By Swami Nikhilananda
Sri Ramakrishna Centre, New York, USA.
The Vedanta philosophy discusses the nature of the soul from two standpoints:
1. Absolute or transcendental and
2. Relative or phenomenal.
From the absolute standpoint, the soul is non-dual, immortal, ever pure, ever free, ever illumined, and one with Brahman. It is untouched by hunger or thirst, good and evil, pain and pleasure, birth and death, and the other pairs of opposites. That is the soul's true nature. The realisation of which is the goal of a man's spiritual aspiration and striving. From this absolute standpoint, the soul is called PARAMATMA or Supreme Soul.
But from the relative standpoint, the Vedanta philosophy admits the existence of a multitude of individual souls called JIVATMAS, and distinguishes them from the Supreme Soul. Attached to the body, the individual soul is a victim of the pairs of the opposites. Entangled in the world, it seeks deliverance from the eternal round of birth and death, and with that end in view, studies the scriptures and practises spiritual disciplines.
The embodied soul is associated with the sense organs, the mind and vital breath (Prana). There are ten sense organs, all subordinate to the mind as the central organ; five organs of perception and five organs of action. The five organs of perception comprise the organ of taste (tongue),smell (nose), vision (eyes), hearing (ear), and touch (skin). The five organs of action are the hands, the feet, the organ of speech, the organs of evacuation and the organ of generation.
The four functions of the mind
The mind is the inner organ and consists of such functions as desire, deliberation, doubt, faith, want of faith, patience, impatience, shame, intelligence and fear.
The impressions carried by the organs of perception are shaped by the mind into ideas, for we see only with the mind, hear with the mind. Further, the mind changes the ideas into resolutions of the will.
There are four functions or divisions or parts of the mind.
- One part of the mind called Manas, creates doubt.
- The Buddhi (intellect) makes decisions
- Chitta is the storehouse of memory
- Aham (the ego), creates I-consciousness.
The five organs of action, the five organs of perception, the five pranas, the mind, and the intellect constitute the gross and the subtle body of the embodied soul (jiva). The subtle accompanies the individual soul after death, when the gross body is destroyed. The subtle body is the abode of the KARMA or impressions left by action, determining the nature of the new body and mind when the soul is reborn. As the jiva (the embodied soul) does and act, so it becomes.
The presence of an irrefragable Self or consciousness is assumed in all acts of thinking. The Self or consciousness, which is the true 'seer' or subject, is unchanging intelligence, and can never be imagined to be non-existent. Atman (the Self) in man and Brahman in the universe are completely identical.
The idea of body, senses, and the mind, associated with the non-self, is falsely superimposed upon the Self, and the Self, which is of the nature of pure consciousness, appears as a jiva, or phenomenal being, subject to the various limitations of the physical world.
The soul
Further explanations by Swami Nikhilananda
The Rishis speak of two souls: the real soul and the apparent soul. The real soul is birthless, death less, immortal, and infinite. The same real soul, under the spell of ignorance, appears as the apparent man identified with the body, mind and senses. This apparent man becomes, on account of his attachment to the body, a victim of birth and death, virtue and vice, and the other pairs of opposites.The apparent man is bound to the world, and it is he,again, who strives for liberation. The enjoyment of material pleasures, and the subsequent satiation and weariness; the consciousness of bondage, and the struggle for freedom; the injunctions of the scriptures, and the practice of moral and spiritual disciplines- all this refers to the apparent man. Again, it is the apparent man who performs virtuous or sinful deeds, goes, after death, to heaven or hell, and assumes different bodies. But it must never be forgotten that rewards and punishments are spoken of only with reference to the reflected, or apparent soul. The real soul is forever free from the characteristics of the relative world.
But the real soul is always free, illumined, and perfect. The real sun, non-dual and resplendent, shines brilliantly in the sky, though millions of its reflections are seen to move with the movement of the waves.
Two souls are mentioned in the Vedas
From The Mahabharata; Santi Parva Section CCXXXVI.
Vyasa said: "That has been said to be Manifest which is possessed of these four attributes, viz., birth, growth, decay and death. That which is not posessed of these attributes is said to be Unmenifest. Two souls are mentioned in the Vedas and the sciences that are based upon them. The first (which is called Jivatman; embodied soul) is endued with the four attributes already mentioned, and has a longing for the four objects or purposes (viz., Religion, Wealth, Pleasure and Emancipation). This soul is called Manifest, and it is born of the Unmanifest (Supreme Soul). It is both intelligent and non-intelligent. I have thus told thee about Sattwa (inert matter) and Kshetrajna (immaterial spirit).
