By Karnamrita dasa
The concept that we are not our bodies is considered a preliminary basic understanding for devotees, yet this conception has proved not so easy to put into practice. We can all look within ourself and at our communities and society and contemplate how our failure to realize this truth is the cause of many of our disagreements and heated debates. Lets look at the basics of our embodiment. The soul takes on a material body and mind, with an ego that says, “This is me.” The false ego (“false” because we have a real spiritual identity beyond physical forms) or our material “I” defines itself by what it thinks it possesses--what is mine, our “mys”. This “my-ness” is the basis of all problems the soul faces in the material world, including our problems in dealing with other persons, or souls also conditioned by “my-ness”. It is interesting how “my-ness” sounds like minus, since our material conceptions of identity can only exist if our spiritual identity is forgotten (the soul minus its true eternal identity is a forgetful soul habituated to living under the conditions or laws of matter.)