Having come this far, trying to understand the truth about the Soul, going through traditional beliefs, mythological tales, and practically understanding what the Soul is, we should go one step further to understand our goal as the Soul.
If we think of the Soul to be some mysterious unknown entity, then our journey to realize the truth about the Soul comes to an end. The Soul is that Divine Power that is in you and me. In essence, we are not the body, we are not the mind, we are the Divine Soul. All along, we live in ignorance, thinking we have a Soul, rather than realizing we are the Soul. The ego identifies itself to be the form that has a name and is socially connected to people and things. But this is a myth as we have understood now, a myth that we have left behind. Once we become aware that we are the Divine Soul, whether it is just having the knowledge or realizing the truth, it opens the door for us to achieve the ultimate goal of Liberation.
Our quest for the truth helps us overcome the ignorance about the Soul and makes us realize that we are the Life Energy, the Divine Power that causes life. Our purpose on this earth is not just to live and to die. Most people think that the goal of life is to be happy. That is the goal of the body and mind, which we are not. The goal of who we truly are, the Divine Soul is to be liberated. Liberation comes in two steps. First, liberation from the triple suffering—the physical suffering of the body, the misery of the mind and the agony of the ego. Thereafter, liberation leads to the second step— liberation from the cycle of death and rebirth.
Once we are liberated from this triple suffering of the body, mind, and ego while alive, we live as a liberated Soul or a Jivanmukta. What is it to live like a Jivanmukta? A liberated Soul lives a life of peace, joy, and bliss. Such a person is conscious of his true existence and doesn't get attached to people and things. Such a person transcends suffering that comes from desires and disappointments, from cravings that lead to heartbreak. A Jivanmukta lives a life of detachment and dispassion. He is not a slave to his body senses, but rather becomes a master, not just of the body and its cravings, but of the mind and its constant wandering. A liberated one overcomes misery that is born out of fear, worry, stress, anxiety, hate, revenge, and the like. Such a person realizes that this world is a cosmic drama, and nothing is real. We come without anything and we leave empty-handed. Thus, a Jivanmukta lives peacefully and blissfully.
The Jivanmukta lives like a Sthitpragya as mentioned by Lord Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita. Sthitpragya is one who has a steady intellect. The liberated one or Jivanmukta becomes a Sthitpragya when his intellect is the master of his mind. The mind will continue to think, to wander and to disturb the liberated one. But a true Jivanmukta, a real Sthitpragya lives unaffected by the wandering mind. He realizes that the ego is an illusion. It appears every now and then, but it is a myth. In reality, he is the Divine Soul. When one realizes the truth about the Soul, then one is liberated from suffering and this is just the living benefit of the same. It is achieving the first part of the goal, living as a liberated Soul. However, such a liberated one has a larger goal.
Most Eastern religions warn us about getting caught in Samsara, the constant cycle of death and rebirth. The Buddha explained it very well when he said that ultimately, anybody who is born on this earth suffers. We cannot escape physical pain, just as it is impossible to stop the mind from wandering. Even a liberated one can fall prey to the onslaught of the senses and the mind. Every living being suffers. Therefore, the ultimate goal is to be liberated from this cycle of death and rebirth.
Normally, we human beings die, and we are then reborn based on our Karma. Our Karma is not just of the life that we just finished but is a cumulative account of all our previous lives that have unsettled Karma. Our next life depends on our carried forward Karma. Some believe that we can be born only as human beings, but there are others who believe we can be born as an animal or tree. However, one point is very clear that animals and plants do not create Karma. Karma is only created by a conscious intelligent being. It is a result of our thoughts and actions. The 'doer' of action, Mind, Intellect, Memory, Ego - MIME, experiences Karma through the body when alive. If the 'doer' is reborn as an animal or plant, provided this theory is true, then that animal or plant does not create any further Karma in that life. It only redeems its past Karma. Imagine this is true, then we can understand the suffering we would experience if we were born as another living organism that was not a human.
