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Does the soul take birth and die? If the soul is eternal, what does 'liberation' mean?

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Does the soul take birth and die? If the soul is eternal, what does 'liberation' mean?
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Your question is of great significance.

Truth has many layers, and spiritual truth is deeply mysterious. The same truth is seen and described differently from different perspectives.

The space enclosed within a pot — the space, the akasha — is in reality indivisible; it can never truly be divided. Yet, from one perspective, the space inside the pot may appear different from the space outside, because there is a covering between them, a partition — the wall of the pot. When a pot sealed at the top is carried from one place to another, it may seem as though the space inside the pot has also traveled along with it.

A somewhat similar picture emerges from the Bhagavad Gita's description of the Atman and Ishvara.

From a profound perspective, there can be no division between the Atman and the Paramatman, because the Lord is all-pervading. Yet, in practical experience, this division does appear to exist. Clear indications of this are found in the Gita. I shall cite those verses according to which, in the course of creation, when the Lord sends forth His own fragment — the Atman or souls — to participate in the divine drama of creation, that Atman becomes attracted by the senses and becomes enclosed within a body. This body is of two types: the gross body (sthula sharira) and the subtle body (sukshma sharira). At times, the Atman is enveloped by both bodies, and at other times only by the subtle body, not the gross. After leaving the gross body, the Atman remains bound within the subtle body. The reason for this bondage is that the Lord Himself deludes His own fragment, wrapping it in ignorance and sending it to participate in the drama of creation. That Atman forgets that it is itself a fragment of the Lord, or indeed the Lord Himself. When, through knowledge, this fog of ignorance is dispelled, the Atman becomes free even from the subtle body. In fact, many scriptures describe, in addition to the gross and subtle bodies, a causal body (karana sharira) as well. This causal body is nothing but the adhesive of ignorance that keeps the Atman stuck to the subtle body. The subtle body is primarily composed of mind, intellect, and ego. It exits one body and enters another, and in the interval it exists for some time in an unmanifest form within the subtle body alone, as a preta (a disembodied spirit — not a ghost or demon in the popular sense).

All these events are true at a certain level. When you sit in a cinema theater and watch a sequence of events unfold on the screen for three hours, everything appears real to you while you are watching — that is why you laugh and cry. That too is a level of truth. When you are asleep and witness a sequence of events in a dream, those events seem real to you as well — you laugh and cry over them too. This is also a kind of truth.

You observe that the earth is stationary and the sun rises and sets. But if you rise into space and look from above, it is the earth that appears to revolve around the sun, and the sun appears stationary. And if you go into deep space, even the sun will appear to be hurtling through space, not stationary at all. Therefore, truth has many layers.

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