Saturday, October 1, 2011

Samkhya Yoga Part 6 - Body and Spirit

The Bhagavad Gita: Chapter 2 /part 6
Body and Spirit

The soul never takes birth, never dies.  It came into being, not after an origination. This soul has no birth, no change and no ruin.This soul, that was into being before the formation of bodies, is not destroyed when body is destroyed. The changes that happen to body do not affect spirit or soul. Body always passes through formation, existence, transformation and ruin. It is its nature. But spirit has no birth, no transformation or change and no ruin. This does not mean that spirit is not existing.  Then, when did spirit or soul originate? Soul (spirit) came into being not after an origination. Soul is ever existing. Spirit is not destroyed by the destruction of body.

"It has no birth, no death"
Consciousness or spirit has no beginning and no ending. That which is born, certainly  dies. And that which is not born, certainly does not die. As the consciousness/spirit has no birth, so it has no death.

"It came into being not after an origination"
Consciousness/spirit is ever existing. But when did the spirit originate first? No, it has come into being not after an origination. Sometimes people may think that spirit is existing, after its initial formation. No, it is ever existing and ever lasting. It is into being as an ever being.

"It has no birth, no change and no ruin"
Spirit has no change. It remains same without any transformation. No growth. For which that is without any change will remain same. Then there will not be any decay or harm and no final ruin.

"It was into being before the formation of bodies"
Spirit/soul is ancient. This means that the consciousness or spirit was into existence before the formation of all the matter in the universe. It is the only object that existed from time immemorial and all other things in this universe originated latter.

"It is not destroyed when body is destroyed"
This means that spirit is not ruined even when all matter in the universe are ruined. It will remain same even after all the things in the universe vanish. Matter have birth, so they have death also. At the final ruin of the whole universe, only the consciousness or spirit will exist. It is said, thereafter by passing a long period, the universe will evolve again from the consciousness.

Consciousness  or spirit has no evolution (transformation/change), so it has no ruin, so it has no birth, so it is eternal, so it has no motion,  so it is incessant (unbroken), so it is all pervading, so it has no action (karma), so it has no emotion (vibration), so it is static, so it is peaceful, so it is blissful (ananda mayam).


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