Back to the roots - XXII
Journey of the Soul - III
One of the most common methods by which claims are made of interaction with the spirit world is planchette. A planchette is a small triangular or heart shaped board supported by two casters and a vertical pencil that, when lightly touched by fingertips is said to spell out supernatural messages. Another oft-used method is a "Medium", a living normal human being, who becomes vehicle for a soul for some time and through whom the soul communicates verbally, in writing, symbolically etc.
The problem is that the genuinity of these methods is highly suspect. I will hazard a guess that 10 in a million cases may pass the genuinity tests. Planchette has acquired the status of a fun pastime. I have even seen one elderly lady in my family doing it for some fun. So far as mediums are concerned, some of the most reputed mediums in the history have been exposed as fraudsters. These have eroded the foundation of belief in spirits or soul.
There are, however, experiences which were just that - experiences - which are not explainable by conventional science.
Carrington and Meader, in their book Death, Its Causes and Phenomena, mention in their book - "It might be possible for this departing soul to manifest itself to friends, either in immediate vicinity, or even at a distance..... manifestation of the departing spirit, at the moment of death, are by no means uncommon ......". Camille Flammarion, in his book The Unknown, has recorded the incidents of some such manifestations.
In Bhagavad Gita, it is said "The soul of a man is indestructible; it can not be pierced by sword; fire can not burn it; air can not dry it; water can not moisten it." It also says "If the slayer thinks that he has slain, or if the slain thinks that he is slain, both of them know not the soul can neither slay nor be slain"
The Bhagavad Gita often referred to as simply the Gita, is a 700-verse Hindu scripture in Sanskrit that is part of the Hindu epic Mahabharata.
There are, however, experiences which were just that - experiences - which are not explainable by conventional science.
Carrington and Meader, in their book Death, Its Causes and Phenomena, mention in their book - "It might be possible for this departing soul to manifest itself to friends, either in immediate vicinity, or even at a distance..... manifestation of the departing spirit, at the moment of death, are by no means uncommon ......". Camille Flammarion, in his book The Unknown, has recorded the incidents of some such manifestations.
In Bhagavad Gita, it is said "The soul of a man is indestructible; it can not be pierced by sword; fire can not burn it; air can not dry it; water can not moisten it." It also says "If the slayer thinks that he has slain, or if the slain thinks that he is slain, both of them know not the soul can neither slay nor be slain"
The Bhagavad Gita often referred to as simply the Gita, is a 700-verse Hindu scripture in Sanskrit that is part of the Hindu epic Mahabharata.
Hindu traditionalists assert that the Gita came into existence in the third or fourth millennium BCE. Scholars accept dates from the fifth century to the second century BCE as the probable range.(Wikipedia).
The above saying in Gita is in line with modern scientific finding that all cells in our body get renewed periodically. Which means that our body gets renewed periodically. Earlier it was thought that a renewal cycle takes 7 years. However the period is now thought to be as low as 11 months.
Vedanta says that Soul is eternal. It has no birth, no death. After death of the physical form, the soul enters heaven for a stay there, the duration of which depends on its deeds in the physical form. Then it reincarnates. At every birth, it selects its own physical form. This is distinctly different from the belief that Soul enters a body destined by God. The form of the new physical body - animal, human, handicapped, disabled in some way, normal etc.- and the environment to which it which it is born - rich, poor, religious faith, society etc. - is determined by the soul depending on its tendencies and over-riding unfulfilled desires in the last birth, the experience that it wants to gain in the next birth and evolve further. So the Soul itself decides the method by which to enhance its learning. This, in a sense is the true payback. The knowledge accumulated by the soul cummulatively leads to its evolution to higher and higher entity. In the process of evolution to the all knowing divine being, it may backtrack and adopt a lower form sometime based on its tendencies of the previous birth if the tendencies were of lower form and the soul needs to gain knowledge to overcome such tendencies. The ultimate aim of the soul is to be one with the all knowing divinity.
In essence it means that the each one of us is what we are of our own free will. God did not create our conditions. We, and we alone, are responsible for what we are, what we learn and how we evolve. We, and we alone, are responsible for how our future shall be. It will be our thoughts, tendencies, desires and deeds which will determine our path of evolution. This resonates with what we learnt under The Law.
See you again.
Prabir
Another verse from Gita says "As during our lifetime we survive the death of the baby body, the young body, and the mature body successively and still retain our individuality, so after the death of the old body we shall survive, live and retain our individuality and continue to exist through eternity".
The wise men of other major religions also mention about soul. The difference between beliefs of various religions lies in the conclusions on the what happens to soul after death of physical body and on reincarnation of soul.
Some religions say that the soul has only one life. Till the physical body lives the soul lives. When the physical body dies, the soul departs from the physical body soon or shortly thereafter for its stay in heaven or hell depending on its deeds in the now dead physical form. If the deeds were good, the soul goes to a pleasant place called "heaven" where it enjoys pleasures for ever. Similarly if the soul has done bad acts in the physical form, it goes to hell and suffers pain for ever.Hell and the punishments meted out there, have been very graphically described in some religions. This in essence means that the souls do not evolve. They get only one chance. Each soul has one birth, life and death cycle like any living thing. Immediately a question comes up regarding the source from which souls are generated for fresh births.
Some religions believe that Soul is eternal. It is independent of birth and death. It detaches itself from the physical body after the death of the physical form. It goes to heaven and enjoys a stay in heaven commensurate to its deeds in the earthly form and takes a new birth, thereafter, by entering a new body waiting for it for further learning and experience. Hence its duration of stay in heaven is its payback for its deeds in the earthly form.
I found the explanations in Vedanta to be resonating with me closely.
Vedanta is one of the world’s most ancient religious philosophies and one of its broadest. Based on the Vedas, the sacred scriptures of India, Vedanta affirms the oneness of existence, the divinity of the soul, and the harmony of religions. Vedanta is the philosophical foundation of Hinduism; but while Hinduism includes aspects of Indian culture, Vedanta is universal in its application and is equally relevant to all countries, all cultures, and all religious backgrounds.(Vedanta Society of Southern California).Vedanta says that Soul is eternal. It has no birth, no death. After death of the physical form, the soul enters heaven for a stay there, the duration of which depends on its deeds in the physical form. Then it reincarnates. At every birth, it selects its own physical form. This is distinctly different from the belief that Soul enters a body destined by God. The form of the new physical body - animal, human, handicapped, disabled in some way, normal etc.- and the environment to which it which it is born - rich, poor, religious faith, society etc. - is determined by the soul depending on its tendencies and over-riding unfulfilled desires in the last birth, the experience that it wants to gain in the next birth and evolve further. So the Soul itself decides the method by which to enhance its learning. This, in a sense is the true payback. The knowledge accumulated by the soul cummulatively leads to its evolution to higher and higher entity. In the process of evolution to the all knowing divine being, it may backtrack and adopt a lower form sometime based on its tendencies of the previous birth if the tendencies were of lower form and the soul needs to gain knowledge to overcome such tendencies. The ultimate aim of the soul is to be one with the all knowing divinity.
In essence it means that the each one of us is what we are of our own free will. God did not create our conditions. We, and we alone, are responsible for what we are, what we learn and how we evolve. We, and we alone, are responsible for how our future shall be. It will be our thoughts, tendencies, desires and deeds which will determine our path of evolution. This resonates with what we learnt under The Law.
See you again.
Prabir
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