The Alternative Future - 1
A World Based On
Proper Understanding Of Self
(A Radical Re-envisioning Of Ourselves And Our Lives)
Who Am I - A Question In Need of Answers
Root Of All Evil - Forgetfulness Of Who We Really Are
Glitter of industrialization has covered us, i.e.., our souls from our vision. Rediscovering our identity will make a holistic relationship with the environment possible.
Understanding the difference between our temporary material identity and our true spiritual identity is the key to solving the environmental crisis. The foundation for an environmentally healthy planet is a science of consciousness that incorporates knowledge of the soul.
Over the last few years, research into consciousness has at last become accepted within the academic community. As John Searle puts it, raising the subject of consciousness in cognitive science discussions is no longer considered to be ‘bad taste’, causing graduate students to “roll their eyes at the ceiling and assume expressions of mild disgust.''
The Gita offers a simple solution to environmental anomalies, linking our problems directly to our lack of spiritual culture and values. Forgetfulness of our spiritual nature is making us overuse the technology to meet the exaggerated demands of the senses, leading to global crises of different sorts.
If the world is ever to become free from the threat of environmental annihilation, we shall have to undertake a thorough reexamination of the materialistic assumptions underlying not only our picture of nature but our conception of our very selves.
Understanding the difference between our temporary material identity and our true spiritual identity is the key to solving the environmental crisis. The foundation for an environmentally healthy planet is a science of consciousness that incorporates knowledge of the soul.
Over the last few years, research into consciousness has at last become accepted within the academic community. As John Searle puts it, raising the subject of consciousness in cognitive science discussions is no longer considered to be ‘bad taste’, causing graduate students to “roll their eyes at the ceiling and assume expressions of mild disgust.''
The Gita offers a simple solution to environmental anomalies, linking our problems directly to our lack of spiritual culture and values. Forgetfulness of our spiritual nature is making us overuse the technology to meet the exaggerated demands of the senses, leading to global crises of different sorts.
If the world is ever to become free from the threat of environmental annihilation, we shall have to undertake a thorough reexamination of the materialistic assumptions underlying not only our picture of nature but our conception of our very selves.
Ideas Have Consequences
Adolf Hitler had ideas that he expressed in a book entitled “Mein Kampf.” Karl Marx had ideas that he expressed in “Das Kapital.” Both sets of ideas have had enormous consequences for human history.
Our world crises have their roots in incorrect and imperfect idea of the self and the universe. When we understand our true spiritual nature, our unlimited urge to consume things and to produce things for consumption can be curbed. The natural result will be a better environment in which to pursue spiritual growth instead of excessive economic growth.
The theologian Jürgen Moltmann wrote that the “alienation of nature brought about by human beings can never be overcome until men find a new understanding of themselves and a new interpretation of their world in the framework of nature.”
With a deep, spiritual change of heart, a permanent change of goals and values, environmental reform would take place as a byproduct, almost automatically.
Our world crises have their roots in incorrect and imperfect idea of the self and the universe. When we understand our true spiritual nature, our unlimited urge to consume things and to produce things for consumption can be curbed. The natural result will be a better environment in which to pursue spiritual growth instead of excessive economic growth.
The theologian Jürgen Moltmann wrote that the “alienation of nature brought about by human beings can never be overcome until men find a new understanding of themselves and a new interpretation of their world in the framework of nature.”
With a deep, spiritual change of heart, a permanent change of goals and values, environmental reform would take place as a byproduct, almost automatically.
The basic principle of this modern civilization is wrong. Everyone, the so-called advanced scientists, so-called advanced philosopher or politician, everyone is thinking that "I am this body." So on the basic principle they're wrong. Therefore the so-called advancement of civilization is wrong. It's... At one point mathematical calculation, if you have done mistake in one point... Two plus two equal two. Why if you have made up three, the mistake, then the whole calculation will be mistaken. The balance, it will never tally. Similarly, our present civilization... Not present; it is always there. Now it is very strong bodily conception of life, so the basic principle is wrong. Therefore whatever we are advancing, that is wrong. Parabhava, defeat. That is stated in the Srimad-Bhagavatam. Basic principle is wrong, abodha, ignorance.
- Srila Prabhupada (Lecture, Srimad-Bhagavatam - Los Angeles, December 9, 1973)
From Consumption Crazy Society To A Self-realization Centered Society
If the conscious self is factually supernatural in origin, and if this knowledge were firmly integrated into our educational and cultural institutions, society would probably be much more directed toward self-realization than it is today. The overwhelming impetus toward the domination and exploitation of matter that underlies today’s industrial civilization and culminates in environmental catastrophe would certainly be lessened.
In the words of Grandon Harris: Our honeymoon with the planet Earth is over. We must take our marriage with the earth seriously. We cannot divorce it, but it can divorce us!
This seriousness, as opposed to frivolousness, comes from understanding our real identity as spirit souls and not as Darwinian monkeys. From a monkey, hardly any seriousness can be expected.
Following verses from Bhagavad-gita illustrate these points.
kamopabhoga-parama, etavad iti niscitah
They believe that to gratify the senses is the prime necessity of human civilization (Bg 16.11). This verse of Bhagavad-gita tells us that those who mistake their identities or those who fail to understand who they are, they tread the path of sense aggrandizement. All the world crises are an outcome of this viewpoint.
Another verse (Bg 2.62) sums up the our consumeristic civilization:
dhyayato visayan pumsah
sangas tesupajayate
sangat sanjayate kamah
kamat krodho 'bhijayate
While contemplating the objects of the senses, a person develops attachment for them, and from such attachment lust develops, and from lust anger arises.
