Question about the soul

[Janardana das]

All glories to Srila Prabhupada!!!

 

I'm currently in a discussion with someone regarding the location of the soul. I explained to him that according to the authority of the vedic scriptures, the soul is located in the heart of the living entity.

 

He asked me a couple of questions;

 

This is a quote from one of your posts. I wondered, what if science could replace a mans heart completely with a mechanical one? Or even further: what if they can suddenly keep someone's head alife with some sort of machine while the body is completely destroyed?

 

Just wondered what (if any) your thoughts were.

 

haribol!!!

 

Thanks

 

[raga]

This is a quote from one of your posts. I wondered, what if science could replace a mans heart completely with a mechanical one?

The soul does not live in the gross physical heart. It lives in the heart of the subtle body in the midst of pranas.

 

Or even further: what if they can suddenly keep someone's head alife with some sort of machine while the body is completely destroyed?

Let them do that, and we'll give it a second thought.

[Guest guest]

 

tell him/her, God is an infinite field of consciousness,we are atoms in that field.

Our body is carrying our soul,but we are existing as a part of a universal soul.

[Guest guest]

Excellent point shiva

[Guest guest]

Originally posted by Janardana das:

All glories to Srila Prabhupada!!!

 

I'm currently in a discussion with someone regarding the location of the soul. I explained to him that according to the authority of the vedic scriptures, the soul is located in the heart of the living entity.

 

He asked me a couple of questions;

 

This is a quote from one of your posts. I wondered, what if science could replace a mans heart completely with a mechanical one? Or even further: what if they can suddenly keep someone's head alife with some sort of machine while the body is completely destroyed?

 

Just wondered what (if any) your thoughts were.

 

haribol!!!

 

Thanks

Your friend can ask a simpler questions to challenge this but it would be pointless. What about plants and lower animals which do not have a heart ? What about cloning ? In fact, he does not have to go to heart transplant or organic live brain supported by life-machine. He can simply argue that robots are the next species of humans. And ask you to prove that robots do not have a consciousness! With nanotechnology, it is possible to replace body cells. Already stem cell research and cloning have happened. If some one wants to argue that the cause of material world is only matter, then he can come up with an almost self-consistent system. Modern science does it and the sAnkhya (atheistic) did that in the Vedic times. If we come up with such an argument it is not original. It is just incomplete.

 

Inspite of knowing that it is somewhat possible to explain this way, Vedas declare that brahman( the Lord) is the cause of janmAdi. And they say that this can be understood only from the sAstrAs. And it cannot be understood without the sAstrAs. (Vedanta sUtrAs). Modern western philosophers have clearly proven the same point. Existence and non-existence of the soul cannot be proven or disproven empirically. This is because the soul by defnition is an ontologically different entity. We can never apply reasoning and experimentation of one ontological entity on another higher. The existence of the Self is known by your awareness. All we can do is attribute to it the kind of qualities that do not belong to it - like birth, death, disease, old age, ignorance etc.

 

To understand the soul is not easy. We yet do not have realization of it. So we can only accept the sAstric statements on the same. The points made by Raga and Shiva would be good to convince some one on this. But the best is to ask him to read the second chapter of Bhagavad Gita, where Krishna is introducing what the soul is.

 

[This message has been edited by ram (edited 06-16-2002).]

[Janardana das]

All glories to His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupada.

 

Thanks for replies, there clarity reminded me to read SP books more closely and to associate with his disciples and grandisciples.

 

Thanks.

 

Hare Krishna.