How do you prove the existence of the soul?

Answer 1

There are no scientific proofs of the categories yielding to experiments in laboratories to ascertain the existence of the soul; yet, human experiences derived through conscious activities or dreams indicate to existence of the soul. But these indications are enough to persuade a thinking mind to believe in the existence of the soul. If we take this world as based on systematic arrangement, not raising the questions of uncertainty principles which are just the result of human lack of comprehending the universe at the microlevel, it can be asserted that nothing happens without reasons; and in that case, there are lots of things which can not be analyzed devoid of falling in the track of spiritual proofs and which for their being have certain reasons, and these, of course are not less convincing than scientific proofs, after all, life is not a result of human experiments, rather is something of deeper human feeling, intuition and realization. Such experiences as proofs for the existence of the soul are concatenated below:

1. The son of a thief becomes pious, the daughter of a moron becomes talented; and even when the parents are imbeciles the child is a genius; and in all such paradoxical cases, there is genetic analysis yet to prove why the child does not follow the parents. Only the theory of the existence of the soul can give the answer. As the soul of the child in previous life or incarnation had been well advanced in the ladder of unfoldment, therefore, in the life after in the new incarnation he or she appeared to be totally different from his or her parents in the world of realization and understanding.

2. Given even the same environment, the children of the same parents inheriting similar genetic codes with minor variations do not follow the same path of becoming and creativity. Someone becomes a profligate and someone becomes a scientist. This so happens because of disparate inheritances of evolutionary achievements of the different children of the same parents. Suppose the soul of a particular child cultivated scientific knowledge in previous life and for that reason that child was born with innate proclivity to scientific analysis of things of the world. Take the case that the soul of another child had been involved in profligacy and the child was then reborn with some disposition to things of that kind. But this argument does not go to prove that there is possibility of becoming better in one life. If even a soul with downward trend follow gradually the path of reforms and change; and the effort remains constant on the path of self-creativity, then certainly one can overcome the downgrading tendencies on the path of evolution and becoming.

3. Who organizes all memories, impressions, experiences and ideas to give formation to knowledge in the brain? Who is the experiencer? Who knows and who realizes? Epiphenomenology or reductionism can not answer rationally and logically how wisdom is possible, why the Buddha renounced the world in search of the answer to all sufferings in life; why Christ preferred crucifixion to giving false statement to save his life at the cost of his ideals. The organizing agent is the soul; it is not the mere byproduct of the activities of the neurons, axons and nervous conductivity in the brain. The soul is there as the unchanging guiding factor of the body; it passes from birth to birth through arches of death, the arches of change and evolution phase by phase.

4. Whose is the conscience; of the body, of the brain or of the soul? Who sheds tears; who is unhappy or happy? Is it the brain or the nervous system? None; it is the soul, the conscious being working in the seat of the brain. Conscience is the progressive urge of the soul on the path evolution or the path of again becoming one with Supreme Consciousness. (Vide: Sailen Debnath, 'The Meanings of Hindu Gods, Goddesses and Myths', Chapters: The Meaning of Kalpavriksha- As you Think so You Become; The White Lotus and its Meaning; The Meaning of Chitragupta- The God-Witness for Justice; Akashgarbha and Chetanagarbha- The Depth of the Sky and the Ocean of Consciousness; ISBN 9788129114815, Rupa & Co., New Delhi, 2009.)