More on Souls (aka Aatmas)

We saw in last post that we are ever-present, constant souls, who get transformed into various bodies.

How does this happen? A disclaimer before I go further: What I am humbly about to present is strictly Vishishtadvaitic interpretation of Vedas. As we go on it will become clearer as to what is this "Vishishtadvatic" philosophy all about and why this interpretation scores.

So, now that I am not my body, what are my characteristics innate to me that I can leverage on apart from this body?

Vedas say that a soul or aatma is ever-constant, unchangeable, has knowledge as its inseparable attribute and is infinitesimally small in nature. There's more, but we'll see it later.

A vedic passage which is quoted by scholars often expresses how small a soul is. It says if you want to find out how small you are, cut the tip of one hair of a cow's tail. Cut that tip into 100 pieces. Take one piece out of that and cut it into 100 more pieces. Go on like this until you can do it physically and then mentally. If you reach a stage where you can't cut it further, then that is the size of a soul or aatma.

The concept is that a soul or aatma is the smallest thing. There is nothing which is smaller than that. Can't believe it? There is a very sound logic behind this whole thing. We saw earlier that a mosquito, a dog or a human - all are essentially souls in different bodies.

If a same constant soul has to take different bodily forms, then it has to be the smallest being so that it can take any form from smallest to largest.

Also, a soul can't be destroyed simply because it is the smallest being. To destroy something, you need something smaller and sharper than that object. When you kill an insect with a stone, the force with which you hit the insect, which is sharper than the insect, is what kills the insect. The same way you can't cut a photon particle with a knife, you can't cut a soul as well with anything.

All this sounds fine in concept, but proof? We see that there are living and non-living things around us. We understand that a mosquito lives a life of its own like we do. Why that, there is world's smallest human being and tallest human being. All of us equal as living beings. How? Only if the ever-constant I, the soul is the same kind for all of us.

We, the ever-constant, ever-present souls are like self illuminated light particles - we are self-illuminated with knowledge (what knowledge? we'll see that later).

But, then how and why is it that one soul is a mosquito and myself a human being? Who decides that and how? What are my boundaries?

The Concept of Souls

Vedas say one thing emphatically - that we, the living beings are all souls of the same kind. Only the bodies that we have are different.

Proof? We know it intuitively, except that we don't pay attention to it. I am able to think of my body, my mind, my thoughts, my feelings everything separately from me. But me as an entity is always a constant, regardless of all the changes that my body, mind and feelings go through.

But is it so important that I am a soul? so what if I am or am not? Because it creates a fundamental shift in our thinking of life. All the man-made miseries in life are mostly because of our wrong perception of ourself. We think ourselves to be things we are not and direct our energies in the wrong direction. If I think I am the body, my efforts will be focussed on maintaining it well. But most realize after a while, no matter how you maintain it, this body finally falls. No matter how pleasuring a pleasure is, it ends.

If I think of myself as a soul, then I would start thinking, so what's important for me, the soul? Now I see body as a tool I have to use. So, how do I use the tool? to do what? why?

Like science says about energy, we are like tiny-bits of ever-present energy, neither created nor destroyed, but get transformed always. Who does this transformation? why?

Vishishtadvaita as a philosophy answers all these fundamental questions and more, culled out of the Vedas of course.

Let's Deep Dive!

From here on, let's take a slightly different path in our journey to understand basics of Srivaishnavism and its philosophy. The idea is to make it a tad easier and more interesting. So that we get the practical relevance of the basic concepts and their meaning clearly.

In summary, we have seen what vedas are, their unifying and timeless appeal. We also saw some myth busters about certain perceptions regarding vedas. We saw that we are souls and not our bodies. We saw the three realities - chit (soul), achit (non-living stuff) and Iiswara (God). We saw that we have a limited freedom and are bound by our own karmic balance to be born repeatedly in this world. It was also mentioned that there is a way out of this birth-death vicious cycle.

From a layman's standpoint, all this should be a little overwhelming. And there are bound to be questions. As we move on, let's try and understand these clearly, deeply, one at a time, with answers to as many layman's doubts and questions.

Watch out for the next post!

Few Basics – My Boundaries

So, we are all Jeevathmas and not our ever changing and most certain to die bodies.

How about other stuff in this universe – what are they? According to Vishishtadvaita philosophy, there are three “thathvaas” or realities – Chit, Achit and Iisvara.

Chit refers to any soul. In another way, Chit is all entities with knowledge as their attribute. So, we humans, animals, trees are all “Chit”, since all of us are basically aathmas in different bodies. 

Achit is all things which don’t have any knowledge in them – basically, inanimate objects without knowledge. Tables, Chairs, buildings, stones etc., are all “Achit”.

Iiswara is the Lord who controls the Chit as well as the Achit. Iiswara is the loving creator, master, controller and protector of the universe.

