The Jiva and Our Spiritual Nature —
Putting an End to Nirvishesha — Shunyavadi

The modern cash economy is touted as the pinnacle of civilization, but the truth is that it has destroyed actual civilization. The so-called civilization that it has created has also created personal isolation and alienation, to the point where we are alienated from our very selves. In an effort to remedy the problem we seek psychological help and are given pills to help us cope from day-to-day from the time we are children. Ritalin for the children becomes Prozac for the adults. But the problem is not us—the problem is the modern culture. A culture that is designed for one thing only: to make profits for those who already have too much money, and at the expense—psychology, emotionally, socially and economically—of the vast majority of people. It is a soul-killing civilization.

An impersonal currency leads to an impersonal life where personal caring relationships are replaced by impersonal transactions of goods and money. We insert money in-between our relationships, and it becomes the litmus test of who is acceptable and who is not. Instead of seeking meaningful activity suitable to our nature, and which we love to do, we seek that work that brings the most money, to the point where some eighty percent do not like the work that they are doing. This results in a waste of lives and the destruction of real culture.

We are first and foremost persons and as such we must have a proper place in society. Proper place means three things: first proper work that is according to our nature. We all have our own nature and we find certain activities more meaningful than others. Proper work can be a source of meaning, a source of development both material and spiritual, and can even lead to spiritual perfection.

Secondly, having a proper place means having proper relationships with others. At various stages of life we will all be juniors or seniors, and at every stage we have peers. Each of these relationships is different and can serve our progressive development.

And thirdly, having a proper place means having a place to take care of our bodies, a home with proper facility for cooking, bathing, rest, and family activities.

But the nature and structure of modern society increasingly destroys the prospect of place. As much as 1 Billion people have no place in today’s society. Not just in some distant part of the world, but in every country. Everywhere now there are people that live on the street, people without meaningful work, either unemployed or under-employed, and almost everyone is bereft of meaningful relationships. One of the greatest challenges for the elderly is isolation and the only “companion” they have is the television. Latch-key children are left to raise themselves, returning home from school to an empty house because both mom and dad must work to provide a roof and food. Alcoholism, sex and drug abuse are epidemic as coping mechanisms.

Life becomes increasingly challenging due to our own self-alienation and spiritual-alienation brought about by a misdirected culture. Not understanding our spiritual identity and how spirit interacts with matter; not understanding our psycho-spiritual nature; not understanding the fundamental psychological differences between the male and female energies; not understanding how this world works; not understanding the fundamental principles of a proper culture that enhances our ability to know ourselves and to grow in all dimensions, all stand in the way of our finding the happiness and progressive development that we desire. This is all the result of the voidism and impersonalism, in Sanskrit nirvishesha and shunyavadi, of modern society.

The ABCs of Spiritual Understanding

The way out of this cul-de-sac of ignorance is to first understand our spiritual nature. Everything begins with that because that not only helps us understand our starting point, but also the ultimate destination—liberation from a material world that is contrary to our spiritual nature. We are spiritual beings having a material experience. The majority of people have realized this fact by now, but exactly what does that mean? “Spiritual” remains a fuzzy concept for many, but the nature of spirit, or soul, is easily explained with common words that we can all understand:

Spirit also means person. The spiritual energy is personal. The spiritual energy, or soul, displays the characteristics of being a person in terms of likes and dislikes, desire for activity, gratification of the senses, unique individual behaviors, and so on. Being a person is our most direct experience. All facets of our personality are a direct consequence of our spiritual nature. And since we are persons we naturally desire interaction with other persons in personal relationships.

The spiritual beings living in the material world are considered to be in a diseased condition of spiritual life. The main symptom of this diseased condition is the material body that we wear. Other symptoms are our various desires to possess and enjoy the things of this world. Our spiritual disease may be mild or severe. Severe cases display the symptoms of extreme greed, possessiveness, lust, envy, selfishness, narcissism, violence to others, and so on, but all of these can be healed by application of a variety of spiritual therapies. As the soul is healed these symptoms are reduced until they are vanquished and replaced by concern and care for others, generosity, simplicity, peacefulness, detachment from and renunciation of unnecessary things. The diseased condition is one of endless dissatisfaction, whereas the healthy condition is one of perpetual satisfaction.

Almost everyone in the material world is in a state of spiritual amnesia. We have forgotten our original spiritual nature, the healthy state of our existence. When this diseased condition is corrected we are become eligible to enter into the spiritual worlds, worlds that have none of the defects of this one. We have free will to choose to remain in the diseased spiritual condition or to heal ourselves. We have the free will to determine where we will live, which is in turn determined by our actions and behavior. How we live determines where we are eligible to live. We find ourselves in a particular situation, a particular body in a particular place determined by how we have lived in our past lives. Our behavior in this present life determines what sort of world and what type of body we will be given in the next life.

The Nature of Our Material Existence

The spiritual being passes through many material bodies

In order for the spiritual being to interact with the world of matter an interface is required. That interface is what we shall call the subtle body. This subtle body is also made of material elements, but elements that are more fine (subtle) than the body of gross matter. These subtle elements are manah or mind, buddhih or intelligence and ahankara, or the false conception of life.

There are different ideas and examples of what we call the gross and subtle bodies. Sometimes we see the concept of spirit is what we call the subtle body. This is not how we use the word. We use the Vedic concept, in which the words spirit and soul are interchangeable, both of which refer to the non-material, conscious, transcendental self. Understanding the Vedic worldview is helpful in getting this straight. We refer to the elements of mind, intelligence and body-ego as the subtle body, or mental body.

To recap, there are three aspects to our earthly existence: the body made of the gross material elements, the subtle body comprised of mind, intelligence and material identity, both of which cover the spirit, or soul, proper.

At the timeof death the jiva is carried out of the gross material body encased in the mental body to the mental realm. This realm is often thought of as the spirit realm, but this is not the Vedic understanding. This mental realm is another temporary plane of existence, and not the eternal, unchanging transcendental world that the Vedas refer to as the spiritual world. This mental plane of existence is described by people having near-death-experiences. In the mental realm one’s state of the mind is immediately manifest. The consciousness of those in a diseased spiritual condition of selfishness, envy, enmity, anger, etc. is immediately manifest as a hellish condition of suffering and perhaps the traditional hell-fire. Without having any spiritual understanding these jivas suffer in a world of their own making. However, those who have cultivated goodness manifest goodness, which appears in the form of what we typically call heaven. These conditions may appear to last for a very long time (eternity) because the influence of time is not manifest in the mental realm. It is therefore difficult to impossible to understand if something lasts for a “short time” or a “long time.”

In either case, when the next body is prepared, the jiva is then transferred to its next body. This change of bodies according to the laws of karma is called the transmigration of the soul, samsara, or reincarnation.

How Do We Live In the Body?

The next steps of our spiritual education is understanding how we are put into various bodies, how those bodies are influenced by the material energies, and how we live in the world of matter. The answer to those questions is explained by the Sanskrit words karma and gunas. This additional background information will help to further our understanding of this world, how it is working and our place in it. Please continue here.