This verse of Bhagavad-gita tells us that by contemplating the objects of the senses one becomes attached to them and ultimately ends up frustrated and bewildered. Industrialized society in particular has as its cornerstone the need to stimulate consumption, to constantly fuel economic growth. To this end, it constantly encourages us to meditate on the objects of our senses. With individuals’ desires massively outstripping their abilities to meet their aspirations, it is hardly any surprise that we create ongoing frustration and extreme egotism, which result in environmental, social, and cultural devastation.
Text 4.22, ‘yadrccha-labha-santusto’ describes that by practicing bhakti-yoga, one is satisfied with gain which comes of its own accord and one attains a taste for simple living and high thinking. In other words, developing love for God automatically moderates one’s appetite for material things by enriching one’s life spiritually.
In the words of Grandon Harris: Our honeymoon with the planet Earth is over. We must take our marriage with the earth seriously. We cannot divorce it, but it can divorce us!
This seriousness, as opposed to frivolousness, comes from understanding our real identity as spirit souls and not as Darwinian monkeys. From a monkey, hardly any seriousness can be expected.
Following verses from Bhagavad-gita illustrate these points.
kamopabhoga-parama, etavad iti niscitah
They believe that to gratify the senses is the prime necessity of human civilization (Bg 16.11). This verse of Bhagavad-gita tells us that those who mistake their identities or those who fail to understand who they are, they tread the path of sense aggrandizement. All the world crises are an outcome of this viewpoint.
Another verse (Bg 2.62) sums up the our consumeristic civilization:
dhyayato visayan pumsah
sangas tesupajayate
sangat sanjayate kamah
kamat krodho 'bhijayate
While contemplating the objects of the senses, a person develops attachment for them, and from such attachment lust develops, and from lust anger arises.
This verse of Bhagavad-gita tells us that by contemplating the objects of the senses one becomes attached to them and ultimately ends up frustrated and bewildered. Industrialized society in particular has as its cornerstone the need to stimulate consumption, to constantly fuel economic growth. To this end, it constantly encourages us to meditate on the objects of our senses. With individuals’ desires massively outstripping their abilities to meet their aspirations, it is hardly any surprise that we create ongoing frustration and extreme egotism, which result in environmental, social, and cultural devastation.
Text 4.22, ‘yadrccha-labha-santusto’ describes that by practicing bhakti-yoga, one is satisfied with gain which comes of its own accord and one attains a taste for simple living and high thinking. In other words, developing love for God automatically moderates one’s appetite for material things by enriching one’s life spiritually.
Tapping Into The Deep Spiritual Reservoirs of Humanity
Humanity is on a "spiral to suicide" and the environmental discourses of academia often suggest an ‘end-of-the-pipeline approach’. Mary Evelyn Tucker echoes this misgiving. "We're all concerned about simply rhetorical statements or a superficial approach that is not going to tap into the deep spiritual reservoirs of people. A spiritual change of heart could only offer a solution towards this ‘much talked about and little done for’ crisis.”
Humanity’s Absorption In Superficialities
In the last few decades people have become far more concerned about external factors such as the possession of consumer goods, celebrity status, image, and power rather than the development of what is an interior life. It wasn't long ago that people were measured by the internal traits of virtue and morality, and it was the person who exhibited character and acted honorably who was held in high esteem. This kind of life was built upon contemplation of what might be called the "good life." After long deliberation, an individual then disciplined himself in those virtues most valued.
Paul reminds us of the dangers of over-emphasizing personality ethics as opposed to character ethics when he writes, "Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is on earthly things.”
The world is in crisis because we’re conditioned to see the earth and its resources and creatures as things to be exploited unlimitedly for personal gratification. And this is so because we have forgotten our connection with God.
Paul reminds us of the dangers of over-emphasizing personality ethics as opposed to character ethics when he writes, "Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is on earthly things.”
The world is in crisis because we’re conditioned to see the earth and its resources and creatures as things to be exploited unlimitedly for personal gratification. And this is so because we have forgotten our connection with God.
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A beast does not know that he is a beast, and the nearer a man gets to being a beast, the less he knows it. |
A World Afflicted With The ‘Skin Disease’
Today’s world is divided on the basis of skin. Everybody identifies with the body and therefore great divisions like white, black, colored, Hindu, Muslim etc. exist. But these are all based on the skin or body which is just a temporary dress.
Srila Prabhupada explains this, “We all have some ‘skin disease,’ which is the body, and therefore we are suffering. Because we have become such rascals, we are thinking, ‘I am this body.’ The more we are in the bodily conception, the more we suffer.”
Srila Prabhupada adds, “Presently so many "ism's" are being developed according to the bodily conception—nationalism, communism, socialism, communalism and so on. In Calcutta during the 1947 Hindu-Muslim riots, there was more suffering because everyone was thinking, "I am a Hindu" or "I am a Muslim." But, if one is advanced in Krishna consciousness, he will not fight according to such conceptions. Because people are being educated to become more body conscious, their sufferings are increasing. If we reduce the bodily conception, suffering will also be reduced.”
A poem written by an African Shakespeare further illustrates this mood:
Dear white fella,
Couple things you should know:
When I was born, I black
When I grow up, I black,
When I go in sun, I black
When I cold, I black
When I scared, I black
When I sick, I black,
And when I die, I still black.
You, white fella,
When you born, you pink
When you grow up, you white
When you go in sun, you red
When you cold, you blue
When you scared, you yellow
When you sick, you green
And when you die, you grey.
