I believe that both the Spirit and the physical body co-exist as one singular unit and not as two individual units struggling to break free of each other. Over the last few decades or even the last century, we as a race have been repeatedly told that the purpose and sole aim of spiritual practises is to free the soul from its material bindings, the interesting aspect of this line of thought is that no one has bothered to ask the question, why?
Why should we free the soul? where is it going to go? why does it have to go to that place? what makes that place a better place than the space within our bodies? Don't souls get freed when we die anyways, then why the rush?
This line of thought and the subsequent movement of "soul liberation" supported with its humongous amount of supporting literature has created an insurmountable amount of confusion within the common person. Today, we are at a place in time, where we have been presented all this "spiritual research" which has identified that the soul is dying to be liberated, that there is a better place towards which it must go right away, there are also a multitude of self-proclaimed "Spiritual Guides" who promise us an all expense paid one-way trip to this apparent paradise. The flow of information and "guidance" is so heavy and so strong that it has robbed of us the ability to take a moment and step back and think. We are lost! completely, totally, spiritually lost!
When I say spiritually lost, what I mean is that humans have lost the balance between their spiritual and physical(material) existences. Spiritual enlightenment or well being is not an external goal which one must strive for, its an internal balance between one's material being and spiritual being. This balance can be achieved by various means, but seldom by proxy. The so called "Spiritual Guides" of today promise to teach you the fastest and easiest way to achieve this balance....for a fee!
In my opinion the first step to achieve the balance is by recognizing the singularity of duality, the moment we realize that our soul and our body cannot exist without each other and that they must work in unison at all times in perfect balance. This realization is key as it will help us focus our efforts. The more focussed our efforts are in the right direction, the less we will end up looking for the right thing in the wrong place!
There is a common misconception that the body is impure and that the soul is pure, that the body does acts which taint the soul and the goal of spiritual enlightenment is to cleanse the spirit of the results of body's actions. There is no such thing in my opinion. As mentioned earlier, the body does not and cannot function without the direction of the soul and the soul cannot act without the participation of the physical body.
Even a person in meditation or trance state, depends on the body to anchor to the material plane. and similarly a person committing any physical act connects with his soul (even if its just momentarily) for moral guidance, otherwise knows as our conscience.
The Soul and the Body are both God's creations and they are both equally pure or impure depending on ones individual perspective. they don't negate each other they simply balance each other, thereby creating a mental and physical equilibrium. There are many terms such as mind, subconscious mind, conscience, etc. which all essentially mean the same thing, the Soul. I will discuss these terms in detail in a future post
Whatever we do to strengthen or purify the body also directly/indirectly strengthens the soul and vice versa. For instance, working out in a gym will strengthen your muscles and at the same time the focussed will to work out on a regular basis, the discipline and regimen that goes along with it improves our control on our mind. similarly practicing meditation on a regular basis helps us increase concentration and focus better, this has its impact on the body as well in terms of better blood flow, increased oxygen supply to key body parts etc.
If and when we realize the concept of Singularity of Duality, our journey will be a lot more enjoyable and less painful.
Why should we free the soul? where is it going to go? why does it have to go to that place? what makes that place a better place than the space within our bodies? Don't souls get freed when we die anyways, then why the rush?
This line of thought and the subsequent movement of "soul liberation" supported with its humongous amount of supporting literature has created an insurmountable amount of confusion within the common person. Today, we are at a place in time, where we have been presented all this "spiritual research" which has identified that the soul is dying to be liberated, that there is a better place towards which it must go right away, there are also a multitude of self-proclaimed "Spiritual Guides" who promise us an all expense paid one-way trip to this apparent paradise. The flow of information and "guidance" is so heavy and so strong that it has robbed of us the ability to take a moment and step back and think. We are lost! completely, totally, spiritually lost!
When I say spiritually lost, what I mean is that humans have lost the balance between their spiritual and physical(material) existences. Spiritual enlightenment or well being is not an external goal which one must strive for, its an internal balance between one's material being and spiritual being. This balance can be achieved by various means, but seldom by proxy. The so called "Spiritual Guides" of today promise to teach you the fastest and easiest way to achieve this balance....for a fee!
In my opinion the first step to achieve the balance is by recognizing the singularity of duality, the moment we realize that our soul and our body cannot exist without each other and that they must work in unison at all times in perfect balance. This realization is key as it will help us focus our efforts. The more focussed our efforts are in the right direction, the less we will end up looking for the right thing in the wrong place!
There is a common misconception that the body is impure and that the soul is pure, that the body does acts which taint the soul and the goal of spiritual enlightenment is to cleanse the spirit of the results of body's actions. There is no such thing in my opinion. As mentioned earlier, the body does not and cannot function without the direction of the soul and the soul cannot act without the participation of the physical body.
Even a person in meditation or trance state, depends on the body to anchor to the material plane. and similarly a person committing any physical act connects with his soul (even if its just momentarily) for moral guidance, otherwise knows as our conscience.
The Soul and the Body are both God's creations and they are both equally pure or impure depending on ones individual perspective. they don't negate each other they simply balance each other, thereby creating a mental and physical equilibrium. There are many terms such as mind, subconscious mind, conscience, etc. which all essentially mean the same thing, the Soul. I will discuss these terms in detail in a future post
Whatever we do to strengthen or purify the body also directly/indirectly strengthens the soul and vice versa. For instance, working out in a gym will strengthen your muscles and at the same time the focussed will to work out on a regular basis, the discipline and regimen that goes along with it improves our control on our mind. similarly practicing meditation on a regular basis helps us increase concentration and focus better, this has its impact on the body as well in terms of better blood flow, increased oxygen supply to key body parts etc.
If and when we realize the concept of Singularity of Duality, our journey will be a lot more enjoyable and less painful.
No comments:
Post a Comment