The Size of Soul
In most scriptures individual soul is compared with very small things like the thumb, or a part of the hair, writes Dr KK Aggarwal.
"Rule of thumb" is a common phrase used in our life. It means the law. The thumb represents the soul or the truthfulness. In Vedic text, Mahabharata as well as Gita soul has been compared to the size of one's thumb or 8 inches and has been said to be residing in the heart.
Most scriptures summarize that the individual soul is atomic whereas Spirit or the GOD is all-pervasive. In most scriptures the individual soul is compared with very small things like the thumb, or a part of the hair.
Soul is described as the flame of the size of thumb, which is said to exist between the eye brows physically, or in the heart of all emotionally, but its exact location is uncertain. It has no physical or mental dimensions as such, other than as a mere reflection or an idea in the mind.
Here is what the literature talks about this concept.
In Svetasvatara Upanisad (5.8, 5.9). " Soul is the size of a thumb, bright as the sun, when coupled with conception and ego. But with only the qualities of understanding and soul, it appears the size of the point of an awl. This life is the hundredth part of the point of a hair divided a hundred times, and yet in it is infinity". Here the sruti is speaking metaphorically, because actually the soul is atomic in size. Therefore in the next verse (Svet. U. 5.9) the soul is compared to a fraction of the tip of a hair. These comparisons are meant to indicate that the individual soul is atomic rather than all-pervasive.
According to Vedanta Sutra, the idea that God resides in the physical heart the size of the thumb is for the sake of conceptualization during meditation, and is thus a metaphorical description. The size of the thumb refers to the size of the human heart. God is in reality all pervading and atomic at the same time.
Atharva Veda: the soul is a particle of God.
Jain metaphysicists refer to it as of varying sizes, small in a child, big in adults and old people and very big in elephants.
Nemi Chandra in Dravya sangrah -2: soul is characterized by knowledge and vision, has the same extent as its own gross body.
Katha Upanishad (1.2.20): Spirit, the size of a thumb "angush matra", is the inner soul, always seated in the heart of creatures.
Garuda Puran: Ultimately, the soul, which is not more than the size of a thumb, reluctantly comes out from the body as the attachment with the world exists even after his.
Gaudiya acarya Sri Baladeva Vidyabhusana in his Govinda Bhasya commentary on the Vedanta Sutra. (1.2.7, 1.3.24-25.): During meditation Paramatma does appear to the yogi or devotee as a localized form in his heart, but in general Paramatma is all-pervasive and all-knowing.
Unknown: According to some Vedic scholars the soul enters the human form like 4-8 weeks after conception, like when the fetus is the size of a thumb.
Bhagwat Gita 15.15: I (soul) am seated in everyone's heart, and from Me come remembrance, knowledge, and forgetfulness. By all the Vedas, I am to known. Indeed, I am the compiler of Vedanta, and I am the knower of the Vedas."
Vedanta Sutra II, 6,17: 'The person of the size of a thumb, the inner Self, is always settled in the heart of men. Let a man draw that Self forth from his body with steadiness, as one draws the pith from a reed. Let him know that Self as the Bright, as the Immortal'.
Swami Muktananda, Play of Consciousness, p.85: The whole body is like a lotus which has four petals of four kinds, colours, and sizes....The first is the gross body, its colour is red. The second petal is the subtle body, in which we sleep and experience dreams. It is the size of a thumb, and its colour is white. The third petal is the causal body. It is the size of the tip of third finger, and its colour is black. The fourth petal is the supracausal body, which is as small as a sesame seed. Its colour is blue.... It is very brilliant; it is the foundation of sadhana; it is the highest inner vision."
Matthew 5;8: Soul resided in the heart: "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God."
(The writer is a senior Physician, Head Department of Cardiology and Deputy Dean Board of Medical Education-Moolchand Hospital, President-Heart Care Foundation of India, President Delhi Medical Association and Member-Delhi Medical Council.)