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By Jayaram V
Hindus believe in the existence of soul, which is eternal, invisible,
imperishable, unchanging and exists beyond the grasp of the mind and
the senses. Hindus call it Atma or Atman,
that which is deep inside. It is derived from the root word
"an" which means to breath. Atman is that which breathes.
Atman is ajobhaga , the unborn part of man (Rigveda), which is
different from and not to be confused with neither the body nor the
mind.
According to Hinduism, a person is evolved to the extent he is
aware of the true nature of his self. It is this awareness which
distinguishes an ignorant person from the self realized one. In the
Chandogya Upanishad we come across an interesting story. Virochana,
the demon from the world of demons and Indra,
the lord of the heavens, went to Prajapati and sought clarification on
the nature of self.
Prajapati first explained to them that the body was the self.
Virochana satisfied with this explanation went away, with the belief
that the body was indeed the soul which became the doctrine of the
demons.
But Indra not satisfied with this explanation stayed back and
pursued his enquiry. Through stages and after many sessions with
Prajapathi, he came to the realization that the soul was neither the
body, nor the dream self, nor the self in sleep, but the spirit that
always existed in pure state beyond all these states.
The self is realized only when one withdraws the senses from the
sense objects like a tortoise and looks inward. The
Mandukya Upanishad describes the four states of consciousness,
which one experiences as he passes through the waking consciousness
into deep sleep.
These are Vaishwanara, the wakeful state., followed by Taijasa, the
dream state, then pragna, the deep sleep state and finally ,Turiya,
the transcendental state in which one experiences the real self.
"It is the state which has no elements, which cannot be spoken of
, into which the world is resolved, benign, non-individual." What
exists beyond the self is the unmanifest, avyaktam. (Katha Upanishad
7).
Self-realization should be the object of human endeavor. Every
thing else leads to pain, suffering, birth and rebirth. He who
realizes his self goes beyond this world into the world of Brahman
never to return again.
Hindus believe that the individual soul and the universal soul are
the two sides of the same reality. Atman is Purusha who enters the
body as a part of His creative process. Since the body is made up of
the gunas, he comes under the influence of illusion and develops a
false identity called the sense of self or the sense of individuality,
also known as ego or ahamkara.
A devout Hindu's primary concern is how to overcome his ego sense
and discover his true self. For that he would resort to different
means, starting with simple idol worship, performing household
rituals, observing samskaras (sacraments), and ending up as a seeker
of truth either through the path of knowledge (Gnana), or the path of
action (karma) or the path of renunciation (sanyas) or the path of
devotion (bhakti).
The scriptures suggest three simple methods to realize the self,
namely sravanam (listening), mananam (thinking or remembering) and
nidhidhyasana (concentration and meditation on the self).
Atman cannot be realized by reading books or indulging in rituals,
but only through self-control, discipline of the mind and body,
withdrawal of the senses and elimination of all forms of desires. Or
he may also experience it through intense devotion obtaining the grace
of God.
It is not known to many that when a Hindu worships an idol, he
simultaneously, and in many cases unknowingly, worships his inner
self, which he symbolically installs in the object of his worship
before performing the ritual of worship. The process is generally
referred as prana-prathishta, or "establishing life breath."
It is also interesting to note that among the many reasons why
Hindus bear the names of gods and goddesses as their personal names,
one is that it is a way of acknowledging the presence of god in man.
Man is a god in the making. Inside his body resides the eternal
soul whose ultimate destiny is the Supreme Self. "The breath that
exists in him is also the same life breath that sustains this
universe. His body is verily a living temple, a city of nine gates, in
which resides the divine soul."
Hindu Scriptures urges us not to identify ourselves with our bodies
and minds which are sense dependent, perishable, and unreal. The body
has to be subjected to control and discipline, which is generally
accomplished by way of fasting, observing austerities and in some
extreme cases through pain and self-torture. (But these are not an end
in themselves. In many cases we are advised to desist from going to
the extremes in our eagerness to gain control over our bodies.)
On the positive side, the body has to be treated as a vehicle of
truth and should be kept in a state of good health, free from both
internal and external impurities. The practice of yoga is to make the
body supple and effective so that it would be a helpful instrument in
the self- realization.
At the time of death, the soul discards the body the way we discard
a new garment. At the time of rebirth it assumes a new one. Between
death and rebirth it may either go to a heaven or a hell depending
upon its previous deeds, but once the fruit of its previous karma is
exhausted, it would definitely come back to earth.
According to Hinduism, the soul exists in all beings, including
plants and animals. Even the mineral world is not devoid of the
Supreme Spirit. "He exists in all and all exist in Him." The
whole universe is thus very sacred, pervaded by the Universal Self.
The beings as well as the elements are in a continuous state of
evolution and the souls that reside in them move through the cycle of
births and deaths till they attain union with the Supreme Soul. This
is in short the concept of soul according to Hinduism.
Suggested further reading
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