And you have the damned nerve to call me colored?
Srila Prabhupada explains this, “We all have some ‘skin disease,’ which is the body, and therefore we are suffering. Because we have become such rascals, we are thinking, ‘I am this body.’ The more we are in the bodily conception, the more we suffer.”
Srila Prabhupada adds, “Presently so many "ism's" are being developed according to the bodily conception—nationalism, communism, socialism, communalism and so on. In Calcutta during the 1947 Hindu-Muslim riots, there was more suffering because everyone was thinking, "I am a Hindu" or "I am a Muslim." But, if one is advanced in Krishna consciousness, he will not fight according to such conceptions. Because people are being educated to become more body conscious, their sufferings are increasing. If we reduce the bodily conception, suffering will also be reduced.”
A poem written by an African Shakespeare further illustrates this mood:
Dear white fella,
Couple things you should know:
When I was born, I black
When I grow up, I black,
When I go in sun, I black
When I cold, I black
When I scared, I black
When I sick, I black,
And when I die, I still black.
You, white fella,
When you born, you pink
When you grow up, you white
When you go in sun, you red
When you cold, you blue
When you scared, you yellow
When you sick, you green
And when you die, you grey.
And you have the damned nerve to call me colored?
Science Is Ill-equipped To Explain About Soul
Some scientists are already beginning to question whether materialistic principles are really adequate to explain basic features of human existence-such as consciousness. For example, John C. Eccles, a Nobel-prize-winning neurobiologist, states, “The ultimate problem relates to the origin of the self, how each of us as a self-conscious being comes to exist as a unique self associated with a brain. This is the mystery of personal existence.” Eccles said that “the uniqueness each of us experiences can be sufficiently explained only by recourse to some supernatural origin.”
Consequences of Forgetfulness of Our Identity As Spirit Soul
-Never ending clashes between nations, states, ethnic groups, religious groups, tribes.
- The overwhelming impetus toward the domination and exploitation of matter
- Overly scientific-technological relationship with the earth instead of a spiritual "intimacy" with the earth.
-Madness for material enjoyment and misdirecting of life energies.
-Missing the purpose of human existence and a life of material dissatisfaction.
-Humanity’s progress towards destruction, on individual and collective levels, due to material bewilderment.
- The overwhelming impetus toward the domination and exploitation of matter
- Overly scientific-technological relationship with the earth instead of a spiritual "intimacy" with the earth.
-Madness for material enjoyment and misdirecting of life energies.
-Missing the purpose of human existence and a life of material dissatisfaction.
-Humanity’s progress towards destruction, on individual and collective levels, due to material bewilderment.
What Is Soul
The “soul” is defined as a non-material, eternal spiritual entity present within any living being. The symptom of the presence of the soul within a body is consciousness. The soul continues to exist after the destruction of the body and it existed prior to the creation of the body. The material body develops, changes and produces by-products [offspring] because of the presence of the soul within. The material body deteriorates in due cause of time and when it is no longer a suitable residence for the soul it is forced to leave the body. This is known as death.
Any material body inhabited by a soul will undergo changes. It will be created, it will grow, it will produce by-products [offspring], it will dwindle and ultimately it will die.
Any material body inhabited by a soul will undergo changes. It will be created, it will grow, it will produce by-products [offspring], it will dwindle and ultimately it will die.
Soul Is Higher Energy
There exists, within this material universe, three types of energies: gross material, subtle material and spiritual. The gross material energy consists of earth, water, fire, air and ether [defined as the "space" within the universe]. The subtle material energy consists of mind, intelligence and false-ego [defined as the identification of the body as the self ]. The spiritual energy consists of the soul [the individual living entity] and the Supersoul.
Nature of Soul
The soul is eternal, it has no birth and it never dies. The soul is the “person within the body”, or “the ghost in the machine”. At the time of “death” the soul leaves the body and is transferred to its next mother’s womb according to its accumulated karma which literally means actions.
In the Vedic literature it is said that "One who is in the bodily concept of life, he is nothing more than an animal." Therefore at the present moment, without knowledge of the self, the whole world is going on under the bodily concept of life. The bodily concept of life is there amongst the animals. The cats and dogs, they are very proud of becoming a big cat or big dog. Similarly, if a man also becomes similarly proud that "I am big American," "big German," "big," what is the difference? But that is actually going on, and therefore they are fighting like cats and dogs.
-Srila Prabhupada (Lecture - Germany, June 16, 1974)
Proof of Soul In The Body
Presence of Consciousness or Life
The presence of the soul in any living entity is indicated by consciousness. Although we cannot actually see the soul, we can see its symptoms. We cannot “see” electricity but when we see an illuminated light bulb we can see the symptom of the presence of electricity. Similarly when we see consciousness we see the symptom of the soul.
Life or consciousness is the symptom of the soul. There is no other explanation of consciousness available. No one has been able to show that life or consciousness can be generated from matter. And there are many inconsistencies which cannot be explained within the present framework, without considering the existence of the soul.
Out-of-Body Experiences (OBE)
An out-of-body experience (OBE) is an experience that typically involves a sensation of floating outside of one's body and in some cases, perceiving one's physical body from a place outside one's body (autoscopy). Scientists still know little about this phenomenon. One in ten has an out-of-body experience at some time in his/her life. OBEs are often part of the near-death experience, and reportedly may also lead to astral projection. Those who have experienced OBEs sometimes claim to have observed details which were unknown to them beforehand
In some cases the phenomenon appears to occur spontaneously; in others it is associated with a physical or mental trauma or a dream-like state.
