How To Know and Understand Soul/Self

Everybody has a self that is markedly different from others. Outwardly or visibly, the self of an individual consists of his body and his activities called personality that are different from others. Inwardly or invisibly, the self of an individual consists of his mind and its thoughts which are also different from others. Be it outward or inward, be it visible or invisible or be it gross or subtle, everybody has a self and is very much one's own. It is one's identity. In spiritual language, this self is called soul. However, materialists don't believe in the existence of soul. Let us understand it in the following steps.

1. Soul creates I-ness - Since self is constituted of the body and mind of an individual, it creates I-ness or ego. For this, one says, "This is my hand, leg or body."  This I-ness also creates an awareness that one exists and is alive. No one can say that he doesn't exist.
2. Soul is self-proved - Scientists and rationalists try to prove the existence of one thing or other because that is unknown and not one's own. However nobody tries to prove the existence of one's self. For self is very much one's own. He himself is this self. It gives the awareness that one is alive.
3. Soul is the source of life and consciousness - Materialists may argue that the awareness of self is developed due to the thinking power of brain or because the brain thinks so. Life and consciousness are material or because of organic reactions in the body and brain. If so, then why does everything stop at the moment of death? Why aren't chemical reactions prolonged by laboratory methods? In fact, death occurs when the soul departs. It departs and takes with it the knowledge and experiences of the present birth.
4. Soul is above the senses - The existence of soul cannot be proved in a laboratory because it is above the senses. Only material things are perceived through the senses. Since soul is not material, it cannot be perceived through the senses. However self is self-illuminated and self-knowledgeable. One can feel its existence. In a dark and lonely place where one can see nothing, hear nothing or feel nothing, one can feel the self and can decide what to do in that strange place.
5. Soul navigates between one state and the other - In the waking state, the consciousness of soul spreads throughout the gross body and throughout the gross world through sense organs. Soul enjoys this gross world. In the dreaming state, consciousness of soul contracts to its subtle body and subtle world. Soul enjoys this subtle world and this dreaming world appears to be true and real. As one wakes up, this dreaming world appears to be untrue and the waking world appears to be true. The fact is that both worlds are untrue. If the dreaming world is a creation of one individual, the gross world is a dream or creation of all souls.
6. Soul transmigrates between different births - The soul is unborn and everlasting. As one discards old and torn out dresses and accepts new ones, so soul discards old and diseased bodies and enters into new bodies. This can be verified. We learn from media that some babies speak and read different languages, recite verses from scriptures or play musical instruments without training or learning. This is because they carry forward their knowledge from previous births. Some may argue then why all babies don't remember their previous knowledge? This is because it is natural not to remember past knowledge. We have forgotten many things such as what we did exactly in childhood days. We see dreams daily but we don't remember them or may remember the last dream at best. Every dream or every birth should be fresh although with some refinement or modification or else past sufferings may make life unbearable.

So these are some points by which one may understand and keep firm faith on one's self or soul.