SPIRITUALITY

‘I’ THE SOUL

?when we speak of Spirituality, we must understand what Spirit is which I believe is the nonphysical aspect of a person concerned with profound thoughts of the mind or the animating principle as distinct from the body that we call the Soul. Hence, the first thing we need to understand is that the mind is not part of your brain or the physical self, but a metaphysical entity.

Let me share some of the knowledge I accrued from the Spiritual University, with regard to Spirituality, where they taught us Raja Yoga, this is something I learned in 1989, hence what I write are from my notes and books that I still have.?Since my childhood, I have been searching for the truth about self and God, this I believe is the Truth beyond Religion.Yoga is an old Indian word meaning connection or union and not the concept of what most everyone hear of this word Yoga, 1. As a special kind of gymnastics, 2. As a strange Indian mystical cult. Both are far from the truth.

?Just imagine the world is full of many wonders: incredible works of art and architecture, of science and invention, but the greatest of them all by far is the human mind. It is the mind’s play that brings about all activity in the human world. The outline of everything people construct is first formed in the mind and then filled with matter to assume a concrete shape. History, science, culture, trade and commerce, in fact all the knowledge and systems of our day to day to day world, are the projections and fulfillment of thoughts born in the mind, by concentrating itself on matter, can work such wonders and attain such miraculous physical powers as we have today, what can it not attain if it concentrates on itself.

Disorder and tension on the individual level and consequently on the social level are the result of ignorance of the self and the world around, such that the mind stays without rest. It runs jumps and churns aimlessly, lashed by waves of feelings and emotions. Like the spider caught in its own web, the individual becomes entangled in nets which are the consequences of this ignorance of the fundamentals of life.

Let us begin an upward journey that will take us through deeper and deeper levels of understanding and experience from these nets, to do so we need to understand

1.??????The distinction between the Soul and matter – the metaphysical and the physical.

2.??????The anatomy of the human Soul

3.??????The process of experiencing or emerging higher emotions

THE DISTINCTION BETWEEN THE SOUL AND MATTER

In life many happenings cannot be explained solely in material terms. At certain points of crisis or inspiration, there are deeper emotional and Spiritual experiences which separate us from the world around. We retreat at such times, into ourselves, into religious or philosophical books, into rituals or symbols, in order to understand them. We are subject to a perpetual commentary on life around us from our own thoughts, feelings and deductions.

These faculties of thinking and forming ideas, desiring and deciding and all the aspects which constitute our individual personality) are non-physical, yet nevertheless real. Indeed anything perceptible to us comes from two sources; that which is detected by the physical senses and that which arises from impressions recorded on these subtle faculties. The things that we can see, taste, hear, smell and feel, as well as the body itself are formed of matter. But the subtle faculties of mind intellect and personality are of what is called consciousness.

Consciousness is another word for “Soul” or “Spirit”. The Soul is a subtle entity that cannot be measured by any physical process or instrumentation. The nonmaterial part of each one of us exists, and is in fact the true self or what we simply call “I”. This “I” or Soul is perceptible at the level of mind and intellect.

The Soul must first be aware of its own capacities of sensing, discrimination and understanding, in order to attune these posers to the proper degree of subtlety and precision. With the physical eyes we can see only gross, material things. It requires a different kind of vision or outlook, to “see” that which concerns the non-material, all those experiences which transcend this physical level of existence. Raja Yoga involves the development and the refinement of the so called “third eye” so that we not only “see” Spiritually but understand and adjust to what we “see” in the most natural way possible.

. Raja Yoga involves the development and the refinement of the so called “third eye” so that we not only “see” Spiritually but understand and adjust to what we “see” in the most natural way possible.

ATOM AND ATMA

Throughout history scientists have built up knowledge of the laws of the physical universe on the foundation of atomic theory. The atom is seen to be a point-source of energy. Different energy levels and vibrations between neighbouring atoms give the appearance of form, colour and heat. Atomic theory appeared originally in Greece and India. The English word “atom” came from the Latin “atomus” which means “the twinkling of an eye” and the Greek “atomos” meaning “indivisible”. The Greek word is similar to the Hindi “atma” which means “self” or “Soul” and refers to the conscious energy of the human as being indivisible and indestructible point source of non-physical light.

It has been established that the entire material world we see around us as a variety of forms and colours, light and heat, is formed of these point-sources of physical energy. The most beautiful scene in nature is merely a pattern of energy waves and vibrations. The sense organs select the vibrations and relay a message to the mind where all images are formed. The eyes see some of these patterns as light forms and colours, the nose pick up odours. In the same way sounds, tastes and sensations are detected and transmitted to the mind.

The human body is also a complex pattern of physical energies. Atomic particles build together to form the organic structures and inorganic minerals which perform the body’s chemical interactions, thus forming the basis of the hormonal and nervous control of the body. What we see as old or young, ugly or beautiful, male or female, is also the effect of these differing levels of physical energies. However marvelous a machine the body may be, it is the presence of the Soul which makes it function. One of the basic differences between the Soul and the atoms is that while the Soul can exercise choice of its movements, where to go and when to go somewhere, atoms cannot obviously exercise such choice. In a way you could say you could say that a Soul is a point-source of Spiritual energy that has awareness of its own existence. Atoms do not.