There is a large body of data relating to out-of-body experiences where a person leaves the body and observe what is happening to his or her body from a different perspective. A large body of evidence is certainly there and it requires scientific study. Unless there are two separate entities, the body and the soul, out-of-body experiences would be impossible. This is a compelling proof of the existence of the soul.
Near-Death Experience (NDE)
Near-death experience (NDE) refers to an observation by a person by ‘floating’ out of body in a life threatening situation . In some cases of automobile accidents, heart attacks or prolonged surgeries a victim ‘almost’ dies but after a while his or her consciousness returns and he or she accurately describes the sequence of events, even complex surgical procedures applied on them.
About near-death experience one thing is certain -- they do exist. Thousands of people have actually perceived similar sensations while close to death. One of the first things the experiencer notices is being outside his body.
The ‘experiencer’ finds himself floating in the air looking down on the activity below. If this is a hospital room, he will see the doctors and nurses working on his lifeless body. The doctors' conversations is remembered and the tools they are using is identified by the experiencer after he is brought back to life.
In other cases, the experiencer leaves the location of his lifeless body and visits other places and/or people. Upon being brought back to life the experiencer will remember in detail the conversations and events seen while being out of body. Many of these conversations and events will later be verified by those whom the experiencer visited while being out of body.
This phenomenon also proves the presence of soul within the body.
Past Life Memories
There are many verifiable accounts of past life experiences. This is another area currently outside the boundaries of science but it should be studied by science. Turning a blind eye is dogmatic and unscientific. If there was no soul, no entity that continued from one life to the next, there could be no memory of “past lives”. This is another strong proof of the existence of the soul.
So it is a theory suitable for study using the currently accepted “scientific method”. Thousands of past life cases have been recorded and many of them have been verified by the critics and media. During past three decades, Dr. Stevenson, an authority on this subject, has collected about 3000 cases that showed evidences indicating that people have remembered their past lives. Stevenson concentrates his efforts on children because their stories are far less likely to be tainted than those of adults who claim to have memories of former lives.
The case history of Sukla Gupta, a little girl from West Bengal is one of 3000 in the files of Dr.Stevenson. When Sukla was a year and half old and barely able to talk, she used to cradle a pillow and address it “Minu, Minu.” Sukla over the next three years also recalled her previous life events, which indicated Minu to be her daughter in her previous life. Sukla was the daughter of a railway worker in Kampa, a village in West Bengal. Sukla often talked not only about her daughter, Minu but also about her husband, the father of Minu. She also talked about his younger brothers Khetu and Karuna. They all lived, she said, at Rathtala in Bhatpara. Sukla’s family, the Guptas, knew little about Bhatpara, that it was a city about 11 miles south. But, they had never heard of a place called Rathtala, nor of people Sukla had named.
The presence of the soul in any living entity is indicated by consciousness. Although we cannot actually see the soul, we can see its symptoms. We cannot “see” electricity but when we see an illuminated light bulb we can see the symptom of the presence of electricity. Similarly when we see consciousness we see the symptom of the soul.
Life or consciousness is the symptom of the soul. There is no other explanation of consciousness available. No one has been able to show that life or consciousness can be generated from matter. And there are many inconsistencies which cannot be explained within the present framework, without considering the existence of the soul.
Out-of-Body Experiences (OBE)
An out-of-body experience (OBE) is an experience that typically involves a sensation of floating outside of one's body and in some cases, perceiving one's physical body from a place outside one's body (autoscopy). Scientists still know little about this phenomenon. One in ten has an out-of-body experience at some time in his/her life. OBEs are often part of the near-death experience, and reportedly may also lead to astral projection. Those who have experienced OBEs sometimes claim to have observed details which were unknown to them beforehand
In some cases the phenomenon appears to occur spontaneously; in others it is associated with a physical or mental trauma or a dream-like state.
There is a large body of data relating to out-of-body experiences where a person leaves the body and observe what is happening to his or her body from a different perspective. A large body of evidence is certainly there and it requires scientific study. Unless there are two separate entities, the body and the soul, out-of-body experiences would be impossible. This is a compelling proof of the existence of the soul.
Near-Death Experience (NDE)
Near-death experience (NDE) refers to an observation by a person by ‘floating’ out of body in a life threatening situation . In some cases of automobile accidents, heart attacks or prolonged surgeries a victim ‘almost’ dies but after a while his or her consciousness returns and he or she accurately describes the sequence of events, even complex surgical procedures applied on them.
About near-death experience one thing is certain -- they do exist. Thousands of people have actually perceived similar sensations while close to death. One of the first things the experiencer notices is being outside his body.
The ‘experiencer’ finds himself floating in the air looking down on the activity below. If this is a hospital room, he will see the doctors and nurses working on his lifeless body. The doctors' conversations is remembered and the tools they are using is identified by the experiencer after he is brought back to life.
In other cases, the experiencer leaves the location of his lifeless body and visits other places and/or people. Upon being brought back to life the experiencer will remember in detail the conversations and events seen while being out of body. Many of these conversations and events will later be verified by those whom the experiencer visited while being out of body.
This phenomenon also proves the presence of soul within the body.
Past Life Memories
There are many verifiable accounts of past life experiences. This is another area currently outside the boundaries of science but it should be studied by science. Turning a blind eye is dogmatic and unscientific. If there was no soul, no entity that continued from one life to the next, there could be no memory of “past lives”. This is another strong proof of the existence of the soul.
