Person in audience: You talk about a body taking a certain shape, right? Isn’t that…. I would… this one lady told me that, “Oh, you have a strong body because of your parents, your genes, the DNA and all these little things combined.”
Jagad Guru: That doesn’t… What’s keeping those things in shape? You see? That’s… matter is making up these molecular particles. You have DNA, for example, but it’s not that DNA is coming from the atmosphere or from the environment. Something’s coming from the environment, and it’s taken into your body and it becomes, it takes on that shape. It’s not like there’s a solid shape there, the DNA. That’s actually… the molecular particles which are making up the DNA, the atoms which make up the DNA molecules, for example, are changing. What’s keeping it all in shape?
Person in audience: The presence of life.
Jagad Guru: Yes, the presence of life. The life force is there, the living particle is there, and when this life force leaves, when the life particle leaves, it all starts crumbling. You know, you have this nice DNA thing, you have this gene, all these genes all, you know, hooked, you know, up in this way and that way in all these different complex ways, it all stays there, it all just holds right in there as long as the living being is there, but as soon as the life force leaves, as soon as the life particle leaves, the glue holding it all together, leaves. And it just gradually starts . . . chucka chuck, chicka chuck chuk, and then (laughter) you’ll start holding your noses, you know, starts, the gasses start coming out from the breakdown of the matter, like a compost heap, you see. The DNA is not holding anything together. Something’s holding that together. Otherwise, why are why are your parents, so-called parent’s bodies not still around?
Person in audience: I'm not sure I understand.
Jagad Guru: Well obviously, there were some kind of genes, right?
Person in audience: Right.
Jagad Guru: Where are they today? In the dirt, spread everywhere. If the genes are what hold it together, then as long as there are genes, then it should be held together.
Person in audience: Yeah, I see.
Jagad Guru: A dead body is full of genes. The DNA is there, the genetic structure is there. Yet the body starts falling apart. Everything starts falling apart. Now what I was saying was that if - you see, this is the whole point - if the genetics, whatever the foundation is, it should remain, right? So, the foundation is there, the genes, the genetic structure, the DNA, this is the foundation of everything, right? Then how come the foundation starts to fall apart? What’s the foundation of the foundation, then? That is the life particle.
Person in audience: The life force.
Jagad Guru: The presence of the life particle, the self. As long as the self is there, then you know, the whole thing sticks together, and when it leaves, finished.
Siddhaswarupananda - founder of Science of Identity Foundation