Developing a Material Body - The Science of Transmigration
The mystery of life and birth is perfectly resolved within the Vedic scriptures. Śrīla Prabhupāda explains that life does not arise from a random combination of material chemicals; rather, the gross material body only develops because an eternal spirit soul, carrying its specific karma, has entered the womb.
Spirit is the Basis of Matter
Modern science operates on the flawed assumption that inert matter generates consciousness. Śrīla Prabhupāda completely reverses this paradigm, explaining that a physical body can only grow and develop because the active, living spirit soul is present within it.
- Even in our present experience we can know that nothing is generated from inert matter, but inert matter can be generated from the living entity. For instance, by contact with the living entity, the material body develops into a working machine.
- This material body is developed because spirit is present within matter; a child grows gradually to boyhood and then to manhood because of that superior energy, spirit soul, being present.
- Within the body of a child, for instance, the spiritual principle is present, and therefore changes take place in the body and it develops. But if the spirit leaves the body, the development stops. This law is applicable to every material object.
- Individual soul is the seed, and upon that seed, this body has developed. According to our Vedic understanding, the body develops on the seed. This is very practical.
The Law of Karma and Conception
The type of body a living entity receives is not an accident of nature. Śrīla Prabhupāda clarifies that based on one's past desires and fruitive activities, higher authorities inject the soul into a specific womb to develop a body exactly suited to their karma.
- In Srimad-Bhagavatam, Third Canto, it is explained that under the control of superior authority a living entity is put within the semen of a male and injected into the womb of a particular female in order to develop a particular type of body.
- Karmana daiva-netrena jantor dehopapattaye (SB 3.31.1). We develop a certain type of body according to our karma.
- A living being, according to his own action, is allowed to enter into the womb of a mother by the vehicle of a father's semina, and thus he develops his desired body. This is the law of birth in specific bodies according to one's past actions.
- It is not the semen of the man that creates life within the womb of a woman; rather, the living entity, the soul, takes shelter in a particle of semen and is then pushed into the womb of a woman. Then the body develops.
Unconscious Development in the Womb
The transition between bodies is a period of deep unconsciousness. Śrīla Prabhupāda describes the exact timeline of embryonic development, noting that the soul remains essentially asleep for seven months while the physical machinery of the new body is constructed around it.
- During this period, I mean to say, quitting this body, entering into another body and to develop that body, come to the consciousness point of view, it takes seven months. So death means sleeping for seven months.
- Death is nothing but to remain practically unconscious for seven months. That's all. This body is left, and we enter into a particular womb of mother, and just to develop another body it takes about seven months.
- In the first night there is a pealike form that takes place. Then he grows, growing. Then many holes come out of that pealike form - that becomes our eyes and other nine holes. In this way the body is developed in seven months.
- Up to seven months the soul remains unconscious. And when the body is developed, again consciousness comes and the child wants to come out of the womb, and he moves.
Developing the Spiritual Body
The living entity is not condemned to endlessly develop material bodies. Śrīla Prabhupāda concludes that just as the soul has the potency to grow a material form due to mundane contamination, it has the inherent power to develop its eternal, spiritual body through the practice of Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
- You already have a spiritual body. Now, due to our material contamination, we are developing the material body.
- We living entities, we are spiritual atoms, and by material atomic combination we have developed this body, although this material body is foreign to me. Similarly, we can develop our spiritual body also in the spiritual world. Is it clear?
- When he goes to Krsna, he goes in spiritual body. So there is potency of every living being. Just like he has got the potency of developing this material body, similarly, he has got the potency of developing spiritual body.
- Just like from the spiritual body, you have developed this material body, similarly, from the spiritual atom, you can develop your spiritual body. Tyaktva deham. Tyaktva deham means that giving up this material body, he develops his spiritual body.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Śrīla Prabhupāda provides a highly scientific and philosophical explanation of how the material body is formed, completely dismantling the atheistic theory that life is a product of chemical evolution. The gross physical body is merely a sophisticated machine that develops solely because the eternal spirit soul is present within the womb. Driven by the subtle desires and fruitive reactions accumulated in past lives, the soul is meticulously placed into a specific female womb by higher authorities. After a seven-month period of unconsciousness, during which the physical elements form around the spiritual seed, the soul awakens to its new material encagement. However, the ultimate purpose of Vedic knowledge is to teach the living entity how to break this cycle. Because the soul is eternal, it inherently possesses a spiritual form. By abandoning the bodily concept of life and rigorously practicing Kṛṣṇa consciousness, the living entity can stop developing temporary, painful material bodies and instead reawaken its original, blissful spiritual body to associate with the Supreme Lord forever.
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Śrīla Prabhupāda lives within his instructions. This article is a summary of the profound truths found in the Vaniquotes category Developing a Material Body. We invite you to visit this link to study the complete compilation and experience the teachings in their direct, verbatim form.