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1. Universal Truth One: The soul exists.
Being non-corporeal, the soul cannot be perceived by the senses. Only those who are omniscient may perceive the soul. But all of us can experience the soul. The existence of the soul may be proved by first person experience and through the teachings of the scriptures. The fact that we exist, we feel happiness or sorrow, are enough to experientially prove that the soul exists.
Evidence of the soul may also be found at the level of knowledge. The knower of happiness and sorrow, desire, fear, etc. is the soul. This is known through inference. The Aagamas give the doctrine of 'Ege aayaa', which serves as concrete scriptural evidence for the existence of the soul.
Hence, one should not think that the soul does not exist.
2. Universal Truth Two: The soul is eternal
The soul is eternal from the absolute viewpoint, which takes into consideration the potential qualities of a substance. The soul is free from creation and destruction. It has always existed and shall live forever. It is indestructible. It goes through various transitory manifestations because it is bound by karmas. Hence, it keeps taking birth in the four gatis - as a hellish being, as a sub human being, as a human being, as a celestial being. When it attains the fifth gati, i.e. liberation, the soul fully realises its eternal qualities and is known as the perfected soul (siddha aatmaa). Till the time the soul attains the perfected state, it is eternal from the transcendental or absolute point of view and transient from the empirical or practical viewpoint. Which means that while it is eternal from the substantial point of view, it is transient from the manifestational standpoint as its manifestations keep changing constantly.
3. Universal Truth Three: The soul is the doer of its deeds
This is inferential. It is therefore said that,
"Kattaa suhaasuhaanam kammaana kasaayajogamaaihim. Miudanda chakka chiivara-saamaggivasaa kulaalu vva.” - Samyagdharshana; (Page 497, Author: Ashokmuni, Publisher: Diwaakarjyoti Karyaalaya, Byaawar (Rajasthan), year 1981)
Just as a potter makes a pot using raw materials like clay, a stick and a wheel, the soul binds auspicious and inauspicious karmas because it harms other living beings owing to its passions, actions of mind, speech and body, delusion and senses.
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