We all live until we keep on breathing that is why the phrase/idiom ‘till the last breath’ is used very often by us in our day to day life. However, we tend to forget a very important fact that the body remains alive so long as the soul resides in it. The presence of the soul automatically sustains the functioning of the body so much so that the breathing process continues even while the man is in deep sleep. Hence, in actual sense, it is the soul that performs all its activities through the body. The body and its organs are only/mere agents or means to carry out the dictates of the soul, it is not the mouth that speaks on its own, but it is the soul that speaks through the mouth organ of the body.
Thus the soul sees, hears, speaks, feels and acts through the body. These functions are performed through the medium of the five senses of sight, sound, speech, smell and touch. These senses operate through their respective organs in the body by receiving and conveying messages via the brain.
When the soul leaves the body, the event is called ‘death’. Then it is said: ‘the light has gone’ or ‘the soul has departed’. After death, decomposition starts in the body and it begins to emit foul smell after some time, due to which the body is disposed of in different ways by different people. In short, the body has value and significance so long as the soul is in it. Just as electrical appliances are useless without the supply of electric current, the body is completely ineffective without the soul. Thus, the soul and body are both indispensable to each other in this field of action called the world.
Today we all identify ourselves with the body that we have acquired because we are unaware of the immortal entity called ‘soul’ which resides within us and functions through our body. This ignorance about the existence of soul thus results in ‘body-consciousness’ or worldly approach towards life, as a result of which throughout our life we struggle to improve our condition of life without understanding the fact as to why the physical and mental conditions and environments of two individuals differ widely right from the time of their birth. We get baffled by human sufferings & untimely deaths on a mass-scale caused by natural calamities, terrorism, violence and wars due to which we constantly fear for our death all the time.
In this whole merry go round, we fail to realize that unless these basic aspects of life are rightly understood, the body-conscious approach is bound to be there. Considering one’s physical existence as the ‘be all and end all’ of everything results in man’s adopting wrong values in life which in turn leads to his committing wrong acts and consequently causes suffering to him. No wonder, in spite of striving hard, he is unable to avoid sorrow and sufferings in life. Hence in order to live a peaceful, contented, happy and liberated life, proper knowledge of one’s real ‘self-i.e. the soul, its functioning and its role in the world drama is a ‘must’. So start some soul searching from now onwards and embark on a wonderful journey of self-discovery.