Understanding this triad of “chit-achit-Iiswara” helps us in understanding about the real “us”, this world, our boundaries and ultimately our life.

Do we have boundaries? What are they? Aren’t we supposed to be “free” individuals?

I remember a meeting long back in my old company which was addressed by a HR Manager. One of the participants asked the HR Manager – “How much freedom do we have in our work?”

The HR Manager responded – “Good Question. But think for a moment. Do you think India is a free country? Do you think we are free to take whatever decision we want to?” He proceeded to answer himself - “Even the most powerful nation in the world is not completely free to take any decision that it wants to take. There are various constraints, various stakeholders and various considerations that the country’s government has to take note of before taking any decision. No entity has complete freedom in the world. Absolute freedom only leads to anarchy.”

He proceeded as we listened in rapt attention - “Freedom is always within a context. Within the context of the roles that you play as defined in the organization, you do have freedom”.

How true of the whole universe! In this sense, we are like cows tied to a pole using a rope. The freedom that cows have is limited by the length of the rope they are tied with.

Our evergreen account-of-Karmas are the rope that ties us and determines our boundaries in this world.

Until there is balance in this account, we need to be cows tied to this world. But isn’t it bad that we’ll keep going through this cycle of birth-life-death in this world with all its constraints? Yes, it is.

Do we have a way out? Is there a better option? Yes, we have.

Few Basics - "Another Chance" (Ensure to read "Few Basics - Me Who?" below, before you read this).

Karma to put it simply, means action. Any action that we do is karma. And as we sow, so we reap. Our actions give us their effects as well, which we need to accept.

Like a company having acceptable and not-acceptable practices and behavior, so should life have right? Like, how much ever technically advanced we become, to harm another person for my own selfish ends, cheat, lie, kill can never become good.

In Vedas, karmas are classified into two broad groups - “Punya Karma” or “Paapa Karma”. Punya Karma is a karma that Vedas consider acceptable, and produces good results for us and others. Paapa Karma is a karma that Vedas consider un-acceptable, and produces bad results for us and others. We need to reap the result of our punya and paapa karmas.

Sometimes in life (and only sometimes), we see good things happening to us without trying very hard for it – that is the result of our past Punya. Conversely, we see ourselves getting into problems without much of our fault – that is the result of our past Paapaa.

This is not to say that everything in life is determined – it isn’t. Between major milestones which are determined to an extent, we have our lives to ourselves to live properly. If we don’t use that and make wrong choices again, then it’s our fault. Besides, it’s not actually important as to what we face; it’s only important how we respond to it. The response can help an individual advance in his goal/mission or set him back by many yards. This is a topic where our understanding would get more refined as we travel further.

We take various births as long as we have Punya or Paapa karmas whose effects we haven’t yet borne. And that account is almost always evergreen – except if we consciously try and find ways to close it. This is because, even when we do something good, we do so many things that would result in various Punya and Paapaa. The rate at which we earn this is so fast, but we can’t really expend it at the rate at which we earned it.

Let’s see a little example for it. Assume that I am going to serve food for the needy - certainly a noble deed, no doubt. So, it should give me Punya right? Yes, it will. But I would earn many other Punya and Paapa in the process as well. I started my car and in my hurry to reach the place, yelled at the cook who cooked the food late (paapaa). I thought how noble I was and how I am superior to many others by my noble deeds (paapaa). I stopped to give money to some begging children on the way (Punya). Finally I did serve some needy people, which is a great deed (punya). All these in-process punya and paapa has also to be spent ultimately. So, even in this small example, even with the very limited combination of possible tasks, we see that we earn more than we can spend. Imagine this for all activities for the whole life! And for many births!

Since we have an evergreen account of karmas to exhaust, we take repeated births in this world to sort of close our karmic accounts by taking their effects and have another chance at advancing towards the ultimate goal of a jeevathma.

So, how do we utilize this “another chance” of a birth? For that we need to know what the ultimate goal of a jeevathma is.

Few Basics - Me Who?

An uncontrolled vehicle goes berserk and causes ruins. Similarly an uncontrolled life leads only to chaos and anarchy in our lives and others as well. When we have real control over our lives, we are free in our mind and can have better enjoyment that can lift our life. Life becomes a cool journey in a well-controlled vehicle.

A Philosophy of Life helps us there. It is like a Quality Management System for a company – a company simply can’t be run effectively with just commitment to some values, there needs to be a policy-based system at work in the company.

Mainly, a philosophy of life should address the fundamental questions of life – who we are, what is this life all about, what is our ultimate purpose in life, how do we achieve it and what do we do once we achieve it.

The Vishishtadvaita philosophy popularized by Swami Ramanuja addresses all these and much more in a stellar fashion. It is based on a complete and true interpretation of the Vedas.

