Sunday, July 12, 2009

Phor the Phil of Sophos - Transmigration of Soul

I read the Advaita Vedanta authored by D Krishna Ayyar and found it quite enlightening. However I found that some of the stuffs weren't completely explained which planted seeds of doubts in my mind on even some of the very basic theories. One such topics is the transmigration of soul. I do not believe in outright denial of any theory just because my mind is not mature enough to grasp the truth but I do believe that questioning will lead to decrease the dark fog. So, here are my points on the theory of transmigration of soul which require clarifications -

  1. The Sukshma Sarira is said to contain the individual consciousness of the being along with the prana, indriyas, karmas and vasnas. But the individual consciousness is like a reflection/projection of the original Brahman consciousness which occurs when the original consciousness gets a suitable instrument for this projection (eg. mind). Now, when a person dies, we know that the original consciousness did not leave it since that is all pervading but the reflected consciousness is not present. So, cant we just say that since the mind has stopped functioning due to physical causes, so the instrument is dysfunctional & hence the reflected consciousness no more exists.(non-existence)

  1. If the reflected consciousness requires an instrument of reflection then how can it be said to leave the body.(non-migration)

A possible explanation for both the points can be that the whole ‘consciousness & reflection’ apparatus (karana & sukshma sarira) is totally devoid of physicality and can exist without a medium like a ghost consciousness which brings us to the other points -

  1. The concept of a constant conscious ‘I’ (original consciousness) which exists in the background whereas in the foreground is the changing ‘I’ (reflected consciousness or ego) is theorized by saying that though a person grows young to old or goes through the sleeping states, his sense of ‘I’ does not change (pratyabhinja). The same concept when extrapolated to the jeevatma changing bodies does not hold true as the sense of ‘I’ gets restarted. If the sukshma and karana sarira (deep sleep state or causal body) which are the changing & unchanging ‘I’ consciousness gets transferred in a new body then why doesn’t the new being have any perception of this changing state? Since the sthoola sarira ( Physical body) is not supposed to affect either the original or the reflected consciousness, & the karana sarira is basically same in all beings hence there is a possibility that the sukshma sarira has been changed/ reborn.

  1. At the time of videha mukti, both the sukshma & karana sarira of the jnani is said to disintegrate. But these sariras are said to be birthless (only physical body is subjected to birth & death cycle), so that which has no beginning cannot have an end. It follows that either there is no moksha for jnani (only good that will happen to him is the sense of fulfillment on jeevan mukti) or there is a birth-death cycle of the sukshma sarira ie. Moksha for all because of no transmigration.

  1. What is problem with the logic of simultaneous birth and death of sukshma & sthoola sarira considering that there is an undying constant consciousness in us anyway which can be considered as the soul. Also, why cant we consider only the karana sarira transmigrating?

  1. Isnt it a little absurd logic that in the sleep (deep) we are devoid of the ‘changing I’ whereas after death it continues to exist?

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