What is soul? Has it existence independant of the body? What happens to it when body dies?

Question

Whether good or bad affects soul?

Answer 1

When death happens,ie., when the body perishes the eternal indestructible soul within the body goes to another body according to one's karma. Just as one changes new clothes when old cloth is torn, similarly we accept another body(new cloth) when the old body is torn(dies). Just as when a old house we are dwelling collapses, we enter a new house, similarly we give up our old body(where soul lives) and enter new body(house).

Never was there a time when I did not exist, nor you, nor all these kings; nor in the future shall any of us cease to be.As the embodied soul continuously passes, in this body, from boyhood to youth to old age, the soul similarly passes into another body at death. A sober person is not bewildered by such a change. Bhagavad-gita-as-it-is-2.12 & 13

That which pervades the entire body you should know to be indestructible. No one is able to destroy that imperishable soul.
Bhagavad-gita-2.17

For the soul there is never birth nor death. Nor, having once been, does he ever cease to be. He is unborn, eternal, ever-existing, undying and primeval. He is not slain when the body is slain.
Bhagavad-gita-2.20
See below the purport of A.C.Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Founder-Acharya of ISKCON
(International Society for Krishna Consciousness).
Qualitatively, the small atomic fragmental part of the Supreme Spirit is one with the Supreme. He undergoes no changes like the body. Sometimes the soul is called the steady, or küöastha. The body is subject to six kinds of transformations. It takes its birth in the womb of the mother's body, remains for some time, grows, produces some effects, gradually dwindles, and at last vanishes into oblivion. The soul, however, does not go through such changes. The soul is not born, but, because he takes on a material body, the body takes its birth. The soul does not take birth there, and the soul does not die. Anything which has birth also has death. And because the soul has no birth, he therefore has no past, present or future. He is eternal, ever-existing, and primeval—that is, there is no trace in history of his coming into being. Under the impression of the body, we seek the history of birth, etc., of the soul. The soul does not at any time become old, as the body does. The so-called old man, therefore, feels himself to be in the same spirit as in his childhood or youth. The changes of the body do not affect the soul. The soul does not deteriorate like a tree, nor anything material. The soul has no by-product either. The by-products of the body, namely children, are also different individual souls; and, owing to the body, they appear as children of a particular man. The body develops because of the soul's presence, but the soul has neither offshoots nor change. Therefore, the soul is free from the six changes of the body.

Lord Krishna gives in verses 22 to 25, further information.
As a person puts on new garments, giving up old ones, the soul similarly accepts new material bodies, giving up the old and useless ones.The soul can never be cut to pieces by any weapon, nor burned by fire, nor moistened by water, nor withered by the wind.This individual soul is unbreakable and insoluble, and can be neither burned nor dried. He is everlasting, present everywhere, unchangeable, immovable and eternally the same.It is said that the soul is invisible, inconceivable and immutable. Knowing this, you should not grieve for the body.

Whether good or bad affects soul?
Soul is transcendental to all the dualities of the material world, viz., good or bad, happiness or misery, cold or heat, etc...
In this connection Srimad Bhagavatam(11.7.48) says, "The various phases of one's material life, beginning with birth and culminating in death, are all properties of the body and do not affect the soul, just as the apparent waxing and waning of the moon does not affect the moon itself. Such changes are enforced by the imperceptible movements of time".

Read the complete second chapter of Bhagavad-gita-as-it-is by A.C.Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada,Founder-Acharya of
ISKCON(International Society for Krishna Consciousness),
for more information.

Answer 2

We cannot be sure about it but I would like to give you a possible answer.
In case that there are souls, then they would probably exist in base of elementary particles
which would be a part of our brains while we are alive.
Such particles are indestructible by any physical or chemical procedures.
Such particles have electrical and other fields around them.
I do not negate the biological, chemical and physical proceedings which take place in our living bodies.
They are just a reflection of the elementary proceedings on the quantum level
of the atoms and molecules and elementary particles which our bodies consist of.
And any of our actions and memories will not only be stored on a biological way in our brains
but also stored in the energy field of our living bodies.

Answer 3

The soul is a heavier type of spirit body that came into being as spirits came down into the lower more material worlds. It is actually affected by spiritual/magnetic forces at the lower levels that will draw one to either the Creative, or Destructive, (recycling), aspects of Creation. Depending on their behavior, and whether it is constructive or destructive.

