Who am I ?

Nature of the SOUL

Who am I ?

My real identity

isNOT this temporary BODY,

but...

the eternal SOUL !!!

Proof for the existence of the Soul

•Common sense

•Intuitive understanding

Difference between the dead body and the living person

The real self “I” distinct from body, mind and intelligence

•Astral body travel

•Consciousness - the symptom of the existence of the soul

•Near Death Experiences (NDEs)

•Past-life memories

Consciousness distinguishes a dead body from a living one

Consciousness gives circumstantial evidence of the soul

Knowledge of the Soul

The Soul is :

•indestructible

BG 7.7

nainam chindanti sastraninainam dahati pavakah

na cainam kledayanty apona sosayati marutah

The soul can never be cut to pieces by any weapon, nor burned by fire, nor moistened by water, nor withered by the wind

•individual

BG 2.12

na tv evaham jatu nasam

na tvam neme janadhipah

na caiva na bhavisyamah

sarve vayam atah param

Never was there a time

when I did not exist, nor

you, nor all these kings;

nor in the future shall any

of us cease to be

BG 15.7

mamaivamsho jiva-loke

jiva-bhutah sanatanah

manah-sasthanindriyani

prakrti sthani karsati

The living entities in this

conditioned world are my

eternal fragmental parts.

Due to conditioned life,

they are struggling very

hard with 6 senses, which

include the mind.

•sat-cid-ananda

Eternal, full of knowledge, full of blissBody is asat, acit, nirananda

•changes bodies

BG 2.22

vasamsi jirnani yatha

vihaya

navani grhnati naro 'parani

tatha sarirani vihaya jirnany

anyani samyati navani dehi

As a person puts on new

garments, giving up old

ones, the soul similarly

accepts new material

bodies, giving up the old

and useless ones

BG 2.13

dehino 'smin yatha dehe

kaumaram yauvanam jara

tatha dehantara-praptir

dhiras tatra na muhyati

As the embodied soul

continuously passes, in

this body, from boyhood

to youth to old age, the

soul similarly passes into

another body at death. A

sober person is not

bewildered by such a

change

•infinitesimal

Kesa agra sata bhagasya

Satadha kalpitasyaca

The size of the soul is 1/10,000 the

size of the tip of hair.

•inconceivable

BG 2.25

avyakto 'yam acintyo 'yam

avikaryo 'yam ucyate

tasmad evam viditvainam

nanusocitum arhasi

It is said that the soul is

invisible, inconceivable

and immutable. Knowing

this, you should not

grieve for the body.

Material energy is formless. But form, and all properties, are inherent in spiritual energy, and are perversely reflected in material energy.

Why can it not be argued that there are no qualities of one's own nature, at all, but all qualities are merely acquired by association?

For several reasons; some of them are:

1. While there are instances of qualities being acquired, there is never an instance of the property of having qualities itself being acquired.

2. An entity that has no quality similar (even in being opposite) to the one being acquired, cannot even form the association necessary to effect the acquisition.

3. Considering that the qualities of good, indifference, and evil cannot be said to reside in the Lord or in inanimate nature, the question arises as to where they are being acquired from.

Material qualities are inconceivably different from the spiritual.

dwindles Dies

stays

Produces offsprings

Grows

Takes Birth

Material energy undergoes transformations.Transformations occur under the influence of the Three Modes of Nature, and Time

Spirit soul does not undergo these transformations. It is transcendental to the Modes, Time, etc.

BG 2.20

na jayate mriyate va

kadacin

nayam bhutva bhavita va na

bhuyah

ajo nityah sasvato 'yam

purano

na hanyate hanyamane

sarire

For the soul there is

neither birth nor death at

any time. He has not

come into being, does not

come into being, and will

not come into being. He is

unborn, eternal, ever-

existing and primeval. He

is not slain when the

body is slain

•can never become GOD

Am I GOD ?

We are :

•not GODS

•Qualitative oneness

The unitive aspect of religious doctrine is a qualitative monotheism, not a numerical unity!

Soul

•Infinitesimal (anu)

•Cognizant of one’s body

•A loving instrument

Supersoul

Infinite (vibhu)

Cognizant of everyone and everything

Eternally a loving predominator

BG 18:61

isvarah sarva-bhutanam hrd-dese 'rjuna tisthati bhramayan sarva-bhutani yantrarudhani mayaya

The Supreme Lord is situated in everyone's heart, O Arjuna, and is directing the wanderings of all living entities, who are seated as on a machine, made of the material energy.

•Marginal FreeWill

Ablative, Causative,Locative omnipresence

We are one in quality with GOD, but different in quantity. Our salvation depends on the acceptance of this reality.

False Ego is the antithesis of this.

Simply saying is not enough, one should act accordingly

By chanting mantra,Person becomes “Brahmabhuta prasannatma”

BG 16:8

asatyam apratistham te jagad ahur anisvaram aparaspara-sambhutam kim anyat kama-haitukam

They say that this world is unreal, that there is no foundation and that there is no God in control…

“Krishna as Object of worship is one-Half, and, as the Support of His worshipper, He Himself is the other Half of the Whole. The variety of reciprocal activity of these Two Moieties constitutes the Fullness of the Divinity. Krishna is the complete realization of the Support of His worship. ”

“The Prime Cause of all effects should not be mutilated or manufactured through the agency of our unblossomed prerogatives. We are limited entities, but the Unlimited Infinity minus our infinitesimality would give us, as a result, an almost infinite gulf.”

< H.D.G. Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati

H.D.G. Bhaktivedanta Swami >

If one gives up his subtle body before the time of death, he gets liberated

SOUL

Intelligence

Mind

Senses

False ego-consciousness

God-consciousness