Soul
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Today, everybody in the world wishes to live a happy and contented life. Every person intuitively knows that he got this life only for experiencing bliss and happiness. However, the most vital and interesting question is – who is it that actually desires all this happiness?
“I want!” means exactly who wants?
When I look into mirror what am I looking at - Is that me?
You say, ‘My head,’ ‘My feet,’ ‘My body,’. You don’t say, ‘I the head,’ ‘I the body,’…
So, this signifies that there is some ‘I’ which is different from the body and it is the one that owns the entire body.
Keeping aside all that we say is “mine”, you are only left with the owner – “I”.
This “I” is precisely what you need to realize and this is Self Realization.
Introduction
There are two main types of consciousness - Body Consciousness and Soul Consciousness (as given in flow chart below).
When I introduce myself to others how do I let them know who I am…
I may start with my name, gender, age, occupation, family, religion etc. (all of these identities come under body consciousness).
However, the physical body and all the associated labels are subject to change with time.
Ask yourself – Is there a still deeper aspect to my identity that is unaffected by the world around me?
Is it only now that we are experiencing a kind of identity-crisis? Or has this been explored earlier too?
In the field of Spirituality, many great saints and sages have written scriptures and books and have conducted many spiritual discourses to solve the Mystery of Who I Am? However, because of not getting a clear simple answer to the question, we kept on creating new identities of ourselves, consequently going farther away from our true Self.
Has Science or other streams of knowledge explored the question of our true identity?
This mystery has also eluded scientists, philosophers, great thinkers and many other intellectuals. Conventional Science used to suggest that brain produced consciousness. This view point hasn’t been working out very well. Now many scientists are beginning to ponder that the source of consciousness is beyond matter. In the field of science, in order to understand human consciousness, many theories have been put forth and immense research has been carried out. However, still many core questions related to consciousness remains unanswered.
Is there any practical evidence which suggests that I am not this body?
We hear about numerous incidents of OBE (Out of Body Experience), NDE (Near Death Experience) and PLR (Past Life Regression). If I am a physical being, a physical body, how can these phenomena be explained?
Certainly there is a metaphysical being who lives beyond physical body.
In today’s world, majority of the people consider themselves as their body which is made up of 5 elements, little does man realize the truth that in the body made up of matter dwells a sentient and immortal entity, the eternal spark of life and light called the soul i.e. is the real me that cannot be seen with these eyes or even by a microscope.
For example, just as a person who speaks through a phone is an entity different from that of the telephone – he himself being a living person who has the characteristics of feeling, thinking, willing and making effort. Similarly, the Soul in the body which uses the word “I” is different from the body which has eyes, ears, nose etc as its components. I am not the eyes, the ears or the mouth but I see with my eyes, speak through the mouth, hear with the ears and am their master. I have got the physical body to do actions and to experience the result of my actions. I am the doer and the one who experiences. When I the soul leaves a body, it is known as death and when I the soul enters in a new body, it is known as birth.
Different terms for Soul are Aatma/Spirit/Consciousness Quantum Spiritual Energy (CQSE)/Life Force/Conscious Energy/Being/Observer.
Now that I have understood myself to be a metaphysical entity (soul), next obvious question to ponder is: what's my location in the body? Is it my heart? Is it the naval region? Is it the brain? Is it in the spinal cord?
Let's try to find out the answer.
Do our spiritual and cultural practices provide any clue regarding this?
The laying of hands on the forehead is symbolic of awakening the mental faculties of the person being touched. Faith healers are able to hypnotize and awaken merely by touching the forehead. In religious practices the significance lies in the giver being of a more enlightened state and transferring this enlightenment to the receiver.
In terms of Chakras (Energy centres) of the subtle body, the third eye (agya) chakra and the crown (sahasrar) chakra are associated with consciousness. Both of these energy centres are located near brain.
In Hinduism, this means to awaken the Third Eye and in Kabbalism to awaken the Eye of Horus. Many Asian cultures adorn themselves with jewelry and bindi exactly where the Third Eye is understood to be. Also, Tilak (a mark) is applied at the forehead after worshipping in Hindu tradition.
In Catholicism, the laying of hands on the forehead signifies that the Holy Spirit is present and communal worship carried out.
What does scientific research suggest about location of consciousness in a human body?
From scientific perspective: scientists have been carrying out extensive research in the brain to locate the seat of consciousness. Though they haven't been able to pin-point the exact location of soul (conscious being) inside the brain, their search is on.
If we liken soul in a body to driver in a car, we observe that the driver sits at the seat where the control system (steering wheel, brake, etc.) is located. Based on this analogy, we may infer that the soul resides in the brain where the body's control system is located.
In reality: the soul is located in the centre of the brain, between the Hypothalamus and the Pituitary gland and it is from here, that it operates the body and performs every action.
Location of Soul
We need certain basic things because we are made up them. For eg, we need water in order to quench our thirst because our physical body is made up large percentage of water. Similarly, I the soul is made up of love, joy, peace etc. and that is the reason why today everyone is in search of it. Thus, I the soul am made up of 16 basic virtues and powers.
Just as eyes, nose, ears, mouth, hands and legs are bodily organs for performing actions, these basic virtues and powers are soul's organs, crucial for its functioning.
