MATTER, HUMAN SOUL AND SUPREME SOUL BY S. SANKARAN

 (Based on the comments by Swami Tapasyananda)


In Bhagavad Gita, soul is portrayed on many verses as changeless and imperishable and permanent. It is emphasized that Soul is nothing to do with matter or Prakriti and hence Soul is pure.

But we are informed in a verse that matter or Prakriti is of two kinds – Lower and Higher Elements and Soul is equated as Higher Element whereby Soul becomes very much connected with matter.

To make the subject matter of Soul still difficult, another verse indicates that Souls are divided into two categories – Perishable and Imperishable. It becomes still more difficult, as imperishable is also divided into Human Soul (Jivatma) and Supreme Soul (Purushothama).

Let me quote the relevant passages before going into the details and their explanations:

Chapter 7: Stanzas 4 to 6: Prakriti – Matter is divided into two parts – Lower and Higher. Lower one consists of eight elements viz. earth, water, fire, air, ether, ego, intellect and mind. Higher is only one – Life Element i.e. Soul. These two matters are the wombs of all creatures. God is the connecting link as rows of gems of a string.

Chapter 15: Stanzas 16 to 19: There are two types of Purushas – Souls. One is perishable and the other is imperishable. Even imperishable is divided into Human Soul and Supreme Soul. Supreme Soul is superior to imperishable and the Vedas declare Supreme Soul as Purushothama. Lord Krishna is to be worshiped as Supreme Soul.

The main point of discussions is about the characteristics of Soul or Self or Spirit. Simple and direct meaning are that soul while residing in body can be termed as “Perishable” due to its association with the perishable body and that when Soul leaves the body, it becomes “Imperishable”. When “Imperishable Soul” attains salvation, that Soul becomes one with Supreme Soul.

Another school of thoughts treats perishable as Non-liberated Soul and Imperishable as Liberated Soul. Souls, which are always linked to God as revealed in the text above as rows of gems on a string, get merged with God on their liberation and such Souls need no necessity to have the support of the string any more.

Whatever stand and explanations we choose, these passages seem to be at variance with the all-powerful theory of Advaita. But, as per Adi Sankara, the Bhagavad Gita is the treatise on Advaita philosophy.

This confusion, some scholars declare, is due to Maya-Sakti. This becomes a good shield against any discussions or interpretations.

The purpose of this small article is only to make an awareness of such passages and those who are interested to go further deep, can do so.  



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Gandhi Recited Quran Verses in the Temple of Valmiki Basti near Delhi

Image
  Once Mohandas. K. Gandhi was reciting Quran in the temple of Valmiki Basti near Delhi.   Then a woman from the crowd got up and asked Gandhi not to do so. Gandhi asked: Why?   Then that woman said that it is against our religion.    Gandhi said. I don't believe so. ..The woman replied that we do not consider you worthy to give order in religion..   Gandhi said that the vote of the people present here should be taken. The woman replied whether religion could be decided by votes?.   Gandhi said that you are obstructing my religious freedom. The woman replied that you are interfering illegally in the religion of crores of Hindus.   Gandhi said: I wish to listen to the Quran, now.  The woman said: And I will oppose it inside our temple.   And then hundreds of Valmiki youths stood by the side of the woman and started saying that before getting the Quran recited in the temple, show us by reciting Gita or Ramayana in a mosque and then we will allow this.   Seeing the growing protests, G
Read more

Carnatic Musicians Aiding for Christian Conversion Efforts – Courtesy: Naithrupan

Image
Nithyashree Mahadevan , Aruna Sairam , OS Arun , Unnikrishnan , Anuradha Shriram , Tippu & Saindhavi – names that you’re most familiar with Carnatic music who are supposed to be a role model for younger generatons .  The above mentioned singers  stooped down to the lowest level possible. They all signed up to sell their music, Thyagaraja Kirthanas to christian mission by simply changing few words and singing in praise of Jesus. It is highly condemnable that they chose to replace the word Rama with Yesu and sang all the kirthanas . It is that same Rama and Krishna who showered their blessings and made them popular and these scumbags have decided to sell our kirthanas to churches who will use them ONLY to do more conversion. What a shame! On the contrary, Isaignani Ilayaraja that he will not score for the movie “ Periyar ” even if he is offered any number of crores – that is conviction! I see some people asking some stupid question “Haven’t we a
Read more

Nationalism – National Flag, National Anthem and National Song

Image
Ancient India was called as Bharatavarsa meaning thereby – the country ( varsa ) of Bharata – Emperor Bharata , the son of Shakuntala and Dushyanta Maharaja. Further, Bharata in Sanskrit means Bha – Light and Knowledge and Rata – Devoted and hence Bharata means ‘Devoted to light/knowledge’. In view of such loaded cultural and spiritual background about our ancient country, the constitution of India in its Article 1 (1) confirmed the name of India as Bharat and the actual wording runs thus: “India, that is Bharat, shall be a Union of States” and hence Bharat is officially acknowledged as the name of our country – though the ‘ sickular liberals’ do not want to acknowledge this fact – but, they want our country to be called as ‘India’ only. Because this name of our country leads to the historical evidence that Bharat’s territories extended to a large parts of present neighboring countries which ancients called as Akhand Bharat, Leftists Leaning Literates and Sicku
Read more