In the previous issue, we had a detailed report of Shanthi Devi’s past life. Now, let us analyze the various aspects of the episode not so much as to the details of incidents, but to resurrect the characteristics of the soul in particular.
Background story: Soul of Lugdi left her body at the Government Hospital at Agra 9 days after the delivery of a son by a cesarean operation. She was 23 years at the time of death. After one year and 10 months and 7 days after Lugdi’s soul left her mortal body, the same soul had entered the body of a female baby at Delhi and the baby girl was named as Shanthi Devi. Shanthi Devi was quite normal till her age of 4 years, but, when she had started talking, she startled her parents. Because she was quite often telling about her ‘husband’ and her past life experiences.
Nature of Soul: There was a gap of more than a year for the soul of Lugdi to have a second life. Then, ‘where was the soul of Lugdi till that time?’ was a logical question. To answer this question, one should know the exact properties of the soul. The soul is supposed to be having a power of movement. But, it is not clear whether the soul’s mobility is inherent in it or is being powered by its mother-spirit. In scriptures, it is stated that the individual soul is part of expansive all-pervasive and all-powerful soul. It will be clear if we name the all powerful mother soul as Paramatma (Supreme Soul) and the body living soul as Jivatma (Individual Soul).
Mobility of Soul: Soul can, therefore, move from place to place by itself or powered and controlled by some force till it takes a body. Space, walls, and structures of any natural materials cannot hinder soul’s movement. Soul can enter water, air, space and earth. Soul can be akin to a subtle immaterial substance. Soul is said to be air as per Anaximander, the Greek philosopher – but it should be more than air considering its vital power of mobility through space and time.
Lugdi soul had traveled from Agra to Delhi to have a body. It is a mute point to know whether Lugdi soul had the power of decision-making – i.e. 1. to choose the female body instead of animal, plant or insect 2. to decide the exact time of entry into the womb 3. the speed at which it should travel synchronizing with its entry into a body to have a life again.
Existence and Exit of Soul:The exit of any soul is again another mystery. It is usually presumed that the decay of the body is the main reason for its exit. But, then why some able-bodied persons’ souls leave their bodies? Breath and Brain are sometimes said to be the deciding factors for the exit of the soul. Even if we amputate the legs and the arms, the soul still lives in the body. Even if our eyes, ears, tongues and even noses are damaged or even removed, those damages or removals will not force the souls to leave the bodies. Even the breath is made to function by artificial mechanism, the soul still lingers in the body. But when the head is severed, then the soul is forced to leave the body.
This leads to an interesting poser: Where does the soul actually rest in the body? Is the heart or brain or both? Normally the damages of heart – difficulties in breathing can be first symptom of the first sign of soul readying itself for its departure, the final signal to come from the brain. As the soul seems to carry with it the memory, which is being controlled by brain, it is logical to presume the damages of heart and brain can be attributed to the reasons for the exit of soul. We are here only referring to natural deaths and not unnatural deaths by suicides and accidents.
In the case of Shanthi Devi, the past memory, which was embedded in the subtle element of the soul, could be activated only after her 4th year when she had attained the ability to speak. That means that the brain in the body needs to be grown along with the other connected organs like tongue and mouth. Then only the brain is activated with the power of memory of the past incidents the main fulcrum being the soul. Perhaps, the soul has no growth; but the soul makes other organs to grow, decay and finally to die with its exit. Existence or Exit of the Soul is the main aspect for the body to know whether it is alive or dead.
Incidentally, have you ever seen an insect bee coming out alive from the ripe mangoes? The insect was imprisoned inside the seed of the mango fruit without air to breathe and nothing to sustain its life. Yet, the soul inside the insect is alive and it makes the insect to come out of its prison like life for many days inside the mango. Who had provided the power to be alive in such a terrible conditions? The growth of the insect was stopped, after its imprisonment in the mango seed or its growth was slowed down due to the precarious atmosphere inside the mango seed – one cannot be sure. It is a real mystery for the sustenance of the soul and body of the insect. Normally, a body with a soul will perish in such conditions, but nature has a different story to tell us!
Can we know and prove Soul’s size, its shape and its weight?
Soul’s size: Soul is said to be a fine element – finer than the finest one. It is smaller than the smallest like atom. ‘Soul is of the size of one’s thumb and resides in the center of one’s body i.e.in the cave of heart’ declares Katha Upanishad. The Upanishad further says: The soul is like a flame without smoke, crystal clear. Let us reserve further probe from such scriptures for our later examinations and it is suffice to say that soul size is smallest of the smallest.
Can we say that the body has nothing to decide about the size of the soul? Are Soul of a big animal like elephant and soul of a tiny insect like ant the same size? Probably yes and theoretically no. It is to be probed whether the strength and size of the organs of particular specie has anything to do with the soul within the specie. If the size of all souls is similar, then what factors are responsible for giving different strengths to different organs of different species. If ant’s soul and elephant’s soul are similar in size and properties, then why there should be different strengths to the bodies of ant and elephant. If we presume that the growth and vitalities of the organs are not the functions of the souls, then one has to think that the body is responsible for these functions, which, on the face of it, are absurd. Let us probe further later and move on to the shape of the soul.
Soul’s shape: Soul has no specific shape, as it is presumed to be the smallest of the smallest. A dot is a smallest shape occupying minimum space. Air has no shape. Fire has no specific shape – it takes the shape of the element on which it was lit. Soul is said to be imperishable, eternal and it is never born or dies. If anything to be imperishable, it should be of immaterial factor. If at all, soul has a shape, then it should be thinnest and finest of subtle element.
Soul’s Weight: There are some interesting incidents in respect of the weight of the soul. ‘When it is presumed that the soul is immaterial i.e. without any mass, then how can there be weight?’ is a good question. But Dr. Duncan Mac Dougall had said that the soul was material and measurable and your presumptions were all wrong.
Hence, Dr. Duncan MacDougall, in the early 1900s, sought to measure the weight purportedly lost by a human body when the soul departed the body upon death. He got the result of 21 grams which has become synonymous with the measure of a soul’s weight.
Experiments such as MacDougall's have not been repeated with current precision equipment and research tools, and snopes.com concludes of one researcher that:
"MacDougall's results were flawed because the methodology used to harvest them was suspect, the sample size far too small, and the ability to measure changes in weight imprecise. For this reason, credence should not be given to the idea his experiments proved something, let alone that they measured the weight of the soul as 21 grams. His postulations on this topic are a curiousity, but nothing more."
Whether the soul’s weight as measured being 21 grams is real or curious, no one has ever proved him wrong scientifically by further experiments by the latest measuring devises. Anyhow, decrease or increase in weight of the body immediately on the death of the person cannot be taken as the weight of the departed soul. Chemical reactions of the body starts immediately after the death and hence such weighments however sophisticated cannot be taken as correct. Above all, soul is said to carry with it the mind as well. Hence, the difference in weight so measured will, if at all, be the weights of both soul and mind and not soul alone. Anyhow, it is prudent to assume that the soul has no weight, as it is ‘immaterial’ with no mass.
There are many more mysteries about soul to unfold in the coming issues. Some famous theories about Soul by the Western Philosophers and Thinkers especially of Greek Origin will be dealt with in the next issue. (To be continued).
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