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380
I am the Soul
Like the eyes are supposed to see, observe form. Eyes can do this job very well. Powerful eyes can see up to a great distance. The eagle flying in the sky, has eyes that can see objects lying on the earth. Many humans have eyes that can see the most minute of things. But this strength is limited to seeing alone! However strong the eyes may be, they cannot absorb sound. If the eyes were to be active and there were to be no ears, then even a nearby sound cannot be heard. A book can be read with the eyes, but eyes cannot hear a sound that can be absorbed only by the ears.
Similarly, a man without eyes may exclaim in appreciation of the pleasant notes of music coming from a flute. But if he were to be asked, “What does a flute look like?', what can somebody, who has never seen it, say? How much would he understand if we were to perhaps explain the size and shape to him? Who knows? By the same token, he may be able to absorb the subjects of other sensory organs in a proper way. Many a time it is noticed in a person whose eyes have failed, that his other sensory organs are more alert. He can identify a person by merely hearing the footsteps. Yet, the work of identifying form and colour which the eyes do, cannot be done by a person without sight.
A person blind from birth may acquire much knowledge, but he can never identify colour. The job of identifying colour is that of the eyes, which no other sensory organ can do. Same is the case with the sensing of smell, taste and touch. In spite of each sensory organ being alert in absorbing its own subject, it cannot absorb the subjects of other sensory organs.
It is evident from this that the capacity of the sensory organs to absorb a subject is very limited. Now if the senses are to be believed to be the soul, then it will be a great misnomer. For the power of knowledge is all encompassing, of a great magnitude. It does not have any limits. It is unlimited. There is infinite knowledge in the atma and at the same time there is infinite capacity to know all that infinite which is worthy of knowing. Now if sensory organs were to be the atma, then its capacity to
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