Soul

Soul is the name given to the spiritual part of a living being. It is conceived of as the Seat of Reason and Conscience, in human beings by which the mankind relates and subordinates oneself to the higher spiritual world, inspiring with a sense of individual responsibility. However, the existence of the soul have always been contested by thinkers, both religious and scientific. In Buddhism there is "nothing" that it says "zero" within, which is quite a different thing than materialism, according to which the body is a material thing, a unique composition of matters enabling life to exist.

In Hinduism, it is believed to be a particle of the Divinity, immortal, conscious, untainted by Maya, the seemingly existing universe or the world which are transitory and unreal or untruth in philosophy, and blissful by nature. However, it allows itself to be dominated by Maya and has been caught in its own trap like a parrot or a monkey.

It is worth mentioning here that there is a popular mode of catching parrots. A stick with a bait at the end and a string attached to it is so set in the ground that it revolves from the weight of the parrot when it lights upon it, and the bird, confused by the motion fancies it is entangled in the string, though it is really loose and might fly away if it tried.

The popular way of catching a monkey, a large jar with narrow mouth is sunk in the ground full of grain. The monkey puts in its hand and clutches a handful of grain, but being unable to draw out his closed fist on account of the smallness of the jar's mouth, it fancies himself caught, though if he stretches the palm of its hand, it could extricate it immediately.

The soul thus feels entrapped in the living body of a creature or human being despite the fact that there are nine (yogis say ten) door open in the human body.

According to Srimad Bhagvadgita, the size of a soul is equal to the size of a thumb.

According to a doctor Duncan MacDougall, the weight of a soul is approximately 21 gram. In 1907, MacDougall weighed six patients while they were in the process of dying from tuberculosis in an old age home. After death of the patients he found a loss of about 21 gram.

According to Srimad Bhagvadgita, when the soul departs after the death of a person, it may come again to acquire a body or may not come. One can know this whether the soul would return or not by the noting the time of death of a person.

Lord Krishna says, in the path, in which deities preside over effulgent fire, the daylight, the bright fortnight and the six months of the northern solstice, then departing after death, the knowers of Brahma finally reach Brahma, the do not return.

The Lord says, in the path, in which gods preside over smoke, the night, the dark fortnight and the six months, of the southern solstice, then traversing through, the Yogi after death, catches the lunar light and he returns to the mortal world.

Nearby pages
Sound, Sounti, Source of contamination, Source of Injury or Illness, South Australia, South Carolina