Spiritual Import of Religious Festivals : 9-7.

-



Chapter 9. Gurudev Sivananda – Physician of the Soul-7.


A few days back, a person came from All India Radio, Delhi, and asked me for a message, to be broadcast in All India Radio, concerning 'the relevance of religion to national integration'. I was trying to tell him, in that short message which I gave him on tape, that it is very strange that he should speak of relevance of religion to national integration, as if there can be any other relevance, because that would be like speaking of the relevance of the soul to the body of an individual. What is the relevance of the soul to the body? There cannot be any other relevance. The soul is the only relevance conceivable. Minus the soul, what is the body?

You remove your soul from your personality, and let us see what you are. You will simply disintegrate into smithereens the moment the soul is withdrawn from your personality. You may wonder why it should happen. The soul is not a spark of light or a centre of gravity that is situated in a location of your personality, as ordinarily you may conceive wrongly. The soul is not any such thing as you may imagine. It is a peculiar 'something' which is difficult to explain in language. It is like electric energy. You cannot say where electricity is.

Is it inside the body or outside the body? Is it inside the powerhouse? It is in every speck of creation. In every atom of the world is electricity present. Likewise, the soul is present in every nook and corner of this creation. It is not sitting inside the body like a small insect or a flame of a candle inside a pot. To conceive it as being located somewhere would be a very peculiar and childish notion. The soul is that integrating 'something' which brings the cells of the body together into a bodily form.

It is the force which brings together the various thoughts of your mind and enables the harmonious functioning of anything that you can call as yourself. If, therefore, the soul is to be withdrawn, you will not exist any more. That which you call the 'you' or the 'I' is the soul. It is not something different from what you are. What you yourself are, that is the soul. And if the soul is removed, you yourself are removed. So what is left there? Nothing. You do not have a soul. You yourself are the soul. So, do not say, "I have a soul inside me." As I just mentioned, this is a peculiar baby's idea of the soul. What you yourself are, that is the soul. So, minus you, what is the soul; and minus the soul, what are you? They are identical. You are the soul; the soul is you.

Swami Krishnananda
To be continued  ...


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Swami Udit Chaithanya :

-
Image
Swami Udit Chaithanya was born and brought up in Kerala, the beautiful green state in the southern west part of India. After graduating in Law, Swamiji joined Sandeepani Sadhanalaya in Bombay. Finishing his post graduation in Vedanta, he became a part of the Chinmaya mission and served the organisation for 3 years. He was inspired by Swami Sevananda who was the secretary of Acharya Vinoba Bhave when he discovered a new dimension in Sevanandaji's unique interpretations of India's ancient spiritual texts. Ever since, Swamiji has been teaching the messages of Srimad Bhagavatham, Bhagavad Gita, Narayaneeyam and the other Holy Scriptures to thousands of people in India and abroad. Swamiji has dedicated his life to the mission of spreading the divine message and to transform the society and the individual through heightened spiritual awareness. Swami Udit Chaitanya is the founder of Bhagavatham village, a spiritual retreat home and Swamiji  has formed “Bhagav...
Read more

Bhagavatham Village:

-
Image
Bhagavatham Village Trust is a registered charitable institution having its own office functioning in Cochin city near Ernakulam South Railway Station. The trust is headed by Swami Udith Chaithanya. Bhagavatham Village is situated at Munipara, Chalakudy, near Kalady, the birth place of Jagathguru Adi Sankara. This place is in a serene atmosphere away from the hustle and bustle of the city on the banks of chalakudy river. According to ancient scriptures the name Chalakudy is derived from chala (shala) kudy (hut). It is said that there used to be yagnas conducted in this place in ancient times. Bhagavatham Village is easily accessible by railway, road, and air. The Kochi International Airport is just a few kilometers away. Concept  and  Vision : Bhagavatham Village is envisaged by Swamiji for practising the "Pancha Yajna" for the benefit of society and setting up an example for the whole world. Swami Udit Chaithanyaji, the Acharya of Bhagavatham Village, aft...
Read more

Spiritual Import of Religious Festivals - 17.1

-
Image
19/10/2018 17 - The Awakening Message : 1. The inaugural message given at the 24th All India Divine Life Conference held at the Convention Hall of the Ashoka Hotel, New Delhi, on 29th of December, 1973. It would not be easy for many of you to envisage the purpose of a Divine Life Conference. At the outset I may take the liberty of pointing out that this is not a religious conference, in the sense religion is interpreted and understood by the popular mind. It is not the intention of this conference to tell you something stereotyped or to give you a diversion from the boredom of your daily life. With the benign blessings of most worshipful Swami Sivanandaji Maharaj and the grace of the Almighty, this conference has been inaugurated and conceived to point out to the human mind in general a way of extricating itself from the meshes in which it seems to be involved. Man has to become man in order that he may accelerate his progress to a state which is superhuman. Mankind today m...
Read more