Radhanath Swami on Temporary Manifestations

We are not this body, we are the eternal soul. The elements of matter - earth, water, fire, air and ether are permanent but their manifestations when they are mixed are temporary. Sometimes earth, water, fire, air and ether formulate themselves into an earthen pot. That pot may last for a few years until ultimately it dissolves back into the earth. The form has changed but the elements remain exactly the same. They transform from one form to another. In this way the material energy is eternal and its ingredients are also eternal, it is only the specific manifestations that are temporary. And we are such crazy fools that despite all our lofty philosophies, we still cannot overcome our attachment to the misconception that we are the grossest, most externalized transformation of these material ingredients. We have not even come to the realization that we are not composed of earth, water, fire, air and ether. If we did, we would understand that these are permanent ingredients of the temporary physical body in which we reside.