The divine sacred geometry of the soul is represented by a 'Pentagonal Star' comprising of 16 energy points as given chart below.
What do the 16 energy points of soul represent?
3 Points act as soul's operating system:
* Mind (Conscious Mind): The Mind is the creator of thoughts.
* Intellect (Subconscious Mind): The Intellect gives decision by analyzing the thoughts created by the Mind.
* Impression (Unconscious Mind): Based on the decision of the Intellect we perform actions. On performing these actions repeatedly, an
impression/resolve/habit gets formed which gets stored in the Impression.
The soul creates consciousness through the operating system of Mind, Intellect and Impressions.
Remaining 13 energy points represent basic virtues, divine powers, special qualities and nature's elements.
Each of these aether energy points has a unique energy color code and has been numbered (for reference).
Sacred Geometrical Structure of Soul
Having understood my real identity as a conscient being, a conscious observer (soul), now let's look at my functioning. I the soul am incorporeal and my body is physical. How do I operate my body and perform various functions through it?
Body = Robot
Brain = Supercomputer
Soul = Programmer
Interaction of Soul and Body – How do I Function?
The Soul gives power to trillions of cells of our body with subtle energy centers. Soul gives program to DNA via morphogenetic field to build organs of body.Also, it carries information for next birth of Human body.The energy from the soul travels to the physical body via subtle body.
The subtle body is an aetheric body that consists of -
NADIS: Ida – Pingla – Sushmna & Many Subtle Nadis,
All of these are connected to the soul’s 16 energies.
The three main Nadis - Ida, Pingla and Sushumna carry energy from the soul to the 13 Chakras (7 major chakras and 6 minor chakras). From these chakras many other nadis carry energy to the rest of the body.
This entire process of energy transfer from soul to the subtle body and then to physical body happens in a very small fraction of a second. The time lag is so short that it's not at all detectable. It's as instantaneous as pressing a key on a computer keyboard and seeing the effect on the computer screen.
On completion of an act by the physical body, nadis carry the return energy from the body to the mind. The mind creates feelings or emotions over it, such as love, joy or fear, etc. After a couple of repetitions, it becomes a habit and gets stored in the Impression. In this way, the soul drives the physical body on an energy level.
In this manner the soul regulates the subtle and physical body. An increase or decrease in the energy of virtues and powers impacts the nadis… chakras… sheaths… subtle body… physical body and as a result of which physical… mental… financial… familial… and societal changes occur in our lives.
By gaining the knowledge of real ‘I’ how will it really affect my Life?
In the world, there is a lot of importance given to the belief that the consciousness with which you are living influences the world as well as your life and accordingly happiness and sadness come into your life. In the world, there are 2 types of consciousness, one is body consciousness and other is soul consciousness.
Body consciousness means considering yourself to be prakruti (nature’s 5 elements). Due to considering yourself to be nature, you start experiencing all the sadness related to nature and your life gets filled with sadness. In contrast to this, if you come into your true form, that is you are a conscient soul and always be in this state, then you will always be bestowed with bliss in life.
Benefit of Understanding ‘I’
Free ourselves from all fears – The biggest fear that has gripped most of the human race is the fear of death. The knowledge of the self makes me realize that I am indeed an eternal, immortal being. Death in reality is when I the immortal soul leave this body. I only change bodies, the body dies but I keep on living. This knowledge also relieves the self from other unexplained fears like the fear of water or heights etc. The reason behind these phobias is that the soul carries the impressions of events of the previous births in it. The bigger the event and bigger the emotional state during that event it will have a deeper impression on the soul. If for example, in some birth I had drowned and experienced great fear at that time, then in this birth I may experience fear of water bodies. This understanding helps me overcome all fears in life.
I now know the answer for “Why me?” – The soul carries with it the good and bad karma of past lives. Every action is like a seed sown and the fruit of that plant will be given to me in time. However, the fruit may not necessarily be in this same birth but may come to me in another birth as well. Everything that we are facing today in our life is only the fruit of our own actions. This clarity helps me deal with my situation and makes me realize the importance of making good actions today.
Accept myself and others whole heartedly – The nature that I have today has been developed over births. This clarity helps me understand and accept myself better. I now understand that actions when done over a period of time become my habits and habits that I have for a long period of time become my nature. This makes me realize that I have the power to change myself. Just like I have had a special unique journey over many births, in the same way all souls have had their own unique journey which has shaped their nature. This helps me accept others for who they are and live in harmony with them.
No more living in labels – We have lived with many labels that either others have given to us or we have given to ourselves like “you are unworthy of my love” “You are not intelligent” “I am not good enough” etc. With the knowledge of the self I realize that originally, I am a perfect being full of virtues and powers and therefore no longer need to live in labels. The more I connect and establish a relation with my real self I will be able to access and revive my original qualities and powers. I no longer will seek for happiness and love from others but will instead be an embodiment of these virtues and give them to others.
Our entire life we have had questions and fears for which we have not found any satisfactory answers.
The wise scientist and sages in history have always hinted that all answers lie within us.
With the knowledge of the self we can access this great wisdom and change our life.