Have you ever wondered what is that something inside of you that makes you move, think, talk and do absolutely anything?
Have you ever wondered what happens to a person when they depart from this world?
Ever thought of how people are born with a “sixth sense” or develop some kind of “instinct” that let’s them see the future?
And finally, have you ever wondered what a soul or a spirit really is?
If you’ve had such questions, you belong to that group of people who are in the stage of spiritual awakening. So, what is this ‘thing’ we call as a soul?
In order to understand what a ‘soul’ is, you need to understand what consciousness is.
Consciousness, or Atman, is a cosmic energy which guides you to take the decisions or perform actions in life.
Have you ever had that feeling of someone stalking you while walking without even looking behind, or have you ever felt that “something here is not right”? What we call the ‘gut feeling’ is actually the consciousness trying to make you understand about the current situation you’re in. In other words, this is your “spidey-sense tingling”!
Where does Atman come from?
Atman is a part of the biggest form of eternal consciousness called the Brahman. As per the Upanishads, understanding the Brahman (pure supreme consciousness) is impossible. It can only be experienced as it has no form and hence is called the nirvika/pa (unconditioned), nirguna (unqualified) and nirupadhi (devoid of any limiting adjunct). For our understanding, let us say that Brahman is beyond Space and Time. For further clarity, the Space and the universe is a part of Brahman.
“He/She is with God now, We are God’s children…”
Heard your grandparents or elderly people say these?
Sounds pretty unreal right? Well, it is all real. Let me explain how.
The Atman (a small part of the Brahman) enters the body and becomes alive (called as jiva). After the Atman (soul) has completed it’s cycle in it’s current life, moves on from the body back to Brahman. That means, metaphysically, the consciousness moves from the physical body to the etheric dimension. And hence the statement, We belong to God or We are a part of God.
There have been some instances where people who have come back from coma or have had a near death experience say that they saw a ‘white light’ at the end of a tunnel. This white light can be decribed as the Supreme Consciousness. If you really want a basic understanding of what consciousness a human being has, it can defined as pure white light (Note that it can always come in different shades and colours. This is the energy that envelopes the person, also called as aura in other terms).
Therefore, you are not the body or the mind. You are pure consciousness or Atman and nothing else.
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