CAN I LIVE FOREVER?

Lesson One

Each of us is a Living Soul within a material body

At every moment our bodies are changing. Just contemplate on your present body. You are in the prime of youth now. How did your body look like twenty years ago? Try to comprehend how this body will be after fifty years. In the course of our life we actually have many different bodies- infant, child, youth, adult, and so on - but we remain the same person.

Am I a lump of chemicals?

According to Dr. Harry Monsen, Professor of anatomy at Illinois College of Medicine, your body is worth only Rs. 110/- if the cost of all the chemicals that constitute your body is considered. Do you think you are worth only Rs. 110/-?

Will your parents sell you off even if someone pays them 50 crore rupees? When a living person looses his small finger or has to get his kidney replaced, he is ready to spend lakhs and lakhs of rupees. What is there in a living body that makes it so valuable? And why is a dead body utterly valueless, although all the chemicals are still there in it?

The most fundamental knowledge delivered by Sri Krishna to Arjuna in Bhagavad-gita is that we are not these bodies; we are spirit souls.  The body is only mere temporary covering or dress. The soul (living force) is present in the plants, animals and human beings. Wherever there is life there must be a soul, because the soul is life. Whether it is an amoeba or an elephant or a human being, the soul is present within each body.

What exactly is the soul?

The soul is the spark of life that activates every body and enables it to function, just as electric current activates a device and enables it to function. The soul can be compared to a driver and the body to a vehicle. The soul is the spark of life that makes the body appear alive and when the soul leaves the body, the person is said to be dead.

Scientific proof of the soul's existence

We are accustomed to understanding the term 'science' only in relation to matter and energy. There is however, a higher dimensional science that deals with the subject of the soul and spiritual energy. By nature spirit is 'transcendental' to matter. In other words, the soul is intrinsically beyond material sense perception. This techniques of material science are inadequate to 'prove' the existence of the soul in as much as the ear is incapable of detecting light. The soul can however, be realized as a higher reality by following the laws of spiritual science. Ultimately, all spiritual truth is revealed and 'proved' from within, by experience. Yet the following points may help us better understand the presence of soul.

Common senses

When a person dies we say," He has passed away." Now who has passed away? The body of the person still lies there. The fact is that the source of life, the soul, has passed away from the body and therefore, the person is now called dead.

Intuitive Understanding

We have an intuitive understanding that the real self, the 'I' , is distinct from the body, mind and intelligence. We speak in terms of 'my hand', 'my head' etc. This way we can start from the top of the hair down to the tip of the toe and say every part of this body is 'mine'. This indicates that these things belong to somebody, an owner. The eyes, ears and brain are merely organs, through which we see, hear or think. These organs in themselves cannot do any activity. There are eyes, ears and a brain even in a dead body. The activities have stopped because the driver, the soul, has left the body.

Consciousness

There is consciousness  in a living body. Just like the sun spreads heat and light all around, the soul spreads consciousness all around the body, from the tip of the toes and fingers to the top of the head. It is this consciousness that enables us to think, feel, move and so on. Thus, consciousness is the symptom of the soul. Consciousness is what distinguishes a dead body from a living one. A machine can easily be built to respond to red light with the statement,'I see red light', but does the experience of seeing red light accompany this mechanical response? As Thomas Huxley rightly said,"There is a third thing in the universe, to wit, consciousness which i cannot see to be matter or force." Consciousness gives the proof of the soul.