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Wednesday, June 21, 2017

Does soul exist? <---- That is the question that can liberate you

Though there were disagreements among Indian philosophers about the ‘real’ nature of the soul and whether it is one or many, they seem to be unanimous on one issue.

The Upanishads: In an interesting story of Vedic seer Yäjñavalkya (in Brahadäranyaka Upanishad), the seer gives an elaborate reason why one should ask this question and try to understand what the soul is. He says that that is the only way for eternal peace.

The Sänkhya: The Sänkhya philosophers said that that is the only way one can come out of the miseries one undergoes in the world. According to them, the root cause of our miseries is the lack of knowledge that we are the souls and not the bodies, as we often tend to think

Yoga: Patanjali talks about ‘realizing’ that we are the souls. as the ultimate gateway to liberation. Once you realize that fact, you are liberated. Reaching ‘samädhi’, at the culminating step of Yoga, is the way to attain this realization.

So all these ancient philosophers not only asserted that the soul exists, but also the need to ‘realize’ the soul without which we will get trapped in endless cycle of miseries.


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