The second chapter of the Bhagavad Gita tells us that we are all souls. “He is not born nor does He ever die; after having been, He again ceases not to be. Unborn, eternal, changeless and ancient, He is not killed when the body is killed”, God tells Arjuna in the Gita.
The Gita has been translated into several languages and read by people across the world. The knowledge of the soul given in the book is, therefore, well-known. In India, countless numbers of devout people read the Gita every day; it is part of their daily routine. Therein lies the rub. Reading the holy book is merely a ritual for them, and its message, it seems, is forgotten the moment the ritual is over.
It is easy to read every day that one is a soul, the soul is indestructible, it takes rebirth, and so on. But the implications of these facts are huge, and if we live by them, our perspective on the world changes.
The soul is a spiritual entity independent of the body, which is the physical costume it assumes on taking birth. We are used to identifying people by their body and all the labels that it carries – of gender, nationality, race, religion, and more. But the soul is on a journey, during the course of which it plays various roles, wearing different costumes. It is obviously a mistake to identify it solely by its current role. But that is what we do all the time. It is like forming an opinion about an actor not on the basis of the person he or she is, but the role they have played in a film. Such an opinion would be erroneous. How would we feel if we are judged and labelled on the basis of one mistake we have made in life? Would that be fair? We certainly would not think so. Then, how reasonable is it to classify and label people without knowing their full story?
The journey of each soul is unique. We go through various experiences, make mistakes, learn, and grow. The choices we make shape the circumstances we face, and we are responsible for everything that we go through. When we remember that we are immortal souls, on a journey through several lives, we also come to recognise the fact that our past actions have created our present circumstances. This teaches us to live in such a way that we create a better future for ourselves.
The realisation that other souls too are travellers, each on their own individual journey, during the course of which they interact with each other, encourages us to empathise rather than criticise. And when we acknowledge the fact that all human souls are children of one Supreme Soul, the spiritual kinship of the global human family becomes clear. Then, when we look around at our spiritual brothers and sisters, we begin to feel that each and every one of them deserves respect. We understand that it is better to inspire rather than admonish, to reconcile differences instead of dwelling on them, to heal rather than condemn.
Doing all this is not as difficult as it seems. It simply calls for having the same consideration for others’ needs and desires as we have for our own. This is enjoined on us by all the great scriptures, which contain what is known as the Golden Rule – Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. It is possible to do this when we remember that we are all spiritual beings, composed of the energies of purity, peace and love. These qualities are innate to us. They may have been suppressed in some because of their experiences in life, but that does not make them any less human than we are – it only makes them deserving of greater understanding and love.
The switch of spiritual awareness is what makes all the difference – between love and hatred, peace and conflict, happiness and sorrow. When it is on, our world is full of light, and when it is off, darkness descends.