Chapter 2 – Atma

There is no dispute that Atma is associated with an individual. As a matter of fact we have heard number of times the phrase, Poor Soul. However, the understanding or interpretation of Atma is not the same. Many people believe that Atma or soul is a spark that exists in the body and at the time of death it leaves the body. There have been instances when people have claimed that they have seen the spark leaving the body.

There is an institute called Institute of Noetic Sciences based in USA that has conducted an experiment where they weighed a person before and after death and has found that mass decreases immediately after the death (Lost Symbol by Dan Brown). Therefore, it is assumed that something happens that causes this reduction in the weight.

The question is what it is?

There are no answers. I agree with the finding but my explanation about the spark is very simple. We all know that human brain is a very powerful computational item. It works 24/7 non- stop. We also know that brain cells communicate via current. Therefore, I believe there is a spark that gets generated at the time of dying but it is more like a short circuit.

We have seen a powerful spark and noise when short circuit happens on the power lines and also in our home. Another simple phenomenon we all have watched when a light bulb fuses. Before the bulb fuses there is a glow. Similar phenomenon takes place at the time of death. I have only seen the death of my Grand Father. He died peacefully and there was no spark or anything else. I was around 18-19 years old so never understood anything. However, I understand now why there was no spark or anything because my Grand Father was brain dead for almost a month before he died. This could explain why there was no spark.

Once the brain is inactive or almost like a dead item then the current has no power therefore, the spark might be very weak to come out. I also believe that no one dies because of brain failure. Death is always accompanied by the failure of one of the inner body parts, primarily the major ones like Heart, Kidney and Lungs. There have been instances when a person has stayed in coma or brain dead for months and years but still not medically dead. Coming back to the Noetic experiment, I believe the loss in the mass could be related to the loss of water that exists in the brain or it could be the loss of current or dying or shrinking of the cells.

Again the question about Atma or Soul, remains unanswered or unexplained. As I have indicated earlier that I have read Ramcharit Manas and Bhagwad Gita; therefore, I firmly believe Atma is our Character. Everyone has character. Therefore, Soul or Atma is person’s character.

I will like to narrate an incident. In August 1974, I was leaving for higher studies to Canada. My father and other family members came to Delhi airport to see me off. At the time of entering inside the gate of the airport my father hugged me and had tears in his eyes. I too was crying. My father wiped my tears and said 2 things –

 First – “beta (son) I may not see you again” and

Second – “Remember when wealth is lost something is lost, when health is lost something more is lost and when character is lost everything is lost. You are going to another country do not lose your character”.

I still remember his words but never understood them till now. I miss my father a lot as he said I never saw him after leaving India in August 1974. To me he is God. I worship him daily. My point here is about the importance of character.

Character represents individual’s personality. There is a segment in the brain that deals with the personality. I believe we can improve our character. There is no easy path however, if we pay close attention to our scriptures, Ramcharit Manas and Gita, we will get the answers. Lord Rama came before Lord Krishna and there is a reason for it. I am not going to elaborate on it in this book as it will be part of my other book (Hinduism – A religion or philosophy). Here I will only say that focus of Ramcharit Manas is on the building of Character as the word Charit means character.

Human behavior is also related to the character. How we interact with ourselves and how we treat others defines one’s character. This is what we can learn from Ramcharit Manas. We all must have heard the saying, “treat other the way you would like to be treated”. This saying is all about character. Also, since soul or Atma has no shape or physical existence within our body similarly Character also has no shape or physical existence within our body.

According to my knowledge and belief there are 3 types of people – Selfless, Self-Centered and Selfish.

Selfless people are the ones who only exist for others. They strive to make life pleasant for others. They have no desire or ambition to do anything for their own self. Personally, I do not feel that there are such people because this is what we call God. However, in relative sense they exist. Some examples would be Mahatma Gandhi, Dr Martin Luther King Jr., Nelson Mandela, Madan Mohan Malviya and host of others. My point on Selfless people will become clear after my explanation on Parmatma.

Self-Centered people are those who do things for themselves but they do not use any other people. They achieve everything based on their skills only and do not hurt or harm anybody to achieve their objectives.

Selfish people are the ones who use others to achieve their objectives. They do not care about anyone as long as their needs are concerned.

It is good to be Self-Centered. We all should strive to be one. Character is dependent upon the person’s personality. We have heard from our learned people that soul or Atma is same in every human being. I disagree because no two people are alike. Therefore, the soul or Atma has to be different. It is possible that two people may act or behave similarly in most of the situations but both have their own identity which is defined by their character.

As I said building character is not easy. We can learn from Ramcharit Manas but we all can do some things to shape our character for good. According to me success can be defined as:

Success = 3xH. The 3 H are; Hard work, Honesty and Humility.

