The Soul doesn’t come and go. It is there everywhere like air in the atmosphere. We inhale and exhale air and it seems that the air comes inside us and goes outside. But air is everywhere. So is the Soul! Due to our ignorance, we don’t realize we are the Soul. This makes us live and suffer as the body. It makes us suffer as MIME – Mind, Intellect, Memory, Ego that is reborn again and again. The moment we overcome our ignorance and realize the truth that we are the Divine Soul, we are liberated from the cycle of death and rebirth, and we are united with the Divine

The Soul doesn’t come and go. It is there everywhere like air in the atmosphere. We inhale and exhale air and it seems that the air comes inside us and goes outside. But air is everywhere. So is the Soul! Due to our ignorance, we don’t realize we are the Soul. This makes us live and suffer as the body. It makes us suffer as MIME – Mind, Intellect, Memory, Ego that is reborn again and again. The moment we overcome our ignorance and realize the truth that we are the Divine Soul, we are liberated from the cycle of death and rebirth, and we are united with the Divine.

The Soul that powers you, me, and the entire universe is the same source of power. It is one Divine Universal Power. It is omnipresent — present everywhere. It is not different for different people. Your Soul is not different from my Soul, just like the power in the bulb, the air conditioner, and the television is the same power, although the gadgets are different.

Going one step further, if we are blessed, we realize the truth that everything is a manifestation of the Soul. Because of the Soul, we appear and when the Soul leaves, we disappear. The Soul is the cause, we are just effects. The Soul is the one Universal Power that manifests as everything. Where does the Soul come from and where does it go?

The Soul doesn’t come and go. It is there everywhere like air in the atmosphere. We inhale and exhale air and it seems that the air comes inside us and goes outside. But air is everywhere. So is the Soul! Due to our ignorance, we don’t realize we are the Soul. This makes us live and suffer as the body. It makes us suffer as MIME – Mind, Intellect, Memory, Ego that is reborn again and again.

The moment we overcome our ignorance and realize the truth that we are the Divine Soul, we are liberated from the cycle of death and rebirth and we are united with the Divine.

We must be absolutely clear what the Soul is not. Just like we have an individual body and our own Mind, Intellect, Memory, Ego – MIME, we don’t have an individual or separate Soul. The Soul is one. And when we say that we have a Soul, we need to rethink because we don’t have a Soul—in fact, WE ARE THE SOUL. Because we are embodied creatures, we start believing that we are the body, mind, and ego which in reality is just a manifestation of the Soul. Just like a gold ring is nothing, it is just a manifestation of gold – if you remove the gold, there is nothing. So it is with us. We exist because of the Soul. Without the Soul, there can be no existence.

Once we are clear about the truth of the Soul, we will stop believing the myth, “My Soul is different from your Soul.” We will also overcome the fantasy that there are ‘good’ Souls and ‘bad’ Souls, that our Soul will experience either bliss or suffering by going to either heaven or hell. These are fairy tales, and if one realizes the truth, these beliefs will disappear like mist in the morning sun.

Because of our mind, the rascal, which is our biggest enemy, we fantasize about the Soul appearing as a ghost. Although, we may have just cremated or buried our elderly parents or grandparents, the mind forces us to believe that they still exist, either somewhere hidden on earth or somewhere up in heaven.

The moment we become clear that the Soul is everything and is everywhere, and we are just like waves that appear from the ocean and go back into the ocean, we will overcome these fancy myths. Once the wave merges with the ocean, we cannot go back and capture it. So it is with the Soul. The Soul causes our journey on earth based on our past actions and along with our present actions, it will decide the next birth on this humongous stage called the earth. We are like puppets that come and go, but once we realize the truth about the Soul, we will be liberated and will become one with the Divine.

The Ultimate Truth is this—we are the Soul! It may seem like we have a Soul, and there is no doubt that the Soul gives power to each of the over 30 trillion cells of the human body. But the truth is that we are that very power that we think we have. We think we have a Soul, but we forget that we are the Soul.

We think we are the body and mind, but in reality, we are neither of the two. We are the Soul that manifests as the body and mind. What is this power that we call the Soul? We now know that the Soul is everywhere, but what exactly is this power? Those who realize the truth infer that the power that is the Soul is nothing but the Divine that appears as the Soul to us human beings.