The journey to understand this philosophy starts with the first question - who are we? Are we just our bodies? Or are we something else? As mentioned in the preceding sections, Vedas declare that we are not just mere mortal, ever changing, decaying and destroyed bodies – we are eternal souls. When we say “I”, we refer to the soul inside our body and not our body as such.

It is like understanding something as basic as me and my vehicle are different. I should be driving my vehicle and not vice-versa. Vedas say that we are the drivers and our body is the vehicle.

As a matter of fact, we all have an intrinsic understanding that we are in fact souls and not our bodies or our mind. Think about the following statements – have we not said it or heard it at some point?

“I have conditioned my mind to think positively and not to expect anything”

“I have conditioned my body well through regular exercises”

What do the above statements indicate? That I see myself  as different from my body and mind – as if I am above both of them and am in a position to control both of them. True. This is what Vedas also say – that you are a “soul” (“jeevaathma” or “aatma”) and not the body.

But too often, we forget this and think more from the angle of the body. The moment we get this clearly that we are “the soul” and not “the body” we have started recognizing the realities around us.

So, what is this soul stuff? Vedas say that we as souls are eternal in nature like energy – neither created nor destroyed, but take different bodily forms due to our various “karma”. And what exactly is karma?

Vedas – The Great Unifying Guide

First, understanding our philosophy doesn't start with God...It starts with us. But before we get into deeper points about the philosophy, let's at the outset try and understand a little about Vedas and Vedanta - what they are and are not and some myth busters about them.

Most of the today’s generation criticizes the Vedas and the Vedanta without getting some basic understanding about them. Most of what they say is based on hearsay and half-baked articles by people who don't understand the broader picture. It is like flipping through the pages of a book you haven't read fully and commenting on it with certainty - you don't read one page in the middle of a book and conclude something about the book.

Few common accusations on the Vedas are that they are "backward" in nature; they are "out-of-tune" with science and modernity; promote "casteism" and "un-touchability" which "divides" people and is "irrelevant" now.

Nothing can be farther from truth. To understand this, we need to understand the territory Vedas try to address to understand their timeless appeal. Vedas consists of two broad divisions:

1. The "poorva bhaagam" or the "Karma kaandam"

2. The "Uthara bhaagam" or the "Vedanta" or the "Brahma Kaandam"

The "poorva bhaagam" deals with karmas or to put it in a different way, process and procedures for life - What a person can do, should not be doing and why - for a good life here and anywhere. Like the Quality Management System of any company, this part deals with standards, guidelines, process and procedures for different segments/sections of people.

The "uthara bhaagam" is the more important of the two - this is the one that goes beyond karmas and tells us about the meanings behind the various karmas, about us, about the brahmam, our ultimate purpose in life and the various paths to reach our goal. You can think of this somewhat like the various career paths a company offers, with some differences. This is the part that contains the various "upanishads".

Now, let's deal with the common accusations and why they are not true. Let's first take the one about "casteism", "untouchability" and "divisive". If we try and understand the true message of Vedas, this accusation is almost laughable.

Vedas proclaim one thing emphatically - that we all are souls and not these mere mortal, ever changing and destroyed bodies. And in many places, they say clearly that we need to identify ourselves as souls and not our bodies. And also that all souls are one and the same in their nature - there is only difference in bodies. And the ultimate goal of all these souls or jeevaathmas is the same. All are entitled to achieve that goal and have various ways to achieve it. You can see that this is the ultimate unifier of a concept possible. But the same Vedas do talk about the four varnas and that is where the problem is for people.

If all souls are same, then why have four varnas? We need to understand one thing clearly - it was not the intention of Vedas to "divide" and make one set of people greater than the other. The souls are not categorized - it's us inside the mortal bodies that come under one of these four varnas. Why? It is a societal organization structure. That’s it - nothing more, nothing less.

Think about it; in any society, there are always four categories of people - the rulers - those who govern and defend the nation; the teachers/thinkers - those who are learned and guide the society as to what is right and wrong; the businessmen/entrepreneurs/professionals - those who do business, provide services and help in the economic prosperity of the society; the workers - without whom the society doesn't exist. Even today, these four categories of people exist in our society - by whatever name you call them.

While Vedas talk of four varnas, there is no talk of the 4000 or 5000 castes that we have today. There is only talk of people belonging to various professions as part these varnas. But essentially there are only four varnas. All this and the associated abhorrent discriminatory problems and practices are due to ignorance and degeneration that set in due to vagaries of time.

Are these varnas hereditary? From my humble understanding of what elders say, “yes” and “no”. Yes, because a son or daughter of a person of one varna is born as a person of that varna until he drifts to another varna. No because, just that you are born in a varna does not mean that whatever you do, you are a person of that varna. A born brahmin who is greedy, lies and cheats others is not a brahmin. He was just born as a brahmin, but didn't stay as such with his "guna" (qualities) and "karma" (activities).

