Lord Krishna Forum - Krishna Talk

sridatta1 · Joined: 03 Aug 2005 Posts: 652 Location: india

Atman or soul is only the most subtle part of the human body
Maanushatanoh sukshmatamaamsha atmaa.

(Atman or soul is only the most subtle part of the human body)

In Gita it is said that God enters the human body. This does not mean that God enters the inert human Gross body only. The human body is the human being and is a composite of three bodies (Gross, subtle and causal). The causal part is called as soul or Atman. Hence, when Gita says that God enters the human body, it means that God enters a human being, which is a composite of Gross, subtle and causal bodies.

Veda says that two birds exist on the tree
Sthulavrukshe jivaatmaa suparnah.

(In Vedic statement, the gross body is the tree and Jivaatman, the composite of subtle and causal bodies is said to be the bird).
Veda says that two birds exist on the tree. Here the inert gross body is the tree. The two birds are God and the Jivaatman of the tree. Here the Jivaatman is the composite of subtle and causal bodies, being the owner of the gross body. Here the tree and bird are mentioned as two items. The tree stands for gross body. The bird stands for both subtle and causal bodies, because these two bodies cannot be isolated like water and its wave.