We human beings have a limited comprehension. We cannot comprehend beyond this. We are not gifted with that sense. But, if we are fortunate and are blessed with the grace of the Divine, we will realize the profound truth that we are the Soul. The Soul is nothing but the Divine. Ultimately, we are all manifestations of the Divine.

The moment we overcome the myth about the Soul and realize the truth, we will start our journey which will lead us to living as the Divine Soul, our Ultimate Goal!

Because we live in Ignorance, we think we have a Soul, But when we realize we are the Soul, the Divine takes control!

So wonderful is the feeling to dart and float around here, there and everywhere. Words cannot describe the experience outside of time and space, however it could be likened to Being without gravity and having no identity as a male or female in formlessness.

THE TRUTH OF THE SOUL – REVEALED!

• The Soul is a Power that creates life in everything on earth.

• ‘Your’ Soul is no different from ‘my’ Soul.

• It appears like the Soul comes and goes, but the Soul is everywhere.

• We come and go as we manifest in our human existence.

• The Soul is the Divine that appears as a Power to us. We

cannot comprehend beyond this.

• The truth is that we don’t have a soul, we are the Soul. Without the Soul, we are nothing.

• To realize the truth about the Soul, we must overcome all the myths that we believe in.

If we think of the Soul to be some mysterious unknown entity, then our journey to realize the truth about the Soul comes to an end. The Soul is that Divine Power that is in you and me. In essence, we are not the body, we are not the mind, we are the Divine Soul. All along, we live in ignorance, thinking we have a Soul, rather than realizing we are the Soul. The ego identifies itself to be the form that has a name and is socially connected to people and things. But this is a myth as we have understood now, a myth that we have left behind. Once we become aware that we are the Divine Soul, whether it is just having the knowledge or realizing the truth, it opens the door for us to achieve the ultimate goal of Liberation.

Our quest for the truth helps us overcome the ignorance about the Soul and makes us realize that we are the Life Energy, the Divine Power that causes life. Our purpose on this earth is not just to live and to die. Most people think that the goal of life is to be happy. That is the goal of the body and mind, which we are not.

The goal of who we truly are, the Divine Soul is to be liberated. Liberation comes in two steps. First, liberation from the triple suffering—the physical suffering of the body, the misery of the mind and the agony of the ego. Thereafter, liberation leads to the second step — liberation from the cycle of death and rebirth.

Once we are liberated from this triple suffering of the body, mind, and ego while alive, we live as a liberated Soul or a Jivanmukta. What is it to live like a Jivanmukta? A liberated Soul lives a life of peace, joy, and bliss. Such a person is conscious of his true existence and doesn’t get attached to people and things. Such a person transcends suffering that comes from desires and disappointments, from cravings that lead to heartbreak.

A Jivanmukta lives a life of detachment and dispassion. He is not a slave to his body senses, but rather becomes a master, not just of the body and its cravings, but of the mind and its constant wandering. A liberated one overcomes misery that is born out of fear, worry, stress, anxiety, hate, revenge, and the like. Such a person realizes that this world is a cosmic drama, and nothing is real. We come without anything and we leave empty-handed. Thus, a Jivanmukta lives peacefully and blissfully.

“When you are liberated from your own fear, your presence automatically liberates others?’

You are hard on yourself. You have faced and walked through many of your fears. You are now facing the greatest fear—the fear of being who you really are in the presence of those who are afraid to be who they really are. Many will try to destroy you and will want you to fail because they will not want to be forced into being true to themselves.

They may feel threatened by you, and what people fear they tend to want to destroy. This is the paradox of love. Love can lead to isolation. This may also lead to these people become ostracized even by authorities and governments around the world.

This is because you must love yourself at the deepest level to be unattached to the material world and the whims of others who will always play on your insecurities. Only when you are no longer afraid of what others can say or DO to you are you free to be—free to be who you really are. That is the challenge and opportunity that faces humanity right now, and humanity needs leaders to demonstrate what that means in this moment of your collective evolution.

