0 . Thus exists this expansive samsara known as the endless cycle of birth and death in the material existence. ( Log Out /  The soul and the body are different. as confirmed in the Garga Samhita Canto 10, Chapter 61, Verses 23, 24, 25, 26. The body is transient and perishable, but the soul is eternal and indestructible. The Socratic formulation of man’s self is similar to the composition found in the Bhagavad Gita in that Socrates is seen to lean towards the latter of two opinions purported in Plato’s Apology. The soul wears the body like a clothe and discards it at the time of death. The traditional Hindu ideology of reincarnation is recorded in the words of Krishna, who teaches that, “As the Spirit of our mortal body wanders on in childhood… the Spirit wanders on to a new body.”[1] The Socratic doctrine of the immortality of the soul is expounded in a fourfold argument recorded in Plato’s Phaedo, where the reader is confronted with 1) the argument from opposites, 2) the theory of recollection, 3) the argument from affinity, and 4) the argument from the form of life. Now begins the summation. ( Log Out /  The body is Prakriti (Nature). Sri Swami Sivananda. In one of the longest Chapters of the Bhagavad Gita, he told Arjuna about the Soul’s immortality, as well as how the wise maintain a calm and composed outlook by applying eternal knowledge and not being attached to the outcomes/fruits of their actions. Cope (Cambridge: University Press, 1875), 30-92. Please check your browser settings or contact your system administrator. As long as you follow the instruction of the param-atma (Bhakti), the journey is smooth and full of happiness. Gaining immortality, becoming a pure soul atman is the ultimate goal of human life on mother earth. The central figure of the Gita is Krishna. Image source: Wikimedia Commons: ... and there is not one religion possessing good ideas of the immortality of the soul but has derived it directly or indirectly from us. Change ). Even though the immortal soul is eternal, because of its constant connection and disconnection with the physical body from time immemorial it believes it is experiencing birth and death. The Indian warrior Arjuna and the Greek philosopher Socrates lived in very different time periods, cultures, and geographical areas. The Bhagavad Gita (/ ˌ b ʌ ɡ ə v ə d ˈ ɡ iː t ɑː,-t ə /; Sanskrit: भगवद् गीता, IAST: bhagavad-gītā /b ɦ ɐɡɐʋɐd ɡiːtäː/, lit. The instructions given by Sri Krishna are for the whole world. The Bhagavad Gita is a unique book for all ages. The Bhagavad Gita. Immortality is not of the body, but of the soul, and it only truly comes about when the soul has achieved that state of awareness that identifies itself with the supreme status of the Spirit. E.M. The Bhagavad Gita, among all, is studied, analyzed and interpreted the most. Change ), You are commenting using your Facebook account. 1. Powered by. The Shlok depicts that the soul or Aatman is formless, shapeless, limitless and doesn’t possess any physical attributes, but it still exists. Arjuna understands that Krsna has the solutions for His dilemma, but to access it, he would need to put Krsna in a higher position, so He would be comfortable to correct him and speak the hard truth if necessary. [10] Socrates leans towards the latter opinion in Phaedo, saying, “Let a man be of good cheer about his soul, who having cast away the pleasures and ornaments of the body… has sought after the pleasures of knowledge; and has arrayed the soul, not in some foreign attire, but in her own proper jewels… in these adorned she [the soul] is ready to go on her journey to the world below, when her hour comes.”[11] Although the conclusions drawn in regards to the post-mortem application of man’s bipartite anthropology differ between Hinduism and Socratic philosophy, the foundational composition of a person is similar in the sense that they are understood to possess both a temporal body and an eternal soul. Introduction. Source: Bhagavad Geeta 2.23 Sanskrit transcript: The Bhagavad Gita plainly states that soul is the living entity that is able … [4] In the Bhagavad Gita, this efficient cause of temporal progress is none other than the god Krishna, i.e. However, its identification with the material body makes it suffer the illusion of birth and death. The Soul is neither born, nor does It die. In Bhagavad Gita, Lord Krishna explains that every body is like a machine (yantra). The elements combine to form the body dictated by karma ato render service to the imperishable soul to enable the living entity to experience the positive and negative fruits of their actions. Now you can read and understand the Gita with no previous knowledge of Hinduism required. Bhagavad Gita Acknowledges The Immortality Of Soul What is Permanent ? The soul is Purusha (God). arguments to prove soul’s immortality. Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 4, Verse: 7-8. The immortality of the Soul (Bhagavad-Gita #3) Posted by Caitanya Chandra dasa on September 29, 2020 at 12:08pm Views: 22. We shall survive after death also & we as a Soul shall live forever, births after births. In the Bhagavad Gita, the dialogue between Krishna and Aruna asserts the traditional Hindu understanding of reincarnation, while in Socratic literature, Socrates teaches what is coined as the classical doctrine of the immortality of the soul. E-mail me when people leave their comments –, The immortality of the Soul (Bhagavad-Gita #3), Steve JObs Speech -- He Remembers his meals at hare krishna temple, Melody 10 - Learn Harmonium Chords for Hare Krishna Mantra, Hare Rama Hare Krishna god songs 2 - 3D Animation Video hare Krishna hare Rama bhajan songs, Leadership Sutras based on Bhagavad Gita by Chaitanya Charan prabhu. Introduction Glory of the Gita The Need For A Teacher The Teaching of the Gita Gita Jayanti. It is eternal and everlasting.” “Death is inevitable for the living and Birth is inevitable for the Dead. It is this individual soul that departs from the body after its death and goes to heaven, with the senses, mind, Prana, impressions, desires and tendencies. This groundbreaking book illuminates the similarities between the scriptures of the world’s two most populous religions, vibrantly bringing each to life. Change ), You are commenting using your Google account. This is however, not the ultimate sense that the Gita portrays, but rather a sort of successive recurrence. Juan Mascaró (London: Penguin Books, 1978), 48. The following are a few important points regarding the soul or self found in the Bhagavadgita. Many schools of thought Krishna then comforts Arjuna and starts to tell him what we essentially call the Bhagavad Gita, the meaning of life. Thus, the soul gets released from the cycle of life and death and attains immortality. Send survey . In the "Gita," Lord Krishna tells Arjuna that the wise person knows that even though every human is destined to die, the soul is immortal: "For death is certain to one who is born...thou shalt not grieve for what is unavoidable." Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. The unreal has no existence, and the Real never ceases to be; the reality of both has thus been perceived by the seers of Truth. This groundbreaking book illuminates the similarities vibrantly brining each to life. Sridhara Swami's Commentary. Body Mind Mountains None of the Above. 3. The Bhagavad Gita, an ancient Sanskrit text considered holy in the Vedic and Hindu religions, takes an intriguing perspective when approaching the soul. You need to be a member of ISKCON Desire Tree | IDT to add comments! Lord Krishna states that one who contemplates sensual objects like form and touch develops in the mind attachment for them in the form of lust deluded into believing such objects to be the root cause of apparent happiness. The second is that death is the migration of one’s soul from one world into another. The Soul can never be cut or burnt, not made wet or dried. Terms of Service, © 2021 ISKCON Desire Tree | IDT   Arjuna quickly understands that this talk would not lead him anywhere. The Bhagavad Gita is a dialogue between Lord Krishna and Arjuna, narrated in the Bhishma-Parva of the Mahabharata. The soul is the living entity. [8] Therefore, the assertion of both schools of a transcendent deity, in accordance with the Thomistic notion of effectual cause, continues to broaden the fields of ideological convergence between the Bhagavad Gita and Socratic literature. The grand edifice of the Ethics of the Bhagavad Gita has been built on the Eternal Corner-stones of (1) Immortality of the Soul; (2) Immanence of God; (3) Impermanence of the world; (4) Immediacy of Liberation. Back of the Book Destined to become a classic, The Promise of immortality is the most complete commentary available on the parallel passages in the Bible and India’s ancient scripture the Bhagavad Gita. Despite the disparity in their corporeal presences between each other in the world, each of these profound historical characters has provided instrumental insight into the fields of religion, spirituality, and philosophy with their convictions concerning the afterlife and the supernatural. ( Log Out /  2. [6] In defending himself from atheistic accusations, Socrates defends himself, saying, “…I go about the world, obedient to the god, and search and make enquiry into the wisdom of any one, whether citizen or stranger, who appears to be wise… I am in utter poverty by reason of my devotion to the god.”