This was a picture that Miley Cyrus posted on her Instagram about three days ago. It’s a picture depicting the cycle of life everyone goes through…

Here’s a link if you want to have a look – http://instagram.com/p/vHMo6qQzKW/

I don’t know much about the inherent cause behind why she posted this image, and I don’t have very much of a deep relationship with her either, so wouldn’t expect her to tell me. I’m not even sure how much she’s thinking about life and death even. But his picture is of one of my favourite paintings, and so when I saw it, I was excited.

I often go out to many English towns and distribute books and speak to people, sharing what I know. It’s part of what comes with being a monk I guess. There was one instance in Liverpool in the middle of September earlier this year, when I stopped a young lady and told her the books were about “Karma and reincarnation”, and she just stared back at me and said..

“Oh, I don’t believe in reincarnation. It’s just some mumbo jumbo. There is no proof.”

“Yes, there is…” I responded “…and I can prove it to you right now!”

She wasn’t expecting that. “What, you mean right now?”

“Yep.” I replied.

“Go on then.” She challenged.

I was up for it. So I said “Well, tell me what you looked like 20 years ago…”, estimating she was about that age.

“Well, I was a baby.”

“And do you look like that now?”

“Well, what do you think? Of course not.” She said.

“Would you say your body has changed since then?” I asked her.

She agreed. So I referred to the apparent conclusion and said “There! You have it. You’ve changed your body once in this life already.”

She knew what I meant. It was a pleasant conversation and she ended up taking a book and promised she would read it.

It was the same book this picture is from. The Bhagavad Gita As it is. It talks a lot about the body being like a car, and the real us being the driver. And the car may be a Vauxhall or a Ford or a Mercedes, a German make or a British make, but it’s got nothing to do with the driver – who is the real us. It’s pretty interesting. Check it out!

What is your understanding on who we really are? Are we just this body, or a bit more? Let me know in the comments below…