Both kinds of Soul, it is said in the Vedas, become attached to objects of the senses. The doctrine of the Sankhyas is that one should keep onself aloof or dissociated from objects of the senses. That yogin who is freed from attachment and pride, who transcends all pairs of opposites, such as pleasure and pain, heat and cold, etc., who never gives way to wrath or hate, who never speaks an untruth, who, though slandered or struck, still shows friendship for the slanderer or the striker, who never thinks of doing ill to others, who restrains the three, viz., speech, acts and mind, and who behaves uniformly towards all creatures, succeeds in approaching the presence of Brahman.
That person who cherishes no desires for earthly objects, who is not unwilling to take what comes, who is dependent on earthly objects to only that extent which is necessary for sustaining life, who is free from cupidity, who has driven off all grief, who has restrained his senses, who goes through all necessary acts, who is regardless of personal appearance and attire, whose senses are all collected (for devotion to the true objects of life), whose purposes are never left unaccomplished, who bears himself with equal friendliness towards all creatures, who regards a clod of earth and a lump of gold with an equal eye, who is equally disposd towards friend and foe, who is possessed of patience, who takes praise and blame equally, who is free from longing with respect to all objects of desire, who practices Brahmacharya (celibacy), and who is firm and steady in all his vows and observances, who has no malice or envy for any creature in the universe, is a Yogin who according to the Sankhya system succeeds in winning Emancipation."
"I am the Self seated in the hearts of all beings" -Gita,Chapter 10, verse 20:
The soul is the very pivot of our existence. Either man is the body and has a soul or man is the soul and has a body. If man is the body and has a soul, then the materialist is right. Then glorification of the body is the goal of existence, and competition, violence, and hatred are the means to attain this goal. But if man is the soul and has a body, then religion is right. Then the body becomes a secondary thing, only a means to fulfill a spiritual end.
The Rishis of the Upanishads describe the different courses followed by the unillumined souls after death.
After death the souls of the extremely wicked-
those who are given to violence, greed, lust, passion and cruelty - assume after death the subhuman bodies of animals and insects. They too, after the punishment is over, come back to earth to be incarnated as human beings. The experiences in a subhuman body cannot destroy the innate spiritual nature of the soul.
Those who have performed meritorious actions on earth, but with the selfish motive of reaping their results, pass after death through a succession of stations associated with gloom and darkness, and at last arrive at an inferior heaven called the 'plane of the moon' where they enjoy for many years material pleasures as a reward for their previous works. Afterwards they are reborn on earth and again take up the thread of their spiritual evolution. This is known as the 'way of the fathers.'
Then there is the 'way of the gods.' Those who devote themselves to worship and righteous activities but cannot attain to Self-Knowledge owing to certain defects, pass, after death, through a number of stations associated with light, and at last reach an exalted sphere called the plane of Brahma, corresponding to the highest heaven of the dualistic religions.The inhabitants of this plane are always aware of Cosmic Consciousness, but a thin obstacle stands in the way of their complete emancipation. After spending many years in meditation, they attain to emancipation at the end of the cycle, when the whole plane itself is absorbed in Brahman, or the God-head.
What Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi wrote about a cow named Lakshmi
"Even as a calf Lakshmi behaved in an extraordinary way; she would daily come to me and place her head at my feet. Years later, on the day the foundation was laid for the goshala (cow shed), she was so jubilant that she came and took me for the function. Again on the day of graha pravesham (on completion, making formal entry to the cow shed), she came straight to me at the time appointed and took me to the goshala. In so many ways and on so many occasions, she behaved in such a sensible and extremely intelligent way that one cannot but regard her as an extraordinary cow. What are we to say about it?"
"The soul goes out of the body enveloped with subtle parts of the elements with a view to obtaining a fresh body." Brahma Sutra.III.i.i.
In a universe of oneness, death is impossible
Bell's Theorem suggests that conscious human activity influences the behaviour of subatomic particles in actual laboratory experiments.
The implication that human consciousness is a factor in determining the features of the 'real' world is affirmed by the quantum physicist H.S.Stapp. Stapp contends that Bell's Theorem is the most important result in the history of science, and that it demonstrates the effect of human consciousness at the level of Macrocosm. The impact of our consciousness lies both in the direction of the very small and the very large (microcosm and macrocosm).
