The Window to the Soul in Spirituality

Theologians, Philosophers and Scientists have long dwelled on the ‘existence’ of something called the ‘soul’. The problem here is for laymen like me, who until meets death, would never experience the feel and existence of the soul. We do feel soulful when we tend to become emotional, but I am not talking about this here.

Some of us are apprehensive of the fear of the unknown. Is it Yamraj, Anubis, Hades, Ragnarok, becoming dust till we are called to rise or ..? So many questions and the answers are rather to be avoided by the faint-hearted? One of my friends, ‘Bheemsen’ (not his original name) once told me something which stayed with me till now when we were discussing the ramifications and the implications of the final departure. He said that if we knew what lay beyond life, everybody will have recourse to suicide because life after death is undeniably beautiful. It is just a matter of faith or of one’s belief. Is it a defence mechanism by our brain that prevents us from accessing the ‘instinct’ when dealing with death? The same goes for pain; if we didn’t feel pain as we do, some youngsters and not-so-sane fellows would strip their skin away to display their inner organs. It is a crazy world!

I feel that we are ‘investing’ Karma and loads of money to have a good re-retirement (post-death). Have you noticed how most of us are willingly or unwillingly investing in our retirement funds, not even knowing if we are going to live over our sixties? The same goes for the soul, we seem to be ‘investing’ in prayers of Shuddhikaran, absolving our sins and mistakes, trying to be mindful of our karmic debts, in the hope of a better-alleged future (if time exists in the dimension beyond life). At least, private and public retirement schemes are guaranteed, provided the economy maintains the status quo.

I wish to know what lays beyond death. Does the soul really exist? I believe in scriptures, they are the guiding forces of our life. A child never understands the pain of a burn; he cannot conjure pain mentally unless he has experienced it firsthand.

I would draw an interesting analogy here. When we look into the mirror, we can see all the imperfections that bother us, the acnes, open enlarged pores, wrinkles, black spots and craving for the perfect symmetry that is the trademark of good looks. We will buy countless products to remedy those issues because they are visually assaulting. This trouble our sanity as long as we see them. However, we ignore our psyche, put aside the small decisions that will grow into habits, not necessarily good ones; allow fat to gorge our heart arteries because we do not see our insides. Our thoughts and arteries do not confront us in the mirror and challenge us.

Do we have the same attitude towards our Karma because we cannot see and keep tabs on these? Will there be redemption for our souls?