[7] In an essential text for understanding the mind and philosophy of Socrates, Xenophon’s Memorabilia records Socrates as arguing that, “Whatever exists for a useful purpose must be the work of an intelligent,” revealing a trace of the philosopher’s contending for the argument from efficient cause. In addition to the belief in a post-mortem continuation of the soul, the existence of a god or gods is asserted by both the entirety of the Bhagavad Gita and by Socrates during his defense upon being accused of atheism. The term deha meaning body is derived from the word dih meaning to increase and correspondingly those bodies having increase must also have decrease and therefore are of a perishable nature. Though Plato’s concept of soul has similarities with that of the Upanishads and the Bhagavad Gita He presented so many new ideas by analyzing and synthesizing which we could come to know that the concept of soul is quite significant Rudra Vaisnava Sampradaya: Visnuswami. The Bhagavad Gita says: “The embodied one, having gone beyond the three gunas – sattva (purity), rajas (activity), and tamas (inertia) – out of which the body is evolved, is freed from birth, death, decay, and pain and attains immortality.” In just seven hundred lines, the Gita presents concise teachings on such topics as the immortality of the soul, meditation and yoga, worship and sacrifice, the ideal of selfless action and the oneness of all life in the Divine. Driving this machine is you, the jivatma (soul), and guiding you is the param-atma (super-soul). It is the immortal song of the Soul, which bespeaks of the glory of life. Factually, the soul is always immortal. Using the terms of Atma, Jivatma, and Paramatma, the Gita describes not only our individual souls, but the interaction of souls up to the highest level of Divinity. Hence, one should not grieve for the death of anyone. There was no time for that. By . Report an Issue  |  In the Bhagavad Gita, both immaterial and material aspects of a person are referred to as the necessary to the structure of what can be defined as a human person. BG 2.24: The soul is unbreakable and incombustible; it can neither be dampened nor dried. ( Log Out /  While existing in remarkably different cultures and having been cultivated by different geographical events and literature, the two schools of thought presented in the Bhagavad Gita and Socratic literature are not as distinct as one would hypothesize. [2] The assertion of the post-mortem continuance of the souls is expressed in different ways, with the Bhagavad Gita recording its integration into a new corporeal form, while in Plato’s Apology claims that he is convinced that what lies beyond the grave is far better than mortality, and that in death “there is a change and migration of the soul from this world to another.”[3] Each of these assertions, the former Hindu and the latter Socratic, possess the commonly held belief that there is a transmission of the soul upon one’s death, and although dissonances exist between these two formulations of this transmission, the understanding of the soul expressed in both the Bhagavad Gita and Plato’s Apology are remarkably similar. When the body becomes diseased and old, the ever-lasting soul forsakes it for a new disguise. [1] The Bhagavad Gita, trans. Therefore there is … Ably written J. Donald Walters who, as Swami Kriyananda, founded the Ananda network of spiritual communities, The Promise Of Immortality: The True Teaching Of The Bible And The Bhagavad Gita is an in-depth comparative commentary on parallel passages both in the Bible and in The Bhagavad Gita. Get Embed Code Incapable of finding a way out of his dilemma, Arjuna turns to Krsna, Who is playing the role of his charioteer. Death is but a change of attire in an uninterrupted continuity of immortality. In its second chapter, the nature of the bipartite relationship of one’s self is symbolically represented as, “a man [who] leaves an old garment and puts on one that is new, [in the same way] the Spirit leaves his mortal body and then puts on one that is new.”