Miscellaneous - Religion   

Human experience

CHENNAI : The five sensory faculties of hearing, sight, touch, taste and smell, and the mind function in a human being due to the presence of the Self (Atman) within. The bonded soul experiences the objects of the senses according to its Karma (as joy and sorrow). But in actual experience man identifies himself with his body-mind personality and hence has a mistaken perception of them. Only a man of wisdom is aware of the soul that transmigrates from one body to another after death, and in the process carries the senses and the mind in subtle form with it.

In his discourse, Sri Goda Venketeswara Sastri said just as in the state of sleep the senses and the mind rest in the cavity of the heart, in death also they are withdrawn into the heart but leave the body permanently in subtle form. The progress of the transmigrating soul varies according to the Karma in the form of its good (Punya) and bad (Papa) deeds. Not only Karma but also his learning and experiences embedded in the mind as latent tendencies (Samskaras) go with the soul in its various births and they are totally wiped out when knowledge results in Self-realisation. This is the reason that one should consciously try to overcome bad Samskaras for they will continue to assert themselves in future births thereby retarding spiritual evolution. As there is no guarantee whether the next birth will also be human the scriptures constantly reiterate that the opportunity of this birth should not be frittered away in materialistic pursuits.

Why is a layman not aware of the process of transmigration? The Gita points out, "The ignorant know not the soul departing from or dwelling in the body, or enjoying the objects of senses— even when it is connected with the three Gunas (qualities). Only those endowed with the eye of wisdom are able to realise it." Just as a person watching a film actually sees only the images on the screen, so also man experiences only the diversity of the phenomenal world and not the underlying eternal Reality. The ignorant person is not aware of the soul as he has not experienced the Reality. So only spiritual knowledge will remove this mistaken notion.

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