Reality is not fixed

Schrodinger's famous thought experiment envisions a cat sealed in a box with a radioactive atom that may or may not cause its death. Until the box is opened and observed, the cat exists in a superposition-alive and dead. This paradox illustrates how multiple realities coexist until observation collapses them into a single reality. The Gita presents a similar paradox: jivatma appears to be both bound, caught in the karmic cycle of birth and death, and free, when spiritual wisdom and its practice liberate it.

The Gita teaches that the Atman is pure, eternal and beyond the three gunas of nature. As an energy of God, maya is engaged in His service. Its function is to veil the true nature of the Supreme from souls who have not yet attained eligibility for God-realisation. Maya attracts souls with the three modes of material nature: Sattva, purity, rajas, passion and tamas, inertia. The soul, mistakenly identifying itself with the body, craves material pleasures. This material attachment binds the soul to karm-birth, death and rebirth.

Like Schrodinger's cat, the soul lies in a box of karm, either bound or free. The seeker undertakes an inward spiritual journey of soul purification. Through meditation, surrender and alignment with Him, the soul attains moksh.


The cat's fate remains unknown until the box is opened; likewise, the soul's freedom remains hidden until veil of maya is pierced by awareness. Ultimately, both frameworks affirm that reality is not fixed.