Body + Soul... and Much More Besides

Many spiritual practices teach us that we are not our body....we are a soul residing (or trapped) inside a body ( a necessary evil). The entire focus is on 'being'/ expressing this soul; without paying much attention to the body (or negating the body by repeating- I am not this body. I am not this body). 

Our younger son, in his late-teens was so influenced by this theory that he had stopped looking at his reflection in the mirror, lest he is reminded of his body....I too was taken up by this thought process, until I began to think for myself....and used my logic/ left brain (That is another no-no in spirituality and in most other doctrined institutions, such as educational institutions: We are NOT supposed to think for ourselves. Left brain is another enemy just like the ego and thoughts- but I will come to those later. Let me for now stay with the body.) 

Negating our body, in favour of our soul is like negating the hardware in favour of the software. But can a software run without the hardware? Well, soul can. It can be embodied (in a body) or dis-embodied (without a body). Dis-embodied souls are either feared (ghosts) or revered (gods/ masters/ angels). It goes, without saying what kind of disembodied soul, we wish to identify with! (there is a great confusion, even among spiritualists about what is soul and what is spirit? Most use these words inter-changeably; which creates extra confusion; the kind which would be created if we were not too sure which one is the software and which one is the power supply.....in other words HUGE confusion.) 

So, without exactly knowing what is a soul, we keep chanting I am a soul. I am not the body---even though I can't SEE/ FEEL/ TOUCH/ SMELL/ SQUEEZE/ PINCH/ HIT my soul BUT can do all this with my body......CAN IT GET MORE ILLOGICAL THAN THAT? But whoever said, spirituality was about logic. It is supposed to be beyond logic (another trap/ attempt at keeping it mystical- beyond reach of common folks like you and me; who then need a Guru to show them the light.....This is the most amazing marketing technique in the entire history of self-promotion/ job-creation. More the confusion created: more the need for someone to clear that confusion. and who can be better than an enlightened soul ( a big trap- aren't all souls supposed to be enlightened in the first place? and if they are not, what is the point of claiming, I am a soul. Heck, I am a soul, but I still need someone to get myself in touch with my light. Do you see the absurdity of it all???) Traps, more traps: layers, more layers....

Well, let us use another analogy (this is another anomaly. We are not supposed to use logic/ left brain but all the spiritual knowledge can be best explained by using simple, everyday anaLOGIES, which use LOGIC.) Suppose you buy a car (soul gets a body) and then keep saying, 'I am not the car', it will be perfectly understood by everyone. Of course, you are not the car, you just have a car and you use it when you need it.Similarly, you can say, 'I am not my clothes'; of course not; you can change/ discard your clothes at will. Computer's hardware can also say, I am not the software; and that would be right as well. But the car can't run on its own, clothes can't walk by themselves and computer can't run without software. In fact, they all remain dead without you/ software. So, yes, you/ software/ soul is an IMPORTANT/ VITAL aspect but so is the car/ clothes/ hardware.......In fact, computer analogy is the best analogy (though others are used as well. Krishna couldn't have used the computer analogy/ nor could our saints) to explain the working of a human being- even though a Human Being is so much more sophisticated and highly evolved computer than the kind I am using right now. 

So, yes, now you tell me (using your logic/ left brain), can a computer negate its hardware? Can it keep saying, 'I am not the hardware. I am the software'? Can you (god, who operates the computer) (....in the case of a human being, the operator/ god is also inside the hardware!) afford to negate/ neglect the hardware? 

Our body and our soul are both made of energy and information.....the difference is only in its vibration. Soul is subtle while body is gross. We can't negate what is 'in-our-face' for something which is ephemeral. But YES, the idea is to REMEMBER that I am NOT ONLY the body. I am body + soul (and much more besides). A computer is hardware+ software (and much more besides). 

If I think that I am only this body- I am a fool. If I think that I am only a soul- I am a fool. If I think I am a complex, unfathomable, un-explainable, un-knowable  gigam-chikam-pook; I would be closer to reality..........:))))