Answer 4

Leviathan is incorrect.

but despite that, yes, the soul exists.

in a sense, its like a driver-car relationship... though the driver being less vulnerable.

while connected, the soul does exist entirely separate from the body, when the body dies, when you let go as you are supposed to, rather than attempting to cling to life inappropriately... the soul simply moves on to the next step of its existance.

what makes you you, is attached to the soul, and the body is merely a vehicle.

Answer 5

I am not sure. However, this is what we were told. The soul is that essence of a man that keeps one alive. A stone is dead it has no soul. A piece of metal or any non-living thing has no soul. It is dead. You are alive, that which keeps you alive is your soul. We are made of body and spirit. We have a body and a soul. When our body dies, our soul will live on forever and ever. Our souls are immortal. Our souls never die. On judgment day, our body and our souls will unite again. The good we do helps make our souls holy and pleasing to God. The bad we do, tarnishes our soul, makes it unholy and makes us displeasing to God. When we die, if we are good we go to heaven. If we are evil, we will go to hell. If we die with venial sins that have not been atoned for, we have to repair the damage to our souls. We have to be purified in purgatory. After purgatory, our souls can go to heaven if we have been purified of all our sins. If we commit big sins, we become slaves of satan. If we ask God to forgive our sins, God forgives us our sins. He restores the beauty of our souls. God frees us from the slavery of sin and satan or the devil and helps us obtain eternal life with Him in heaven. See you there. Peace be with you.

Answer 6

In the Sacred Scripture the term "soul" often refers to human life or the entire human person (Matthew 16,25-26). But "soul" also refers to the innermost aspect of man, that which is of greater value to him; that by which he is most especially in God's image: "soul" signifies the spiritual principle in man.
Sometimes the soul is distinguished from the spirit. (1 Thessalonians 5,23). The Catholic Church teaches that this distinction does not introduce a duality into the soul. "Spirit" signifies that from creation man is ordained to a supernatural end and that his soul can gratuitously be raised beyond all it deserves to communion with God.
Peace and every blessing!

Answer 7

We existed in heaven as spirits (soul) before we came to earth. Because there was no way to progress there and become like God, we accepted Jesus' plan to come to earth and be tested to become perfect. All those who accepted Jesus' plan received a physical body and came to earth. Though we forget all this as part of the rule when we come to earth.

Another angel resisted God's plan of salvation. He became satan and he was sent to hell - all those who supported satan went to hell with him. They have no body. That is the main reason they try to make man choose wrong and they are happy when we are confused and tortured by the bad things we do - which creates or triggers off all kinds of evil around us. We have the freedom to choose right and wrong.

Our duty on this earth is to become perfect like God and go back in honour to him. When we die, our soul goes to the spirit prison or spirit paradise according to our work here on earth. The soul will retain all the intelligence which we had and acquired here on earth. We will still be working in the spirit world.

After the millennial reign, there will be the final judgement during which every person on earth from its creation till the end will be judged according to their beliefs. Then we will be sent to heaven or hell for eternal life or eternal damnation.

In eternal life our soul will be connected to our perfect bodies.

Doing good helps your soul to attain the required perfection faster without which you cannot go back to God since He is perfect.

You cannot stand in His presence unless you make yourself perfect - He will give you all the help needed to acquire this.

No matter what you choose, He loves you and He has taken an advance bail for you.

Answer 8

Gen. 2:7 " Jehovah God preceded to form the man out of dust from the ground and to blow into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man came to be a living soul." This scripture does not say that man was given a soul but that he became a living soul. The body , the person himself is a soul. As for what happens to the body when a person die, the Bible also gives us that answer.

Ezek. 18:4 ( in part) " The soul that is sinning it itself will die"

Gen. 3:19 "In sweat of your face you will eat bread until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken. For dust you are and to dust you will return.

Eccl.9:5 "the living are conscious that they will die; but as for the dead, they are conscious of nothing at all."

Ps.146:4 "His spirit goes out he goes back to his ground; in that day his thoughts do perish."

I do recommend that if you have a Bible that you read the scriptures, that I have provided from your Bible

Answer 9

sorry there is nothing like soul independently existing it is the way we think,and it dies as the brain stops functioning,as it does not exist practicaly there is no question of something happening to it after the death of the body.

Answer 10

soul is the reality and originality of a human being.A person is alive when his body has soul and he dies when the soul departs from the body and meets God.A soul is always alive and a body is just a medium of carrying the soul.What we are and what we feel is just bcuz of soul.A body is useless without soul.