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44. A Reservoir of Infinite Power
lives due to body, breathing, senses, etc., or that existence of a soul is characterised by different feelings which are the root cause of attachment to the body, etc., and therefore, responsible for the cycle of infinite births and deaths. Senses are not the fundamental causal nature for the life of a soul. At best, these can be considered as equipments and compared to electrical gadgets or machines which do not function in the absence of energy. Just as fundamental properties of energy are different from that of equipments, the fundamental causal nature of the soul is different from the characteristics of the body.
Souls in Moksha (Siddha) do not have any of the above ten attributes of life and yet they are the purest souls. The attributes of life of a soul are knowledge, vision, bliss etc. The soul is an everlasting reservoir of infinite properties. The fundamental causal nature of the soul is characterised only by life of consciousness, a foremost distinguishing feature of the soul. It is fundamental because (1) the nature of soul cannot be explained/proved without recourse to this property, and (2) in the process of realisation of the pure self, this property assumes the role of a torch-bearer that removes all darkness of misconceptions and its constant practice and application of this knowledge facilitates better understanding of other properties and moving upwards in different stages of realisation. This also helps in developing a complete view or divine view of the soul as against a fragmented or partial view based on individual properties.
Life is a timeless property and permeates in all the pure forms of a soul and in the substance as a whole. Once a soul contemplates on the nature of the pure self, all infinite properties permeate all modes of the soul. The soul is overwhelmed by the waves of these properties. The essence
