{"id":592,"date":"2015-03-10T08:58:56","date_gmt":"2015-03-10T13:58:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.akella.org\/mani\/?p=592"},"modified":"2015-03-10T08:58:56","modified_gmt":"2015-03-10T13:58:56","slug":"the-body-is-both-home-and-prison-to-the-soul-until-they-both-join-forces","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.akella.org\/mani\/the-body-is-both-home-and-prison-to-the-soul-until-they-both-join-forces\/","title":{"rendered":"The body is both home and prison to the soul \u2013 until they both join forces!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cOur Souls have sight of that immortal sea
\nWhich brought us hither,
\nCan in a moment travel thither,
\nAnd see the Children sport upon the shore,
\nAnd hear the mighty waters rolling evermore.\u201d
\n\u2013 William Wordsworth (Ode: Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood)<\/em><\/p>\n

Kabir – The couplet<\/strong>
\n\u0924\u0928 \u092c\u094b\u0939\u093f\u0924 \u092e\u0928 \u0915\u093e\u0917 \u0939\u0948, \u0932\u093e\u0916 \u091c\u094b\u091c\u0928 \u0909\u0921\u093c \u091c\u093e\u0907 \u0964
\n\u0915\u092c\u0939\u0941 \u0926\u0930\u093f\u092f\u093e \u0905\u0917\u092e \u092c\u0939\u0947, \u0939\u0915\u092c\u0939\u0941 \u0917\u0917\u0928 \u0938\u092e\u093e\u0907 ||<\/p>\n

Transliterated:<\/strong>
\nTan Bohit Man Kaag Hai, Lakh Jojan Ud Jaai |
\nKabahu Dariya Agam Bahe, Kabahu Gagan Samai ||<\/p>\n

Translation:<\/strong>
\nThe body is a ship, the mind a bird, flying away a thousand miles |
\nSometimes far away in the ocean, sometimes into the blue sky it flies ||<\/p>\n

My understanding:<\/strong>
\nWe are limited only by our senses failing to help us fully grasp our true potential. The same creative\/evolutionary energy that shaped our body to what we are today also housed the mind and all associated faculties in this body. Rather than feel limited by our physical body, why not explore and see what our true potential can really be?<\/p>\n

To better understand this, permit me to use an analogy. When separated from the vehicle, the engine is capable of generating enormous power \u2013 enough even to self-destruct. But that great energy, in the vehicle, provides valuable use. The vehicle does limit the engine, but provides a space for both to together provide lasting value. Separate, they cannot do much by themselves \u2013 the engine generates power but there is no consumption mechanism, and the moment one is harnessed to it, it gets limited by the ability of the harness. Similarly, the body has its own limitations \u2013 it can do only so much irrespective the power the engine can generate. If the engine generates more than the body can handle, both will self-destruct! Harnessing a rocket engine to a car is a recipe for disaster \u2013 and harnessing a car to a rocket is a waste of fuel \u2013 the rocket cannot even expect to budge.<\/p>\n

So, to make the most efficient use of the soul and the body, we have to learn to read, control and use the soul optimally within the capability and capacity of the body. Rather than fret at lack of usability and appropriateness, why not tune the body\u2019s sensor, feedback, monitoring and physical abilities to best use available resources and pair them to the energy source optimally? As the pairing improves, the soul will enhance, and if the right amount of growth is achieved, man will become superman, and from there even perhaps God! For each transition however, just the same way as with the vehicle, each major enhancement and upgrade needs a visit to the appropriate workshop, and the work of qualified technicians and engineers. So also, for each major growth step, we need both to be able to slow down completely, shut down the external senses, and under the guidance of the right Teacher, step into the next phase of life.<\/p>\n

Change and growth are not magical automatic transitions \u2013 sometimes (actually very often) the change is accompanied by physical pain and stress. The Teacher (like a surgeon with the use of appropriate medicines) can help ease the transition, but there will be some pain, and some relearning to use the new you appropriately. And each of these requires us to stop completely what we are doing so we can take the next step in our evolution. And after the transition, we have to learn to live and accept our new life and new space in Life \u2013 we cannot expect to return to the old life and still hold our new station.<\/p>\n

So learn to embrace change \u2013 for it is as inevitable as time and the cycle of seasons. Grow, and watch the world evolve with you. As we evolve, we will see that which remained hidden from us till we became ready, and developed the faculties to grasp, understand and use all that this world has for us.<\/p>\n

Until then, the mind will keep wandering far away from the body \u2013 on what seem like flights of fancy. It is really giving us a glimpse into possibility. If it is to us to take the leap of faith to make that possibility reality!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cOur Souls have sight of that immortal sea Which brought us hither, Can in a moment travel thither, And see the Children sport upon the shore, And hear the mighty waters rolling evermore.\u201d \u2013 William Wordsworth (Ode: Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood) Kabir – The couplet \u0924\u0928 \u092c\u094b\u0939\u093f\u0924 \u092e\u0928 \u0915\u093e\u0917 \u0939\u0948, \u0932\u093e\u0916…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-592","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-kabir","category-philosophy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.akella.org\/mani\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/592","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.akella.org\/mani\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.akella.org\/mani\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.akella.org\/mani\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.akella.org\/mani\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=592"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.akella.org\/mani\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/592\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":593,"href":"https:\/\/www.akella.org\/mani\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/592\/revisions\/593"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.akella.org\/mani\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=592"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.akella.org\/mani\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=592"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.akella.org\/mani\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=592"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}