What is the Spirit?

By Hari Prasad Shastri

WHAT IS THE SPIRIT—that in us which transcends the limitations of body and mind? We are conscious of our body, we are conscious of the thinking, feeling and willing mechanism in us. The question is asked: what is the spirit? Many people, including Plato, have made an error confounding the spirit with the mind. This is a very serious error, because if the spirit is the mind, then it fluctuates. The mind is sometimes dull, sometimes brilliant, and sometimes the mind is wiped out as in a state of deep sleep or under an anaesthetic or when a blow is administered, and in other such conditions. Therefore, if the spirit is something constant, ever-luminous, immortal, it cannot be the mind.