Nature of the Soul - The Eternal Conscious Spark
The first step in spiritual realization is understanding our true identity. Śrīla Prabhupāda explains that the living entity is not the temporary, destructible physical body, but an eternal, blissful, and active spirit soul, whose true nature can only be understood through authorized Vedic knowledge.
The Eternal and Indestructible Nature
The material body is temporary, but the spirit soul within is eternal and indestructible. Śrīla Prabhupāda explains that the presence of this spiritual spark is perceived by consciousness, which is spread throughout the entire body, distinguishing it from dead matter.
- The soul is never annihilated. Avyayam: indestructible, immutable. So Krsna is explaining in different ways the nature of the soul. We have to take it seriously, then we get perfect knowledge.
- Adahyo 'yam. This is the nature of the soul, adahya. Asosyo 'yam, asosyo 'yam. The. . . that is the distinction between the soul and the matter.
- This verse (BG 2.17) more clearly explains the real nature of the soul, which is spread all over the body. Anyone can understand what is spread all over the body: it is consciousness.
- According to Bhagavad-gita, the existence of soul is accepted in the Vedic literature. Just like after Lord Buddha, Sankaracarya, Sankaracarya came. He gave hint about the spiritual nature of the soul, and he said, brahma satyam jagan mithya.
The Pursuit of Joy and Activity
The soul is not a stagnant, inactive void. Śrīla Prabhupāda notes that because the soul is a fragment of the Supreme Lord, it is eternally active and constantly seeking bliss, although this pure nature becomes temporarily covered when entangled in material existence.
- It is not a question of embodied life, but it is the nature of the soul to be always active. Without the presence of the spirit soul, the material body cannot move.
- Whole living entities - either birds, beasts, human beings - everyone is seeking happiness, because that is the nature. Nature of the spirit soul is to seek happiness.
- The spirit soul is ananda-moya avyasat. The nature of the spirit soul is joyful, happy, and because we are spark of that spiritual - we are spiritual spark, or part and parcel of the Supreme Lord - therefore our nature is to seek joy.
- The changing nature of the soul is just like change of water to ice. The tendency of ice is to melt and become water again. So due to contamination of matter, the soul by illusion identifies with material existence.
Beyond Mental Speculation
The transcendental qualities of the soul cannot be understood through mundane philosophy. Śrīla Prabhupāda emphasizes that one must receive this knowledge through the disciplic succession and systematic Vedic study, as the material mind is incapable of grasping spiritual reality.
- Philosophers generally try to use their mind to speculate about the nature of the soul. But with the mind they can never understand.
- It would be hard to describe, he thinks, the nature of the soul. He said a body, which is something tangible, we can describe. But something of a spiritual nature, like the soul, must be much more difficult to describe.
- According to Bhagavad-gita, one should make research by philosophical discretion into the nature of the soul. One should make research to understand with what the self is concerned. That is recommended.
- According to the Nirukti, or the Vedic dictionary, sankhya means that which describes phenomena in detail, and sankhya refers to that philosophy which describes the real nature of the soul. And yoga involves controlling the senses.
Awakening Love of Godhead
The ultimate constitutional position of the soul is to render loving service to the Supreme Lord. Śrīla Prabhupāda observes that receiving knowledge from a bona fide spiritual master awakens this dormant love, which is the highest perfection of Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
- A spiritual master in the line of disciplic succession from Brahma and Narada has no demand for dollars and cents. A bona fide student has to satisfy him by sincere service to obtain knowledge of the relation and nature of the soul and the Supersoul.
- Because Krishna Consciousness is the nature of the soul, it is not unusual that one becomes attracted to the method.
- Love of Godhead is the eternal nature of the soul; it is unchangeable, beginningless and endless. Therefore temporary sense gratification or a desire for liberation cannot compare with the transcendental nature of love of God.
- The spreading of this Sankirtana Movement is the best service to the greater humanity and all living entities in general because it revives the divine nature of the soul in Krsna Consciousness.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Śrīla Prabhupāda clearly establishes that the true nature of the living entity is completely distinct from the temporary, suffering material body. The spirit soul is an eternal, indestructible, and immutable spark of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Far from being a void or inactive energy, the soul is eternally active and constitutionally designed to experience endless bliss and happiness. When this original nature is covered by material illusion, the soul frantically searches for joy in the temporary world, much like water unnaturally frozen into ice. The material mind and mundane philosophy are entirely incapable of penetrating this illusion. To understand the true nature of the soul, one must submissively approach a bona fide spiritual master and study the Vedic science presented in the Bhagavad-gītā. By doing so, the living entity awakens its original, dormant love for Kṛṣṇa. Ultimately, the highest expression of the soul's true nature is unalloyed Kṛṣṇa consciousness, and the greatest welfare activity for all humanity is to revive this divine nature through the global propagation of the saṅkīrtana movement.
Dive Deeper into Śrīla Prabhupāda's Vani
Śrīla Prabhupāda lives within his instructions. This article is a summary of the profound truths found in the Vaniquotes category Nature of the soul. We invite you to visit this link to study the complete compilation and experience Śrīla Prabhupāda's teachings in their direct, verbatim form.