Friends, I've been thinking lately of what exactly is a soul? With the ability of a soul to transmigrate as some form of energy, or as it reincarnates, or transcends into other heavenly forms.. what properties does a soul have that actually goes with it? Does it think? Does it have feelings? Does it remember or forget things? Is it male/female? Does it have desires, wants and wishes? What properties of a soul transmigrate with it?
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Heavy thinking here for a Tuesday ;-)
Pyara Singh Man Ji,
Put the kettle on and sip the text – sorry its long, but I had to give you the needle n thread to stitch to fit.
Enjoy -
Being a Sikh, you must look at everything with an open mind and appreciate the diversity in nature. No two observers experimenting one phenomenon will arrive at identical results from two different vantage points.
As an ideology, the existence of the soul is subjected to various interpretations and evaluation from a range of different perspectives. Different tongues have expressed different versions; the skill is to discern that which resonates with your inner-voice [Satnam Waheguru] and corresponds to your belief and value [Sikhism].
Historical Perspective
Before I set out to explain the realm of the soul, I need to make some general comments on the basic concept of Sikhism as a system of belief. The reason for doing this is to give you an understanding of the historical background. The writings of Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji are to some extent literature, the foundation of the Sikh religion, but more so, a social heritage of today’s Sikh generation.
From a Sociologist's perspective, it is a fundamental assumption that when we are born we are confronted by a social world, which is just as real as other realities. That as a result, shapes our behaviour. What we are as individuals is decided by the particular society in which we live and by the particular social group to which we belong. This is due to the world around us, which channels our actions, constraining us to act in particular ways. The principal agencies responsible for shaping us to behave the way we do, are, cognitive [mindset], genetic [biological] and environmental [culture]. Nanak, the founder of Sikhism was the product of the times in which he was born with a strong sense of spiritual supremacy.
To speak in terms of a belief-system is not to imply that the tenets making up Sikhism were clearly worked out abstract ideas or fully articulated and arranged systems in a consistent fashion. No, but rather, as a way of the ordinary people of the day holding beliefs without any clear reason why they were held. By and large these were simple ideas that were passed on by custom and tradition of one generation on to the next, that is, culture. Sikhism in that regard has the hallmarks of both Hindu and Muslim elements, the society into which Nanak was born. From that perspective it was only natural for Nanak to accept and reject religious practices of his time. The idea of the formless, timeless, shapeless Ik On Kar is synonymous with Allah, which Nanak accepted and notwithstanding Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva [Hindu trinity] rejected the Hindu doctrine of divine incarnations [avatars]. He, on the same principles accepted Hinduism's belief in rebirth, karma, and the periodic creation and dissolution of the cosmos. What followed, as a system of belief for Sikhism was that the motherboard upon which it based its outlook towards humankind and the cosmos was ideologically Hindu in its entirety? As for defining and mining the nature and character of the divine reality, Nanak accepted the omnipotent and ineffable concept of Allah, as is held sacred by Islam. Sikhism as a result, is a product of both religious experience and of social circumstances. It is quite ironic that a faith designed to reconcile the differences between the two faiths should itself have split off to become a third religion.
The story of the soul is as old as humankind itself and unlike any other species has a metaphysical existence requiring spiritual eyes to see its invisible form. Although, humans are unique among all species in their ability to gather and utilise information from the external world to their best endeavors, but sadly, that is not enough to set them free from the processes of evolution. Humankind's liberation from the bondage of physical reality appears utterly hopeless before the Will of God. This particular evolutionary trend has profound implications for understanding the human condition within the meaning of religion.
The age of enlightenment played a significant part in shaping modern science. The scientific method, a universally agreed set of rules for investigating phenomena, went a long way to show that logic need not grapple with faith. Almost, everything human’s value associated with religion can be explained and understood. Science and evolutionary theory have paved the way for understanding the immortality of the soul - nature the visible soul and soul the invisible nature.
Seen as a dimension to bridge the gap between the physical and the metaphysical, religion helps construct an understanding for the existence of the soul. Such a system of belief is essential for the harmonious workings of nature. If that’d be correct then it follows that an effective ethical system need some sort of objective reasoning to ground both physical and metaphysical ideals, particularly for morality sake in a given social setting. Otherwise, there can be no intelligible notion of responsibility. If we are not considered responsible for our actions then it makes little or no sense to say that we acted rightly or wrongly. What sense a moral judgment has if we have no choice in the action we have taken? It is this kind of theoretical reasoning which gave rise to different ideologies. To circumvent the mischief in human nature and conform to a higher law [hukum], religion applies the maxim, “as ye sow, so shall ye reap” [law of karma]. The notion of just deserts as a measure for retribution in both deed and thought acts as a form of social control as well as spiritual progress. This is the moral law within which humans must operate and is intrinsically rubber-stamped on the human genome to bring about teleological end.
