Acharya Mahashraman
We all are wandering worldly souls. The world is a part of an endless flow which has neither beginning nor an ending point. The worldly souls from ages are being swayed away in this never ending stream. Though few gets liberated in due course of time! Yet the flow of this world is never going to be ceased and the cycle of life and death will go on incessantly
The question arises what are the causes behind this eternal flow? Dasvealiyam sutra provides its answer-
Chattari e e kashina kashaya, sinchanti mulaim punabbhavassa
It means that four passions namely Anger, Ego, Deceit and Greed act as a catalyst in watering the root of rebirth and constant worldly transmigration.
Moha (attachment), which is a type of kashay, is considered as the regulator of this world and the world cannot be imagined to be functioning without the presence of moha. Once a monk suggested a lady that one should not carry intense attachment with children! To this she responded instantly that, 'Maharajji! Without having attachment the children cannot be thought of being raised at all.'
Not a single worldly being is either soul only or body only. All living beings are essentially combination of both elements which comprises of body and soul. From this perspective it can be concluded that mundane soul is collective combination of impermanence and permanence.
Soul is made of innumerable conscious space points and the number of space points of a soul is equivalent to the number of the space points of the cosmos (loka), which means if the soul spreads its space points then each point of the soul can accommodate at the space point of cosmos (loka). Important thing here is, a single space point of soul is neither ever destroyed nor it can be produced. From this perspective it becomes very clear that the soul remains eternal forever.
Agam also mentions
Ego me sasao appa, nan dans an sanjuo Sesa me bahira bhava, savve sanjog lakkhana.
This means that our soul which is endowed with infinite knowledge and faith is the only eternal truth and the rest all of the worldly objects qualify for non-eternal status.
It is a fact that the ultimate result of any association is dissociation. After understanding these facts, we should be able to prepare ourselves for a mental balance in both the situations - association and dissociation. This is one golden formula for a happy and balanced life.
Shrimad Bhagvad Gita expresses the fact of eternal soul:
Nainam chhindanti shastrani, nainam dahati pawakah Na chainam kledayantyapo, na shoshayati marutah.
Which means - "Weapons cannot cut the soul; Fire cannot burn its existence; Water cannot flow it away and air cannot dry it"
The eternal existence of soul is beyond any doubt. Its existence also remains for sure prior to the present life and will be there in many forms in next lives also. The current body will be perished in this very life. This brings us to a deep thought questioning, amount of our focus given to the eternal soul and accentuated attention for the mortal body. Basic day to day functions of life like eating, drinking, sleeping, washing, and earning etc. are performed basically only for the mortal body and all these activities consume good amount of time. One must be aware that the degree of spirituality increases as the degree of detachment for such activities increases and it is, in fact, favourable for the soul.
Chanting, spiritual studies and such more activities are always beneficial for the soul, for e.g. a man worships for an hour and also is involved in chanting spiritual mantra and any visible change is not found in his life. Does it mean that doing these activities are fruitless? No, the worshipping and chanting will not go in vain as at least during the mantra chanting the consciousness is in pure state and mind, speech and body are not indulged in any sinful action. Therefore, such state brings in great benefits in themselves. So if the life is transformed then it is awesome and an additional benefit to the soul. Therefore a soul-benevolent person should manage his time for spiritual studies, chanting, samayik and many more such activities to live the life of detachment.
