There is a saying that “The eyes are the window to the soul”. This alludes to the reality that there is a clear distinction between the physical body and “you” the eternal spiritual being.
The ancient yogic teachings reject the idea that “I have a soul” in favor of the truth that “I am the soul.” As such I have an eternal and spiritual nature, but when residing within a material form (the body) that nature becomes both covered and distorted. In this talk we examine that nature.
Some of the verses I either quoted or referenced:
O son of Bharata, as the sun alone illuminates all this universe, so does the living entity, one within the body, illuminate the entire body by consciousness. Bhagavad-gītā 13.34
For the soul there is neither birth nor death at any time. He has not come into being, does not come into being, and will not come into being. He is unborn, eternal, ever-existing and primeval. He is not slain when the body is slain. Bhagavad-gītā 2.20
The soul within the body is self-luminous and is distinct from the visible gross body and invisible subtle body. It remains as the fixed basis of changing bodily existence, just as the ethereal sky is the unchanging background of material transformation. Therefore the soul is endless and without material comparison. Bhāgavata Purāṇa 12.5.8
One who is enlightened in self-realization, although living within the material body, sees himself as transcendental to the body, just as one who has arisen from a dream gives up identification with the dream body. Bhāgavata Purāṇa 11.11.8
The ātma/self is atomic in size and can be perceived by perfect intelligence. This atomic soul is floating in the five kinds of air (prāṇa, apāna, vyāna, samāna and udāna), is situated within the heart, and spreads its influence all over the body of the embodied living entities. When the ātma is purified from the contamination of the five kinds of material air, its spiritual influence is exhibited. – Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad 3.1.9
As long as a living entity is not completely self-realized — as long as one is not independent of the misconception of identifying with one’s body, which is nothing but a reflection of the original body and senses — one cannot be relieved of the conception of duality, which is epitomized by the duality between man and woman. Thus there is every chance that one will fall down because one’s intelligence is bewildered. Bhāgavata Purāṇa 7.12.10
As tiny sparks fly from a fire, so all the individual souls have come from the Supreme. – Bṛhad-āraṇyaka Upaniṣad, 2.2.20
This is the truth: As sparks of similar form spring forth by the thousands from a strongly blazing fire, so from the Absolute Truth are produced the various living beings, O gentle one, and there also do they go. – Mundaka Upanishad 2:1:1
By chance, two birds have made a nest together in the same tree. The two birds are friends and are of a similar nature. One of them, however, is eating the fruits of the tree, whereas the other, who does not eat the fruits, is in a superior position due to His potency.
The bird who does not eat the fruits of the tree is the Supreme Soul, who by His omniscience perfectly understands His own position and that of the conditioned living entity, represented by the eating bird. That living entity, on the other hand, does not understand himself or the Lord. He is covered by ignorance and is thus called eternally conditioned, whereas the Personality of Godhead, being full of perfect knowledge, is eternally liberated. – Bhāgavata Purāṇa 11.11.6-7
The same jīva is eternal and is for eternity and without a beginning joined to the Supreme Lord by the tie of an eternal kinship. He is transcendental spiritual potency. – Śrī Brahma-saṁhitā 5.21
Thus mistaking the temporary for the eternal, my body for my self, and sources of misery for sources of happiness, I have tried to take pleasure in material dualities. Covered in this way by ignorance, I could not recognize You as the real object of my love. Bhāgavata Purāṇa 10.40.25