While there are many theories and beliefs about Karma, the world, by and large, accepts the existence of this universal law, which states – As you sow, so shall you reap. It is the Law of Action and Reaction. If we have performed certain actions, we cannot escape from the reaction. Death is sudden. It doesn't wait for us to redeem all actions, good and bad. Therefore, since we have actions that are unsettled, we all have a carried forward account which results in rebirth.
Rebirth itself makes us infer the truth that there is a carry forward account. Why else would some child be born blind and another healthy? Why would some children be born in wealth and luxury, while others are born in poverty? Our birth, parents, gender and many other things are beyond our control—why? It is because of our old carried forward Karma. If we have good Karma, then we are born in fortunate circumstances, but if we have bad Karma, then our birth makes us suffer. Having said so, no human being who is born and is alive can escape from suffering in this world. Therefore, the ultimate goal is Nirvana or Moksha. It means liberation from the cycle of death and rebirth. This is the ultimate goal of a Jivatma—a human being—that is body, mind, and Soul.
How does a Jivatma achieve the ultimate goal? As long as we live with the ignorance that we are the MIME - Mind, Intellect, Memory, Ego alive in a body, then our actions create Karma that need to be settled. It may be good or bad. But the moment we create Karma, we become eligible for rebirth. Every human being has to act, and thus, there can be no freedom from action. However, to achieve the ultimate goal, one has to achieve 'freedom in action'. What does this mean? Although we act, the actions do not create Karma because we are not the 'doer' of the action. The moment we realize we are the Divine Soul, not the body, mind, and ego, then, the actions are not our actions. The Soul through the intellect takes command of the body– mind complex and makes it act as an instrument of the Divine. The ego is transcended. There is no 'I'. Such a realized Soul, living as a Jivanmukta and a Sthitpragya, lives in the ocean of Samsara. Such a person experiences desires of the body and cravings of the mind. But he lives like a boat above the waters of the world. He uses the water to sail towards his ultimate destination but does not sink in the water. A truly liberated Soul is said to live like a lotus in a dirty pond. He is engulfed in the fires of duty, lust, and shame, but he doesn't allow them to drown him in the allurements of the world. It is not easy. All this needs tremendous self-discipline and beyond that, the grace of the Divine. If one has a Spiritual Master who can guide, one gets the additional strength needed to overcome the desires of the world and to transcend ignorance. But this is not an achievement of the ordinary. The one who has realized the truth and is living as a liberated Soul, free from suffering and enjoying Divine bliss, achieves his ultimate goal when he is finally liberated at death.
Though death is certain, the time of death is uncertain. A Jivanmukta may live for one day or 50 years. That is the Divine will. But as long as he is alive, he will experience the onslaught of the world. If he is a truly realized one, he will experience the first stage of liberation when alive. But, to achieve the ultimate goal, he must live like a Jivanmukta till his last breath, without losing the battle to the ego, mind, and body.
What, therefore, is our ultimate goal? At death, when the Soul is liberated from the body, there are two possibilities. The MIME—Mind, Intellect, Memory, Ego may come alive in another body. This happens to most of us because we live and die in ignorance. If we have a carried forward Karma, there is no way to escape rebirth. The Soul is not as we imagine. It is not 'my' Soul or 'your' Soul. The Soul is a Universal Soul. It is Divine consciousness that is everywhere. But the MIME is the unit of our existence, that will be reborn as per its cumulative Karma, powered by the Soul.
However, if we have transcended ignorance and realized the truth that we are not the MIME but the Divine Soul, then at death of the physical body, there is no MIME, there is no Karma! The realization of the truth makes us drop all our carried forward Karma into our grave. The body returns to dust as the Soul is not only liberated but is also united with the Divine. This is the ultimate goal of an embodied human being – to be united with the Cosmic Soul, the Universal Soul or the Divine.
We human beings are slaves of our mind. Although we read this truth, the mind refuses to believe it. The mind<