Living Prat-Atmas

I recently was reading on the Indian belief system on on spirits and ghosts. They are better called as prat-atmas. Every human has a atma( soul) within him. But a ghost is a prat-atma. A soul without any rest. It is said that a prat-atma moves around unceasingly, aimlessly without any food or water. They are thirsty but they dont have any water to drink. They want to eat but they have no food to eat. And they are already dead. It is like being hungry, thirsty, having nothing to do, nowhere to go, no friends, no enemies... and are immortal. You want to end it all but its not ending.. you are getting more and more frustrated every passing moment. You dont know what to do. That's when in this frustration, the prat-atma becomes more and more angry and starts doing bad to living humans. He might not be having the capability to lift things, speak bad... or anything of that sort. But the prat-atma can surely generate tonnes of negative energy. This negative energy affects the aura of the person he wants to do bad for.. and slowly the person becomes negative and with that his health - both mental and physical reduces.

Coming to our empherel yet physical human existance...

As I was reading the above, my subconscious mind was drawing an analogy in the back of my mind. An analogy that shook me and sent a funny electrical pulse down my spine.

How different are we from these prat-atmas?

We too are living our lives aimlessly. We too are running around day in and day out. We are assigned 6 months to study something that we can well achieve within a month. So, effectively we have wasted (5 months * 8 semesters = ) 40 months of our lives in DJ Sanghvi. When I was in diploma, I regularly caught the 7:20am train from Andheri to ChurchGate. Running around aimless not knowing what exactly we want and what exactly we are doing is nothing but being a prat-atma. Agreed, after all years of running has made us engineers and that we have got jobs or we are now eligible to further studies... But it could have been done faster. I sincerely believe that I have under-utilised my mental and physical capabilty in the 6 six years after School.

Secondly, when we get into work and this useless running around... we dont even realise when time passed by. We dont even feel hungry or thirsty. Isaac Newton, when he was working went on for days without eating.

Thirdly, we get so much into our running around that, if a close friend or comrade approaches us, we get irritated and snap at that person spreading negativity.

What is the difference between that prat-atma and us.. Virtually nothing! Our present lives have become extremely mechanical... we are working day in and day out and still not doing anything great.

Lastly, I want to put forward a poem that we had studied in school and is very dear to me... It is a poem by W. H, Davis... read it slowly.. and trust me.. it will convey all I want to say.

Leisure- W. H. Davies
WHAT is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare?—

No time to stand beneath the boughs,
And stare as long as sheep and cows:

No time to see, when woods we pass,
Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass:

No time to see, in broad daylight,
Streams full of stars, like skies at night:

No time to turn at Beauty's glance,
And watch her feet, how they can dance:

No time to wait till her mouth can
Enrich that smile her eyes began?

A poor life this if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.