Issue #15. The Soul
It's small.
Welcome everyone.
Today, we cover the next verse from Chapter 2 of the Bhagavad Gita.
That which pervades the entire body you should know to be indestructible. No one is able to destroy that imperishable soul.
BG 02.17 (Bhagavad Gita As It Is, Chapter 2, Verse 17)*
Krishna gives 2 important points related to the soul (atma):
We cannot destroy the soul.
The Soul pervades the entire body
The soul is situated in the region of the heart (along with the Supersoul/paramatma) and that is why the heart is often referred to, as the seat of all energies. Yet the soul is small and much smaller than the material atoms.
This soul is floating in 5 types of air (vāyu) within the body:
These 5 airs have the following functions:
prāṇa: governs intake & forward momentum
apāna: governs elimination & outward momentum
vyāna: governs circulation
samāna: governs assimilation & consolidation
udāna: governs growth & upwards movement
The purpose of the haṭha-yoga system is for controlling these airs in the body through different postures, all aimed at liberating the soul from the contamination of these life airs. So, yoga is not meant to shape one’s body but to assist in the disentanglement of the soul from matter.
The symptom of the soul is the consciousness which pervades the entire body. When a person is living, he has consciousness. When he is dead, there is neither the consciousness, nor the soul.
Krishna is making us understand that our external body which we think is the most important is actually not as important (or powerful) as the soul. Although the body is seen & enjoyed, it gets destroyed whereas the soul which cannot be seen (due to its size and spiritual nature), powers the entire body & is never destroyed!
What do we learn from today’s verse?
Though the soul is very small, it’s actually VERY powerful.
*If you are interested to get your own copy of the Bhagavad Gita, may I recommend this edition found on Krishna.com: Bhagavad Gita As It Is by ISKCON Founder Acharya, His Divine Grace A.C Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada. It’s life changing! You can find the book on Amazon as well in your country.
Here is the online version you can read for FREE!
https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/
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