Satsang With Swami Chinmayananda-The Soul And God

Let us first of all make sure that we agree upon the definitions or the terms used, or else there will be confusion. Can I assume that you mean by soul the spark of life in the body that makes our bodies alive? Shall we also assume that what you mean by God is the ultimate Reality the total life force?" If I have understood your question raised by you as:

"What is the relation between the life spark in us and the total life force?"

"If I have understood your question correctly. Let me now ask you: 'What is the relation between your question correctly, let me now ask you: What is the relation, between the electric current in the power-house and the current in a switched-on-bulb hanging in your bedroom? What is the relation between your bedroom space and the atmospheric space? This is exactly the relationship between the soul and God !"

The individual soul is a manifestation of the oversoul as 'life in a form,' and the seemingly limited entity the 'soul in me' is the same as the total life-God, the all-pervading. The atmospheric space is homogeneous and all-pervading, but when conditioned by four walls, a roof, and a floor, it gains an individuality as the bedroom. Arrogating to itself the ego that "I am," the bedroom comes to claim that conditioned space as the bedoom space. In fact it is ever the same as the eternal space. Before the room was built the room space was there, one with the entire universal space; when the room crumbles down in decay, the room space shall again lose its selfish arrogation as a separate identity and shall merge to become as it was in the beginning. one with the whole.

Similarly the soul: Conditioned by the enveloping layers of matter (body, mind and intellect), the spirit that reigns within gains in our egoistic false identifications with the unreal wrappings of matter, a misunderstanding that "I am the body, mind or intellect". This mistake is the cause of our delusion and sorrow.

When this misunderstanding is removed by a correct understanding of our true identity as Atman, the soul merges to become God! In this process there is no modification or change; it is but a question of Self-discovery. The soul in its essence is God. If we follow our agreed definitions: The soul minus our egoistic mistake is God;God plus our egoistic mistake is soul.

Why is the concept of God necessary in spiritual life?

It is not necessary as long as one is willing to logically and truthfully investigate the body, mind and intellect and the perceiver, feeler and thinker in relation to the objects, emotions and thoughts.
Such an inquiry will lead to the subject in us, and we will be forced to accept that something other than matter is expressing itself through matter. This spiritual essence, is indicated by the word 'God'.

About the author

Swami Chinmayananda

Swami Chinmayananda the great master's lectures were an outpour of wisdom. He introduced the Geetha Gnana Yagna. He wrote a lot of books on spirituality, commentaries to Vedantic texts, children books etc. He then started spreading His teachings globally.....