Body and Soul: The Bhagavad Gita

This post is a  discussion about Body and Soul based on The Bhagavad Gita. For this, the verses 12 and 13 of chapter two are taken into consideration. There are other verses also that discusses  the same in the latter chapters.

According to the Bhagavad Gita, there are only two substances that can be seen as components of an individual. One is body (matter) and other is soul (consciousness). Consciousness is having capability of knowing about itself and about other matters. But body or matter does not have this capacity of its own and so it can be called as dead matter. A body or dead matter becomes alive and conscious only in the presence of soul or consciousness. This reveals that consciousness or soul is free and absolute and the body is not free and relative.  The absolute consciousness is unlimited and ever existing. It cannot be created or nor be destroyed. It is eternal. In the same time, matter or body is having change and death. The absolute consciousness or soul, when it gets attached to a body, becomes limited and is known as 'jivathma' or individual soul. Thus body is the dead matter that binds the individual soul. This is the abstract teaching that we get from those verses of the Bhagavad Gita. Let us see this in detail.

A body is ever changing. Body has a birth, growth and death. From prana spandana (energy vibration) to all dead matters everything is subjected to change. Even if the body is subjected to change, the innate soul is without any change. This can be understood from our direct experiences. The feeling of existence or the feeling of "I" (not the ego) is given to an individual by the soul or consciousness with its capacity of 'knowing'. Let us observe the three states of existence - deep sleep state, dreaming state and wake up state. It is the same consciousness or soul or "I" (without any change) which experiences the deep sleep, that goes on dreaming latter. After these two states, the same "I" starts doing karma or activities in the wake up state. No one can say that there are three different "I" that slept well, dreamed and woke up. Everybody experiences that they are the same "I" in the three states.

Similarly a body passes through different stages as childhood, youth and old age. While passing through these stages, it is the same consciousness or soul (without any change) that experiences the changes of body. It is the same "I" that had born, finally goes to death. If no change is happening for the soul in different stages of body or in different states of existences then there will not be any change or death for the soul when the body becomes dead.

This is the truth of existence of body and soul.  In latter verses of the Bhagavad Gita , the truth about birth and rebirth will be discussed. When the existing body becomes dead the everlasting soul receives another body (rebirth). The rebirth is happening due to the karmas. Whenever the accumulated karma is finished completely then there will not be any rebirth. Then the soul that was attached to the body (jivathma) will be released and joins with the absolute consciousness or paramathma.