________________
Pure Soul and its Infinite Treasure
17
everything in the universe and feel happy, achieve desired goals, live for ever, get the best possible physical body and get the highest status in life. These desires cause perpetual existence of impurities and the stages of impurities depend on the type of species and external conditions under which a life is born due to its own Karmas. But these impurities are alien to the soul. 3. Real Nature of the Soul
The real or fundamental nature of the soul is very different from other substances and is characterised by consciousness, ie., absence of properties or nature of nonliving substances. The soul is a treasure of infinite properties such as life, consciousness, knowledge, vision, happiness, omnipotence, omnivision, omniscience, which cannot be diluted or diminished by any object. These properties manifest in their full in the state of liberation. 4. Misconceptions about nature of the Soul
Ignorance of the nature of soul leads to various misconceptions about the functioning of the soul. It is important to understand that the pure soul is devoid of Karma, body or bodies, five senses, mind, colours, smell, taste and touch. The soul does not have feelings of attachment or detachment. The soul is devoid of anger, greed, delusion and ego. The influx of Karmas, its bondage, blocking of bondage of Karmas, shedding of Karmas, and ultimate annihilation of Karmas-all these stem from atoms/Karmas and are not the functions of the soul. The different bodies such as those of germs, ants, bees, animals, human beings and creatures of hell or heaven are due to Karmas and do not belong to the soul. These are only associated with the soul.
The entire universe with its six substances (dravyas), their characteristics (gunas/shaktis) and their infinite forms
