a rule of thumb that he says is a secret of the Vedas: 

adrstam drstavan nanksed

bhitam svapnavad anyatha 

bhutam bhavad bhavisyac ca suptam sarva-raho-rahah 

“Everything happening within time, which consists of past, present, and future, is merely a dream. That is the secret understanding in all Vedic literature.”

In the analogy of conditioned-life being akin to a dream, we must conclude that only in the liberated state-in which one is free of the modes of material nature-is consciousness again pure. And to the degree that one is under the modes of material nature, to that degree one’s consciousness is contaminated, and one persists in the dream of illusion. 

In that dream, sometimes one is a demigod and sometimes a spider. It all depends upon how deeply one is steeped in the illusions caused by the modes of nature. In any case, whether spider or Brahma, as Krsna says, mama maya duratyaya, it is difficult for anyone to overcome the material energy. The only way to do so is by surrendering to Krsna. 

In his Jaiva-dharma, Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura classifies the spectrum development of consciousness through which conditioned souls pass as being five.” These are consciousness that is covered, withdrawn, budding, blossoming, and blossomed. The first four are degrees of contaminated consciousness, the fifth is pure consciousness. 

Souls in the bodies of plants have covered consciousness, animals have withdrawn consciousness, humans who are immoral and atheistic have budding consciousness, humans who are religious or who practise sddhana-bhakti have blossoming consciousness, and pure Vaisnavas who have attained bhava-bhakti have blossomed consciousness. 

Keeping in mind that the consciousness in the chariot of the body directs the wayward soul, it is observed that the direction for plants is to grow; for animals to eat, sleep, mate, and defend; for the sinful humans to behave like animals; for believers and sadhakas to make spiritual advancement; and for bhava-bhaktas to attain full-blown prema. 

The cultivation of the fourth stage of consciousness, which Bhaktivinoda Thakura calls mukulita-cetana, is the theme of this book. A practising devotee has bhava as his goal in life, and in his cultivation of Krsna consciousness he shuns anything that obstructs his attainment and embraces everything that qualifies him for it. 

Ripa Gosvami explains that one takes to devotional service only because one has acquired qualification to strive towards Krsna in the previous life. For the rare devotee, such a sankalpa may begin as early as the seventh month in the womb. Lord Kapila narrates how a spiritually blossoming embryo expresses its determination tor perfection: 

tasmād ahaṁ vigata-viklava uddhariṣya

ātmānam āśu tamasaḥ suhṛdātmanaiva

bhūyo yathā vyasanam etad aneka-randhraṁ

mā me bhaviṣyad upasādita-viṣṇu-pādaḥ

Therefore, without being agitated any more, I shall deliver myself from the darkness of nescience with the help of my friend, clear consciousness. Simply by keeping the lotus feet of Lord Viṣṇu in my mind, I shall be saved from entering into the wombs of many mothers for repeated birth and death.

When such a fortunate soul encounters a pure Vaisnava, his spiritual journey starts anew, and as the process of sādhana-bhakti purifies his consciousness, his direction in life becomes clear: “Back to Godhead.” 

Gradually, by systematic sadhana and progressive determination, such a devotee moves up the ladder of bhakti, his increasingly purified consciousness inspiring his mind and intelligence forward. In this way, by the causeless mercy of Vaisnavas and the Lord, sucha devotee’s false ego gradually dissolves, just as fog evaporates with the rising of the sun. He becomes self-realised, free from all doubts, and increasingly sheltered by the hladini-sakti. 

When finally the sddhaka crosses over the boundary of matter into the realm of spirit, all false egoistic conceptions disappear, and he realises his eternal ego as Krsna’s servant. Thus empowered, such a fortunate soul quickly achieves the ultimate goal of life, and with pure Krsna consciousness returns to the transcendental abode, never to return. 

Thus the subtle body of mind, intelligence, false ego, contaminated consciousness - a result of the abuse of free will - and the vehicle that carries a bewildered soul through countless bodies, is, by the process of sadhana-bhakti, dissolved, as confirmed by Lord Kapila: 

jarayaty āśu yā kośaṁ

nigīrṇam analo yathā

Bhakti, devotional service, dissolves the subtle body of the living entity without separate effort, just as fire in the stomach digests all that we eat.