Our Soul Passes 8.4 Million Species to Get into Human Body
There is a saying that We got our present human body (or human life) only after our soul is passed through 8.4 million species. In Bhagavad Gita , Lord Sri Krishna himself told to arjuna that the soul passes 8.4 million bodies and at last it will get a human life. There are also many other Grandhas (based on Bhagavad gita) state that we will get a human body/ human life only after the soul passes through 84,00,000 different species and also states that human life is the last one that the soul will get.
Check this link: To Know more on sayings related Human Soul and it’s mentioning in bhagavatgeeta.
There are many proverbs we can find in different languages of india related to these. One such proverb in telugu is
” yenno neechamaina janmala tarvata manishi janma labhistundi kanuka daanini sardhakata cheskovali”
Though not in the exact words, but the above line says that “we got this human life after passing many other disrespectable (grovelling) life forms, so we should make use of this life by helping others”. Indians, especially Hindu’s believe this. Though the critics used to say & Still continues to say that this is just a myth. some say that there are not that many species exist and some says it was not proved.
What is the proof ?
Though i can’t really provide anyone a proof that my soul and your soul passed through all those 8.4 million life forms, which if possible we will discuss in a world below or above when we meet. But with the advancement in science and technology, it is revealed that there are nearly 8.7 million species on earth. According to a post in the famous website gaurdian(.com), there has been a research going on from years to know approximately how many species are sharing this earth along with humans. However after years of research, the scientists finally revealed the most accurate estimate till time as 8.7 million. Now that there is a difference 0.3 million between what it says from the Ancient Indian literature and what scientists discovered, it’s 97% near to what exists in reality.
So what the scientists proved can be an element of hope or even a fact that we get this human life after passing 8.4 million lifes (or may be approximately 8.7 million life forms). We can say it as a evolution for our soul to reach the ultimate stage i.e., HUMAN LIFE, The most valuable, precious, sacred, purified and sanctless life form of all the species on the planet.
The main reason why we are interested in knowing and writing these articles is to share our knowledge and also let the other people to know that our Indian culture and traditions are not myths and superstitions.
We have a great culture. Great values. Great History. Don’t let it down just because we don’t know the real scientific reasons and that we are not able to prove it by now. If not now, if not us, may be the next generations will prove it. The world knows that Many of the foreign countries are researching on our Ancient Indian literatures, grandhas , upanishads and other sanskrit books. The best example is recently MIT researchers scientifically proved that YOGA and MEDITATION are best for gaining the mental peace, good for health and conducting Yoga classes in MIT, which we know from centuries but won’t practice. All the indians know that yoga is a great way to balance mental and physical health, but how many of us actually practice it, and to our pity, how many of us actually know how to do yoga? Very few. Just think if this was a chinese culture, will they do just like us ? Shaolin which was founded in south india and taugh to chinese by Bodhi dharma got improved there later, is a mandatory education for them now, but we forgot about it decades back. When someone asks us about that, we just say, “it’s ours actually (With Pride)” but we won’t learn or respect it.
Gita
According to the Vedas, there are 8.4 million species of life and the conditioned soul is continuously passing through the different species according to his karma, under divine supervision. The Bhagavad Gita (2.22) says that just as one gives up an old shirt to put on a new one, the soul gives up an old body to acquire a new kind of body (vasāmsi jirnāni yathā vihāya). Thus there are 8.4 million (84 lakh) types of bodies, out of which the soul assumes a body at the time of death.
If one spends his lifetime in sense gratification, then one may become a cat or dog. If one is attached to eating meat, he gets the body of a tiger wherein he gets full facility for eating flesh without the encumbrance of cleaning and cooking the meat. If one’s stock of pious activities is high, then he gets elevated to the heavenly planets, where he gets the body of a demigod (devatā). However all the bodies within the ambit of the 8.4 milion species, including that of the demigods, are subject to birth and death. All such bodies have a limited period of life, after which one has to give it up to assume a new body. This process of giving up one type of body and assuming a new one is called death. It is pertinent to note that it is the body that dies and not the spirit soul, who is occupying the body.
We are not these bodies but individual spirit souls occupying our respective bodies. I am occupying my body and you are occupying your body, just as you are residing in your house and I am residing in my house. This does not mean that I am the house. I am different from my house. Similarly I am not the body but I am the spirit soul, who is residing within the body. When the body becomes old, I (the spirit soul) have to leave the body just as I have to leave my house, when it is destroyed, to occupy a new one
