How Can Souls Be Immortal If They Are Born?

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You are right, anything that is created is sure to get destroyed. At the same time, it is equally true that the Souls are immortal. Let’s understand how…

Death is Inevitable to Whatever is Born

Anything that is born has to die, and because there is death, there will also be birth. So death is connected to birth. Wherever there is birth there is death.

But who is Born, who Dies?

The Soul does not take birth nor does it die. The Soul is a permanent entity. Hence it is free from the bondage of birth and death. This phenomenon of taking birth and dying is that of the ego. Ego means the entity within, that believes, ‘I am John (you may insert your own name here).’

It is the ego that is born and it is the ego that dies. In reality, the Soul does not die at all. As soon as the Soul leaves the body, the body is declared dead; and the Soul goes straight to its new destination where rebirth takes place.

Depending on the causes, Soul is seen taking birth after birth, but the Soul remains pure and constant – such is its inherent property. Let’s understand this through an example. Suppose there is pure gold from which a bangle has been created. After few years, the bangle is melted and a ring is made out of it. Now if gold could speak, at every instance, it would cry aloud, ‘I am a bangle; Oh! I died; I am now reborn as a ring; I will die in some time.’ Only the goldsmith could calm it down, by explaining to it the reality, ‘Look, You are pure gold! You are neither a bangle, nor a ring, nor any earring; these are all only temporary phases, while You are really pure gold only.’

Just like Goldsmith Understands the Properties of Gold, Gnani Understands the Properties of Soul

Gnani, the Enlightened One, explains:

“Whatever is visible in this world is not eternal; it is temporary. It is the phase that comes to an end. The phase of old age, the phase of youth; all come and then they are slowly destroyed, but the Self (Soul) has always remained the same.

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Things which are permanent stay forever, but their phases are continuously arising and ending and then again arising. The phases arise and they come to an end; then they arise again, and again they end. The one who is born will die (the phase). The permanent things (Soul) can never be created, nor can they ever be destroyed.

We see the differences in the phases. However, the main element does not change. Regardless of the external changes that happen in phases, there are no changes in the Soul. And that Soul is what we really are.

Soul is An Eternal Element and It is our Own Self

There are six eternal elements in this world, of which one of them is the Pure Soul. Soul is an eternal element. Eternal means it cannot be created nor does it get destroyed.

And that is our own self. Yes, the Soul is the Self.

The Self i.e. the real ‘I’ is the Supreme Soul. But until one attains the right understanding that ‘I am a Pure Soul’, he keeps believing, ‘I am John (you may insert your own name here).’ Therefore, Self-Realization is the primary purpose of human life. Once we realize ‘who am I’, then our worldly problems and puzzles can be solved.

And who can make us realize the Self?

Gnani has the spiritual power to make us experientially realize, ‘I am a Pure Soul, I am real, I am eternal, I am immortal; and everything else is relative and temporary.’