The principle of oneness is revealed through Bell's Theorem and through the connectivity in the 'Biodance'. In essence it says that through the unbelievable richness of contact that every human has with the universe at large and with every other human being, our concept of death is wrong. In a universe of oneness, death is impossible. The richness of connectivity renders personal extinction impossible, because personal extinction is possible only in a universe of personal isolation. We do not live in such a universe.
The failure to feel the universal oneness that envelopes us all perpetuates the greatest illusion of modern man: the inevitability of personal extinction. This illusion can be countered by an appreciation of the quality of oneness in the universe so well described by modern science.
The usual tradition of equating death with an ensuing nothingness can be abandoned, for there is no reason to believe that human death severs the quality of oneness in the universe. If we participate in this universal quality before our death, our survival after death is demanded. The oneness principle endures and we endure with it.
The theorems of Godel and John.S.Bell do much to affirm the experiences of the great Rishis of the Upanishads.
Our greatest spiritual achievement may lie in total integration of the spiritual and the physical - in realising that the spiritual and the physical are not two aspects of ourselves but one. Perhaps the ultimate spiritual goal is to transcend nothing, but to realise the oneness of our own being, which is implied by Godel and Bell.
The view of ourselves as independent objects that are isolated from the universe we inhabit is erroneous. We cannot distance ourselves from the universe because of our oneness with it.
Of Exertion and Destiny which is the most powerful?
From The Mahabharata; Anusasana Parva Sec. VI.
In olden times the adorable Vasishtha inquired of Brahma as to which among these two , viz., the Karma of a creature acquired in this life, or that acquired in previous lives (and called Destiny), is the more potent in shaping his life. Then, the great god Brahma, who had sprung from the primeval lotus, answered him in these exquisite and well reasoned words, full of meaning.
Brahma said: Nothing comes into existence without seed. Without seed, fruits do not grow. From seeds spring other seeds. Hence are fruits known to be generated from seeds. Good or bad as the seed is that the farmer sows in his field, good or bad are the fruits that he reaps.
As, unsown with seed, the soil, though tilled, becomes fruitless, so, without individual Exertion, Destiny is of no avail.
One's own acts are like the soil, and Destiny (or the sum of one's acts in previous births) is compared to the seed. From the union of the soil and the seed does the harvest grow. It is observed every day in the world that the doer reaps the fruit of his good and evil deeds; that happiness results from good deeds, and pain from evil ones; that acts when done, always fructify; and that if not done, no fruit arises. A man of good acts acquires merits with good fortunes, while an idler falls away from his estate, and reaps evil like the infusion of alkaline matter into a wound. By devoted application, one acquires beauty, fortune, and riches of various kinds.
Everything can be secured by Exertion; but nothing can be gained through Destiny alone, by a man that is wanting in personal Exertion. Even so does one attain to heaven, and all the objects of enjoyments, as also the fulfilment of one's heart's desires by well directed individual Exertion.
Riches, friends, prosperity descending from generation to generation, as also the graces of life, are difficult of attainment by those that are wanting in Exertion.The Brahman attains to prosperity by holy living, the Kshatriya by prowess, the Vaisya by manly exertion, and the Sudra by service.
Riches and other objects of enjoyment do not follow the stingy, nor the impotent, nor the idler. Nor are these ever attained by the man that is not active or manly or devoted to the exercise of religious austerities. If one's Karma bore no fruit, then all actions would become fruitless, and relying on Destiny, men would become idlers. He who, without pursuing the human modes of action, follows Destiny only, acts in vain, like unto the woman that has an impotent husband. If Destiny be unfavourable, there need not be much fear with respect to this world. But if one be wanting in Exertion, great must his fear be with respect to the next world, for happiness can never be obtained in the next world unless one acts righteously while here.
Man's powers, if properly exerted, only follow his Destiny, but Destiny alone is incapable of conferring any good where Exertion is wanting.
There is a constant rivalry between the deities and the Rishis, and if they all have to go through their Karmas, still it can never be averted that there is no such thing as Destiny, for it is Destiny that initiates all Karma. How does Karma originate, if Destiny form the prime spring of human action?
(The answer is) that by this means, an accretion of many virtues is made even in the celestial regions. One's own self is one's friend and one's enemy too, as also the witness of one's good and evil deeds. Good and evil manifest themselves through Karma. Good and evil acts do not give adequate results. Righteousness is the refuge of the gods, and by righteousness is everything attained. Destiny thwarts not the man that has attained to virtue and righteousness.