[9] Thus, both the Spirit and a mortal body are considered parts of a human person, and one without the other is inferred to be incomplete or imperfect. The denial of any possibility in the slaying of any living entity has beenestablished, for all living entities continually maintain their existencethrough the agency of the immortal soul. In the Bhagavad Gita, the dialogue between Krishna and Aruna asserts the traditional Hindu understanding of reincarnation, while in Socratic literature, Socrates teaches what is coined as the classical doctrine of the immortality of the soul. the ultimate expression of the divine Godhead. Chapter 3 - … Change is the law of the universe Bhagavad Gita verse | Immortality of soul in Bhagavad Gita. Although these two traditions may disagree sharply on the implications of the existence of the divine or religious expression, there are not many foundational differences. Lord Krishna summarizes the entire Gita into the second chapter and it is no surprise that this is the chapter which deals with the immortality of the soul and that of death. For, into the Bhagavad Gita the Lord has woven a beautiful and universal pattern of ethics that would appeal and apply to all. Even if you live in the spirit of one verse of the Gita, all your miseries will come to an end and you will attain the goal of life – Immortality and Eternal Peace.” The Bhagavad Gita Swami Sivananda Introduction – pages xi to xiii. It is everlasting, in all places, unalterable, immutable, and primordial. These two historic ideals share several similarities, such as an assertion of a post-mortem continuation of the soul, an acknowledgment of theism in … Such theistic belief on both parts is in accordance with the Thomist uncaused cause, which is defined by St. Aquinas as a first efficient cause from which all known things find their ontological existence in due to the fact that there cannot be an infinite regress of causes because the material universe itself is not infinite in substance. In present Kali Yuga the only recourse to understanding spirituality that led mankind towards state of enlightenment laid in teachings of Bhagavad Gita. The soul is birth-less, eternal, imperishable and timeless and is never destroyed when the body is destroyed. the post-mortem continuation of the human soul. The Bhagavad Gita is one of the core scriptures of Yoga. Bhagavad Gita - Chapter 2, Verse 23. [2] Plato’s Phaedo, trans. His concept of soul is also found in Phaedrus, Meno, Republic etc. The first of these opinions is inherently naturalistic and teaches that death is a state of nothingness and unconsciousness, and therefore is gain. Beings manifest from … Change ), You are commenting using your Twitter account. It tells all of us with conviction that we are an Immortal Soul & not a mortal body. The underlying essential truths of all great world scriptures can find common amity in the infinite wisdom of the Gita’s mere 700 concise verses. (The Bhagavad Gita Vol I, Parmahansa Yoganada, p. 218) Verse 22 Verse 23 Verse 24 Verse 25 Verse 26 Verse 27. 4. Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. With all three of these (perhaps unexpected) convergences in mind, the Bhagavad Gita and Socratic philosophy each testify to the composition of man as being naturally bipartite; that is, that a human person consists of both a corporeal body and an ethereal soul. Since Arjuna is addressing Krsna as a friend, Krsna reciprocates, encouraging him as a friend would do. Six quotations from the text are particularly profound sources of consolation for the grieving heart in its saddest moments. In his conversation with Arjuna, Krishna claims, “In this whole vast universe there is nothing higher than I. Neither Vedic knowledge nor modern science denies the existence of the spirit soul in the body, and the science of the soul is explicitly described in the Bhagavad-gita by the Personality of Godhead Himself. It is endowed with a subtle astral body when it proceeds to heaven. Bhagavad Gita: Chapter 2: Verse 16. Immortality of Soul as per Bhagwat Gita L ord Krishna tells Arjuna as per Bhagwat Gita that Individual Soul is Immortal.