Body, Mind and Soul: Hall, Glass Shell and Lamp Filament

by Acharya Harish Chandra

February 2016

Our soul is a tiny point-like non-material singularity whereas body is gross, made of matter. Question: how they function together because their properties are vastly different. Answer: they are connected through mind that has intermediate properties, made of smallest sub-atomic particles of matter. YajurVeda 34.6 says that the soul is enveloped in a tiny shell of mind:
                                                              हृत्प्रतिष्ठं यदजिरं जविष्ठं तन्मे मनः शिवसंकल्पमस्तु
Continuing with the analogy of a lamp (soul) in a hall (body), we modify it in that a glass shell (mind) surrounds the filament (soul). In other words, the lamp is actually the mind-soul combine. Upon death, the soul enveloped by mind departs from the body. In that sense, mind is immortal too until the soul has attained Moksha. All the knowledge and skills we have gathered in the present life form the impressions in our mind (called Samsakaars), embedded in our mind-soul combine as it travels from one body to another.