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Sixth Fundamental-Path and Means of Liberation
Of those six, we are concerned here with soul. It always continues to exist and retains its inherent nature. This is true even for the worldly souls. Such souls appear to be contaminated by Karma, but that contamination is a temporary phenomenon. It is a Paryäy, a continually changing state, which does not affect the basic purity and inherent nature of soul. If the nature of soul could be contaminated, it could never get out of it and hence can never be liberated. Since infinite souls have attained the liberation by eradicating the bondage of Karma, it is clear that the inherent nature of soul remains the same forever.
Chaitanya denotes consciousness, which is the inherent property of soul. It indicates knowing capability. By virtue of its consciousness the soul can exercise the vigor to know and gets aware of itself as well as of others. Of all six substances, only soul has this property of knowing. That property stays with it forever, because no substance can be devoid of its inherent property. In the case of the worldly souls, this property remains obscured on account of the impact of Karma. Its capability to know infinitely is thus not manifested. Every living being, however, has the knowing capability. This is true even of one-sensed beings. If a soul could lose that capability altogether, it would turn into a lifeless substance.
Every soul is thus imbibed with the properties of everlastingness and consciousness; no soul can be devoid of that. The worldly soul is not conscious of its capabilities, because those capabilities are not manifest at present and stay latent. The soul seems to have forsaken the same and stays with the illusion of being devoid of those capabilities. But illusions are not true. If a traveler pursues a mirage in search of water, he will never get it. The earlier he gets disillusioned, the better would it be for him.
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