Miscellaneous - Religion   

Spiritual wisdom

CHENNAI: Human birth is a valuable asset for every individual who should utilise this opportunity to explore the meaning and purpose of life. True learning is manifest when one pursues to understand the nature of one’s soul, body and the Supreme Being. Scholarship in various other fields becomes a useless possession if this knowledge is not gained.

This certainty is authenticated by Lord Krishna when He exhorts Arjuna to fight and not lament over the killing that is inevitable when there is a war, pointed out Swami Gautamananda in a lecture on the Bhagavad Gita. There was much conflict in Arjuna’s mind when he was faced with the dilemma of killing his preceptors, venerable elders and kinsmen. Going ahead with this war seemed to contradict his understanding of dharma and he rejected material aspirations and wanted to abandon the war and he surrendered to Lord Krishna and sought his advice and guidance. The Lord then initiates Arjuna into the basis of spiritual knowledge that is the essence of self realisation.

The subtle Vedic truths that enable individuals to realise the soul are retold in simpler terms by the Supreme Being who is the one and only authority on these matters. The soul’s most subtle nature cannot be destroyed by any of the elements of nature — earth, fire, water, air and space. In contrast to this is the mutable nature of the body that heads towards decay and death right from the moment of birth. This basic phenomenon of nature pertaining to all living beings, animals, plants, insects etc., is a change that affects the gross material body but the soul remains unaffected.

The Atman has no past, present or future and never dies. As it transcends the five elements, it cannot be cut by weapons, burned by fire, dried by wind, moistened by water. It is unchanging and eternal. Self realisation takes place when one is able to analyse the illusory effects caused by the material world and body. The soul seeks a new body when the present one ages and dies, just as worn out garments are shed and new ones are donned. Those ignorant of this understanding that the welfare of the soul is of utmost importance will never be able to rise above the cycle of samsara.

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