Question: Does the soul have any feelings like pain and happiness? If so, is that due to mind, intelligence and false ego covering it? Does the soul feel pain when it leaves the body?
Answer by Romapada Swami: Consciousness is concomitant with the soul, meaning the soul does experience all varieties of feelings such as happiness, disappointment, anger, frustration etc – but not in relation to the gross or subtle body. The feelings experienced in the spiritual world are all transcendental, and are just different flavors of ananda (transcendental bliss).
For example, Krishna and His pure devotees feel pain in seeing the sufferings of conditioned souls – but purely out of love and compassion, not due to bodily attachment. The happiness experienced by the pure soul is also spiritual and not coming from gratification of the senses and mind.
When the spirit soul falsely identifies with the body or mind, he experiences pain and pleasure in relation to the body, although factually there is no pain. For example, if someone identifies himself with his car or house, he feels devastated when the car or house is damaged. Although he himself is not factually affected, he feels affected due to the identification and attachment.
Similar is the so-called happiness in eating a gulabjamun in the dream or being frightened by a tiger in the dream – factually one is neither enjoying the gulabjamun nor threatened by a tiger, so these perceptions are an illusion only. But in the awakened condition, one can actually experience the real taste of a gulabjamun. In the same way, the real experience of these feelings is found in the spiritual world.
In ignorance of its real identity, one does ‘feel’ intense pain and fear in leaving the body, although the pain is not factual. But a self-realized soul does not feel such pain or fear in leaving the body.