So it is a theory suitable for study using the currently accepted “scientific method”. Thousands of past life cases have been recorded and many of them have been verified by the critics and media. During past three decades, Dr. Stevenson, an authority on this subject, has collected about 3000 cases that showed evidences indicating that people have remembered their past lives. Stevenson concentrates his efforts on children because their stories are far less likely to be tainted than those of adults who claim to have memories of former lives.
The case history of Sukla Gupta, a little girl from West Bengal is one of 3000 in the files of Dr.Stevenson. When Sukla was a year and half old and barely able to talk, she used to cradle a pillow and address it “Minu, Minu.” Sukla over the next three years also recalled her previous life events, which indicated Minu to be her daughter in her previous life. Sukla was the daughter of a railway worker in Kampa, a village in West Bengal. Sukla often talked not only about her daughter, Minu but also about her husband, the father of Minu. She also talked about his younger brothers Khetu and Karuna. They all lived, she said, at Rathtala in Bhatpara. Sukla’s family, the Guptas, knew little about Bhatpara, that it was a city about 11 miles south. But, they had never heard of a place called Rathtala, nor of people Sukla had named.
The condition of not knowing anything about the spirit soul is called tamas. This material world is also generally called tamas because ninety-nine percent of its living entities are ignorant of their identity as soul. Almost everyone is thinking that he is this body; he has no information of the spirit soul. Guided by this misconception, one always thinks, "This is my body, and anything in relationship with this body is mine." For such misguided living entities, sex life is the background of material existence. Actually, the conditioned souls, in ignorance in this material world, are simply guided by sex life, and as soon as they get the opportunity for sex life, they become attached to so-called home, motherland, children, wealth and opulence. As these attachments increase, moha, or the illusion of the bodily concept of life, also increases. Thus the idea that "I am this body, and everything belonging to this body is mine" also increases, and as the whole world is put into moha, sectarian societies, families and nationalities are created, and they fight with one another.
~Srila Prabhupada (Srimad Bhagavatam 3.20.18)
Yet Sukla developed a desire to go there, and she insisted that if her parents didn’t take her she would go alone. K.N.Sen Gupta, Sukla’s father, talked about the matter with some friends. He also mentioned it to one of his railway co-workers, S.C.Pal, an assistant station master. Pal lived near Bhatpara and had two cousins there. Through his cousins he learned that Bhatpara indeed had a district called Rathtala. He also learned of a man there named Khetu. Khetu had a sister in law named Mana who died several years before, in 1948, leaving behind an infant daughter named Minu. SenGupta decided to investigate further. With the consent of that family, he arranged for a visit to Rathtala. Sukla said that she could show the way to the house. So in 1959, when Sukla was about five, Sen Gupta and five other members of his family journeyed with her to Bhatpara.
When they arrived, Sukla took the lead. Avoiding possible wrong turns, she brought them straight to the house of Amritlal Chakravarty, her supposed father in law in her past life. As the party approached, Chakravarty happened to be out on the street. When Sukla saw him, she looked down shyly, following the usual custom for a young woman in the presence of older male relative. But when Sukla went to enter the house she was confused. She didn’t seem to be at the right entrance. Her confusion however made sense. After the death of Mana (Sukla’s name in her previous life), the entrance had been moved from the main street to an ally on the side. And the party soon found that Sukla recognized not only the house, but also the people in it, including those she said were her mother in law, her brother in law, her husband and her daughter. In side house, Sukla found herself in room with some 20 to 30 people. When she was asked, can you point out your husband, she correctly indicated Chakravarty.
This and many more such incidents are indicative of something serious and some serious need to recognize and study the science of soul.
Past Life Regressions
Past life regression is a technique that uses hypnosis to recover what most practitioners believe are memories of past lives or incarnations. Past life regression is typically undertaken either in pursuit of a spiritual experience, or in a psychotherapeutic setting.
Past-life regression practitioners use hypnosis and suggestion to promote recall in their patients, using a series of questions designed to elicit statements and memories about the past life's history and identity.
Descriptions of past lives have been found to be extremely elaborate, with vivid, detailed descriptions. Many times the subjects have talked in foreign languages in centuries old accent, without any prior knowledge of that language. This confirms their presence in those times. Also many persons have given accurate, elaborate and intimate historical accounts without any prior knowledge in that field.
In the Eastern traditions, this is a very old concept. But in West, Past life regression has been developed since the 1950s by psychologists, psychiatrists and mediums.
This is another indication that we are a soul, we change our bodies and we continue to live after our body is finished.
Inability of Chemicals To Produce Life
Evolutionists are claiming that life came from chemicals but they are unable to manufacture a single mosquito in laboratory. If indeed life is not due to soul and it is due to chemicals, then why not they inject some chemicals to revive a dead scientist. Science today can synthesize any chemical. So this is an open challenge to the scientific community - revive a dead person by injecting some chemicals or accept that the soul has left the body and now nothing can be done.
They have to show that living entities can be produced by a combination of chemicals. The resulting living entities must be able to exhibit the symptoms of the presence of the soul, i.e., consciousness, and undergo the transformations of growth, change, production of by-products [offspring], dwindling and death. Common sense and day-to-day observation proves that life comes from life and not from chemicals. All living beings are caused, or born from “parents”, i.e.., other living entities.
Unless there is a soul present within matter it will not go through the cycle of birth, growth, production of by-products, dwindling and death. This cycle is a symptom of the presence of the soul. The soul is placed within matter by other living being and then the body develops.
Therefore, birth of life with touch of another life and invincibility of death are two confirmations of soul.
Ghost Sightings
Once again modern science fails to explain the ghost phenomenon. Over the centuries, millions of people have experienced ghosts. Out of these millions, even if one case is accepted by the science, then the question would arise about the presence of soul which is not destroyed at the time of death.