But why not just say that anyone can be of any varna by their own choice? Though it has happened in some cases – Sage Vishwamithra being an example - it generally is not sanctioned explicitly. One reason could be that it could lead to chaos and dis-organization. Also primarily because, no person of one varna is really "inferior" or "superior" as a person at all. So, there is no reason to really think that "Oh, I need to belong to that varna". Any person of any varna or for that matter any living thing, can reach the ultimate goal of a jeevathma. They just need to keep doing duties prescribed for them while surrendering to the lord - there is no distinction at all. We’ll see more on this last point later.

Since the roles and responsibilities of all these four sets of people are different, the rules and regulations for them also are tailored for that. There is no "un-touchability" in any of these. In west, it is a culture that you "respect other’s private space". If you stand so close to them, they feel that you are sort of, "violating their private space". Is this un-touchability? Besides Vedas don't even go that far - they only say that a person who is discharging a certain responsibility needs to follow the rules for proper discharge of that responsibility. It is just a procedural rule and doesn't lead to any "superiority" or "inferiority".

Where is divisiveness in all this? It is part of the age-old misunderstanding about Vedas. If this is divisive, then all commercial, political and other establishments of these days are divisive as well.

Let's now turn to the "out-of-tune with modern science" part. Science is an essential part of lives. Without that how would I be writing this piece in a PC? But we need to understand that science is not an "alternative" to sampradaya/philosophy/spirituality/religion. They are actually complementary in nature. Sometimes it does look like they are in conflict, but the idea is different and it's not actually a conflict.

Philosophy deals with life as a whole – life with all its goodness, complications and conflicts. Science deals with tools to make our physical life in this world better. Philosophy helps me be a better person, whereas science helps the person with tools that can make our physical life better. Philosophy talks to the “soul” and science primarily deals with our “body”.  Science helps us to physically understand the world we live in better. They are like two sides of a coin - they need each other, but they are not exactly opposed to each other.

Hence, it would be naive to think that "science" should dictate our lives and we don't need anything else. Science can deal with illness of the body. Science can help me maintain my physical health and ensure that I have all the comforts in the world, but cannot ensure that I am a nice person or a person who is an asset to the society. That Vedas can do - they embody timeless principles that don't change and help us lead a healthy life - healthy in body, mind and soul.

Science and Modernity can help me look great from the outside, which we require as well. But what is more important is inner beauty – that requires a philosophy of life.

Besides, science or modernity is an evolving phenomenon - It constantly keeps changing, whereas Vedas don't and can't. What was science 20 years back is not science now; it won't be the same in future also, since it deals with a territory that keeps changing and evolving - the physical world. The Vedas, whereas, deal with timeless principles of life that don't and can't change – like causing harm to someone will always be bad, it can’t change. So where does the "conflict" part come in? It mostly comes when we try to put science into religious philosophy and vice versa which is actually unnecessary.

For example, Vedas say emphatically that Onion and Garlic should be avoided. Reason – they encourage certain qualities in a person which are not desirable – like anger, being more emotional and other stuff. Now, many might spring up and ask is there any scientific evidence to prove that.

Again, one thing needs to be remembered. Science being something that keeps evolving, can’t and isn’t conclusive on many things in life. Generally, science cannot be conclusive on a point involving “effects” of something on internal stuff like attitude, mindset, qualities etc., It can at best be said that, they are not able to find any evidence for such a thing as of now. And few years later, some research might just come up and tell us that it indeed has that effect. This is not to disbelieve science – but just that it can’t be conclusive on a point linking physical tangible things with things intangible and internal to a person like his qualities or attitude. Our experience or our elders’ experience can teach us more in such a thing like this.

A simple rule of thumb – if it is something internal to a person and intangible, something that is linked to the soul’s well-being, then Vedas are the ultimate guide. Because the ultimate aim of Vedas’ is the well-being of the soul – and all that they mandate will be in that ultimate direction.

That is not to say the Vedas nudge us to neglect the body – they don’t. Since the soul and the body are bound together in this world, soul can’t do what it wants to do without a healthy body. Hence, a healthy body and mind are essential. But only a healthy soul is better placed to reap the true benefits of a healthy body and mind. Such a soul would be an asset to the society and the world at large.

Therefore, Vedas and their unifying, global appeal based on timeless principles are actually more relevant in today’s fast paced world. Today’s world has more conflicts, everyone is stressed out and money-plus-pleasure has come to dictate almost everything in the society. All right thinking individuals do see the perils of a societal life primarily based on money and pleasure – it’s unstable. Since money or pleasure by itself is unstable, the happiness or fulfillment that it brings is also unstable.

Let’s now delve into our great philosophy. One can then appreciate how relevant they are and how easy our lives become if we understand this properly.