Who am I? What am I? Am I the body, mind or something more? These are the
age old questions that every philosopher throughout the ages has tried to
grasp and understand. After all, how will you know what to do in life if
you do not even know who or what you are? However, the ancient Vedic
literature of India has provided the clearest answers that have been found
anywhere to answer these questions.
For example, the Mundaka Upanishad (3.1.9) explains that the
living being is the soul, and that: “The soul is atomic in size and can be
perceived by perfect intelligence. This atomic soul is situated within the
heart, and spreads its influence all over the body of the embodied living
entities. When the soul is purified from the contamination of the five
kinds of material air, its spiritual influence is exhibited.”
The Chandogya Upanishad (6.11.3) also states that although the
body withers and dies when the self or soul leaves it, the living self does
not die. Further enlightenment is given in the Srimad-Bhagavatam (7.2.22)
wherein it explains that the spirit soul has no death and is eternal and
inexhaustible. He is completely different from the material body, but
because of being misled by misuse of his slight independence, he is obliged
to accept subtle and gross bodies created by the material energy and thus
be subjected to so-called material happiness and distress.
The eternal nature of the self is also explained in
Bhagavad-gita by Lord Sri Krishna where He specifically says that there was
never a time when He did not exist, nor any of the living beings, including
you. Nor shall any of us cease to be in the future. The embodied soul
continually passes from boyhood to youth to old age in this body. Similarly
the soul enters another body at the time of death. But for one who is
self-realized, there is no bewilderment through such a change.
It is further explained that we should know that which pervades
the entire body by consciousness is indestructible. No one is able to
destroy the imperishable soul. Only the material body of the eternal living
entity is subject to destruction. . . For the soul there is never birth nor
death. Nor, having once been, does he ever cease to be. He is unborn,
undying and eternal. He is not slain when the body dies or is killed. . .
As a person puts on new garments, giving up old ones, similarly, the soul
accepts new material bodies, giving up the old and useless ones.
Certainly this knowledge can relieve anyone from the anxiety
that comes from thinking our existence is finished at death. Spiritually,
we do not die; yet, the body is used until it is no longer fit to continue.
At that time, it may appear that we die, but that is not the case. The soul
continues on its journey to another body according to its destiny.
The indestructibility of the soul is also explained. The
individual soul is unbreakable and insoluble, and can be neither burned nor
dried. The soul is everlasting, unchangeable, and eternally the same.
Knowing this, we should not grieve for the temporary body.
So, the body dwindles and dies but the soul does not die: it
simply changes bodies. Therefore, the body is like a shirt or coat that we
wear for some time, and when it is worn out, we change it for a new one.
Therefore, the Vedic literature, such as the Chandogya Upanishad (8.1.1),
mentions that knowledge of the self within is what should be sought and
understood by all. Realizing one’s spiritual identity solves the problems
and mysteries of life.
The more we realize our spiritual identity, the more we will
see that we are beyond these temporary material bodies, and that our
identity is not simply being a white body, or black, or yellow, or fat,
skinny, intelligent, dumb, old, young, strong, weak, blind, etc. Real
blindness means not being able to see through the temporary and superficial
bodily conditions and into the real person within. Seeing reality means to
recognize the spiritual nature of everyone.
The Srimad-Bhagavatam (11.28.35) explains that the soul is
self-luminous, beyond birth and death, and unlimited by time or space and,
therefore, beyond all change. The Bhagavatam (11.22.50) also points out
that as one witnesses the birth and death of a tree and is separate from
it, similarly the witness of the birth, death, and various activities of
the body is within but separate from it.
The size of the soul is also described in the Svetasvatara
Upanishad (5.9): “When the upper point of a hair is divided into one
hundred parts and again each of such parts is further divided into one
hundred parts, each such part is the measurement of the dimension of the
spirit soul.” So considering that the diameter of a typical hair is about
three-thousandths of an inch wide, then to divide that into one hundreds
parts, and then divide one of those parts again into one hundred parts
means that it would be microscopic. And since it is spiritual and not made
of material substance, to perceive the presence of the soul is not so easy.
It is invisible to our material vision.
The Katha Upanishad relates that within the body, higher than
the senses and the sense objects, exists the mind. More subtle than the
mind is the intelligence, and higher and more subtle than the intellect is
the self. That self is hidden in all beings and does not shine forth, but
is seen by subtle seers through their sharp intellect.
From this we can understand that within the gross physical
body, composed of various material elements, such as earth, air, water,
etc., there is also the subtle body composed of the finer subtle elements
of mind, intelligence and false ego. The psychic activities take place
within the subtle body. It is also within the subtle body wherein exist the
memories of past lives, however deep they may be. Yet, the living being has
his spiritual form that is deeper than this subtlety, otherwise he could
not have repeated births. A person actually sees his spiritual self as well
as the presence of the Supreme Being when he perceives that
both the gross and subtle bodies have nothing to do with the pure,
spiritual self within. Therefore, it could be asked that since we are
separate from the gross and subtle bodies, why do we so strongly identify
with the material body? It is explained that though the material body is
different from the soul, it is because of the ignorance due to material
association that one falsely identifies oneself with the high and low
bodily conditions.
It is further elaborated that only because of the mind and ego
that we experience material happiness and distress. Yet, in actuality, the
spirit soul is above such material existence and can never really be
affected by material happiness and distress in any circumstance. A person
who truly perceives this has nothing to fear from the material creation, or
the appearance of births and deaths. Thus, he can attain real peace.
The Chandogya Upanishad (8.1.5-6) goes on to explain that the
self is free from sin and old age, death and grief, hunger and thirst,
lamentation and sadness, and all forms of bodily identification. It desires
only what it ought to desire, and imagines nothing but what it ought to
imagine. Those who depart from this life without having discovered the self
and those true or spiritual desires have no freedom in all the worlds. But
those who depart from here after realizing one’s genuine spiritual identity
and those spiritual inclinations have freedom in all the worlds.
So, to summarize, the soul is a particle of consciousness and
bliss in its purified state of being. It is not material in any way. It is
what departs from the body at the time of death and, in the subtle body,
carries its mental impressions, desires and tendencies, along with the
karmic results of its activities from one body to another. To understand
and perceive this self, which is our genuine spiritual identity, is the
real goal of life. Such a realization relieves one of further material
existence. As it is explained, those who have purified their consciousness,
becoming absorbed in spiritual knowledge and absolving any impurities in
the mind, are liberated from karma that frees them from any future births.
They are free from any more births in the material world and are delivered
to the spiritual atmosphere. How to do this is the ultimate accomplishment
of human existence.
HENCE, AS THE VEDAS SPEAK THAT IT IS NOT YOUR BODY BUT
SOUL WHICH IS ATMA AS GOD OF WITNESS, WHEN ONE DOES NOT BELIEVE ONESELF,
HE DOEAS NOT BELIEVE IN GOD AND BECOME AN ATHEIST.
K RAJARAM IRS 17325
On Mon, 17 Mar 2025 at 04:30, Jambunathan Iyer <[email protected]>
wrote:
> Believe in yourself and never let anyone else's opinion define your worth
> or limit your potential. However, embrace every opportunity that comes your
> way, as you never know where it might lead you.
>
> N Jambunathan Rengarajapuram-Kodambakkam-Chennai-Mob:9176159004
>
> *" What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you
> become by achieving your goals. If you want to live a happy life, tie it to
> a goal, not to people or things "*
>
>
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