Body itself or a Soul within the body?
Have you ever considered Who Am I? question. Have you ever considered How have I taken birth in this place with this family? Have you ever asked what is beyond birth and death? If answer to any of these questions is Yes then you are a human being and you are using your intelligence in the right area.
Srimad Bhagavad Gita As It Is, chapter 2, verse 13 explains scientifically that we are not the body, instead we are spirit souls, living beings who are trapped within the body. Just like we put on various clothes throughout day and night, we are putting on various material bodies around our actual spiritual self.
The above picture clearly shows that process. It is called Transmigration of the Soul. Just like when we came out from mother’s womb, we had a baby body, then child body, then teenage, adult and later oldage body, but the actual person, that is us (individual living being, spirit soul) remained the same throughout all these changes, similarly we pass to another body at the time of death. Birth from mother’s womb gives us another material body and we continue the cycle until one day we become realized that I must stop this birth, death, old age and disease.
Now you must be considering what about my identity then? Right now I am an Australian or American, or a male or a female, a doctor or scientist or etc. What about all these identities? Who are they? Actually if you consider closely then you will discover all these identities belong to the body only. Because most of us identify ourselves as this body, we give various designations according to the body we possess. Just because a soul is within a female or male body, he will consider himself female or male.
Previously a person may posses passport of one country and later change to another country, it changes the designation as citizen but it does not change the person. Person remains the same just that his passport has changed. Similarly we are just changing the bodies but we as person remains the same person.
I hope you have now clearly understood that you are not this body rather you are a spiritual being separate from the body you are possessing.