Human beings are a combination of body, life, and mind. And behind it all, the secret soul. In other words, there are at least four persons within one, if not more, given the different personalities within each. The body is tamoguna pradhan, prone to inertia and dullness. It is like a stone that doesn’t easily absorb higher vibrations. It is through conscious physical culture and turning the bodily energies towards the Divine through service that it begins to open to the Divine Force. It is somewhat like one cannot pour something into a closed or a small and narrow container, or into a container filled with all kinds of mixtures. This smallness, narrowness, fixed, rigid ideas, restless life energy, proneness to disintegration, poor heredity, etc, are the limitations of the body. The soulโs choice refers to the karmic impressions, the need for certain experiences, including certain forms of purifying physical suffering, and the destiny of the individual. All these are important and need to be taken into account in the complex workings of the Divine Force. Of course, it can override everything, but that would be rather an exception rather than the rule.
Affectionately,
Alok Da
