Discover the Soul

Every human being seeks happiness but unfortunately, we all suffer. We pass through a cycle of pleasure and pain. Is there any way, we can escape from this suffering? Yes, if we realise the truth that we are the Divine Soul, we will be liberated from all misery and suffering.

Most of us do not know what the Soul is. We talk about a good Soul or a bad Soul. We think that good Souls go to heaven and bad Souls to hell. We pray for the departed Soul saying, 'Let's pray for the departed Soul.' It is because if our ignorance that we do all this.

But what is the Soul? The Soul is a power. It is the power that gives us life. It is the energy that is present in each of our over 30 trillion cells. The moment we are conceived, the Soul is present. It is that spark of life that appears when we are conceived as a zygote. And this spark of life, this energy departs at death.

Therefore, the journey of the Soul is from birth to death. Just like a computer has hardware, software, and a power supply, the Soul is the power that causes our existence. There can be no life without the Soul. Unlike the power in a gadget, we have no idea where the power of the Soul comes from and where it goes. Over 5,000 years ago, the Rishis and the sages living in the Himalayas realised the Divine truth that the Soul is Divinity that manifests as you and me.

Thus, they folded hands when they met one another as they bowed down to the Soul that exists in everybody. However, over the centuries, this got diluted into a religious practice that prayed to a God with name and form. The significance of the Soul as the Divine got lost as it gave way to rituals of myth and superstition.

Most of us are so busy in this material world that we don't have time to discover the Soul. We are so consumed by the cravings of the body and the wandering of the mind, that our ego stops us from realising the truth. While we believe that we have a Soul, we think that it is just another aspect of our life. Little do we realise that without the Soul we are nothing.

The Soul is the cause, we are just effects. Our body doesn't receive a Soul after it is created. Rather, it is around the Soul that the body is formed. Where does the Soul energy come from and where does it go? To understand the Soul, one should take two pieces of dead rubber balloons - one blue and one white. They seem to have no life. But suddenly, when we blow air into them, they distinctly stand out as blue and white balloons bouncing with life. If we deflate the balloons, can we retrieve the air that was in the two balloons separately? 'Impossible!' you would say.

The air in the balloons has merged with the air that is everywhere. So is it with the Soul! When the Soul leaves the 30 trillion cells, it departs in a flash to merge with the Soul that is everywhere. It is Maya - the cosmic illusion that makes us believe that there is a Soul within us. It would rather be more apt to think that we are in the Soul. The Soul is everywhere, inside us and outside of us, just like air is not just in the balloon, but also all around it.

Somehow, we think of the Soul as a distinct entity. We don't realise that it is one power that makes us all live. It is just like the power that comes to our house. The power is distributed to the lights, the television, the air-conditioners and all the other gadgets in the house. Each of these is a separate entity, but the power is one. So it is with us. You and I seem to be different, but the power within us, the Soul, is the same.

We must not believe that we have a Soul as is most commonly thought but rather realise that we are the Soul. The moment we realise this truth that we are not this body that is constantly changing, nor are we the mind that seems to have a subtle existence, we will evolve in our life journey. If we don't overcome our ignorance and realise that we are the Divine Soul, we will continue to live as a physical body and a subtle mind and will continue to suffer as the ego. We must go on a quest of the truth to realise who we are and why we are here.