Body and soul

[Guest guest]

Hello friends,

I have a question that has been bothering me for a while and since

its subject somewhat matches without the current thread of

discussion I thought of sharing it with everyone.

The thought that attracted me towards spiritual life was " I am

suffering and I need to get out of this cycle of birth and death to

end suffering forever " . Since this idea formed the foundation of my

beliefs I pondered over it many times and as a result I have found

some contradictions that are really bothersome.

When I say " I am suffering " , by " I " I am refering to the suffering

of this body because I have never experienced the soul (which is

supposed to be my real self). But the fact is that this " I " keeps

changing as I take on other bodies. If I assume I was a person

called Mahesh in my previous birth, with a different body, likes and

dislike etc (basically different mind and body) then the only thing

common between him and me is the soul. But each soul, being a part

of the same infinite consciousness,must be identical. So if the

differences and similarities between me and Mahesh are exactly same

as any person walking on the street then what is that entity that

has been bound by the cycle of birth and death I am trying to free?

It cannot be everyone. It cannot be Mahesh because his suffering

ended when his body died. It cannot be the soul because I have read

about a simile in one of the Upanishads that compares our life to a

tree, its branches and flowers to our experiences, talks about a

restless bird on the tree(probably the subject of these

experiences...our mind) as the shadow of a self-contained and

blissful bird(soul) which is completed detached and unaffected by

the experiences and is seated at the top of the tree.

So my question is: If my successor, by the grace of God, manages to

realize Him then whose suffering does he end? His, mine or Mahesh's.

And there will still remain millions who continue to suffer.

I would imagine that there are two ways of ending suffering. Either

by eliminating the subject of suffering or by making the subject

ever blissful. If upon realizing God my individuality is lost(the

subject is lost) then who remains to taste the bliss?

 

There is a fair chance that I have interpreted the above ideas

incorrecty and in the case I would like the members of this group to

correct me.

With love and regards,

Siddharth Panwar