Ram Singh
Each of us is a living soul within a material body.
At every moment our bodies are changing. In the course of life we actually have many different bodies – infant, child, youth, adult and so on, but we remain the same person. Similarly, the soul passes into another body at death. The most fundamental knowledge delivered by Shri Krishna to Arjuna in Bhagavad-Gita is that we are not these bodies; we are spirit souls. The body is only a temporary covering or dress. The soul (living force) is present in plants, animals and human beings. Wherever there is life, there must be a soul, because the soul is life. Whether it is an Amoeba, an elephant, or a human being, the soul is present within each body.
What exactly is the soul?
The soul is the spark of life that activates every body and enables it to function, just as electric current activates a device and enables it to function. The soul can be compared to a driver and the body to a vehicle. The soul is the spark of life that makes the body appear alive and when the soul leaves the body, the person is said to be dead.
Scientific proof of the soul’s existence
We are accustomed to understanding the term “science” only in relation to matter and energy. There is however, a higher dimensional science that deals with the subject of the soul and spiritual energy. In other words, the soul is constitutionally beyond material sense perception. The techniques of material science are inadequate to ‘prove’ the existence of the soul. The soul can however, be realized as a higher reality by following the laws of spiritual science. Ultimately, all spiritual truths are revealed and ‘proved’ from within, by experience. Yet the following points may help us better understand the presence of soul:
Common senses: When a person dies, we say, “He has passed away”. Now who has passed away? The body of the person still lies there. The fact is that the source of life, the soul has passed away from the body and therefore the person is now called dead.
Intuitive understanding: We have an intuitive understanding that the real self, the ‘I’ is distinct from the body, mind and intelligence. We speak in terms of ‘my hand’, ‘my head’, etc. This way we can start from the top of the hair, down to the tip of the toe, and say every part of this body is ‘mine’. This indicates that these things belong to somebody, an owner. The eyes, ears and brain are merely organs, through which we see, hear and think, respectively. These organs in themselves cannot do any activity. There are eyes, ears and a brain in a dead body. The activities have stopped because the driver, the soul, has left the body.
Consciousness: There is consciousness in a living body. Just like the sun spreads heat and light all around, the soul spreads consciousness all around the body, from the tip of the toes and fingers to the top of the head. It is this consciousness that enables us think, feel, move and so on. Thus, consciousness is the symptom of the soul. Consciousness is what distinguishes a dead body from a living one. Consciousness gives the proof of the soul.
Near death experience (NDE): NDEs, as the name suggest, involve people who have a close call with death.
Past life memories: Rigorous and unbiased studies have been carried by serious researchers on past life memories. Dr. Ian Stevenson and Dr. Carlson, Professor of Psychiatry at University of Virginia, has extensively investigated spontaneous reincarnation memories recounted by children. In such cases they have been able to positively corroborate what the child has claimed by thoroughly investigating the details of the place and people they describe, including the dead person they claim to have been. Stevenson has assembled numerous accounts and verified them, always taking great care to screen out fabrications. His studies give convincing evidence that the conscious self can travel from one physical body to the next. Clearly, when one body dies, the contents of its brain are destroyed and there is no physical process by which they can influence the contents of another brain. The simplest interpretation is that the conscious self must be an entity distinct from the brain.
Difference between man and machine
The human being is ‘conscious’ whereas the machines is devoid of consciousness.
Thus, the main difference between man and machines is consciousness.
A clear understanding of life and death
The gross body and subtle body: According to Bhagavad Gita, you are not this body. You are not the mind. You are not the intelligence. You are not the false ego. You are beyond the constituents of this mortal form. You are the consciousness that pervades in the body. You are the imperishable soul, which is eternal, immortal, indestructible and immutable.
The soul has two coverings – the gross body and the subtle body. The gross body, also known as the ‘Sthula Sharira’ is made up of five elements – earth, water, fire, air and ether. Earth represents all solids, water represents all liquids, fire represents light and radiation, and air represents all gases and ether represents space and sound. The mind, intelligence and false ego constitute the subtle body, the subtle body is also called as the ‘Sukshma Sharira’. ‘True ego’ is to understand that ‘I am spirit soul, eternal servant of god’. ‘False ego’ is to think in illusion that, “I am this body”. The subtle body and the gross body are the coverings of the soul. Such a soul entrapped in these subtle and gross bodies is called a ‘conditioned soul’. One who becomes free from these coverings and attains spiritual consciousness is called a ‘liberated soul’.
Relationship between body and soul
The body is compared to the car and soul to a driver. If an unintelligent puppy sees a big car coming on the road, it may be scared thinking a big animal is coming on four wheels. But a knowledgeable man will know that it is only a dead car, which is driven by a driver. There are headlights in the car to see the road, you also see with your eyes. The car produces sound with the horn, you also speak. The car has four wheels, and you also have two hands and two legs. The car moves from place to place, and you also do the same. But once the driver gets down from the car, the car cannot budge even inch after hundred years. Similarly, when a person dies, his body becomes completely inactive. It is exactly like a car without a driver. The body we actually see is dead. It appears to be lively because of the presence of the soul. When the soul leaves the body, the body becomes inactive.
What happens at death?
Bhagavad Gita (2.13) explains: “As the embodied living soul continuously passes, in this body from boyhood to youth to old age, so the same soul passes into another body at death”. Our bodies grow and change because the living soul is present within the heart. But when the soul leaves the body, then all physical activities cease. The eternally living soul transmigrates to another body. This experience is known as death. At the time of death, the gross body lies down, and the soul covered by the subtle body, according to the dictation of nature, occupies another body. The Bhagavad Gita (2.22)
explains transmigration with an analogy: “As a person puts on new garments, giving up the old ones, similarly, the soul accepts new material bodies, giving up the old and useless ones”.
The Bhagavad Gita further explains that the gross body of the living entity in the next life will depend on all his thoughts, desires and Karma or activities.
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