We can achieve great things when we realise that we need to apply not just our material bodies but also our eternal souls, writes AJIT KUMAR BISHNOI

I am talking about human bodies. Just like we, souls, are parts of God (Gita 15.7), our bodies are parts of the material creation of God. A soul can reach the highest peak of liberation and Vaikuntha. And, a human body can perform amazing sometimes quite unbelievable feats. The following examples will illustrate what I mean.

Let me begin with Shri Ramakrishna Paramhansa. He looked upon the Deity of goddess Kali as his mother and the mother of the universe. He used to spend a lot of time in samadhi. One day God appeared in front of him in the form of Adi Shakti and he immediately felt a strong bond towards God’s Kali form. How many of us have such fortune of having darshan of God in person? But due to Shri Ramakrishna’s total devotion towards God’s deity form, he was blessed like very few are.

The next example is of Swami Vivekananda. He did know fear. When he was informed that he had been accepted as a delegate to speak at the Chicago Parliament, he was courageous. He spoke in front of a crowd of seven thousand although coming from a poor country like India and speaking about Hinduism.

Socrates is my third example. At some point in his life, he had the realisation that he was a soul, not a material body. This made him very courageous. When he was sentenced to death because of propagating something his peers could not accept, that is being very different from what they believed, he was sentenced to death by drinking a mixture of poison hemlock. He drank it without hesitation.

Einstein is my fourth example. He was a theoretical physicist, who developed the theory of relatively, one of the two pillars of modern physics. He died in 1955 but his theory has not been challenged even today with so much research going on with such advanced equipment and facilities. Einstein didn’t have the benefit of these.

Bill Gates is my next example. He is an American business magnet, investor, author, philanthropist, humanitarian, and principal founder of Microsoft Corporation. He wished to give charity unlimitedly. Therefore, God gave him enormous wealth. He has so far given $35 billion to charity.

The last example is of Lata Mangeshkar. She began singing actively in 1942. She has recorded thousands of songs in many languages. These are solo, duet and chorus backed.

These are topmost examples but there are millions of other examples of persons who have done wonders. What makes them qualified to do so? These are some of the qualities. One should have one or more of these. A link with God is at the top of the list. If God is pleased with someone, there is practically no limit to what one can achieve. There must be a strong/deep desire for something. There should be purity of heart. One must be a very good person. He or she must have public welfare uppermost in mind like Bill Gates has, who has given away fruits of his labour to others.

God gives such persons exceptional bodies. They have sharp intelligence, much more than an average person possesses. Their minds are controlled, which is not normally the case. They are blessed with great memory. They have tremendous sense of doing the right things. Needless to say, they have remarkable abilities. God gives them opportunities galore.

So what is the conclusion? Both the soul and the human body have great potential. A soul, as mentioned earlier, can achieve the ultimate goal. Similarly, if we are deserving we will be given bodies, in which the sky is the limit to what we can achieve materially.

Bishnoi is a spiritual writer and can be reached at spiritual@ajitbishnoi.com