The Soul: An Observer of the Bodily Activities

(written on August 15, 2019)

(References: BG 13.30, 13.33, 14.5, 14.19, 3.27. Also SB 1.2.33, and 3.30.4.)

The soul is sat-cit-ananda, eternally blissful and knowledgeable. However the soul also has a tendency to fall down. This is because we are kshara, or fallible while the Supersoul is akshara or infallible. Our tendency to fall down causes us to become conditioned and hence we are placed in the material world. As said in BG 14.5, “Material nature consists of three modes – goodness, passion and ignorance. When the eternal living entity comes in contact with nature, O mighty-armed Arjuna, he becomes conditioned by these modes.” It is important to understand that the soul is always pure, but the consciousness which is the symptom of the soul gets conditioned. Even though the soul is in the material world, it does not combine with the surrounding field of activities. As explained by Krishna in BG 13.33, “The sky, due to its subtle nature, does not mix with anything, although it is all-pervading. Similarly, the soul situated in Brahman vision does not mix with the body, though situated in that body.” Just like oil does not combine with water, the soul is situated in the material world without getting affected by it. This means that the soul neither performs activities nor reacts in the material nature. Hence, the soul actually does nothing. All of the actions are performed by the material body due to the corrupted consciousness.

The body, on the other hand, is purely made of the modes of material nature and is temporary. It is controlled by the modes of material nature like how the puppeteer controls the puppet and makes it dance. Srila Prabhupada says in the purport of SB 1.2.33 that… “There are 8,400,000 species of living beings beginning from the highest intellectual being, Brahmā, down to the insignificant ant, and all of them are enjoying the material world according to the desires of the subtle mind and gross material body.” According to our past karma and our unfulfilled desires we are given a new body for the next lifetime. There are two parts of the material body: the gross and the subtle. The gross body needs sleep every night, it needs sufficient food three times a day, it needs to excrete at least once a day, etc. However, due to the subtle body (mind, intelligence, and false ego), the gross body submits to desires such as over eating or sleeping too much etc.,. We can properly control the actions of the body when our consciousness is situated in the correct philosophy, darshana or how to see properly. To understand real philosophy, Prabhupada says in the purport of BG 14.9 that “it is from those who are fully in Krishna consciousness that one has to learn the science of activities.” From the bonafide spiritual master one can understand his spiritual position, material body, the senses, how they are entrapped, and how they are under the modes of material nature. Most importantly we must learn to do everything for Krishna. This is the real application of the philosophy. We should eat, sleep, excrete, etc. for the well being of the body so that we may perform devotional service, and not for sense gratification.

One might ask how their consciousness might be purified if they have an accumulation of karma. It is important to understand that anyone can take up Krishna consciousness and purify the consciousness because the only thing which is not regulated by karma is surrendering unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This means that the soul is always allowed the choice to go back to Krishna.