Spiritual atom

Expressions researched:
"spiritual atom " |"spiritual atoms"

Bhagavad-gita As It Is

BG Chapters 1 - 6

The individual particle of spirit soul is a spiritual atom smaller than the material atoms, and such atoms are innumerable. This very small spiritual spark is the basic principle of the material body, and the influence of such a spiritual spark is spread all over the body as the influence of the active principle of some medicine spreads throughout the body.

BG 2.17, Purport: This soul is described as one ten-thousandth part of the upper portion of the hair point in size. The Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad (5.9) confirms this:

bālāgra-śata-bhāgasya

śatadhā kalpitasya ca

bhāgo jīvaḥ sa vijñeyaḥ

sa cānantyāya kalpate

"When the upper point of a hair is divided into one hundred parts and again each of such parts is further divided into one hundred parts, each such part is the measurement of the dimension of the spirit soul." Similarly the same version is stated:

keśāgra-śata-bhāgasya

śatāṁśaḥ sādṛśātmakaḥ

jīvaḥ sūkṣma-svarūpo 'yaṁ

saṅkhyātīto hi cit-kaṇaḥ

[Cc. Madhya 19.140]

"There are innumerable particles of spiritual atoms, which are measured as one ten-thousandth of the upper portion of the hair." Therefore, the individual particle of spirit soul is a spiritual atom smaller than the material atoms, and such atoms are innumerable. This very small spiritual spark is the basic principle of the material body, and the influence of such a spiritual spark is spread all over the body as the influence of the active principle of some medicine spreads throughout the body. This current of the spirit soul is felt all over the body as consciousness, and that is the proof of the presence of the soul. Any layman can understand that the material body minus consciousness is a dead body, and this consciousness cannot be revived in the body by any means of material administration. Therefore, consciousness is not due to any amount of material combination, but to the spirit soul. In the Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad (3.1.9) the measurement of the atomic spirit soul is further explained:

eṣo 'ṇur ātmā cetasā veditavyo

yasmin prāṇaḥ pañcadhā saṁviveśa

prāṇaiś cittaṁ sarvam otaṁ prajānāṁ

yasmin viśuddhe vibhavaty eṣa ātmā

"The soul 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 soul is purified from the contamination of the five kinds of material air, its spiritual influence is exhibited."

Sri Caitanya-caritamrta

CC Adi-lila

In His form as Kāraṇodakaśāyī Viṣṇu the Lord impregnates material nature by His glance. The transcendental molecules of that glance are particles of spirit, or spiritual atoms, which appear in different species of life according to the seeds of their individual karma from the previous cosmic manifestation.

CC Adi 5.69, Purport: In His form as Kāraṇodakaśāyī Viṣṇu the Lord impregnates material nature by His glance. The transcendental molecules of that glance are particles of spirit, or spiritual atoms, which appear in different species of life according to the seeds of their individual karma from the previous cosmic manifestation. And the Lord Himself, by His partial representation, creates a body of innumerable universes and again enters each of those universes as Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu. His coming in contact with māyā is explained in the Bhagavad-gītā by a comparison between air and the sky. The sky enters everything material, yet it is far away from us.

In these days of atomic research it will be a worthwhile engagement for atomic scientists to learn from this statement how the entire creation develops from the spiritual atoms emanating from the body of the Lord.

CC Adi 5.71, Translation and Purport: “The Brahmās and other lords of the mundane worlds appear from the pores of Mahā-Viṣṇu and remain alive for the duration of His one exhalation. I adore the primeval Lord, Govinda, of whom Mahā-Viṣṇu is a portion of a plenary portion.”

This description of the Lord’s creative energy is from the Brahma-saṁhitā (5.48), which Lord Brahmā compiled after his personal realization. When Mahā-Viṣṇu exhales, the spiritual seeds of the universes emanate from Him in the form of molecular particles like those that are visible, three times the size of an atom, when sunlight is diffused through a small hole. In these days of atomic research it will be a worthwhile engagement for atomic scientists to learn from this statement how the entire creation develops from the spiritual atoms emanating from the body of the Lord.