PERSONAL EXPERIENCE OF DETACHMNET FROM THE BODY

“As I sat down, I tried to think of myself as a Spiritual being, a point-source of conscient energy in the forehead. ?After some minutes I became aware that my attention is leaving the various limbs and organs of the body. It is as if there was a rush of energy rising slowly like mercury in a thermometer, towards the area in the center between the eyebrows. Then suddenly I had the feeling that I was totally bodiless without any weight or heaviness. There was a deep feeling of detachment from the physical surroundings. Even though I was acutely aware of things around, I was seeing them completely in the observer state; just a tiny point of consciousness, surrounded by a lot of movement, forms, colours and sounds of which I am not of”

SOUL, BODY AND THE THIRD EYE

“Human being “means the consciousness the “Soul” or “being” experiencing life through the insentient body, the “human”. The body is perishable and temporary, whereas the Souls is eternal and without physical dimension. The Soul is the driver, the body is the car. The Soul is the guest, the body is the hotel. The Soul is the actor, the body is the costume. The Soul is the musician, the body is the instrument. I can use a knife to cut a tomato; I can use the same knife to stab someone. The knife never decides or experiences, but can be washed easily under the tap.

Now look at the fingers that held the knife, they neither decide nor experience the action. They too can be washed under the tap. It is easy to realize that the knife is an instrument, but it is more difficult to realize that the fingers are instruments too, not only the fingers the arms also. The legs are instruments for walking, the eyes for seeing, the ears for hearing, the mouth for speaking, the nose as an instrument to smell and breathe, the mouth for speaking and tasting, the heart for pumping food and oxygen around the body and so on. Even the brain is an instrument used like a computer to express all thought, word and action programmes through the body and experience results. If every physical part of the body is an instrument, who or what is it that is using the body?

Very simply it is “I” the self, the Soul. The Soul uses the word “I” for itself and the word

“my” when referring to the body; “my” hand, “my” mouth, “my” brain, etc. “I” am different from my body

WHERE IS THE SOUL SITUATED IN THE BODY

The dualities of matter/anti-matter, sentient/insentient, physical/Spiritual can be understood easily with the awareness of the mechanism by which human consciousness operates through the body. The Soul has three basic functions to perform: to give and maintain life, to express and experience its role, and to receive the rewards or fruits of past actions performed in previous existences (this involves karma and yoga, if you wish to know more about it please log into Brahma kumaris Raja Yoga).

These functions are controlled and monitored through the nervous and hormonal systems from a particular point in the area of the brain housing the thalamus, hypothalamus, pituitary and the pineal glands. This region is known as the seat of the Soul. The connection between the physical and the nonphysical is the medium of thought energy. Many Religions, Philosophies and esoteric studies place great importance on the third eye or the eye of the mind. One opens one’s third eye when you know and is aware of yourself, which can be realized through meditation.

When viewed from the front, this region appears to be between and slightly above the line of the eyebrows. It is for this reason that Hindus use a “tilak” dot in red or sandalwood paste in the middle of the forehead.?Christians also starts the sign of the cross from this region. When one makes a mistake or express tiredness, it is to this region we put the hands in the characteristic gestures of self-dismay or exhaustion. After all, the Soul subconsciously knows that he made the mistake and not the body. When people are frowning or concentrating deeply in thought it is this area of the forehead that creases into lines on the skin.

THE FORM OF THE SOUL

In deep meditation one can perceive the Soul as an infinitesimal point of nonphysical light surrounded by an aura. The Soul is not an invisible or ethereal duplicate of the physical bod. The Soul energy which manifests as thought, feelings etc. has no physical size and for this simple reason it is eternal. Something which has not physical size cannot be destroyed.

THE ANATOMY OF THE SOUL

When the Soul is in the body it manifests as three faculties, although each faculty can be given a different name, it is actually the same energy, the soul functioning on three different levels simultaneously. These are the Mind, the Intellect and the “Sanskaras” (impressions or memory)

Mind

Is the thinking faculty of the Soul, it is the mind that imagines, thinks and form ideas. The thought process is the basis of all emotions, desires and sensations. It is through this faculty that, in an instant, that thought can be projected to a distant place, past experiences and emotions can be re-lived or even the future anticipated. It is the mind that experiences the variations of moods. The mind is a faculty of the metaphysical Soul, not to be confused with heart or even the brain.

Intellect is used to assess thoughts; this is the faculty of understanding and decision- making which stands out as the most crucial faculty of the three. With the deepening and broadening of the intellect, clear understanding and realization of knowledge becomes natural, and the power to decide and reason becomes clear. It is the intellect which remembers, discriminates, judges and exercises its power in the form of will

“Sanskaras” is a Hindi word which best describes, what we could call “impressions or “subconscious or unconscious mind” they are the record of all the Soul’s past experiences and actions. Sanskaras can take the form of habits, talents, emotional temperaments, personality traits, beliefs, values or instincts. Every actions as experience creates a sanskar (this is how a habit begins) or reinforces an old one. Whatever impression is etched in the Soul remains within the Soul, forming a complete archive of all the experiences that the Soul has had. When we speak of defect, specialties or virtues, we are referring to the sanskars. The sanskars are the basis of the Souls individuality.

ORIGIN OF THOUGHT

The cyclic nature of thought process is shown in the diagram below. From the sanskars (we could use the term memory), various subconscious impressions surface in the conscious mind and manifests as thoughts, emotions and desires. These are then processed by the intellect, and maybe expressed as actions through the body. The way in which we act, the results of our actions and the input data from the external world collected through the sense organs, all leave more impressions on the Soul creating or reinforcing sanskars or cancelling the effect of others. (Please give deep thought to this; you have the capacity to re-impose good karma (actions) over that of bad karma (actions) already there by the grace of God, why I always say that this is such a beautiful creation.) If an action is performed repeatedly it becomes a “deep” sanskar, which will then be most likely to re-emerge in the consciousness in the future (i.e. a habit) the great majority of observations and actions leave only a weak impression on the Soul, so that the Soul is unable to recall exactly all that has taken place. Only the strong impressions form the basis of what is filed away as memories of the past.