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The soul is not the Ātmā. The soul is a mixture of Ātmā and anātmā. It is the reflection of your divine self, created from the ego. Ego does not mean only negative things; ego is that principle which creates individuality. If you have no ego, you cannot exist anymore. Ego is that kind of tendency to exist, to live furthermore. That is also one of the very important principles in our life. But when the ego becomes dominating, selfish, and destructive, then it is dangerous. So the soul, what we say, is not the Ātmā, because the soul is manifested out of the personal qualities, the individual qualities. Each of us has our individual qualities. And it is those qualities which make us individual. Through the habits or the qualities, one is known as a holy person. Through the qualities, one is known as a good person. Through the qualities, one is known as a thief. Through those qualities, one is known as a criminal. And through those qualities, one is known as a human, or a good human, or a devil, and so on. Consider the quality: in this cup there is warm or just liquid water, but inside there is salt. I do not see the salt with my eyes, but through my senses, the sense of taste, I come to know the quality of this water now is salty. It means in the water there is salt. So the water and salt did not unite; they did not become one. For our eyes, it is one, but in reality, when we taste it, we see that it was not one; there is salt inside. The salt is separate because of its saltiness, the quality of saltiness. If the salt were to give up its saltiness, then my tongue would not be able to say there is salt inside because there is no salt, no saltiness. So what keeps us separate from God is our quality. Unfortunately, we still do not have the God quality, and that is why we are all trying different spiritual paths to develop ourselves spiritually. Spirituality means purity. What is spirituality? Praying is not spirituality; fasting is not spirituality; meditating is not spirituality; vegetarian eating is not spirituality. These are ways to spirituality. The word spirituality means pure, crystal clear, spotless, pure consciousness. So through those techniques—meditation, prayer, following ahiṃsā, compassion, forgiveness, helping, kindness—we try to purify our mind and our consciousness. So that our qualities change into the spiritual quality, into the God quality. Recording location: Canada, Vancouver, Swamiji's World Tour