Hey, do you know there is nothing like a good and bad Soul?! rnYes, you may find living beings whom the world terms as good or bad, based on the deeds they do.
Let’s dwell on the subject a little further...rnThe Soul is Above All Kinds of DualitiesrnGood-bad, nice-not nice, pleasant-unpleasant, beautiful-ugly, etc. are attributes that cannot be associated with Soul, for the Soul is above all dualities. The Soul was, is and will always be pure; not an iota of impurity can touch the Soul.
Once a person knows the Soul, there’s nothing more that one needs to know in this world, say all the Enlightened beings.rnWhat is this Soul?rnSoul is the real Self - of yours, of mine, of every living being in this world! A Soul resides in every physical body, and that element is what we really are. The Soul’s properties are infinite knowledge, infinite vision, infinite strength and infinite bliss. The inherent attribute of ‘Knowing’ is that of the Soul alone; no other element in the world shares this attribute.
The Soul is Our Real FormrnParam Pujya Dada Bhagwan, the Enlightened being, says, “The true meaning of Aatma (Soul) is the Self, one’s Real form. Eternal happiness, bliss, is within you. Your real Self i.e. the Soul is an abode of infinite bliss and yet you are looking for happiness in temporary things!”
We look for happiness in temporary things because of our ignorance of the Self (the Soul) which is an abode of eternal bliss. We keep running after these temporary materialistic things restlessly in an attempt to obtain, maintain, store and increase the quantum of these things, and in the process end up being drawn into committing a lot of bad deeds or misdeeds. We get greedy about things we like, then we adopt the path of deceit to obtain those no matter what, thereafter we roam around in false pride when we succeed in owning and possessing them, and finally get angry, arrogant and wild at the mere thought of losing or not succeeding in obtaining any of these temporary things. rnNow, every time we indulge in anger-pride-deceit-greed, a new veil of karma covers the Soul. Therefore, although the Soul is totally pure, countless veils of karma have layered over it.
Soul is God! The Soul does not Have Anger-Pride-Deceit-Greed At AllrnYes, the Absolute Soul is God! But we are unable to see and experience God, because of numerous veils that have covered the light of God. These veils are that of karma, which only increase with every bad or good deed. While good deeds bring happiness, the misdeeds lead to only misery.
‘The body you have acquired is to rid your misdeeds, the veil of karma needs to be shed to see God.’ - says Param Pujya Dadashri.
So, the human body is acquired to purge oneself of one’s past mistakes and settle past accounts. If we don’t do that, then upon death, these karmic atoms of anger-pride-deceit-greed that we have accumulated owing to our ignorance of Self, would have to go along with the Soul to various places.
Human Life Carries a Tremendous Responsibility and LiabilityrnThis human life is a turning point. It is only through the human life-form that one is degraded or diverted to other life-forms. From here, the Soul encounters four diversions, namely infernal, animal, human or celestial existence.
So even after acquiring a human form, the Soul is forced to go into the celestial world, animal world or hell, based on one’s good, bad or severely bad deeds respectively. However, if one practices repentance for their bad deeds, then those many karmic atoms of anger-pride-deceit-greed shed off the Soul and the consequences of those particular misdeeds (repented for) get reduced to minimal.
To practice repentance, we must recall every misdeed that may have happened by us in the past and sincerely repent before God (the Soul residing within the person whom we may have offended through this misdeed), “Dear God! I seek forgiveness for this misdeed. Please pardon me and give me strength not to hurt any living being through my thoughts, words or actions.”
It is Only from the Human Life-Form that the Soul’s Wandering Comes to an EndrnIn all other life-forms, there is only release from that life-form i.e. one’s good or bad karma only shed off with every passing circumstance in their life. However, in the human form, there is bondage for further life-forms (binding of new karma) as well.
Nevertheless, liberation also can be achieved from no other life-form except the human form. If one gets a human life-form and is blessed to obtain the means and circumstances congenial to liberation i.e. if one happens to meet Gnani, the Enlightened One, with whose grace their Soul can be enlightened, then their liberation is certain to occur.
This means if we meet Gnani, we are able to successfully fulfil the purpose of our human life, liberation of our Soul becomes possible; but if one doesn’t, then the same human life becomes the instrument for further increasing our endless wandering and suffering.
This human body has been acquired to realize the real Self; and then following Gnani’s words, settle each and every circumstance that arises in our life with equanimity. Doing so, new veils of karma do not arise and the present veils of karma continue to shed off until the Soul gets free of all coverings altogether.
To conclude, all our life, we learn a lot of worldly knowledge and develop in worldly life. But ultimately when we realize, ‘who am I’, then no more worldly learning is required.
The Soul is truly who we are. The Soul is an eternal element, totally separate from the body. While technically, we may practice repentance to rid off the misdeeds done so far through the mechanism of body, after Self-Realization, scientifically by remaining in the awareness of the pure Soul, all good and bad deeds shed off on their own. Such is the incredible power of our Soul, the real Self!!!
To know more:
https://www.dadabhagwan.org/path-to-happiness/spiritual-science/what-is-a-soul/