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Chapter 8: Guru's Explanation of the Soul's Everlastingness
Explanation & Discussion:
The pupil had contended that the soul might be emerging from the body and disappearing with death. In order to counter that, the Guru asks him to consider the nature of the body. It is basically a composition. It is composed of carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, calcium, etc. Alternately it can be said that it is composed of the five main elements: earth, water, fire, air, and space, which are known as Panchmahäbhoot. To describe it in physical terms, it can be said that it is an organized assemblage of blood, muscles, fat, bones, etc. all of which are covered by the skin.
Thus the body does not have its own substantial existence. Moreover, it is lifeless. Touch, taste, smell, and color, which are the attributes of the lifeless Pudgal, are present in the body. Being lifeless, it does not have knowing capability. Besides, it has some form. Its visibility is manifest to us, because we are able to see the body. In other words, the body is an inanimate subject of eyesight.
How can such a body be capable of knowing the emergence and the extinction of the soul? The attributes of the soul are completely different from those of the body. Soul is not a composition; it has its own substantial existence. It is full of consciousness; knowing and awareness are its inherent characteristics. Moreover, it has no form or shape; it is intangible and invisible.
If the soul is subject to emergence and extinction, then who knows about the same? Obviously soul cannot know its own emergence or extinction. Then, can the body know it? Here, the body means the lifeless one without a soul. It is plain that a lifeless body is incapable of knowing or experiencing. It does not even experience the pain when it is buried or cremated! In that case, how can it know that the soul emerges or is extinct? Hence the question is: What is the basis on which one can say that the soul arises and is destroyed?
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