We need to come to understand that in the material world whatever we are doing is being defeated by the influence of material nature. We want freedom, and we want to travel all over the world and all over the universe. Indeed, that is our right as spirit soul. The spirit soul in the Bhagavad-gitd is called sarva-gatah, which means that he has the ability to go wherever he likes. In the Siddhalokas there are perfected beings, or yogis, who can travel wherever they want without the aid of airplanes or other mechanical contrivances. Once we are liberated from material conditioning we can become very powerful.

Actually we have no idea how powerful we are as spiritual sparks. Instead we are very much satisfied staying on this earth and sending up a few spaceships, thinking that we have become greatly advanced in material science. We spend millions and millions of dollars constructing spaceships without knowing that we have the ability to travel wherever we want, free of charge.

The point is that we should cultivate our spiritual potencies by knowledge. The knowledge is already there; we simply have to accept it. In former ages people underwent so many penances and austerities to acquire knowledge, but in this age this process is not possible because our lives are very short and we are always disturbed.

The process for this age is the process of Krsna consciousness, the chanting of Hare Krsna, which was inaugurated by Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. If, by this process, we can kindle the fire of knowledge, all of the reactions of our activities will be reduced to ashes, and we will be purified.

“In this world, there is nothing so sublime and pure as transcendental knowledge. Such knowledge is the mature fruit of all mysticism. And one who has become accomplished in the practice of devotional service enjoys this knowledge within himself in due course of time.” (Bhagavad-gitd 4.38)

When you’re creatively maladjusted, you don’t buy into the prevailing hot trends or the false belief that celebrity and success are synonymous. As a creative nonconformist, you don’t fit so comfortably into our high-tech low-touch society, a society that spends more on bombs and weaponry than on taking care of people, that exalts personality and downplays character. Being creatively maladjusted in a society that values materialism over evolution of character is the higher part of wisdom.

Once you step out of living in the world depicted in the media, you break free of its mesmerism and are inwwoduced to the possibility of creating a world that works for everyone, governed by the benevolent Love-Intelligence that is everywhere in its fullness.

PERSONALITY VERSUS CHARACTER

Understand that to be creatively maladjusted is to know the vital distinction between personality and character. ‘The word character is from the Old French caractere and means “imprint on the soul.”

The etymology of personality suggests veneer and is connected with the Latin word persona, which was a mask worn by actors. Character is revealed when our mask is removed.

It’s easy to tell if you are living from character or personality: Uf things aren’t going your way, personality pouts while character remains unruffled and learns from the experience. When you are not in psychologically or emotionally safe territory, personality panics. Character, on the other hand, rides the vicissitudes of life with even-mindedness.

Personality endeavors to extract happiness from its experiences, whereas character realizes that happiness is an inherent quality of being that infuses experiences with happiness.

Your personality has been forged by the values of the external world beginning with parental fantasies about who you are and who you were raised to become, your education, your religions, your companions, all to assure your ego’s survival and protection from getting hurt. Ego is an artifact that is used to fit in, to hang out in the status quo, an agreement with mediocrity that allows you to move and groove in the world without causing too much disturbance or being too much of an irritation. Eventually, such an existence becomes sterile, claustrophobic, painful.

The way out is to learn how to ultimately tell the difference between your ego personality that is seeking to survive and avoid being hurt and your character that seeks to confidently deliver your talents, gifts, and skills. Remember, the ego seeks to protect the temporary personality by projecting unresolved issues such as a sense of separation from the whole, lack, and scarcity.

Do you sacrifice your individual spirit to comply with an agreement with mediocrity? The egoic consciousness of mediocrity rebels against excellence, saying, “Oh, that’s not going te work. No other country in the world has succeeded in feeding all of its citizens!” “What, a ‘green’ house? Why, that wouldn’t work with my seven flat screen TVs not to mention fertilizing my five acres of lawn!” Rebelling against new ideas, against new ways of being in the world is a complete lack of creativity that keeps our world enmeshed in false fear, useless wars, greed, and global warming.

BECOMING A GENUINELY CIVILIZED SOCIETY

The good news is that more and more people are waking up and becoming creatively maladjusted. Not swimming in the shallow stream of society’s values and diving instead into the deeper waters that many forerunners of social and spiritual liberation have introduced is the next expression of our becoming a genuinely civilized global society.

