The Winds of Wonder

Immortality-Body-Soul

Immortality-Body-Soul

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RY Deshpande

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Immortality-Body-Soul

Varun Pabrai sends the following excerpts from the early writings of Sri Aurobindo, before he came to Pondicherry, the Bengal political period.

Immortality

 Death, we have said, is a mere phase. There is no death, only the change from bondage to freedom. Death of the body is the first release from physical bondage, death of the soul the last release from spiritual bondage. The soul does not really die, but merely shakes off the false sense of separateness from brahman. Who then will fear death? Death is no enemy, no King of Horrors, but a friend who opens the gates of Heaven to the aspiring soul. Heaven is a myth in the opinion of modern science, but if Heaven means eternal happiness then Heaven is no myth. It is the state of the soul released from māyā, rejoicing in the sense of its own illimitable being; and those attain it who are in this world able to rise above the self to the knowledge of the higher self either by yoga or by selfless action for the sake of others.

Heaven awaits the patriot who dies for his country, the saint who passes from this life with the thought of God in his heart, the soldier who flings his life away at the bidding of his nation, all who can put the thought of self away from them.

Body and Soul

Soul is a presence, body a piece of māyā. When the body is full of the presence of the soul it lives, but when the soul withdraws from it it dies. In other words, the soul while in the body feels a sense of imprisonment which ceases as soon as the body falls from it. This is the work of māyā who lives by creating the sense of restriction in the illimitable and free brahman. Māyā is the negative quality of brahman making for darkness, vidyā,the positive quality making for light. They subsist together in the soul, and sometimes one prevails, sometimes the other. When māyā prevails, the soul thinks itself bound, when vidyā prevails, it thinks itself free. But there is no bondage. So too when a people feels itself bound and subject it acquiesces in its bondage, but the moment a light from God is sent into it, and the prophet of God is commissioned from on high, the nation wonders at its blindness and wakes to the sense of its inalienable freedom.

CWSA Vol. 07 Bande Mataram – II

https://incarnateword.in/cwsa/07/the-soul-and-indias-mission

2 responses to “Immortality-Body-Soul”

  1. RY Deshpande Avatar
    RY Deshpande

    A forwarded story about “Immortality”.

    There is a lot of wisdom in it and it has caught the essence, but then the true nature of immortality remains un-understood. Beyond immortality there has to be the state of deathlessness. That is what the Mother exlains in her Conversations. First, here is the old story narrated by the sage:

    *Why Death is a Conclusive Requirement?*

    Everyone fears death, but birth and death are laws of creation … It is essential for the balance of the universe. Without it, humans would dominate one another. How? Read this story…

    Once, a king visited a sage who was sitting under a tree outside his kingdom. He asked, “O Swami! If there is any herb or medicine that can grant immortality, please let me know.” The sage replied, “O King! Please cross the two mountains in front of you. There, you will find a lake. Drink its water, and you will become immortal.”

    After crossing the two mountains, the king found a lake. As he was about to drink the water, he heard painful groans. Following the sound, he found a very weak man lying in pain. When the king asked the reason, the man said, “I drank the water from the lake and became immortal. After I turned a hundred years old, my son threw me out of the house. I have been lying here for the last fifty years with no one to care for me. My son has passed away, and my grandchildren are now old. I have stopped eating and drinking, yet I am still alive.”

    The king pondered, “What is the use of immortality with old age? What if I gain youth along with immortality?” He went back to the sage to find a solution and asked, “Please tell me how I can gain both immortality and youth.”

    The sage replied, “After crossing the lake, you will find another mountain. Cross it, and you will find a tree filled with yellow fruits. Eat one of them, and you will gain both immortality and youth.”

    The king crossed another mountain and found a tree filled with yellow fruits. As he was about to pluck and eat one, he heard loud arguments and fighting. He wondered who could be quarreling in such a remote place.

    He saw four young men arguing loudly. The king asked why they were fighting. One of them said, “I am 250 years old, and the man on my right is 300 years old. He is not giving me my share of the property.” When the king asked the man on the right, he said, “My father, who is 350 years old, is still alive and hasn’t given me my share. How can I give mine to my son?” The man pointed to his father, who was 400 years old, and shared the same complaint. All of them told the king that their endless fight for property had driven the villagers to expel them from the village.

    Shocked, the king returned to the sage and said, “Thank you for teaching me the importance of death.”

    The sage then said, *”Because death exists, there is love in the world.”*

    “Instead of trying to avoid death, live each day and every moment happily. Change yourself, and the world will change.”

    1. When you chant the name of God while bathing, it becomes a holy bath.

    2. When you chant while eating, the food becomes sacred.

    3. When you chant while walking, it becomes a pilgrimage.

    4. When you chant while cooking, the food becomes divine.

    5. When you chant before sleeping, it becomes meditative sleep.

    6. When you chant while working, it becomes devotion.

    7. When you chant at home, it turns into a temple.

                      *******

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  2. RY Deshpande Avatar
    RY Deshpande

    The story of Gilgamesh in search of plant of immortality has a few relevant points. He discovers the plant and wants to take it back home. But while he fell asleep a serpent slithered in and stole away the herb. It is good it happened that way. An immature immortality would mean cessation of progress. In fact there is no progress in the immortality the Gods have. Progress is in deathlessness, change of form depending upon the needs of consciousness.

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