For thousands of years the individual existence of the soul has been debated.

Even with the awareness of reincarnation which involves physical and subtle bodies, the question of a spiritual body still haunts us –

Do we exist eternally as an individual spiritual entity, or not?

Is the spiritual self, the I-self-consciousness (atma, not ahamkara) that some discover in deep meditation, is it real?

Or is individuality, aka personalism, an illusion explained away by the claim that the one and only thing that actually does exist has, by its own accord, split itself into pretender units of pseudo-individuality?

 Impersonalism


Advaita Vedanta and Buddhism are unconcerned with the search for the ultimate individual self or even for a personal God. They are concerned with realizing that personal identity itself is not real and being consciousness of this knowledge is the end of trauma.

Buddhism has a goal of non-existence all together, while advaita vedanta has the goal of merging with a differentiation-less universal energy which is not at all a person, but an energy. Buddhism goes so far as to be totally unconcerned even with the deity (gods) aspect of spirituality, while Advaita Vedanta tolerates traditional attention offered to deities but ultimately doesn’t believe in the true existence of such deities.I became aware of this oxymoron while attending teacher training at the Sivananda Ashram.

Advaita Vedanta, often associated with the renunciate Shankara, would have us rest assured that the end of all knowledge lies in the abstract poems and rituals found in the Vedas. That what exists exclusively is a singular force. That the appearance of what seems to be the unique, individual souls we experience, is unreal. Not just temporary mind you, but UNREAL. Some even call it ignorance.

These older philosophies have made a startlingly popular reappearance current day in the form of New Age oneness concepts, revealing a hybrid type of generic popularity within the new thought ‘spiritual’ culture.


Personalism

Now then, what about the road less travelled, Personalism?

The personalist sees the creation and accepts that it exists. This person understands that just because something is temporary does not mean it isn’t real.

They perceive the eternality of the material creation, the Mother, the Prakriti.

This person accepts that spiritual energy is something altogether separate and all together in combination with the material energy.

This rare individual (see Bhagavad Gita 7.3) at least from the perspective of yoga, who is interested in Lord Krishna’s yoga method, is often conducting secret and self-specialized mystic actions (kriyas), aggressive breathing purification (pranayamas) and spiritually dynamic meditations (samyam).

This seeker develops a supernatural perception necessary to perceive that within the supreme effulgence of what appears to the masses as atomic oneness, there are actually kingdoms and spiritual peoples, together, in full individualized consciousness within that spiritual environment. These souls are not absent from it consciously - as one would have to be, that is, unconscious, if one accepts that only oneness exists.


Advise on How to Figure Out What YOU Believe:

There is nothing wrong with being an eternal someone, it isn’t egotistical or arrogant.

There is nothing wrong with being no one, it’s an imperative, un-skippable developmental stage in the transmigration of the spiritual self.

But meditation is key. Self-inquiry is essential.

A regular Patanjali based yoga practice should eventually reveal where you are with things for now. Continued, persistent meditation in the location of the core self, within the center of the subtle head space, should reveal if you exist or not. It very well could be that some of us exist and some of us just don’t, depending on many things including what tools we are endowed with to perceive such transcendentally mysterious things….

If you decide you don’t exist, there are many options; Advaita Vedanta, Buddhism and all of the new age paths are popular and appropriate for aspirants of almost all levels. You’ll be welcome at festivals and hippies will think you are the sun itself. This Earth dimension is designed for oneness soup consciousness. Obviously, we live in a Petri dish of basic ingredients. We are conditioned to put others first and to not be self-centered.

However, for those that find that someone in there, a self, a spiritual person, things might not be so easy. You won’t be going to any festivals or making friends with New Agers. I’ve personally found that oneness folks are surprisingly easy with the insults if you don’t agree with them. You can expect to be called arrogant, egotistical and ignorant for believing you exist. Yet, no need to despair, you are probably already an introverted loner and luckily, we don’t have to rely only on the lovely primal poetic musings of soma drunk Brahmin - who’s hold on the spiritual monopoly of the times benefited them and their families beyond measure.

Personalistic Yoga is the path least taken and as far as I can see, the highest path exclusive to those souls cited by Lord Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 6 Verses 44-47 (Michael Beloved translation) He says:

“Indeed, by previous practice, he is motivated, even without conscious desire. He, who persistently inquires of yoga, instinctively sees BEYOND the Veda, the spoken description of the spiritual reality. (44)
From a steady effort and a consistently controlled mind, the yogi who is thoroughly cleansed of bad tendencies, who is perfected in many births, reaches the supreme goal. (45)
The yogi is superior to other types of ascetics; he is also considered to be superior to the masters of philosophical theory, and the yogi is better than the ritual performers. Hence be a yogi, Arjuna. (46)
Of all yogi’s the one who is attracted to Me with his soul, who worships Me with full faith, is regarded as being most devoted to Me. (47)


Concluding Thoughts

Yoga is something special.

It isn’t Advaita Vedanta. Indeed Lord Krishna reassures us that yoga transcends the Vedas.
In closing, I’ll point out that Vyasa, grandfather of the warrior Arjuna, split the Vedas into four sections. Author of the Mahabharata, he himself called it the fifth Veda.

Why would there need to be a fifth Veda? Because the Vedas hadn’t ended with the four books or even with the poetic Upanishads.

Just as Christians developed beyond the Old Testament, yet it is dear to them, we as genuine YOGA aspirants are required to develop out of the primal discoveries of the Vedas.

Again, Krishna, Lord of Yoga, in the Bhagavad Gita Chapter 2 verse 12, makes it more than clear in his conversation with Arjuna what the nature of the soul is:

"There was never a time when I did not exist, nor you, nor these rulers of the people. Nor will we cease to exist from now onwards."

Patanjali comes along later and codifies a perfected syllabus.

If you meditate long and well, you may come to one of these simple conclusions:

· I am nothing.
· I am the Universal Principle Itself, no less, there is none other than me.
· I am me, you are you, God is God, and we are together in this thing.

Each of these conclusions is a developmental stage.