Arthur Schopenhauer, a nineteenth-century philosopher, made a powerful statement when he said that there all kinds of vices friends will forgive, such as a slovenly appearance, lateness, alcoholism, but they will not pardon our success. Sometimes personality won’t let us go for greatness because it may result in alienation from those with whom we have close relationships; we may become disliked or resented for our changes by some of our intimates. Albert Einstein gave voice to this understanding when he said, “Arrows of hate have been shot at me, too; but they never hit me; because somehow they belong to another world, with which I have no connection whatsoever.”‘ Even if individuals become envious of us or resentful that we have grown beyond those things we once shared in common with them, such arrows cannot pierce us when we live in a higher vibrational frequency of being—when we have entered our true character. Living from our true character means that we draw an energetic circle large enough for everyone to fit into, even if we must love certain individuals at a distance.

YOU: THE ONLY PERSON WITH WHOM YOU RELATE

As you take the time to observe yourself without judgment in various interactions and situations, you will be able to discern the motivation of your thoughts and subsequent actions. The more you become aware of the ways in which your personality has adapted to society, the more readily you can recalibrate your energetic responses so that they reflect your own unique soul-character. Then, whether it’s in the workplace or at home, you will no longer say, “I have a relationship with my colleagues, my staff, my family, and my friends, and I deal with the problems they cause me all the time.” No, you don’t! You deal with only one individual: yourself. Your entire world of relating is with yourself.

Remember, souls that are in God have no ego to separate them from infinite consciousness. If Jesus comes to you, it is not Jesus the man you will see, but Pure Consciousness in the form of Jesus. I don’t, in any way, mean that Pure Consciousness will be tricking you into believing you are seeing something that isn’t really there. What I do mean is that even while he lived on earth, Jesus, like all great masters, had transcended his ego and realized himself as Infinite Consciousness.

Like Fromm and others (including myself), Christie holds that the anxiety that caused alienation from nature is the emergence of self-awareness and the awareness of death. Experiencing the life-and-death power of nature and seeing death as the inevitable end of life made nature terrifying. Consequently, consciousness erected an illusory wall by which people try to convince themselves that they are really separate from nature. The games of superiority and separation from nature support the illusion, but they never work in the long run. In the present earth crisis, Christie holds that humans must move toward a planetary consciousness in which they experience themselves connected to the whole—to nature and the planet. As the reasoning ego created the marvels of culture and technology that we enjoy today, “the mystical-physical-mythological (intimate) relationship with nature was sacrificed,” and an unnatural separation occurred. With this came a loss of imagination, spirituality, creativity, and intuition as a mode of knowing. Planetary consciousness, which Christie sees emerging today around the world.

“The intensity of this feeling is proportional to the amount of effort the opener of satori has put into (it). For there is a gradation in satori as to its intensity… The processor of a lukewarm satori may suffer no such spiritual revolution as Rinzai, or Bukko (i.e. the great Zen masters).” And he goes on to say, “A brilliant intellect may fail to unravel all the mysteries of Zen, but a strong soul will drink deep of the inexhaustible fountain.”‘ The sense of coming home to a place that is your spiritual center, a place that you have always been without realizing it, is itself, one of the great hallmarks of a liberation experience. While the sense of oneness is perhaps the best known characteristic of a liberation experience, the sense of oneness is commonly shared with any transcendent experience. Feeling at home in your spiritual center is a far more powerful aspect of a liberation experience. I said it best in my first book about my own experience:

“This is your true nature and it provides a solid seat in the center of your world; a place that you take with you wherever you go; a place that is at home anywhere in the world because it is always one with this world. There are no boundaries between one place and any other. Everywhere you go you are equally at home because home is everywhere.”‘

Thus King Prithu always remain just like fire, and his enemies will not be able to approach him. Indeed, he will be unbearable to his enemies, for although staying very near him, they will never be able to approach him but will have to remain as if far away. No one will be able to overcome the strength of King Prithu. King Prithu will be able to see all the internal and external activities of every one of his citizens.