help please !

[DarkEye]

Hi all!

 

I have some questions over here.I will be very gratefull if anybody can give me the right answers.

1st Q: We all know that we as the spirit souls use the brain to think and remember.My question is, is it possible for the soul to think and remember independently without the help of brain?Without brain it will surely forget everything.How can it remember god then?

 

2nd Q: It is stated that the soul is located in the heart.But modern medicine proves that one can live with artificial hearts.The artificial heart is operated by electric charges.How is this possible?Is it that the soul enters the artificial heart and sits there?but the heart is a machine operated by electric charges not the soul.Please help me with this....

 

[raga]

 

1st Q: We all know that we as the spirit souls use the brain to think and remember.My question is, is it possible for the soul to think and remember independently without the help of brain?Without brain it will surely forget everything.How can it remember god then?

 

 

Think of the brain as an instrument through which buddhi (intelligence) interacts with the world. While the gross body of five elements is left behind at the time of death, the subtle body consisting of manas (mind), buddhi (intelligence) and ahamkara (sense of identity) is carried onwards to the next body. Therefore, although all the gross elements of the body have changed, one may have impressions from past births.

 

Aside this, pure awareness of God is an innate function of the soul. It is not dependent on either the gross or the subtle body.

 

 

 

2nd Q: It is stated that the soul is located in the heart.But modern medicine proves that one can live with artificial hearts.The artificial heart is operated by electric charges.How is this possible?Is it that the soul enters the artificial heart and sits there?but the heart is a machine operated by electric charges not the soul.Please help me with this....

 

 

Exactly so. The heart is a machine, much akin to the brain.

[I_love_krishna_]

I wear shoes, can I walk with out them? ....its the same thing with the brain-soul situation.

 

I wear a hat, Can I not wear it and still be there? ... its the same thing with the heart- soul situation.

[gHari]

Sri Krsna, who is known as Govinda, possesses unlimited existence (sat), unlimited knowledge (cit) and unlimited bliss (ananda). The jivas are also of this nature qualitatively but not quantitatively. It is this cit quality by which the soul knows God.

 

This is explained in the Sri Caitanya-caritamrita Adi-Lila 2.5 purport segment:<blockquote>The Personality of Godhead is the complete form of sac-cid-Ananda (full life, knowledge and bliss). By realization of the sat portion of the Complete Whole (unlimited existence), one realizes the impersonal Brahman aspect of the Lord. By realization of the cit portion of the Complete Whole (unlimited knowledge), one can realize the localized aspect of the Lord, the ParamAtmA. But neither of these partial realizations of the Complete Whole can help one realize Ananda, or complete bliss. Without such realization of Ananda, knowledge of the Absolute Truth is incomplete.</blockquote>

Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura describes this highest knowledge of Sri Krsna which is inherent in every jiva soul as svatah-siddha-jnana or self-evident truth in this passage from his "Vaishnava-Siddhanta-MalaA" ("<a href =http://geocities.com/caitanyamahaprabhu/garland.htm target=new>A Garland of Vaishnava Truths</A>"):<blockquote>Q. How can one know the truth of the Lord (Bhagavat-tattva)?

 

A. This can be known by the soul's knowledge of the self-evident

truth (svatah-siddha-jnana).

 

Q. What is self-evident truth?

 

A. There are two types of knowledge (jnana):

<blockquote> 1) self-evident(svatah-siddha),and

2) that which depends on the senses (indriya-paratantra).

</blockquote>Self-evident knowledge is the natural truth that is inherently a feature

of the pure spirit soul's original form. It is eternal, just as the

totality of the divinely conscious realm is also eternal. This

self-evident knowledge is called veda or amnaya. This veda, in the

form of pure knowledge (siddha-jnana-rupa) has incarnated in

the material world in the shape of Rk, Sama, Yajuh and

Atharva, along with the conditioned souls (baddha-jivas); this

alone is the self-evident knowledge (svatah-siddha-jnana).

Whatever knowledge that ordinary souls can gather through the

use of their material senses is only the second type of

knowledge, or indriya-paratantra (dependent on the senses).

 

Q. Can anyone know the Bhagavat-tattva (the truth of the

Lord) by indriya-paratantra-jnana (sensual knowledge)?

 

A. No. Bhagavan, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is

beyond the scope of all the material senses. For this reason, He

is known as Adhoksaja. The senses, as well as all the material

conceptions gathered from the sense perceptions, always remain

very far away from the Bhagavat-tattva, the truth of the Lord.

 

Q. If Bhagavan is attainable through self-evident knowledge

(svatah-siddha-jnana), then we should be able to attain Him

by whatever svatah-siddha-jnana that we presently have.

What then is the need to study the Vedic scriptures?

 

A. The Veda is present in every pure spirit soul's existence in

the form of svatah-siddha-jnana. According to the different

levels of different souls in the materially conditioned state, this

Veda will spontaneously manifest itself to one person, or may

remain veiled to someone else. Therefore, to help reawaken the

forgetful conditioned souls to the eternally self-evident truths,

the Veda has also incarnated in the form of written books which

may be studied, recited and heard.

 

Q. We have heard that Bhagavan is perceivable only

through bhakti (devotional service). If this is true, then how

can we say that He is perceivable by jnana, even

svatah-siddha-jnana?

 

A. That which is called svatah-siddha-jnana is another name for

bhakti. When speaking of topics related to the supreme truth

(para-tattva), some call it jnana and some call it bhakti.

 

Q. Then why is jnana condemned in the devotional

scriptures (bhakti-sastras)?

 

A. The devotional scriptures express a great reverence for

svatah-siddha-jnana; indeed, they state that other than this

purely self-evident spiritual knowledge, there is no auspicious

welfare. The types of jnana that are condemned in the bhakti

sastras are:<blockquote> 1) indriya-paratantra-jnana (knowledge based on sense

perception) and

2) nirvisesa-jnana (impersonal non-distinct knowledge), the

latter of which is merely an absence of the former.

</blockquote> Q. All the Vedic scriptures speak of

<blockquote>1) karma (fruitive activities),

2) jnana (speculative knowledge) and

3) bhakti (devotional service).</blockquote>By which of these can the Bhagavat-tattva (the truth of the

Lord) be known?

 

A. By examining the statements of all the Vedas collectively, it

is seen that they are all in complete agreement that other than

Bhagavan, there is nothing but nothing else worth knowing. All

the karma (fruitive activities) mentioned in the Vedas ultimately

lead to Bhagavan. When jnana (speculative knowledge) fructifies

into its pure condition, then one gives up all dualities that arise

from both visesa-jnana and nirvisesa-jnana. One then aims for

Bhagavan. The process of Bhakti (devotional service) naturally

cultivates a direct relationship with Bhagavan; therefore the

Lord can be known by all the Vedas.

</blockquote>

 

gHari