Where is the Soul in the Body?

Questioner: Where in the body is the soul located sir?

Shunyamurti’s Reply: Your question is not precisely answerable. A more relevant question would be, “Where in the soul is the body located?” The soul is not actually localizable, since it does not exist in the physical dimension. But its point of operational contact with the body is the pineal gland, through which the brain is functionalized. Those experiencing a near-death experience report “popping out” of the top of the skull at the moment of flat-lining, or brain death. But this phenomenon is a product of prior misidentification with the body, an illusion within the soul that brings into apparent existence the ego. It is because of the ego illusion that the soul seems to be in the body.

Once the ego construct has been dissolved, the soul is recognized as an impersonal bridge (and separator) between the noumenal realm and the phenomenal. It is important not to confuse the soul and the Self. Once the ego illusion has dissolved, the more subtle illusion of the soul can also be apperceived as illusory as well. Because of the illusion of the soul, there is the appearance of space and time, world and God. Once the soul has been dissolved, all karma falls away with it, all suffering and limitation; and all that is in the orbit of Mind collapses into nonduality. Form is Emptiness, Emptiness is Form, as the Buddha intones. In Cartesian terms, both res extensa and res cogitans disintegrate into the Void. It is recognized timelessly that the universe never was; that there is only the eternal formless Self, one without a second. You are That.

Questioner: I confess that it was a trick question because knowing that you were a former Brahma Kumari (which may be insulting to you, since the Sanskrit word “kumari” means “daughter” and NOT children as such, as the pathetic spinsters/divorcees who belong to that organization claim) I wanted to know if you had grown beyond their childish beliefs about the location of the soul.

It seems to me, however, that many (if not most) religionists use the two terms, spirit/soul, interchangeably.

Om Shanti Te!

Shunyamurti’s Reply: Thank you for your many supportive comments as well as your tricks, Reverend. One day perhaps we can meet and speak more deeply than is possible online. In the case of this comment, however, there are several errors in your statement I must point out.

First, the official name of the group you mention, at least as I learned it, is the Brahma Kumars’ and Kumaris’ World Spiritual University. This means the sons and daughters of the Creator. It is only called Brahma Kumaris for short. Second, I did not have to “grow beyond” their beliefs, because I never adhered to their beliefs in the first place. Third, their beliefs are not as “childish” as you state, if you are aware of their advanced teachings. Fourth, although I did attend retreats at their ashram, I was not a “member” in any official sense. And what drew me to their ashram was not their beliefs, but the extraordinary energy field that was present there.

That energy field, which was the highest vibrational frequency I had ever experienced at the time (this was in 1979) had as its basis the purity of the dharma that they keep, and a secret portal to the transcendent dimension that is open there, that is unimaginable to anyone who has not had the privilege of entering that space. By the way, the senior teachers I studied with—both men and women (a number of whom have now passed on)—were far from “pathetic” as you characterize them. In fact, they were highly empowered Brahmacharis with extraordinary Shakti, with great practical wisdom and virtue as well as yogic siddhis, and they were consummate tricksters as well. The time I spent with that group was sheer bliss, and filled with non-ordinary learning that had nothing to do with their beliefs or teachings. When it was time to say farewell to their ashram for the last time, after my tenth retreat there (in 1989), I did so without attachment and moved on to new spiritual horizons. The same force that brought me to the ashram took me away in new directions.

During those ten years, I also was involved in many other activities. On the professional plane, I gradually transitioned from law practice to journalism, and paid for my trips to India by working as a foreign correspondent for a newspaper that covered Indian news, and wrote feature stories on everything from Indian politics to gurus and sects, to kumbha melas, to Bollywood celebrities. My part-time work in journalism in the U.S. was gradually replaced by transpersonal clinical practice. First, I became a clinical hypnotherapist, then a past life regression therapist and a spirit release therapist. I also studied dreamwork at the Jung Institute, earned a doctorate in psychology, and formally studied Lacanian psychoanalysis. None of these studies, which occurred at the same time as my attendance at BK retreats, could be called “childish beliefs.” I also studied shamanism and did profound inner research into the effects of shamanic medicines. And I left behind all these studies as well, once they had been digested and transcended, as my journey took me even further into the Real.

It is important that we not be judgmental about any spiritual or religious paths. The conceptual inaccuracies that they may accept is not nearly as significant as the divine love that motivates individuals on such paths. And I have witnessed first hand the miraculous fact that God may send bolts of blissful supernal light to liberate those who are completely illiterate in metaphysics, because of the innocence and purity of their hearts, while learned esoteric thinkers may remain trapped in their egos.

All blessings to you, Reverend.

Namaste,

Shunyamurti