Hard work and Honesty play a key role in building Human Character. Hard work also includes acquiring of the knowledge. The purpose of knowledge or education is to help us make the right decision. As we know that sensory parts help the brain to make a decision for action. Therefore, the more knowledge or information we have the better chances will be to make the right decision which will make us to be Self-Centered person. In Gita, Lord Krishna asks Arjun to do this to prepare.

AI or Artificial Intelligence is nothing but the scientific process to use storage of knowledge to do the right thing. Gita is a great example of Artificial Intelligence. I will elaborate on it in my book in Gita and Kalyug (modern times). My father use to tell me that take small steps forward but do not take a step backward. This makes so much sense in building character as it involves the process of thinking or usage of knowledge.

In the corporate environment we have heard the phrase; Go back to the drawing boards. This does imply taking the step backward. However, I feel this has lot to do with taking the step forward in haste or without thinking. Sometimes we may have to take a step back but we should also ensure that similar mistake does not happen again. We all learn from our mistakes but committing same mistake again does not help in building good character.

Character building is also related to reaction. Reaction is nothing but a result of action. Newton mentioned that every action has a reaction. This is true in every situation. Analyzing the reaction provides us the knowledge to avoid mistake or continue to do the right thing. Character building is a continuous process. Just we say that Education is a lifelong process similarly character building is also a lifelong process. Just as education or knowledge makes one a better person similarly character also makes one a better person. Just as education can be acquired through various methods like taking courses, interacting with people, reading, listening similarly character can be build through various methods like reading, listening, watching and taking courses.

Character building is a not a hard process – but it requires a discipline approach. Character of Lord Rama in Ramcharit Manas provides us a great resource in building character. We all know that all 4 brothers were born almost at the same time. However, Lord Rama was the first one. Therefore, he took the mantle of eldest among the four. His behavior towards his younger brother is a lesson to all of us. Also, his behavior towards his father, mother, wife, teachers, friends and above all the people of low level is a lesson to us.

Honesty also plays a big role in building character. Honesty in general means how we should interact with others. We all have heard the saying – treat others the way you want to be treated. This is honesty.

We may not believe it but criticism also helps in building character. We all want to be praised but it is the criticism that makes one a better person. None of us like to be criticized but the truth is it allows us to see our flaws. Removal of the flaws makes us a better person. When someone criticizes you always ask for the reason. In the absence of the reason it is difficult to make an improvement. We all have heard the saying, Thick Skin. Person with thick skin do not care to improve or are just ignorant about the feelings of the others.

Character is also about feeling good about your own self. I read a book long time back whose title was ‘Walking Tall’ or something like that (sorry I do not remember exact title), which talks about self-dignity. Self-dignity plays a big part in character building. We have to respect and love our-self irrespective of who we are. Self-dignity gives confidence and it helps in overcoming our short comings thus helping build strong character. We all know that inferiority complex makes a person depressed. This hinders in building character. We all have strengths and weaknesses. Using strength to overcome weakness is the best way to raise our self-dignity.

There is another book that I found very instrumental in character building is called – ‘7 Habits of Highly Effective People’ by Stephen Covey. The book gives 7 points that can be used to build character. I am not going to get into the details as every point in my opinion can be customized to the individual’s make up. We all are unique therefore, what makes sense to me may not make sense to you.

Our brain has a Reward System which is responsible for motivation, expectation, desire, craving etc. In the September 2017 issue of National Geographic there is very good article on it. According to that article when craving overtakes pleasure then it becomes addiction. We all know addiction of anything is not good. I feel having strong character can help us in keeping addiction aside.

I think we have understood the importance of character and its importance in defining an individual. However, building a strong character appears to be a complex process therefore, I am going to summarize in few points how to build a character as told to me by my father –

• KEEP AN OPEN MIND. To me this means acquiring of the knowledge. Education or the knowledge is the single most effective tool we have.
• BE A GOOD LISTENER. This too is about acquiring knowledge. According to my father every individual can help us get better. This also implies letting others finish what they have to say. It is also about respect.
• DO NOT HURT ANYBODY KNOWINGLY. If you do then be the first one to accept the mistake and be bold enough to apologize.
• THINK BEFORE YOU ACT. I never realized the importance of this point till I started to work. This point to me can help us in catching errors before they occur.
• RESPECT OTHERS FEELINGS. According to him this point was about not offering advice unless one asks.
• HELP OTHERS IF YOU CAN. According to him we should not shy away if we feel that we can help. I have taken this point a little further. I say, we all know how to live but few of us know how to give.
• VALUE TIME. This point is about punctuality. We all know the time that goes by cannot be retrieved. According to my father who does not value time will never be able to achieve desired success. Also, he said that being punctual means being respectful to others. I have taken it further by adding return on investment (ROI) phrase. This means we should always think after doing anything whether it added any value or not? I have found adding ROI to time has helped me a lot.

I am sure there will be more additions to the above list but it can serve as a good start.