Seek not just the self – seek the soul Gita 02.21

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Thank you. Bhagavad Gita 2.21 Bhagavad Gita 2.21 Krishna talks about the soul and says that one who understands that it is indestructible, such a person won’t think that the soul can be destroyed or anybody is the destroyer of the soul.
So, when people talk about the self, which is a much more common word than used in a soul, they use self to refer to one’s own conception. For example, self-respect, self-esteem. So, we all have a conception of the self.
So, for example, self-esteem means that we should have some respect for ourselves, we should not feel inferior or self-respect. They say that we should not take ourselves lying down. Self-confidence.
And in all these places where the word self is used, if you use the word soul over there, soul-esteem or soul-confidence or soul-respect, it doesn’t work. Because although in some ways, the soul and the self are the same, because the core self is the soul. But there are many people who don’t conceive of the self to be the soul.
They, as an experienced reality, we all have a conception of self, myself, yourself. It’s ingrained language in our thinking. But what this concept of self is, not many people think about.
People talk about self-expression. Say, I want to be who I want to be. Nobody should tell me I should do this or I should not do this.
So, here when people talk about self-expression, here they’re not at all talking about soul-expression. Because they’re not thinking about the soul. They’re thinking about the self and thinking about themselves.
Whatever it is that they conceive themselves to be, they want to express that. So, for some people, self-expression may be wearing, say, jeans that are intentionally ripped. For some people, self-expression may be having curly hair.
For some people, self-expression may be coming out and telling the world about their own gender orientation, sexual orientation. So, in these cases, there is a lot of concern for the self. But there is very little concern for the soul.
Now, of course, the word soul can also be used sometimes in a metaphorical sense to refer to, say, for example, the soul of India or the soul of the country. So, here the soul is used to refer to, in a metaphorical sense, to the essence. But the word soul, when it is used in a religious sense, especially in the sense in which it is used in the Bhagavad Gita, it refers to a concrete, tangible, metaphysical entity.
So, the soul is not metaphorical, it is metaphysical. And as long as we are simply concerned about the self, then whatever we conceive our self to be, which is often a superficial covering on our core self, that is what will come out. Yes, you see, if somebody is an artist and they are forced to become an engineer and they may long for self-expression, I want to be an artist.
And it’s not that such a self-expression is to be suppressed. But, no, they are not at their core artists. That body-mind complex has the talent, the inclination, the aspiration to be an artist.
But they at their core are beyond the body and the mind. So, the soul is the focus of the Bhagavad Gita, especially in the first six chapters. And it is the soul which is the locus of our identity.
It is the basis of who we are. The self can mean different things to different people. And while the word soul can also mean different things to different people, but essentially the word soul is used in a spiritual sense in the Bhagavad Gita to refer to a concrete entity.
That soul is currently misidentifying with the body. And because of misidentification with the body, we, despite being blissful living beings, are undergoing various kinds of sufferings. So, authentic self-realization is realization of the soul.
It is not just expression of the self, however the self may be conceived. And interestingly enough, when we realize ourselves as the soul, that also brings out uninhibited the best expression of our self. An artist may play music, musician may play some music for self-expression, which is good, but then if they want to make a public performance, they won’t just go unprepared and speak whatever comes in their mind or whatever they rehearse carefully, meticulously.
So, self-expression doesn’t necessarily have to mean this expression expressing whatever layer of self is currently most active within us. So, by layers of self, we mean, sometimes we conceive of the body and body derives as our self. Sometimes we conceive the mind and its cravings as the self.
Sometimes we conceive the intelligence and the intellectual longings as the self. But beyond these all, Krishna says that all these senses, mind, intelligence, they all may be conceived of by some people as the self. But the real self is beyond all these and that is the soul.
So, in the process of Bhakti Yoga, we focus on realizing the soul by the steady practice of certain disciplines that bring out the best within us. We don’t bother so much whether during the process we are having self-expression or not. Because we understand that for the best self to express itself, it needs discipline.
It needs discipline just as for the best music to come from within a musician, it needs discipline. So, when with discipline, diligence, we move forwards in our spiritual life, then we realize our authentic self, we understand ourselves as souls and we delight in our identity as eternal blissful spiritual beings.