Jagad Guru Chris Butler | Quotes | The Continually Changing Body

The body you have at any moment in time does not last long—it is soon replaced by a new body made of new cells, molecules, and atoms. The “baby” body is replaced by the “child” body, which is replaced by the “adolescent” body, which is replaced by the “young adult” body, which is replaced by the “adult” body, which is replaced by the “middle-aged” body, which is replaced by the “old” body. Yet throughout all these complete changes of the body, you—the self—endure. You remain as the unchanged, untouched witness of all the different changes of your body as well as the changes of your mind.

Jagad Guru Chris Butler - Science of Identity Foundation


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The atoms and molecules that made up the cells within your body of five years ago (including the nerve and brain cells) now make up so many other things. On the other hand, not long ago the atoms and molecules in your present body were part of other objects or bodies.

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If the passing away of the body meant the end of your existence, then you, the self who existed along with the “childhood” body, should have ceased existing when that “childhood” body ceased to exist; and you, the self who existed along with the “adolescent” body, should have ceased existing when your “adolescent” body ceased to exist. The fact that you continued to exist, even though your body (bodies) did not, proves that your existence does not depend upon the continuing existence of a body.

Jagad Guru Chris Butler - Science of Identity Foundation

Jagad Guru Chris Butler | Quotes | Reality of Your Existence

The no-self philosophy has so many weaknesses, but none so glaring as its main premise—that you, the self, do not really exist. Nothing is more real to each of us than our own existence.

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Because self-awareness is a completely subjective experience, you cannot directly experience the reality of another self’s existence. Therefore, on a practical level, you cannot deny your own existence, but you find it easy to deny the existence of other selves.

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On a practical level, it’s a lot easier to deny the existence of other selves than it is to deny your own—you have the direct, irrefutable experience of your own existence.

Jagad Guru Chris Butler - Science of Identity Foundation

Jagad Guru Chris Butler | Quotes | The Wise Person

If you are wise, you are free of prejudice, racism, sexism, class consciousness, and so on.


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Only one who can learn the process of nescience and that of transcendental knowledge side by side can transcend the influence of repeated birth and death and enjoy the full blessing of immortality.

~Sri Ishopanishad, Mantra Eleven

Some neophytes on the spiritual path may fall into the illusion that taking care of the body is somehow evil, or a sign of spiritual backwardness. Not only may they neglect the needs of the body, but they may go out of their way to actually damage the body. Such people actually hate the body. They see it as a source of misery, and thus they take out their anger on it. This is certainly a mistake.


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Your aim should be to come to understand your true identity as soon as possible so you can start acting on that fact.


Jagad Guru Chris Butler - Science of Identity Foundation

Jagad Guru Chris Butler | Karma & Exploitation Quotes

KARMA

According to yoga, every action, good or bad, produces some karmic reaction. Actions that are “bad” create bad karmic reactions. A person who engages in heinous criminal actions or who lives simply like an animal, exploiting others, will have to eat the bitter fruit of such actions in the future.


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If there is no self in the body, then there is no reason not to treat that body—human or otherwise—the same as we treat any other composition of matter. The no-self world view is the basis, the rationale, for the uninhibited exploitation of other living entities.


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Unfortunately, a person who is materialistic, greedy, and self-worshiping wants to take the place of God. He sees himself as the center of the universe. He sees everything and everyone—the world, people, his family, animals, plants, the environment—as revolving around him. He sees everything and everyone as meant for his enjoyment. The world is full of such exploitative people, and they cause so many problems.


Jagad Guru Chris Butler - Science of Identity Foundation

Jagad Guru Chris Butler | Results of a Hedonistic Society

The negative social results of a society populated primarily by hedonistic people should be obvious to anyone. A society of self-centered, animalistic people who have no other interest than their own sense enjoyment cannot be at all peaceful or progressive—either materially or spiritually.


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It’s clear that the root cause of crime—at least in the West—is not the lack of the basic necessities of survival. The root cause of our crime problem is the lack of wisdom and inner spiritual satisfaction.


