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Our spiritual identity is defined by our soul. Not only has this been vividly described by wide-ranging ancient scriptures, but individual experiences of near-death events and of alternate healing techniques like past-life and spiritual regression also reinforce the existence of our spiritual being as a soul.

Our soul is the formless life force, the consciousness, that brings alive our human form. It is also our true essence, our eternal self. As French philosopher Teilhard de Chardin said, “We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience.” 

While many of us connect with this realism, rarely do we reflect enough on how souls possibly operate. Every individual soul is bound by its eternal journey to be one with the Supreme soul, the Source of the universal consciousness. However, interestingly, it is only in the physical form of a human body that the soul can progress on that journey.

Stating simplistically, at the time of death, the individual soul leaves the human body and reconnects with the Source. While this provides the soul a comforting homecoming and some sense of being whole again, the soul still carries the karmic imprint of its cumulative existence across various lives. The soul’s recognition of its karmic imperfections and its motivation to continue to purify itself, in line with its eternal goal, leads to its need for rebirth.

Among other possibilities, the soul eventually takes birth in a new body on earth. It is important to emphasize here that every such birth has a special significance and purpose for the soul – the specific aspects of its karmic imprint that it wishes to neutralize and thereby progress in its eternal journey towards merging with the Source.

However, the human life throws up interesting challenges to the soul. The strength of the human brain, coupled with the powerful experience of physical senses, often makes the soul lose track of its original objectives of reincarnating. Egoistic desires, sensual pleasures and materialistic pursuits consume us. In the process, we forget our deeper purpose of being on this planet.

This is kind of a spiritual amnesia – a loss of memory of the soul when overpowered by the physical form. The less advanced the soul in its eternal journey, perhaps the greater its propensity to be forgetful in the physical form.

Our recurring sources of suffering- whether physical (chronic illness), mental (frequent bouts of anger, anxiety or unhappiness) or emotional (troubled relationships)- are invariably clues for the personal spiritual lessons we need to learn in this lifetime. Ask yourself if you need to be more patient, accepting or grateful; or be less judgmental, aggressive or fearful. Do you need to grow equanimity or compassion?

Each of us has a unique and special purpose of being here. However, we need to slow down from our fast-paced modern life to discover that personal purpose. We need to create moments of quiet solitude to connect with our inner self; practice meditation to recognize our true nature; and listen to the voice of wisdom, that resides within each of us, so we can recollect our core purpose.

Once we can identify that purpose and commit to living it, we start to experience greater inner strength, peace and happiness. Aligning our life to our soul’s purpose makes the human journey effortless and vastly more meaningful. It also progresses our soul on its own eternal journey towards becoming one with the Source. Human life is precious but short and the sooner we can move towards self-realization, the better it is for our soul and those of others around us.

(This is an article I had recently written for the Speaking Tree column of The Times of India)

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Soul after death / Journey of souls / what happen after death / life beyond death