Dr. N.L. Kachhara
How is the soul related to the body? This needs some explanation, but first the existence of the soul itself must be clarified. The following arguments support the existence of the soul:
- Self-consciousness is possessed by a living being, as expressed in phrases like “I am,”, “I am happy”,“I am sad,” etc. The body does not make such experiences.
- The doubt about whether “I am or I am not,” and other doubts, curiosity, inquisitiveness, etc., are also generated in the soul and not in the body.
- The soul is the counterpart of matter (ajiva). The existence of a substance without a counterpart cannot be logically supported.
As the soul is non-corporeal, it cannot be perceived or known by the senses, mind and intellect. Its attribute is consciousness, which too is beyond the reach of perception. Consciousness can be known only through its function; it cannot be directly comprehended through sensory perception. Some people’s denial of the existence of the soul may chiefly be attributed to its imperceptibility.
We mentioned above that the soul extends the body. In fact, the soul, being non-physical, has no contact with the body. Rather, the relation with the body is made through karma. The soul is bound with karma, but it has no contact with the karma either. The soul and karma have an association of their essential natures. The soul does not naturally occur without an association with karma: that is, the soul is always in an impure state unless it is purified by special efforts. Was the soul without karma at any time in the past? No: like any other chemical element, the soul is also found in an impure state, impregnated with karma, in nature. New karmas bond to the karma body because of the very nature of the karma pudgala, the subtle cosmic matter, which are attracted by the soul’s activities. The processes in the soul (due to its activities) and in the karma body run parallel; the soul experiences modification of its state and there is a corresponding change in the karma body. The soul and karma are always in a state of some kind of equilibrium. The soul becomes free of karma only in the liberated state when all the karma is eliminated by special efforts. Once free, no more karma is bound and the soul is not embodied again. The soul has innumerable pradesas and the karmas bond uniformly to each pradesa: there can be no pradesa of soul without karma.
The body is constituted of cells. The soul pradesa and karma extend into each cell. There is life in the body so long as the soul is associated with it; the body is dead when the soul departs. The soul extends into the cells of the body. Our body also contains some hollow spaces and spaces where waste materials like urine and stool are stored. These spaces do not contain cells and the soul does not extend there. The living cells are the medium through which we experience pain and pleasure, because of the presence of the soul; the empty spaces, and dead cells, do not cause any sensation. The sensation of pain and pleasure is made by the soul through karma; in the absence of karma the soul does not have such sensation, and it experiences the bliss that is its natural attribute. It may be mentioned here that if pain is negative excitation of the soul, pleasure is positive excitation and bliss is the state of no excitation.
The physical sense organs, dravyendrian, have their counterparts in the soul structure bhavendrian, or the psychic senses. The psychic senses are in the form of manifested jnana and darshana due to the annihilation-cum-subsidence of their respective karma. The physical sense organs are formed by the rise of biological karma, and perform the function of sensing because of the existence of the corresponding psychic sense –that is, the intelligent actions performed by sense organs is due to a manifestation of the jnana and darshana attributes of the soul or the upayoga of consciousness of the soul. The mere existence of organs in a physical form, as in a dead body, cannot perform intelligent actions in the absence of the soul.
The physical sense system has two parts, nirvriti and upakarana, and each of these has two sub-parts. The sub-parts of nirvriti are (a) the outer part, in the form of a physical sense organ, and (b) the inner part, in the formof some soul structure. Upakarana assists nirvriti. The outer part of upakarana is physical, the brain that assists the senses in comprehending the object. The inner part of upakarana is again some structural aspect of soul. The physical sense organs successfully work when both nirvriti and upakarana are functional; in the case of any malfunction, intelligent action cannot be performed.
The psychic senses have two aspects, labdhi and upayoga. Labdhi refers to the potential power of the soul due to the removal or annihilation-cum-subsidence of knowledge-obscuring karma. Upayoga refers to the manifestation of the power of the soul in the removal of the obstructing karma, and it is of two types: one vested with form, sakara or plural; and the second formless, nirakara or singular. The first refers to jnana and the second to darshana. So bhavendrian essentially means the manifestation of the consciousness of the soul as jnana and darshana attributes, which are instrumental in the organism’s performance of intelligent action.
The power of action of the different senses varies. Vision is the most powerful of all the senses; it can sense even an object that is not very clear. Next in power is the sense of hearing; it can sense a word that is clear. The remaining three senses, taste, smell and touch, are least powerful: they sense objects that become clear by actual contact. Sensual experience takes place when contact is established with an object with at least one sense. In the case of a mental experience, contact with the object is not necessary. In this case the transformation of mental states takes place according to the target subject. The knowledge gained through the senses is further augmented by the mind. Pleasure and pain are experienced both by physical sensing and mental thinking. Generally, experience involves both physical and mental processes. Mental phenomena may or may not involve the operation of the senses, but any sensual activity necessarily involves the mind.