Jagad Guru Chris Butler - Science of Identity Foundation

Jagad Guru Chris Butler | Falsely Seeing Oneself as Supreme Enjoyer

If a person sees himself as the Supreme Enjoyer, he will automatically live a life of exploitation. He will not respect others or the environment, nor will he care for the well-being of others. He will lead a hedonistic life of unrestricted sense enjoyment, lording over everything and everyone. Although human in form, he will be no more than an animal who lives by the philosophy “might makes right.”


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Being unable to see past the labels to the person himself, we end up in a world of barriers and conflict.


Jagad Guru Chris Butler - Science of Identity Foundation

Jagad Guru Chris Butler | False Ego

If you, the self, erroneously identify with the physical body—if you believe “I am the body”—then this deluded condition is called false ego.


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The foundation of racism and racial conflict is the false identification of the body (“clothing”) with the person.


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If you identify your body as yourself, you will try to satisfy yourself by trying to satisfy your body. You’ll think, “I am the body and I want to be happy, I want to be satisfied.” Thus, you’ll try to satisfy the belly, the tongue, the genitals, the ears, the eyes, the nose, and so on, believing that this will bring you the inner satisfaction and happiness you crave.


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Jagad Guru Chris Butler | Sensual Urges

By nature’s design, the material body has built-in sensual urges, which are difficult to control even in nonhedonistic societies. But in a society where the message to “enjoy yourself” is everywhere, the task of exercising such control is enormous. It’s much easier to “go with the flow” (follow the urges of the senses) than to try to “control the flow” (redirect the senses).


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According to the Bhagavad-gita, when you falsely identify with the body, you use your intelligence to increase your facilities for sense enjoyment. You use your intelligence and mind to direct the brain and the rest of the body in a way that will bring you sensual enjoyment. You identify with the senses, and so believe that sensual pleasure will bring you satisfaction. Of course you are never really satisfied, nor are you the one who is really making the decisions.


Jagad Guru Chris Butler - Science of Identity Foundation

Jagad Guru Chris Butler | The Eight Layers of Material Energy

The subtle layers of matter that first cover you—such as the mind, intelligence, and false ego—are like underclothes. Then, over the subtle material elements come the grosser material elements (going from the more subtle to the more gross), which cover you, the self, layer by layer. The layer of ether or sky covers over the mind, intelligence, and false ego; then the element air covers the element ether; the element fire then covers the element air; next the element water covers over the element fire; and finally the element earth covers over the element water. So in this way, you, the self, are covered by these eight primary subtle and gross layers of material energy. Thus, just as a man may have different layers of clothes over his naked body, the self also has eight layers of “clothes.”


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The mind is intricately linked to the brain, just as the brain is linked to the rest of the body. The mind is also intricately linked to you, the self. The mind (and the intelligence) connect you to the brain and thus to the rest of the body.


Jagad Guru Chris Butler - Science of Identity Foundation

Jagad Guru Chris Butler | Shankaracharya and Impersonalism

The chief historical proponent of such “I am God”ism philosophy was Sripad Shankaracharya. Shankaracharya lived and preached throughout India in the eighth century. The preaching of Shankaracharya and his followers was so strong that, practically speaking, it drove Buddhism out of India. Today, throughout India and the world, Shankaracharya's teachings (or slight variations of them) are still having a tremendous influence on people.

In Calcutta, India, for example, we can see the ridiculous sight of a starving, sore-infested man meditating on the side of the road: “I am God. I am God.” In America and Europe, you'll find many so-called yogis and gurus who are directly or indirectly in Shankaracharya's line of “I am God” ism teachers.

~Jagad Guru Siddhaswarupananda Paramahamsa (Chris Butler)

Jagad Guru Chris Butler | Clinical Death

Almost everyone who has researched clinical death agrees that a significant number of individuals (about 35 percent, according to the Gallup poll) have had experiences while their bodies were clinically dead. This not only means that these people continued to exist after their bodies were dead, but also that they were aware of their existence.

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You cannot have experiences unless you exist, nor can you experience anything unless you are aware of your existence.

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The material body is valuable only when the infinitely valuable person is present within the body.

