Mind, body and soul

The body is viewed as a vehicle for your soul. The soul operates through the medium of body, while you live in a material world. Once your body becomes lifeless - as a result of ageing, disease, accident or other reasons - the soul exits the vehicle and transmigrates to another body-vehicle to continue its eternal journey.

This is what we are given to understand by spiritual masters. The body is also a reminder of the impermanence of life. Through the body, we experience the senses and undergo suffering and pleasure, and these are all hallmarks of samsara.

Since the physical body is integral to one's life as much as the mind is a part of our being as thinking humans, any mindfulness practice needs to be applied to not just mind but to body as well.


Therefore, it is important to respect and conserve the body by eating right, exercising and protecting it from elements. The body is likened to a temple that is the home of the spirit-soul; so, the body should be given that kind of respect and care.

A realised person's body tends to reflect that beautiful transformation just as a debauched individual's body will mirror his state. Embodied existence is the sum of our physical, mental and spiritual experiences.

Brian Weiss, the writer of Many Masters, Many Lives, says, 'Our body is just a vehicle for us while we're here. It is our soul, our spirit, that lasts forever.'