HOW THE ATHMA (SOUL) CHANGES THE BODIES? – MECHANISM!
A devotee asked like this:
Rajan Prabhu. I want to ask you a question. I’m curious to know the truth behind working of nature. so Rajan Prabhu ji, our material ( gross ) body is made up of proper combination of earth, water, air, fire & sky & subtle body made up of mind, intelligence & ego. right? So my question is related to birth of any living entity as follow, “Exactly at what time the Spirit Spark ( JivAatma ) enters into the gross body?” Can we say that JivAatma enters at the time of fusion of male & female gametes? But if we consider it as truth then what about the movement of sperms before the fusion with female gamete? Movement of sperms indicates they have Chetana ( चेतना ) & that chetana is generated by Aatma. So I’m confused. Solve my confusion please. Exactly at what time JivAatma enters into material ( gross ) body? ( some people advised me that it is in hmm… I think they suggested me 3rd chanto of Bhagvatam. But still I’m engaged in reading 1st chanto. It’s too big. Please guide me ) Thank you !
REPLY:
There are different versions of explanations from scriptures about How the athma (soul) changes the bodies. As usual, I prefer logical possibilities. So, I preferred a concept that was said by CHANDOGYA UPANISHAD and SRIMAD BHAGAVATHAM in this matter of How the athma (soul) changes the bodies!
The Puranas are the later explanations of vedic advices in the form of stories so that everyone can understand the vedic concepts.
(Nature Of Athma (Soul): Can the athma (Soul) feel, see, speak and work? READ HERE!)
Therefore, Srimad Bhagavatham is only the later version in the series of scriptures based on the age of origin.
Whereas, the Vedas and Upanishads are the SOURCES even for Srimad Bhagavatham.
According to CHANDOGYA UPANISHAD, the athma (soul) changes the bodies through food.
It is not a single stage process. It involves many stages.
Let us see the mechanism of How the athma (soul) changes the bodies:
HOW A NATURAL DEATH HAPPENS?
(i) When the time for the death of the person comes, Krishna who is residing inside his heart instructs the organs of the body to stop their activities as per the sequence his time to die has come.
(How athma loses its real bliss and how to regain its bliss? READ HERE!)
(ii) The person is made to know that he is going to die. That is why, some dieing persons show some abnormal signals to others, because his speech is stopped first.
(iii) First his speech organ stops functioning. That is why, in most cases, the person who is about to die, becomes unable to speak first.
(iv) Then, all his organs stops functioning one by one. Finally, his temperature controlling organ stops functioning (This organ is called by scientists as HYPOTHALAMUS that is existing in our brain).
This hypothalamus may stop functioning only when the soul leaves the body.
(Athma (Soul) and Paramathma (Supersoul)- Differences! READ HERE!)
(v) When the soul is about to leave as a last step, Krishna who is residing inside his heart evaluates all the activities and thoughts that person did while living and decides his next body and the course of transformations of that soul till he gets his next body.
(vi) Accordingly, HIS NEXT BODY IS DETERMINED IN HIS PREVIOUS BODY ITSELF.
(vii) In case that person thinks of Krishna while dying, Krishna takes him to Himself. However, since his speech and thoughts are withdrawing one by one, thinking of Krishna in that difficult stage will be possible only if he had been thinking of Krishna all the time for a certain years while living.
(viii) Finally, the soul is pushed out of the body along with the subtle body, after his next birth is recorded in the subtle body.
HAPPENINGS BEFORE THE ATHMA (SOUL) CHANGES TO THE NEW BODY!
Let us see them briefly and in a simple language:
(1) Once the soul leaves a body, it crosses FIVE different stages before it gets another body.
(It is said that a man taking an animal birth is not possible. Is it right or wrong? READ HERE!)
(2) After leaving the body, the soul first reaches heaven to face the pleasures if he had done many good things in his previous body.
(3) According to Srimad Bhagavatham and Garuda Purana, he gets hellish term also if he had lived a sinful life.
(4) Next the soul is released from heavens or hells or from both.
(5) The soul then is injected into the clouds in the sky. Then, it falls on the earth as rain.
(6) Then, the soul reaches the plants body through soil.
