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LEARN OUR TRADITION THE EASY WAY"-
SAMPRADAYA LESSONS FOR KIDS GRADE 2 LESSON 14: ?SOUL?
(written in Tamil by Desika Bhakta Ratnam, U. Ve. Seva Srinivasa Raghava chariar Swami under his "Jayamangala Paada Thittam" and translated in English by Sri M.K.Srinivasan Swami of Vedanta Desika Research Center)
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Everyone should learn about the soul. What it is, does it have any form or shape, what its nature is, where it is located are all discussed in this lesson.

The Soul dwells in the body and controls and directs it. When we say, ?I? whom does it denote? It denotes the soul. The term ?I? does not denote the body. For, we refer to the body as ?my body? and limbs as ?my feet?, ?my eyes?, ?my head? etc. When we say, ?He has passed away?, we really mean that His Soul has left his body. Some saints refer to the body as ?it? to denote its difference from the soul within. Thus, it is clear that the soul is different from the body.

There are infinite numbers of souls on this earth, human, animal, birds, fish or plant. All souls are different from one another.

The soul is ?atomic? in size. Its essential nature is ?Consciousness? and ?Bliss?. It is ?eternal? and incapable of being perceived by senses. It is ?indivisible?/ It cannot be burnt by fire, wetted by water, dried or buffeted by wind, harmed by weapons as is explained by Lord Krishna in Sri Bhagavad Gita. (V.ii.23). It is of the same infinite size whatever be the size of the body it occupies, be it man, elephant, ant, whale or mouse.

Souls are of two kinds. They are ?Paramaatma?, the Supreme Soul or Sriman Narayana and ?Jeevaatma?, individual souls which dwell in the beings in this world. The ?Paramaatma? is called ?Iswara? in philosophical terms. These are two of the three realities (Tattvas), the third being Matter also called Achit or Prakriti.

If the souls are having the qualities mentioned earlier viz. having knowledge, being eternal etc. why do they occupy perishable bodies and remain ignorant? It is the result of their actions (karma-phala) that makes them acquire bodies suited to their actions (karmas). By continuing to perform such karmas, they continue to occupy one body after another, being born again and again till at last they realize their true nature and yearn to get rid of these births and deaths.

The Souls can be classified into three categories- Bound (Baddhas), Liberated (Mukthas) and eternal (Nityas). The bound souls are bound to this universe and are counted from Brahma to the tiniest wee. The liberated or released souls are those who have approached a preceptor and having realized their true nature, adopt the method of surrender and reach the Supreme abode when they discard their bodies never again to return to this world. The third category called eternal souls are those who are never-born in this world but ever remain in attendance on the Lord in Heaven like Anantha, Garuda, Vishvaklsena.

Sriman Narayana is the Supreme Soul ( already mentioned) who dwells in these souls and guides them.

More knowledge about this esoteric subject should be learned only through an Acharya, to avoid confusion. A very careful and constant introspection is needed even after such study to grasp the real significance of this knowledge.
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QUESTIONS:
1. Define the nature of the soul?
2. How many types of souls are there?
3. Mention about the difference between Paramaatma and Jeevaatma?
4. How can a bound soul become a liberated soul?
5. Explain why you feel that the soul is different from the body?
6. Why does the soul acquire a body?