The Vedic wisdom-tradition offers us a coherent, cogent and extensive body of knowledge about the soul. One of the defining characteristics of the Vedic wisdom-tradition in general and the Bhagavad-Gita in particular is its clear and analytical treatment of the subject of the soul. It does not treat the soul vaguely as a metaphorical reference to our intangible essence. Rather, it presents the soul concretely as a very real spiritual entity with its own distinctive characteristics.