Are we in prison?

How to seperate from this prison according to my gurus,

The goal of human life is to break the cycle of birth's and deaths and merge with God. This can be accomplished by following the teachings of the Guru, meditation on the Holy Name and performance of acts of service and charity.

Without devotion to the Name Divine is birth in the world gone waste. Such consume poison, poisonous their utterance; Without devotion to the Name, without gain they die, and after death in transmigration wander." (Guru Nanak, Raga Bhairon)

"True life is life in God, contemplation on the Name and the society of the saints" (Guru Arjan Dev, Dhanasari)

"I shall merge in the Lord like the water in the sea and the wave in the stream. The soul will merge in God and like air I shall look upon all alike. Then why shall I come again? The coming and going is under the Will of the Lord and Realising This Will, I shall merge in the Lord" (Bhagat Kabir, Maru)

"The disciple of the True Guru (God) dwells upon the Lord through the teaching of the Guru and all his sins are washed away" (Guru Ram Das, Var Gauri)

"Our service in the world gets us a seat in the Court of the Lord" (Guru Nanak, Sri Rag)

"One known as disciple of the holy Perceptor must, rising at dawn, on the Name Divine meditate" (Guru Ram Das, Raga Gauri)
The five cardinal vices are; Kam (lust), Krodh (anger), Lobh (greed), Moh (worldly attachment) and Ahankar (pride). If one can overcome these, they will achieve salvation.

"Five thieves who live within this body are lust, anger, greed, attachment and ego. They rob us of ambrosia, but the egocentrics do not understand it and no one listens to their cries" (Guru Amar Das, Sorath)

"I am in the Refuge of the Lord; Bless me, O Lord with your Grace, so that the lust, anger, greed, attachment and ego may be destroyed" (Guru Arjan Dev, Gauri Sukhmani)

I believe this body to simply be a case where within lies our true selves, souls.

Calling it a prison sounds something on the terms of Bhuddist philosophy, who try to break free if thier physical realm of hell to reach utter nirvana heaven( correct me if im wrong, im going of the top of my head)

I dont believe this physical realm is a prison but more of a nursery where we learn and understand life, and sort of a test of wills.
With all of societys whims it takes a pure soul to push all of them aside and live life without the five cardinal vices are; Kam (lust), Krodh (anger), Lobh (greed), Moh (worldly attachment) and Ahankar (pride). If one can overcome these, they will achieve salvation

Honest labour and work (Kirat Karna) are the approved way of living ones life. It is considered honourable to earn ones daily bread through honest work and not by begging or dishonest means.

"He who eats what he earns through his earnest labour and from his hand gives something in charity; he alone, O Nanak, knows the true way of life" (Guru Nanak Dev, Rag Sarang, pg. 1245)


Vand Chhakna, sharing with others is also a social responsibility. The individual is expected to help others in need through charity

These are the morals taught by are gurus and these are the morals I live by.

Sure thier are times when I wish I could just win a lottery, but it seems easy and provides no substance to my soul.
I love buying a pair of pants with my hard earned money.

If one can overcome and achieve all of the above stated can he/she break this cycle and merge with God.
Deep

why cant i just be one within and around the all that is...

Originally posted by NephraTari
Is the physical body is a prison that encases our spirit, essense, soul, whatever term you feel most comfortable using to refer to it, until such time as we are able to break free of the cycle of reincarnation.?
If so, how do we free ourselves of the cycle?

That could be considered a valid perception of the human condition.

And then you go and ask the question of questions. There's a short answer to that though. Know Thyself. Once you figure out all those 2 words entail you won't need the body anymore.

I was actually speaking more of what we are inbetween incarnations, than what are during them.
We must we return to physical form?

It's the way to grow souls. That's why they call it a harvest I suppose. Plant a soul in a body and wait for it to grow then you can harvest it. The body provides resistance. Resistance can be used to grow the Will. The Will can be used to increase energy density by increasing your polarity and your intelligence or knowledge. Once your energy density hits a certain point you will fall out of the matter world because you will no longer "fit". If you do this during an incarnation you may be able to take the body with you. That is only for the trully adept though and those are not usually at a "matter" level of consciousness. They just came back to help since we asked.

Does the physical form limit us?

Sure. We allow it to. It's where free-wills can smack up against each other. It's where we can learn who we are and how we view existence. In fact, we learn far faster in the physical environment than we do in the "spiritual" environment.

Does it prevent us from seeing truth?

Yes, which produces a strong Will in those that seek the truth. If the truth was just around the corner then how much Will would be needed to seek it out? We exist in the Law of Confusion. If you could already read everyone's thoughts and know intentions then your decisions would be really meaningless. For instance, if you decided that everything is one and you lay down your hand and say "I accept all there is", that senario has immense gravity when you can't see the truth. If you can see that all is one and everything is just a distortion of that one then there would be no gravity in your acceptance of all.

We are so focused on material things while in this form.
We worry over technology and getting to work ontime.
Many fear death out of uncertainty of what is beyond if anything.
How important is any of this?

The actual concepts are not all that important. The body dies within 80 years so how important can it all be. The importance comes from the soul learning and exercising it's Will within a restricting environment.

And yet...... life certainly is a wonderful dance.
I have no doubts that the mind is seperate from the body..
What I wonder is why we must return over and over again.

If we lived to be 900 and lived in a society that wasn't completely controlled by infantile egos then you probably would be able to only have a few returns before you "got it". However, humans are stuck in perpetual spiritual childhood due to the shortened life spans and the example of our so called leaders.

How do you know that prison is a bad thing, if it is all you have ever known?

If you believe in reincarnation then prison is not all you have known. Your memory had to be supressed for the physical life so you would have what appears to be a brand new life from start to finish without being encumbered by your memories of the past lives.

As above, so below.

[Edited on 15-10-2003 by uIVIa]

I don't believe in reincarnation. My soul leaves this body on my death to be judged by God.

Originally posted by Cearbhall
I don't believe in reincarnation. My soul leaves this body on my death to be judged by God.

He gives an infinite/eternal soul from 104 years to a nanosecond to "get it right" or else you get to spend your infinite/eternal awareness in pure bliss or pure hell. Ruthless!

UI,
Yep it is a daunting task indeed but, I have Faith and Hope in God to help me with this "nanosecond". I never back up from a challenge and this my friend is the Challenge of challenges. Are you up for it?

Bisage,
"Realization of Truth is higher than all else.
Higher still is Truthful Living."
Deep

I've been with my wife for 8 years, I have two children (both boys), and am jobless... if anything, I'm not in prison, I'm in hell!

Originally posted by soothsayer
I've been with my wife for 8 years, I have two children (both boys), and am jobless... if anything, I'm not in prison, I'm in hell!

I hear you. I hate to say this but your location may need adjusting to find a decent job.
Get closer to one of the larger cities. small town america is getting hit hard right now.
on topic though... your situation really served to reinforce what I said. we are really not independent in our modern society and we are a slave to our physical needs with no way of our own to fullfill them because of our consumerist upbringing.