Atma-soul is immortal

Sri Krishna starts giving answers to all questions raised by Arjuna. Where as now he deals the
immortality of the soul even though it was not raised as a doubt by Arjuna. But this teaching is
meant to all the human beings. BG-sloka 11 chapter 2. Sri Bhagavan said to Arjuna, you grieve over
those who don’t deserve to be grieved for, you also talk plausible words of wisdom (prajnavadam),
your ideas are not acceptable to the wise men. Your arguments are born out of our whims and
fancies and out of undue attachment towards your teachers and relatives. The learned (panditah) do
not sorrow over the dead or the living or the wise do not grieve over the dead just as over the living.
Krishna is asking Arjuna, we need to formulate questions in order to get a proper understanding of
the answer given by Krishna in the following manner: “what is the cause of your sorrow?

A.) is it because the souls/Athmas of Bheesmhacharya, Dronocharya, etc., are destroyed in this
dreadful war?

B.) or your sorrow is because their physical bodies are destroyed?

C.) or it is because there is no Athma/ soul different from the body (Shareera or Deha).Hence when
the body is destroyed, Athma is also destroyed. Nothing will remain once the body is destroyed in
the war.

A.)Krishna answers the question A in a very convincing style: he says: “sloka 12, In fact, there was
never a time when I was not there, or when you or these kings were not there. Nor is it a fact, that
here after we shall all cease to be. We have been without a beginning and therefore we will ever be
indestructible.

B.) What Krishna logically establishes is the supreme philosophical principle/tenet. He says all the
souls or living entities are immortal / indestructible or everlasting since they are having no
beginning. All the living entities are (Nitya) everlasting, since they do exist in all the three periods of
time in the past, present and future. By this Krishna has ruled out the theory of identity /that all the
souls are one and the same after liberation, there is no scope for Atma to become God at any point
of time. To establish this theory Krishna quotes the valid three sources of knowledge such as
(A.Pratyaksha/direct perception, B. Anumana / logic, C. Shabda/scriptures such as Vedas,
Upanishads).

Firstly the Vedic statement “NithyoNityaanaamchetanahchetanaanaam……..” meaning – God is

supremely eternal among all eternal entities and he is the supreme conscious being among all
conscious entities….

Arjuna says he is not worried because of the destruction of the souls of Gurus and relatives. He is
worried because even if a soul is eternal the bodies of Gurus and relatives are destroyed in the
violent battle. That is the cause of his mental agony. That is why he wants to withdraw from the war.
To this Krishna says, still there is no cause of worry. For even if war doesn't occur all are going to die
one day or other when the time comes. No one is permanently going to live, those who are bound to
die they will die even if war doesn't occur, those who are destined to live they will live even if there
is a terrible war. But Arjuna says why do we have to kill them in advance on account of this war?
The logic: all the souls are eternal because they are beginning less just as the Lord Sri Krishna
himself is eternal. Sri Krishna also declares in the following slokas that there are so many other
entities such as Prakrthi/Nature in subtle form, time, Kala, Akasha, etc.,

Sloka 13: Just as boyhood, youth and old age are attributed to the soul through this body, even so, it
attains another body. The wise man does not get deluded about this. We experience different stages
or conditions such as childhood, boyhood, youth and old age. Either in the youth or in the old age we
remember our childhood days. Even though the body goes on changing, an entity in the body
remains the one and the same as an experiencer until the body perishes. If the body the
matter(Jada) insentient as it is made out of matter, whereas the experiencer is a conscious entity
who recollects his experiences in all the different stages of life. Krishna advise as we do not cry when
we loose boyhood or youth in old age, we should not grieve when the soul departs from this body
and get a new embodiment this is called Punarjanma. Krishna gives another example in sloka 22 to
make this point more clear. “As a man shedding worn-out garments, take other new ones, likewise,
the embodied soul, casting off worn-out bodies, enters into others that are new”. According to
Krishna death is as simple as discarding old bodies and birth getting a new body as we put on new
clothes.

We have experience that it is my body, my house, my clothes when we say it is my house it is quite
clear “ I is different from clothes or house”. Similarly the experience that my body indicates that I am
different from this body. In an unhealthy atmosphere or rice etc., worms are born, how? Scientist
says that there are some sub microscopic living entities already existing and are growing in multiples.
However, even scientists agree that it is only formed when life comes from another life. Matter does
not have the faculty of experiencing pain or pleasure. Even if you go to the first cell the scientist
don’t have an answer as to how that first cell has come into being. The first cell is not created by
matter, and even today nowhere do we see that living entities are produced by matter. It is only the
soul which is beginning less and deathless is an experiencer in our body. With this we can conclude
that Atma / soul is distinct from the body.

Even the believers of different schools of thoughts have to accept that God has not created the
souls, if they believe that all the souls are created by God they will face so many fundamental,
rational questions:

A. Why has God not created all the people equally intelligent, healthy and happy.

B. Why God has created some as very rich, some are poverty stricken, some are very intelligent,
some are mentally insane, some are hail and healthy, some are born diseased. ? Why this all
inequality?

Some believers try to answer that people are getting the fruits of Karma (action) either good or bad
performed in previous lives. But this will not satisfy the minds of intellect. The question remains
unanswered, why one performs bad deeds in his first life?. What is the cause of Karma? If it is God
who makes us perform Karma, why has he not made all of us perform only good deeds in the first
life itself. Why should he make a few other people perform bad deeds and punish them in
subsequent life. How can we call such a God who is partial, as a mercy full creator- Karunamayee.
What is the definition of God? All-powerful,all- mercy full?
God is defined as omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent. If God is all powerful, mercy full, why
has he not created all the beings who are in total bliss (floating joyfully).

Where as according to the Bhagavath Gita, even God has not created the souls, they are beginning
less and endless. God has given them material physical gross body (Sthoola Deha), According to the
nature of (Anadi) Karma/ beginning less action performed by the nature of the soul. God is just like a
gardener who cultivates the land and sows seeds. According to the nature of the seeds we will get
plants, trees and different types of fruits of different taste. A gardener is not responsible for the
difference of taste and form. He has watered and put manure to all the roots and plants equally
without any partiality. The same sunlight they are receiving. Even though all of them are receiving
same kind of light and water they will produce variety of fruits of different taste. The gardener
cannot be held responsible for this. Similarly God is not responsible for the disparity in the mankind
since he has not created the souls. Souls are experiencing pain or pleasure only due to their own
intrinsic nature which is identical with the souls. Hence the Nature is also eternal. God is only
responsible for our evolution (Atma vikasa) by providing us all required material needs.