A poll conducted in 2003 showed that more than half of adults in the United States believe in ghosts and spirits. There are thousands of haunted locations around the world. Discovery channel has made hundreds of TV episodes on ghost sightings and haunted houses.
Vedic literatures present a scientific explanation on the ghost riddle. A ghost is a soul with just subtle body, consisting of mind, intelligence and ego. A person alive has both subtle and gross body. Subtle body is like inner wear for the soul and gross body is like an outer wear.
Normally when a person dies, the soul transmigrates into another gross body. But in specific cases of suicides, traumatic deaths or excessively indulgent lives, the soul is not awarded a gross body and it has to live in subtle body for a certain period of time.
Due to subtle body, the ghost feels all the urges like hunger and thirst, but lacking a gross body, he is unable to satisfy them. Therefore he tries to occupy another person’s body.
If accepted, ghost phenomena would be another proof for the presence of soul.
Bhagavad-gita :Timeless Science of Consciousness
Bhagavad-gita has no parallel as far as science of soul is concerned. Any curious reader will have all his or her questions on mystery of life answered herein. Apart from Bhagavad-gita, all other standard scriptures of the world testify to the presence of soul within the body.
Lamentation on Passing Away
While lamenting over the passing away of a loved one, we say, “Such and such person has left us or gone away.” Now the body is lying right there, where has the person gone?
It means the real person was different from the body and though the body is lying there, real person, the soul has gone and therefore we are wailing.
When they arrived, Sukla took the lead. Avoiding possible wrong turns, she brought them straight to the house of Amritlal Chakravarty, her supposed father in law in her past life. As the party approached, Chakravarty happened to be out on the street. When Sukla saw him, she looked down shyly, following the usual custom for a young woman in the presence of older male relative. But when Sukla went to enter the house she was confused. She didn’t seem to be at the right entrance. Her confusion however made sense. After the death of Mana (Sukla’s name in her previous life), the entrance had been moved from the main street to an ally on the side. And the party soon found that Sukla recognized not only the house, but also the people in it, including those she said were her mother in law, her brother in law, her husband and her daughter. In side house, Sukla found herself in room with some 20 to 30 people. When she was asked, can you point out your husband, she correctly indicated Chakravarty.
This and many more such incidents are indicative of something serious and some serious need to recognize and study the science of soul.
Past Life Regressions
Past life regression is a technique that uses hypnosis to recover what most practitioners believe are memories of past lives or incarnations. Past life regression is typically undertaken either in pursuit of a spiritual experience, or in a psychotherapeutic setting.
Past-life regression practitioners use hypnosis and suggestion to promote recall in their patients, using a series of questions designed to elicit statements and memories about the past life's history and identity.
Descriptions of past lives have been found to be extremely elaborate, with vivid, detailed descriptions. Many times the subjects have talked in foreign languages in centuries old accent, without any prior knowledge of that language. This confirms their presence in those times. Also many persons have given accurate, elaborate and intimate historical accounts without any prior knowledge in that field.
In the Eastern traditions, this is a very old concept. But in West, Past life regression has been developed since the 1950s by psychologists, psychiatrists and mediums.
This is another indication that we are a soul, we change our bodies and we continue to live after our body is finished.
Inability of Chemicals To Produce Life
Evolutionists are claiming that life came from chemicals but they are unable to manufacture a single mosquito in laboratory. If indeed life is not due to soul and it is due to chemicals, then why not they inject some chemicals to revive a dead scientist. Science today can synthesize any chemical. So this is an open challenge to the scientific community - revive a dead person by injecting some chemicals or accept that the soul has left the body and now nothing can be done.
They have to show that living entities can be produced by a combination of chemicals. The resulting living entities must be able to exhibit the symptoms of the presence of the soul, i.e., consciousness, and undergo the transformations of growth, change, production of by-products [offspring], dwindling and death. Common sense and day-to-day observation proves that life comes from life and not from chemicals. All living beings are caused, or born from “parents”, i.e.., other living entities.
Unless there is a soul present within matter it will not go through the cycle of birth, growth, production of by-products, dwindling and death. This cycle is a symptom of the presence of the soul. The soul is placed within matter by other living being and then the body develops.
Therefore, birth of life with touch of another life and invincibility of death are two confirmations of soul.
Ghost Sightings
Once again modern science fails to explain the ghost phenomenon. Over the centuries, millions of people have experienced ghosts. Out of these millions, even if one case is accepted by the science, then the question would arise about the presence of soul which is not destroyed at the time of death.
A poll conducted in 2003 showed that more than half of adults in the United States believe in ghosts and spirits. There are thousands of haunted locations around the world. Discovery channel has made hundreds of TV episodes on ghost sightings and haunted houses.
Vedic literatures present a scientific explanation on the ghost riddle. A ghost is a soul with just subtle body, consisting of mind, intelligence and ego. A person alive has both subtle and gross body. Subtle body is like inner wear for the soul and gross body is like an outer wear.
Normally when a person dies, the soul transmigrates into another gross body. But in specific cases of suicides, traumatic deaths or excessively indulgent lives, the soul is not awarded a gross body and it has to live in subtle body for a certain period of time.
Due to subtle body, the ghost feels all the urges like hunger and thirst, but lacking a gross body, he is unable to satisfy them. Therefore he tries to occupy another person’s body.
If accepted, ghost phenomena would be another proof for the presence of soul.
