Q  When do the Atma(soul) and body merge? i.e. when do they come together to be part of a particular form? 

The Atma(soul) is already one with God.

The vasanas of a particular soul enter into a physical form at the instance when the body is formed. It is like ordering a shirt, waiting for the shirt to be stitched and wearing it. So it is with the spirit.  

How do we understand that the spirit is waiting for the body to get ready? Take the case of a stillborn child. The mother would have definitely preserved her health during pregnancy, taken proper nourishment- but she delivers a stillborn child. This gives tremendous agony to the parents who feel they would have been happier off without this incident.  

So why does this happen? When you go to a shop and try on a dress, if it is too small for you or you do not relish it for some reason, you return it, don’t you? Similarly, a soul chooses a physical form. It realizes that the body is not capable of housing it, only after it enters the body and so, it immediately leaves the body and starts its search for another dwelling.  

What about those who die young? Why should a soul choose to dwell in a body for functioning from it for just a few years? It is like purchasing a shirt, trying it on at home and returning it in exchange for a different one. The physical form is just a vehicle that the soul chooses to travel in, a container it decides to occupy. Milk turns rancid when poured into a dirty container and the vessel must be large enough to contain the quantity of milk poured. So it is with the soul. It seeks a physical form based on some eligibility criteria. It can disqualify the physical form at any point of time; as is often said ‘the decision of the judges is final and binding’!

( Baba's replies to other questions continues next week....)

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