Spirit, Soul, Eternal light, Aatma- there are many different names to express what can be related to as our inner most source of life energy. When speaking about the soul, in the eastern tradition, the soul is described as the entity that exists within the physical body as an observer. It does not interfere with the functioning of the body but it carries the experiences and wisdoms acquired in a lifetime. Once that physically body dies, it is taken to a different body.
The existence of the soul has only been able to be defined by religion and philosophy. Our key argument of the existence of the soul is a question. If a soul doesn’t not exist, why is it that the living body and a dead body have all the same organs – the limbs, the nerves and veins? Or why is one considered living and the other one dead? Philosophy answers the absence of life between the living and dead to be the soul.
In the eastern tradition, it is believed that the next life is chosen on the basis of Karma or actions in the previous life. The soul travels from one life to the other –generations after generations – on a quest or journey in search of truth. The truth and realization is reached after the soul receives answers to all it’s questions. This state is called enlightenment, Moksha or liberation. Once achieving this state, one does not have to continue the cycle of life and death.
In the Buddhist tradition, a person who has achieved enlightenment is called Bodhisattva – an entity that makes a conscious choice to come back – even after achieving liberation – to be of service to the world and continue to help others achieve enlightenment.