What the world's holy books say about the soul

7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

26 For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?

As God fills the whole world, so does the soul fill the whole body; as God sees and is not seen, so the soul sees and is not seen; as God nourishes the whole world, so does the soul nourish the whole body; as God is pure, so also is the soul pure; as God dwelleth in secret, so does the soul dwell in secret.

7 And a soul and Him Who perfected it 8 And inspired it (with conscience of) what is wrong for it and (what is) right for it. 9 He is indeed successful who causeth it to grow, 10 And he is indeed a failure who stunteth it.

27 But ah! thou soul at peace! 28 Return unto thy Lord, content in His good pleasure! 29 Enter thou among My bondmen! 30 Enter thou My Garden!

Never the spirit was born; the spirit shall cease to be never; Never was time it was not; End and Beginning are dreams! Birthless and deathless and changeless remaineth the spirit for ever; Death hath not touched it at all, dead though the house of it seems!

2. The father said: 'My son, that subtile essence which you do not perceive there, of that very essence this great Nyagrodha tree exists. 3. 'Believe it, my son. That which is the subtile essence, in it all that exists has its self. It is the True. It is the Self, and thou, O Svetaketu, art it.'

38. And the Blessed One thus spoke to the five Bhikkhus: 'The body (Rûpa), O Bhikkhus, is not the self. If the body, O Bhikkhus, were the self, the body would not be subject to disease, and we should be able to say: "Let my body be such and such a one, let my body not be such and such a one."

But although parents, O king, give such a name as Nâgasena, or Sûrasena, or Vîrasena, or Sîhasena, yet this, Sire,--Nâgasena and so on--is only a generally understood term, a designation in common use. For there is no permanent individuality (no soul) involved in the matter

My own Self is the doer and undoer of misery and happiness; my own Self, friend and foe, according as I act well or badly.

Then reflect, Cebes: is not the conclusion of the whole matter this?-that the soul is in the very likeness of the divine, and immortal, and intelligible, and uniform, and indissoluble, and unchangeable; and the body is in the very likeness of the human, and mortal, and unintelligible, and multiform, and dissoluble, and changeable.

O my mind, you are the embodiment of the Divine Light - recognize your own origin. O my mind, the Dear Lord is with you; through the Guru's Teachings, enjoy His Love.