Our most familiar ideas about ourselves are rooted in the traditional view that there is a radical difference between us and the natural world at large. We have often thought of ourselves as creatures having a dual nature; one part belonging entirely to the natural world and subject to natural laws, the other – the important part, transcending the natural world and quite different from it. It is to this part that our thoughts, desires, decisions and actions have been traditionally attributed to. Our body is inseparably bound to the world of the senses and is subject to the same fate as the rest of the universe. Taken together, we also have an immortal soul, which is not exclusively confined to the realms of the brain but independent of it. This soul is the realm of reason, which is beyond the senses, the mind and the intellect. And, since its non-matter it cannot truly be said to be in harmony with the rest of creation.
Soul [Atman]
Scientifically speaking, the soul is “energy”, which never dies nor gets destroyed but is eternal and ever lasting. It is part of a whole and the whole is God [idea]. The idea of rebirth is best understood through the processes of evolutionary transformations. These transformations are the states and the embodiment of consciousness in its various manifestations. A classic example is the caterpillar that knows not its potential to transform from a slithering insect to a beautiful butterfly in a process called evolution, which is analogous to the soul’s hidden potentiality of becoming, renewing and living forever. And, like the butterfly, which has no knowledge of aerodynamics or indeed physics in general, but that does not prevent it from flying because it was born to fly, so to, is the soul in its true form with the ability to become that which it truly is, a spiritual being that must ultimately merge with the harmonious whole – Satnam.
According to Sikh Theology, the soul [atman] got separated from the supreme soul [parmatma] and descended into the lower worlds from the heavenly worlds.
In the beginning was Parmatma [Ikonkar, light-sound,
anbhua prakash-anhad shabad]. The soul, a particle of the divine light-sound [
anbhua prakash-anhad shabad] existed in the realms of Ikonkar before descending into the lower worlds of creation. The soul is said to have had an existence in the spiritual world [sachkhand] before inhibiting the body. But when it woke to find herself in the body, it had forgotten all the perfections left behind in her own world, Sach-khand. During her trials and tribulations in this physical world something begins to happen. The stirrings within her constitution begin to unfold. She starts looking around into the physical world and a series of questions arise; who am I, how, when and where did I come from, for what and why everything is the way it is? This wondrous process of philosophising distils her subtle state of being. As the human part of her discovers the various forms in the natural world, a vague recollection supported by strong spiritual inclination produces this electromagnetic effect that begins to pull her into a fold. This fold of love, attraction, wishes and wants of physical beings, objects and the pleasures therein holds her captive, but not for long. These leisure’s and pleasures are short-lived. They are no more than glimpses, mere tremors, murmurs, recollections and resonances of her real world. Intuitively, she realises that nothing here in this physical world corresponds with that of her godly world and that this world is forever changing. Nothing here is permanent. The unending happiness and contentment for which she craves and pursues in objects and subjects is transitory. She, searching her kind from person to person like the bumble bee collecting nectar from flower to flower, alas, cannot be found amongst things made of matter because she is non-matter. She cannot become that what she is not.
Her close encounters with the natural world of objects reveals intuitively; the imperfective-ness in all things made of matter for the real one in her world is perfect and beautiful. She realises the riddle of the self as deceptive and she, a prisoner of her own intellect. She encounters other experiences, which are sufficient to awaken her recollection of the perfectiveness from whence she came [pauri 34-37 Jap Ji Sahib]. This stirs her with a yearning to return to her true realm. This yearning is true love [sachi preet hum tum sa jori SGGSJ 658] and the longing to return to her origin [mool] becomes evermore appealing and pleasing. She wants to fly home […murgai nesana SGGSJ 938] on the wings of love, and this she does, when in her state of sleep she learns to leave the body and flies free. Then, in her contemplative mood she ventures within, shutting out all external and internal concepts, percepts and lets the sweet and soft sound of music funnel into the abyss of her being. All this informs her of her ideal and permanent home, Satnam Waheguru.
The awakening helps her understand the processes of spiritual and intellectual evolution as being dependent upon conditions, circumstances, experimentations, realisations, and that, not all species are equal in that respect. This inborn inequality does not hinder development but rather gets eliminated through the process of evolution, which brings individual souls to this pitch of perfection, particularly, the humans. It is at this level the soul is able to discern from the mix of evolutionary inroads the way back to her home. Institutions offering such solace to aspiring souls are many, Sikhism being, just one.
Following his mystical experience at Sultanpur Lodhi, Nanak the separated soul set about preaching his new find. What exactly was this new find is what Sikhism is, the reunification of the mortal with the immortal [atman parmatma] – a practical way to an eternal life.
Having experienced the perfect and the imperfect, Nanak conceived a human form [spiritual] much more stable than his own and realised that there is no reason why such a form couldn’t be acquired to better the human condition. Thus he is led to philosophise, which will bring about the human to this pitch of perfection as a spiritual being having a “jolly” human experience [lila]. And, that it is the knowledge of the union between the two, spiritual physical, which is the overriding objective of the human birth.
Nanak’s Sikhism is the home where “lives” Atman-Parmatma.