Bhagavad-gita :Timeless Science of Consciousness
Bhagavad-gita has no parallel as far as science of soul is concerned. Any curious reader will have all his or her questions on mystery of life answered herein. Apart from Bhagavad-gita, all other standard scriptures of the world testify to the presence of soul within the body.
Lamentation on Passing Away
While lamenting over the passing away of a loved one, we say, “Such and such person has left us or gone away.” Now the body is lying right there, where has the person gone?
It means the real person was different from the body and though the body is lying there, real person, the soul has gone and therefore we are wailing.
Try To Answer This Simple Question
We say, this is ‘my pen’. We never say ‘I pen’, because me and the pen are different and I possess the pen. Similarly we say ‘my shirt’ and never say ‘I shirt’. This is because me and the shirt are different and I own the shirt.
Similarly we say ‘my body’ and never ‘I body’. This proves that me and my body are different and I possess the body.
Then who is that ‘I’?
Am I this head or face ? No, it is ‘my’ head or ‘my’ face. Am I this chest ? No, it is my chest. Am I this arm or leg? No, it is ‘my’ arm or leg. All the parts of my body—indeed, my entire body—is mine. But who am I, the owner of the body ?
If we reflect on this question, we can immediately come to the understanding that we are not our body; rather we are conscious of it, we possess it just like any other external possession.
I am a spirit soul, possessing this body. This is a common sense conclusion.
Similarly we say ‘my body’ and never ‘I body’. This proves that me and my body are different and I possess the body.
Then who is that ‘I’?
Am I this head or face ? No, it is ‘my’ head or ‘my’ face. Am I this chest ? No, it is my chest. Am I this arm or leg? No, it is ‘my’ arm or leg. All the parts of my body—indeed, my entire body—is mine. But who am I, the owner of the body ?
If we reflect on this question, we can immediately come to the understanding that we are not our body; rather we are conscious of it, we possess it just like any other external possession.
I am a spirit soul, possessing this body. This is a common sense conclusion.
Examples To Understand Soul Body Relationship
How the soul lives in body can be understood from the following analogies.
Driver In The Car
Bhagavad gita compares the body to a car and the soul within to a driver. “bhramayan sarva-bhutani yantra-rudhani mayaya”. Because of the driver, car moves and because of the soul, body moves. A car without a driver and body without a soul are useless. Simply by taking care of the car, servicing, washing or filling gas, the driver can not be satisfied. Similarly no amount of bodily care can comfort the soul. Soul can only be satisfied by the process of spiritual communion with the Supreme Soul.
Driver In The Car
Bhagavad gita compares the body to a car and the soul within to a driver. “bhramayan sarva-bhutani yantra-rudhani mayaya”. Because of the driver, car moves and because of the soul, body moves. A car without a driver and body without a soul are useless. Simply by taking care of the car, servicing, washing or filling gas, the driver can not be satisfied. Similarly no amount of bodily care can comfort the soul. Soul can only be satisfied by the process of spiritual communion with the Supreme Soul.
Tenant In The House
Body is like a house and spirit soul is like its resident. Just as one stays in a cheap or expensive house according to one’s paying capacity, a soul lives in a superior (human or above) or inferior (animal or below) body according to his karma or previous actions.
Death is like leaving one house to enter another. The resident (soul) is not destroyed, simply the house is changed.
Body is like a house and spirit soul is like its resident. Just as one stays in a cheap or expensive house according to one’s paying capacity, a soul lives in a superior (human or above) or inferior (animal or below) body according to his karma or previous actions.
Death is like leaving one house to enter another. The resident (soul) is not destroyed, simply the house is changed.
Person In The Dress
“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. (Bhagavad-gita 2.22)
Body has been compared to a garment. Simply washing and ironing garments can not make a person happy. Dress requires to be cared for, but the person inside the dress is more important. Similarly body needs to be cared for but the soul, the person inside is more important. Body is only an external covering for the soul.
We wear two types of outfits - inner and outer. Same way, the soul is covered with two bodies - subtle and gross. Subtle body consists of mind, intelligence and ego. Gross body is composed of earth, water, air, fire and ether.
“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. (Bhagavad-gita 2.22)
Body has been compared to a garment. Simply washing and ironing garments can not make a person happy. Dress requires to be cared for, but the person inside the dress is more important. Similarly body needs to be cared for but the soul, the person inside is more important. Body is only an external covering for the soul.
We wear two types of outfits - inner and outer. Same way, the soul is covered with two bodies - subtle and gross. Subtle body consists of mind, intelligence and ego. Gross body is composed of earth, water, air, fire and ether.
Bird In The Cage
Body can also be compared to a cage and the spirit soul to a bird encaged within. Cleansing and washing of cage is required, but to feed the bird is more important. Modern civilization is simply busy polishing the cage (body) without any information of the starving bird (the soul). No matter how much we paint and shine the cage, the bird inside will starve and die. Similarly, no matter how much we take care of the material body, the soul will starve and we can not be happy and peaceful. This is the reason we find the least happy people in most advanced countries.
Body can also be compared to a cage and the spirit soul to a bird encaged within. Cleansing and washing of cage is required, but to feed the bird is more important. Modern civilization is simply busy polishing the cage (body) without any information of the starving bird (the soul). No matter how much we paint and shine the cage, the bird inside will starve and die. Similarly, no matter how much we take care of the material body, the soul will starve and we can not be happy and peaceful. This is the reason we find the least happy people in most advanced countries.