All the good which is attained with difficulty in this world is possessed by the wicked, is soon lost to them. Destiny does not help the man that is steeped in spiritual ignorance.
Even as a fire of small proportions, when fanned by the wind, becomes the mighty power, so does Destiny, when joined with individual Exertion, increase greatly in potentiality.
As with the diminution of oil in the lamp its light is extinguished so does the influence of Destiny is lost if one's acts stop. Having obtained vast wealth, and women and all the enjoyments of this world, the man without action is unable to enjoy them long, but the high -souled man, who is ever diligent, is able to find riches buried deep in the earth and watched over by the fates.
The good man who is prodigal (in religious charities and sacrifices), is sought by the gods for his good conduct, the celestial world being better than the world of men, but the house of the miser though abounding in wealth is looked upon by the gods as the house of dead. The man who does not exert himself is never contented in this world nor can Destiny alter the course of a man that has gone wrong. So there is no authority inherent in Destiny. as the pupil follows one's own individual perception, so the Destiny follows Exertion. The affairs in which one's own Exertion is put forth, there only Destiny shows its hand.
O best of Munis, I have thus described all the merits of individual Exertion, after having always known them in their true significance with the aid of my yogic insight. By the influence of Destiny, and by putting forth individual Exertion, do men attain to heaven. The combined aid of Destiny and Exertion, becomes efficacious.
Is everything the result of chance or the result of previous actions?
The Mahabharata; Santi Parva, Sec.XXXII.
Vyasa said: Is the Supreme Being the doer, or is man the doer? Is everything the result of Chance in this world, or are the fruits that we enjoy or suffer, the results of previous actions? If man does all acts, good or bad, being urged thereto by the Supreme Being, then the fruits of those acts should attach to the Supreme Being Himself. If a person cuts down, with an axe, a tree in forest, it is the person that incurs the sin and not the axe by any means. Or, if it be said that, the axe being only the material cause, the consequence of the act (of cutting) should attach to the animate agent (and to the inanimate tool), then the sin may be said to belong to the person that has made the axe. This, however, can scarcely be true. If this be not reasonable, that one man should incur the consequence of an act done by another, then, guided by this, you should think that the consequences of all acts must attach to the Supreme Being Himself, He being the urger of us all.
If again, man be himself the agent of all his acts virtuous and sinful, then Supreme Director is none, and therefore, there is no Supreme Being and no next world. No one can ever turn away from that which is destined.
If again, Destiny be the result of the acts of former lives, then no sin can attach to one in this life even as the sin of cutting down a tree cannot touch the maker of the axe (no one being free in this life, all one's acts being the result of previous acts, there can be no responsibility for the acts of this life).
What the fruits are of good deed?
A few extracts from The Mahabharata; Anusasana Parva, sec.VII.
Bhishma said: A man attains to riches that makes charitable gifts. One secures obedience to one's command by the vow of silence; all the enjoyments of life by practice of austerities; long life by Brahmacharya (celibacy); and beauty, prosperity and freedom from disease by abstaining from injury to others.
Heaven is attained by the practice of truth, nobility of birth by sacrifices. By abstaining from food or by regulating it, one attains to residence in heaven. By reading all the Vedas, one is instantly liberated from misery, and by practising virtue in thought, one attains to the heavenly regions. That man who is able to renounce that intense yearning of the heart for happiness and material enjoyments,- a yearning that is difficult of conquest by the foolish and that does not abate with the abatement of bodily vigour and that clings like a fatal disease unto him,- is able to secure happiness.
As the young calf is able to recognize its mother from among a thousand cows, so does the previous acts of man pursue him (in all his different transformations). As the flowers and fruits of a tree, unurged by visible influences, never miss their proper season, so does Karma done in a previous existence bring about its fruits in proper time. With age, man's hair turns grey, his teeth become loose; his eyes and ears too become dim in action; but the only thing that does not abate is his desire for enjoyments.
Prajapati is pleased with those acts that please one's father, and the Earth is pleased with those acts that please one's mother, and Brahma is adored with those acts that please one's preceptor. Virtue is honoured by him who honours these three. The acts of those that despise these three do not avail them.
As Mantras applied with a desire to win victory, or the performance of the Shoma sacrifice made without proper gifts, or oblations poured on the fire without proper hymns, become useless and lead to evil consequences, even so sin and evil results flow from falsehood in speech.
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