EVERYTHING IS THE SUPREME SPIRIT,
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PARAMEŚVARA
The only thing that lives forever is the soul. We should understand that. Everything else must die one day. When we realize this truth, when we understand that only the soul can remain forever, our whole race to get more and more becomes worthless. We realize, 'What is the use of running after things that we know are not going to be with us forever?
When this is realized, we see the truth.
The mind is the only obstacle on the path to reach the ultimate goal. In the previous verse, Kṛṣṇa tells us how we can see the truth. Here Kṛṣṇa talks about the hurdle that we must cross. He says that when we are not degraded or influenced by the mind, we can see the supreme spirit in everything. Only when we can do that, can we reach the final destination
The reason for the incompletions is that the mind, which should be under the control of man, has become a structure that controls man. If a servant behaves like a master, what will happen? An immature servant becoming a master is like catching a monkey and putting it on the throne. If we can keep the mind aside for a while, we see the truth as it is. Our mind cannot accept that the Supreme Soul is in everything around us. Our soul inside us knows that the Supreme Soul is everywhere. But our mind creates a strong sheath around it. Our mind takes control over us. It harbors past memories (saṁskāras) and creates an illusion that leads to wrong cognition.
We are safe as long as we can
separate the Self from the
body and watch as the body
reacts to materialistic things.
As long as we know that the
soul is supreme and the body
is a means to fulfill our
worldly desires, we are safe.
We are on the right path of
completion. However, when
we place the body over the
soul, the incompletion starts.
SOUL'S
PURPOSE
We must understand why we assume this human body form and come to planet Earth. This birth that we have taken is to fulfill the carried-over desires of our previous births. These desires are called prārabdha karma. Our soul has taken this body to fulfill our prārabdha karma. When we die, our last thought decides our next birth. Our soul chooses the body that can fulfill the desires of our last birth. This is the truth. Understand that we assume a body to fulfill the desires carried over from our previous life. However, what happens is hat we create new desires in this life as well. We use our body to experience the sense pleasures and we create more and more desires. Because of this, we fall into the cycle of birth and death. Once we realize that our soul takes this body to complete a mission that it left unfinished in our previous birth, our attitude towards our whole body will change.