Jagad Guru Chris Butler - Science of Identity Foundation

Jagad Guru Chris Butler | LEARNING FROM HISTORY

LEARNING FROM HISTORY

In this world, people are always fighting over property. They want to stake their claims of ownership on both the living and the nonliving. According to the Sri Ishopanishad, these people are like thieves fighting over stolen loot. If we look at the question from the relatively short-term view, we may find it hard to accept that no one is really an owner of anything. But if we adopt the point of view of the Sri Ishopanishad—which sees the universe not in terms of decades, centuries, or even thousands of years, but in terms of many millions of years—then we can understand this point.


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If you understand that you are not your body, then you’ll understand that a life of false lordship and sense gratification will not satisfy you. Therefore, you will not see the gaining of material wealth and power as the goal of your life. You won’t feel that you need things that in fact you don’t really need. Therefore, you won’t be driven to try to get something “at any cost”—including the cost of your life, someone else’s life, or imprisonment.


Jagad Guru Chris Butler - Science of Identity Foundation

Jagad Guru Chris Butler | Sense Pleasure | The Body is Like a Machine

Often people try so hard to find happiness through sense pleasure that they may attempt to gratify several or all of their senses at the same time. For example, you may simultaneously be watching TV, listening to the radio, munching potato chips, sipping beer, and smoking a cigarette. Perhaps you may have your arm around the shoulders of your girlfriend or boyfriend. You may also have a magazine at your side, which you look at during commercials. You try to fill up every sense; yet still you’re not satisfied; still you want something more.

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The material body can be likened to a computer/machine. Each person operates his own private computer/machine, and when he is finished using his machine, it no longer has any value because no one else can operate it. When the operator is present, the value of the computer certainly exceeds the net worth of its ingredients. Without an operator, however, a computer has no useful function, and is worth no more than the scrap value a junk dealer will pay for its component bits of plastic and metal.

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If a loved one of an enlightened person leaves their body, the enlightened person will understand that the person he loved has departed. He will not see the corpse as the person, i.e., his beloved.

Jagad Guru Chris Butler - Science of Identity Foundation

Jagad Guru Chris Butler | DISPOSABLE PLANET?

DISPOSABLE PLANET

Most people are not concerned about the problems we are creating on earth. Our whole attitude towards this planet is that it is disposable. Everyone thinks that they can take anything they want, exploit it, and then conveniently throw it away. So many things have become disposable, not only diapers, towels, plates and spoons, but babies, wives, husbands and old people too.

Jagad Guru Chris Butler - Science of Identity Foundation


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Your behavior toward another person should not be based upon his external skin color or whatever, but on his behavior.

Jagad Guru Chris Butler - Science of Identity Foundation


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If you are wise, you can see the person or atma within the body, and relate to the person, not to his body.

Jagad Guru Chris Butler - Science of Identity Foundation

Jagad Guru Chris Butler | quote on Crime

The most ironic thing about a life of crime is that it is based on a lie—the lie of materialism. The reason kids in poor neighborhoods idolize the local hoods is because they think that such hoods are happy. They see that by material standards the crooks are “successful”—they’ve got nice clothes, jewelry, flashy cars, the respect of others, pretty girls, lots of cash, and so on. But if such kids knew that material wealth and false lordship were not synonymous with happiness, then they wouldn’t see crooks as successful. So it is this big lie—the materialistic concept of success—that causes many youngsters to follow in the footsteps of hoods.

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Recent studies at the Oak Ridge Atomic Research Center have revealed that about 98 percent of all the atoms in a human body are replaced every year. You get a new suit of skin every month and a new liver every six weeks. The lining of your stomach lasts only five days before it’s replaced. Even your bones are not the solid, stable, concrete-like things you might have thought them to be: They are undergoing constant change. The bones you have today are different from the bones you had a year ago. Experts in this area of research have concluded that there is a complete, 100 percent turnover of atoms in the body at least every five years. In other words, not one single atom present in your body today was there five years ago.*

Jagad Guru Chris Butler - Science of Identity Foundation


* Taken from Guy Murchie, The Seven Mysteries of Life (Boston: Houghton-Mifflin, 1978), pp. 321-22.