(7) If it had been destined to take birth as a human, it will reach the plant that is eaten by humans. If it had been destined to take birth as an animal, it will reach the plant eaten by animals.
(8) In case the plant in which the soul resides is eaten by a girl, the soul has to wait till the girl sends out that soul through excretions. Then, the soul goes to another plant’s body AND IF A MALE EATS IT, IT ENTERS THAT MALE’s BODY (father).
(9) Then, the soul reaches the body of the female (wife) through interaction of that male with a female through semen.
(10) That fortunate and destined soul succeeds millions of cells that fight to connect with the egg present in the body of the female.
(WHAT ARE THE FOUR DEFECTS OF CONDITIONED SOULS (MAN)? READ HERE!)
Srimad Bhagavatham (3-30-30):
After leaving this body, the man who maintained himself and his family members by sinful activities suffers a hellish life, and his relatives suffer also.
Srimad Bhagavatham (3-30-34):
Having gone through all the miserable, hellish conditions and having passed in a regular order through the lowest forms of animal life prior to human birth, and having thus been purged of his sins, one is reborn again as a human being on this earth.
ATHMA (SOUL) SELECTS & GETS THE UTERUS!
Here, let us take the help of Srimad Bhagavatham:
Srimad Bhagavatham (3-31-1):
The Personality of Godhead said: Under the supervision of the Supreme Lord and according to the result of his work, the living entity, the soul, is made to enter into the womb of a woman through the particle of male semen to assume a particular type of body.
Purport by Srila Prabhupada:
As stated in the last chapter, after suffering different kinds of hellish conditions, a man comes again to the human form of body. The same topic is continued in this chapter. In order to give a particular type of human form to a person who has already suffered hellish life, the soul is transferred to the semen of a man who is just suitable to become his father. During sexual intercourse, the soul is transferred through the semen of the father into the mother’s womb in order to produce a particular type of body.
(Do animals have soul or not and can they be killed since they have no soul? READ HERE!)
Srimad Bhagavatham (3-31-2):
On the first night, the sperm and ovum mix, and on the fifth night the mixture ferments into a bubble. On the tenth night it develops into a form like a plum, and after that, it gradually turns into a lump of flesh or an egg, as the case may be.
Purport:
The body of the soul develops in four different ways according to its different sources. One kind of body, that of the trees and plants, sprouts from the earth; the second kind of body grows from perspiration, as with flies, germs and bugs; the third kind of body develops from eggs; and the fourth develops from an embryo. This verse indicates that after emulsification of the ovum and sperm, the body gradually develops either into a lump of flesh or into an egg, as the case may be. In the case of birds it develops into an egg, and in the case of animals and human beings it develops into a lump of flesh.
Srimad Bhagavatham (3-31-3):
In the course of a month, a head is formed, and at the end of two months the hands, feet and other limbs take shape. By the end of three months, the nails, fingers, toes, body hair, bones and skin appear, as do the organ of generation and the other apertures in the body, namely the eyes, nostrils, ears, mouth and anus.
(HOW KRISHNA CREATED ALL THE CREATIONS AND LIVING BEINGS? READ HERE!)
Srimad Bhagavatham (3-31-4):
Within four months from the date of conception, the seven essential ingredients of the body, namely chyle, blood, flesh, fat, bone, marrow and semen, come into existence. At the end of five months, hunger and thirst make themselves felt, and at the end of six months, the fetus, enclosed by the amnion, begins to move on the right side of the abdomen.
Purport:
When the body of the child is completely formed at the end of six months, the child, if he is male, begins to move on the right side, and if female, she tries to move on the left side.
Srimad Bhagavatham (3-31-5):
Deriving its nutrition from the food and drink taken by the mother, the fetus grows and remains in that abominable residence of stools and urine, which is the breeding place of all kinds of worms.
Srimad Bhagavatham (3-31-6):
Bitten again and again all over the body by the hungry worms in the abdomen itself, the child suffers terrible agony because of his tenderness. He thus becomes unconscious moment after moment because of the terrible condition.
This is how the athma (soul) changes the bodies!
Hope you are clear now.
(8 IMPORTANT QUESTIONS ON SOUL (ATHMA) ENTERING THE BODIES! READ HERE!)