First we have to study, "Am I this body, or am I something within this body?" Unfortunately, this subject is not taught in any school, college, or university. Everyone is thinking, "I am this body." For example, in this country people everywhere are thinking, "I am South African, they are Indian, they are Greek," and so on. Actually, everyone in the whole world is in the bodily conception of life. Krsna consciousness starts when one is above this bodily conception.
-Srila Prabhupada (SSR : Meditation and the Self Within)
Our On Stage Roles and Off Stage Real Identity
Our daily lives can be compared to acting in a play. We have become so absorbed with our temporary roles in this play that we have completely forgotten our true offstage identities. Someone is taking the part of our parent, another person is acting as our lover, another as our friend or foe, but actually it is all simply a performance; our real identities are something else. Our very bodies are nothing more than costumes, but out of illusion we identify ourselves with them and try to relate to others on the basis of these costumes. The resulting relationships are not false; they are real, but they are temporary and therefore illusory. When the curtain falls on our play—when death comes—all the different relationships we have cultivated during our lives will be finished, and our real self, an individually conscious spirit soul, will be transferred to a new situation.
Great Traditions, Great Thinkers Believed In Soul
What do Gandhi, Plato, Napoleon, Socrates, Benjamin Franklin, Johann Wolfgang Goethe, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Charles Dickens, Leo Tolstoy, Jack London, Herman Hesse, Isaac Bashevis Singer, Richard Bach and George Harrison have in common - they all believed in immortality of soul and its transmigration from one body to another. Arthur
Schopenhauer, the great nineteenth-century German philosopher once observed, “Were an Asiatic to ask me for a definition of Europe, I should be forced to answer him: It is that part of the world which is haunted by the incredible delusion that man was created out of nothing, and that his present birth is his first entrance into life.”
But today, influenced by materialistic science’s refusal to consider the existence of a nonmaterial conscious self, people tend to identify exclusively with the body and mind. They therefore tend to exploit matter for the purpose of continually increasing their bodily satisfaction. Expressed through today’s urban-industrial civilization, this exploitation is causing environmental decay of unprecedented global proportions.
Plato, for example, believed in the immortality of the human soul. To him, the soul was an entity that was fundamentally distinct from the body although it could be and often was affected by its association with the body, being dragged down by what he called “the leaden weights of becoming.” The soul was simple, not composite, and thus not liable to dissolution as were material things; further, it had the power of self-movement, again in contrast to material things. Ideally the soul should rule and guide the body, and it could ensure that this situation persisted by seeing that the bodily appetites were indulged to the minimum extent necessary for the continuance of life. The true philosopher, as Plato put it in the Phaedo, made his life a practice for death because he knew that after death the soul would be free of bodily ties and would return to its native element.
Schopenhauer, the great nineteenth-century German philosopher once observed, “Were an Asiatic to ask me for a definition of Europe, I should be forced to answer him: It is that part of the world which is haunted by the incredible delusion that man was created out of nothing, and that his present birth is his first entrance into life.”
But today, influenced by materialistic science’s refusal to consider the existence of a nonmaterial conscious self, people tend to identify exclusively with the body and mind. They therefore tend to exploit matter for the purpose of continually increasing their bodily satisfaction. Expressed through today’s urban-industrial civilization, this exploitation is causing environmental decay of unprecedented global proportions.
Plato, for example, believed in the immortality of the human soul. To him, the soul was an entity that was fundamentally distinct from the body although it could be and often was affected by its association with the body, being dragged down by what he called “the leaden weights of becoming.” The soul was simple, not composite, and thus not liable to dissolution as were material things; further, it had the power of self-movement, again in contrast to material things. Ideally the soul should rule and guide the body, and it could ensure that this situation persisted by seeing that the bodily appetites were indulged to the minimum extent necessary for the continuance of life. The true philosopher, as Plato put it in the Phaedo, made his life a practice for death because he knew that after death the soul would be free of bodily ties and would return to its native element.
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I stood on a tower in the wet, |
Many eminent men of science have stated that life is not reducible to chemistry and physics. These include Alfred Wallace (co-author of Charles Darwin's first publication on evolution); Thomas H. Huxley (a contemporary of Darwin's who championed Darwin's evolutionary theory); and Nobel physicists Niels Bohr and Eugene Wigner. The eminent mathematician John von Neumann has shown how quantum mechanics implies that the consciousness of the observer (he called it the "abstract ego") is distinct from all aspects of the observer's body and brain. This concept of an "abstract ego" corresponds to the irreducible nonmaterial entity called jivatma (soul) by Lord Krishna in Bhagavad-gita.
The Gita (2.20, 2.17) offers extensive information about the nature of the nonmaterial particle that imparts the symptoms of life to the material body: “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.... That which pervades the entire body you should know to be indestructible. No one is able to destroy that imperishable soul.”
Ignorance of our true identity as eternal spirit souls is sapping the vitality from our existence. Only a spiritual paradigm can help us check the imbalance of values in life and achieve real unity and peace in the world.
The Gita (2.20, 2.17) offers extensive information about the nature of the nonmaterial particle that imparts the symptoms of life to the material body: “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.... That which pervades the entire body you should know to be indestructible. No one is able to destroy that imperishable soul.”
Ignorance of our true identity as eternal spirit souls is sapping the vitality from our existence. Only a spiritual paradigm can help us check the imbalance of values in life and achieve real unity and peace in the world.
Everyone is thinking, "I am this body, and everything, whatever we find in this world, that is to be enjoyed by me." This is the mistake of civilization. The knowledge is: "Everything belongs to God. I can take only whatever He gives me, kindly allows."
-Srila Prabhupada (Bhagavad-gita 2.9 -- London, August 15, 1973)
