|
by Jayaram V
One of the notable differences between Hinduism and Buddhism
is that Hinduism believes in the existence of eternal and indestructible
soul or atman where as Buddhism believes in the concept of no soul
or anatma. What is a soul? Is it an entity? Is it an individuality
of some kind? Is it an energy field? Is it consciousness or
subjectivity? How does the soul experience its individuality and
oneness with God at the same time? Does it have a distinct shape
and size and a will of its own? How does it come into existence
and where does it go when it is liberated from the body? What happens
after the death of an individual and when the soul reincarnates
in another form? How does a soul get entangled in a life form and
why it has to suffer so long before it finds its release? Is it
possible for us to experience it consciously with our ordinary mental
awareness? Upon its liberation does it continue to exist as an individual
entity or does it cease to exist? These are perhaps some of the
most difficult questions to answer because the soul is described
by the Hindu scriptures as indescribable and indefinable.
Most of the speculative philosophies and darshnas or various
schools of philosophical thought in Hinduism attempt to answer these
questions. But there is no unanimous opinion among them as to the
nature of the soul and its relationship with God. The individual
souls are said to be different from God. But this is not an universal
standpoint. According to some traditions, God does not exist but
only individual souls. Among those who believe in the existence
of God, some believe that God and the individual souls are the same
while others believe them to be different. Some traditions hold
that although God and an individual soul are the same, they do have
some subtle dissimilarities which make them distinct. So you can
say that they are the same from one perspective and different from
another. It is difficult to prove which of these opinions are correct
because no one has been able to establish the truths about the individual
soul objectively.
The problem is aggravated by the fact that the individual soul
is beyond the objective experience of the mind and the body and
cannot be comprehended other than through subjective experience
of transcendental nature, which so far has remained inconsistent
and different among different subjects because of the limitations
of the human mind to record those experiences accurately. There
is also some speculation regarding whether all beings possess souls.
Hinduism holds the belief that all living beings including plants
and animals possess souls. Jainism perhaps holds the most extreme
opinion in this regard since it believes that even inanimate objects
like water, stones, even pieces of dead wood and tubers grown underground
also possess souls, not just one but sometimes clusters of them.
Souls are classified in some traditions into different categories,
such as free souls, bound souls, semi free souls and forever bound
souls.
The Bhagavadgita acknowledges the existence of both God and the
individual souls. It believes in the incarnation of the individual
souls, their delusion and bondage to the cycle of births and deaths
because of their gunas or qualities and desire ridden actions. It
also suggests various solutions for their salvation. The book touches
upon various subjects like death, release of the soul from the body,
its ascent to the higher worlds, it reincarnation or return to the
earth to continue its cycle of births and deaths, its relationship
with God and how it can find itself with the help of God and so
on. According to it, the soul, or atman, is indestructible and eternal
(2.18). It neither slays not can it be slain (2.19). It is never
born, never dies and after coming into existence never ceases to
be. It is nitya (always), sasvatah (permanent) and purana (very
ancient) (2.20). It does not suffer and cannot be tainted.
At the time of death it does not die, but leaves the body and enters
into a new one (2.22). Weapons cannot pierce it, fire cannot burn
it, water cannot moisten it and wind cannot dry it (2.23). It is
impenetrable, incombustible, all pervading, stable and immobile
(2.24). It is invisible, imperceptible and immutable (2.25).
The Bhagavadgita knows the limitations of human consciousness to
gauge the true nature of the inner soul. So it concurs with the
popular notion that no one can exactly know what a soul is. One
looks at It with great surprise, another speaks about It with great
surprise, another hears about It with incredulity and yet another
after hearing about It knows it not (2.29). The soul is superior
to everything else in the human being. It is said that the senses
are great, greater than the senses is the mind, greater than the
mind is buddhi and greater than the buddhi is the Self (3.42). This
concept is similar to the concept of the tattvas explained in the
various schools of Hindu thought where the soul is described to
be the highest in the hierarch of the tattvas.
The soul residing in the body is referred as the indwelling witness,
the Adhiyagna. We are told that when Purusha, also known as the
Adhidaiva (Controlling Deity), resides in the body as the inner
witness, He becomes Adhiyagna or the Seat of Sacrifice (8.4). These
descriptions are in accordance with the internalization of the ritual
process and its symbolic representation in the human body which
happened in the later part of the Vedic period. The embodied soul
is caught in the grip of Prakrit and cannot escape on its own without
adquate spiritual effort and divine help. At the time of death it
leaves the body and goes to a higher world depending upon its karma
and time of death. According to the Bhagavadgita, the mental condition
in which an embodied soul leaves the body at the time of death is
very important, because whatever the person thinks of at that time,
that alone he achieves thereafter (8.6). Thus if someone departs
from the body thinking of God alone, he would undoubtedly attain
Him (8.5, 12 &13).
A liberated soul is different from the soul that is inside
in a living body which is referred by the Hindu scriptures
as Jiva or the embodied soul. The embodied soul is caught in the
snare of samsara or the causative world through desires and attachment,
where as the liberated soul is free from all entanglements and is
forever free from the control of Prakriti. What it does and where
it stays in its liberated state only the adepts know. Even though
there is a soul within every one, people cannot feel its presence
because they remain distracted by the activity of their senses and
minds. If they succeed in withdrawing their senses and look inwards,
they have a chance of coming into contact with it. As the Bhagavadgita
declares, the striving yogi perceives Him, as seated in the body
enjoying the sense objects, united with the gunas, departing the
body at the time of death, but the ignorant ones whose hearts are
impure, do not perceive so even after much striving.(15.11&12).
Self-realization is the ultimate goal of all the yogas or spiritual
paths discussed in the Bhagavadgita. The purpose of any spiritual
discipline is to restrain the senses and stabilize the mind. These
are the two barriers everyone must overcome in order to know their
true selves. The Bhagavadgita says, "That condition is the aim of
all yoga, in which through the practice of yoga, the mind become
stilled, in which the self behold the Self within and is absorbed
in the Self, in which the yogi finds supreme ecstasy," (6.21-22).
And when the yogi develops the unified and holistic vision through
the practice of yoga, he sees the Self in all and all in the Self
(6.29).
Apart from the senses, the gunas or the qualities of the mind,
namely sattva (purity), rajas (egoism) and tamas (grossness) play
an important role in the bondage of the soul. When a soul is drawn
into the body through the divine power of Shakti or Nature, it becomes
bound to its physical personality and the illusory world through
attachment arising out of the interplay of the triple gunas (14.5).
Its consciousness becomes clouded and covered by a new identity
which we call the ego. The ego consciousness acts and behaves as
if the it is the real one, where as it is just a shadow, an illusion
that survives through the mechanism of Prakriti. When through yoga
the indwelling soul overcomes the triple gunas, It becomes free
from birth and death, old age and sorrow and attains immortality
(14.20). This is in brief the concept of the soul we find
in the Bhagavadgita.
Suggested Further Reading
|
