[Advaita-l] Concept of soul

[Vidyasankar Sundaresan]

I believe it would help this discussion if we clarified our basic 
assumptions first. First, there are many theories of what the soul is and 
what happens to it in birth and death of a physical body. A number of these 
theories can be compatible with advaita vedAnta, while others may not be. 
Secondly, it seems to me that we are talking quite loosely of life and 
mixing it up with the soul. A number of the existing ideas about the soul 
may also be compatible with the possibility of creating artificial life in a 
laboratory, while others may not.

Finally, it seems to me that while we are all talking of life and soul and 
science, we are really talking of consciousness and its relation to matter. 
The root question is this - is consciousness an entity independent of matter 
or is it a consequence of particular arrangements of matter? One's thoughts 
about this basic issue will determine to a large extent what we think about 
all other issues.

Regards,
Vidyasankar

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