the soul is twice negligible for God

[dattaswami]

the soul is twice negligible for God

 

This world is ‘Mithya’, which means almost unreal because its reality is negligible. The existence of a tiny cut on your shirt is negligible and you will not count its existence. This entire world is almost unreal for God and is like a day dream. All the five elements viz. matter and energy are almost unreal in view of God. The soul is made of tender and weakest energy called as awareness (chit), which is nervous energy flowing in most delicate matter i.e. brain and nerves. This nervous energy is almost negligible before the physical matter and inert energy and this physical matter and energy are negligible before God. Thus, the soul is twice negligible for God.

 

The most negligible item of this world is the soul. The qualities or feelings (gunas) are like waves of soul. They are negligible before the existence of soul. The water associated with some kinetic energy induced becomes a wave. The wave represents that kinetic energy. The physical existence in terms of visibility of energy is negligible before the matter. Thus the wave representing energy is also not completely unreal and can be called as ‘Mithya’. The subtle body made of these qualities is Mithya before the soul. Thus a dream made of feelings is Mithya before a soul. What are these bonds like parents, wife, children etc? These bonds are only just feelings, which are waves of the nervous energy. A father and daughter or a brother and sister separated from the beginning met in a foreign country and got married. Later on they realised and could not continue as couple. The daughter of sister is married but the daughter of brother is treated as daughter. In some other region and religion, the system is reversed! It is the wave of mind or feeling that is the essence of a bond. Therefore all these bonds are almost unreal (Mithya) for a soul.

 

Why there should be tensions, murders and suicides for the sake of these almost unreal bonds? Why there should be corruption for the sake of these almost unreal bonds and go to hell for the sin of corruption? It is these bonds that form the meaning of the word ‘world’ for the soul when the world is said to be Mithya and not the physical world. This is the essence of Shankara, which is misunderstood and the soul treats the physical world as unreal! An ignorant soul thinks that these bonds are real and undergoes tensions.