I love my husband's body, my wife's body. Why?

In the Srimad-Bhagavatam class today Srila Prabhupada defined the meaning of sneha, affection. Even though Ajamila was a rogue, a thief and a cheat, he said, possessed of all bad qualities, still he had affection for his youngest child. Prabhupada said sneha also means liquid; and affection, like liquid, flows down from the highest to the lowest. This flow of affection is the relationship between the soul and Krsna. He described where it comes from and where it goes to. "I have my body; if there is some danger I try to protect myself from the danger. That means I love my body. So the next question will be, 'Then why don't you love a dead body?' Suppose your wife or husband, you love because the husband and wife is in the body. So I love the body because the spirit soul is there. This is right conclusion. Otherwise who is going to love a dead body?

"So it is clear that the soul is different from the body. But because we are fools and rascals we learn it after death. That is foolishness. Not in the beginning. In the beginning of Bhagavad-gita, Krsna says that asmin dehe, within this body the soul is there. 'No, no. I don't believe.' Dull brain cannot understand. But after death, he sees, 'Yes. The body's not my son. The body's not my husband.' So that is foolishness. The foolish person understands late. And the intelligent person understands very quickly. That is the difference. So I love my body. I love my husband's body, my wife's body. Why? The real husband, wife or son is within the body. Therefore we love. Then the conclusion is that the soul is important, more than the body. Then the question will be that 'Why you love the soul?' Then the answer will be because the soul is part and parcel of Krsna."

Using the logic of the downward flow of liquid, Prabhupada concluded, "I love Krsna and, because the soul is part and parcel of Krsna, therefore I love the soul. And because the soul is within this body, therefore I love the body. There is no difficulty to understand."