Question
Is there Supersoul in the spiritual world?
Answer
As far as I know, the Supersoul does not dwell in the hearts of liberated souls in the spiritual world. The Vedas teach that the Paramatma sits by the side of the conditioned soul within the heart.
This means that even in this world, Paramatma is not inside the soul, but rather beside the soul as a friend. The Vedas compare this to two birds sitting on the same branch of a tree.
On the other hand, the Gita 13.25 speaks of persons who, by meditation, see the Soul within the soul. This may simply mean that one sees the Soul [the Supersoul] ‘within’, rather than outside oneself. Possible confirmation of this view would be Bg 15.11, wherein Lord Krishna states that a realized soul can see how the soul transmigrates ‘within the self.’ Transmigration clearly involves the soul taking on a body, as one puts on clothes, yet the same term Atmani is used, ‘within the self.’ So it seems the Gita at times uses this word to mean ‘within’, i.e. by meditation rather than seeing it out in the external world. Similarly, Bg 6.26 states that one should bring the mind under control ‘in the self’, using the same word Atmani. Clearly the mind, manas, is part of Krishna’s eight-fold external energy, so here to bring it under control ‘in the self’ does not mean literally that the material mind exists within the soul.
Since in the spiritual world, the soul IS his or her body, it seems we may assume that Paramatma is not within the soul, since even in this world Paramatma appears to reside not within the soul, but within the material heart. Liberated souls do not have material hearts.
