Population Explosion

 

Population Explosion

2002, December 13, 11.15 pm. to 12.10 pm.

Anuradha: If God created human beings, how do we explain the increase in population?

Gajaraj Swamigal: My father, Mahamuni, I place this question at your feet. I request you to enlighten us about this issue.

Sage Agastya: Daughter you have posed a question to me on behalf of others who have asked you about this.

You have a confusion here. You are trying to link the gradual laws of, or disappearance of other souls and increase in the population of human souls.

The issue seems to be based on the idea of statistics. Your idea is that if a certain number of souls were created on earth, you presume that mathematically the sum total of souls is the same, except for human souls who have attained salvation. This is not true. You cannot apply statistics in respect of God’s creation.

We have already told you that souls were the products of the expansion of the supreme consciousness which you call Parabrahman. We cannot apply the known measurements applied in science and technology. It is simple. The present science is unable to measure or see the infinite all-pervading divine energy. All known objects of matter and energy can be measured and interpreted in terms of science.

Spirituality is beyond known form of science. To give you some examples, in scientific language, you cannot just imagine where the universe ends. That is why a simple word called ‘maya’ is used in spiritual language. Therefore there is no equation of addition or deletion regarding the number of souls in the universe.

This is what happens. The ever expanding Para Brahman throws away from it very higher form of subtle energy called atman. The individual atman is called the jivatman. Such atman is also noticed in living and nonliving objects. This is what some poetic languages describe as “kallillum, mullilu, unnilum, yennilum, maraindirukkum kadvul”

Meaning, kadvul which is equated to jeevatman is present in every form of living and nonliving objects. Once again, we express that God is omnipresent. Here the word God also implies the unit of atman liberated from Paramatman.

I would suggest that millions of atmans are continuously liberated from the Parabrahman or Paramatman are still waiting to acquire sharira or the body.

You can compare this to a cloud. You do not know when and how much water drops on the earth in the form of rain. The raindrops also drop or fall outside the earth. Therefore, the number of jivatmas present in this planet need not be the only planet where atman takes the form of the human bodies.

In cosmic creation, the purest form of atman or the original atman may acquire any kind of body, not necessarily the human body. It is also possible that cyclical transformation of atman can occur. For example, puranas have it that Gods and demons alike were born on the earth and took the shape of a human being. Later, they went back to their original form. This also accounts for many avatars. The avatara purushas lived like ordinary human beings. After finishing their duties, they went back to their original status.

You also have legends where a celestial body is punished and made to be born as an animal. You have the story of Ahalya, who was converted to stone.

Therefore the human soul can assume other bodies and remain as a stone, animal, or a plant, a spirt or a God, depending upon which tatva is predominant in it. Tatva means the innate nature. So depending on the karma pala, the human body ends up in different incarnations.

What I have said so far may be a bit confusing. Because it is difficult to understand the working of creation and death in terms of science which is fixed to the human mind of the present day.

Therefore what is needed is not scientific proof but acceptance and belief. In short, we can say that the appearance and disappearance of atmans cannot be judged in statistical equations.

Question: We have always believed that evolution takes place in the form of progressive steps. From minerals to plants, to animals to human beings. How is that a human being can take an animal or some other form, after evolving so much?

A: There are two kinds of evolution. There is organic evolution. The other is spiritual evolution. In the first, the panchabutas or the elements develop into various combinations resulting in matter. These are Prithvi, jala, vaayu which in your modern language are called sold, liquid and gas.

These substances develop various kinds of energies such as attraction and repulsion. Yet, they do not have life. The energy they contain is collective energy. As they evolve into living organisms, they develop another faculty called jiva or atma. Where does this ‘life’ come from?

Here, life is the expression of the atman. Thus each individual cell has an atman of its own. In a complex animal like man, there are millions of cells. If you separate each cell, it lives. Which shows that individual cells have a unit of life.

Thus when a man dies, millions of minute units of life are withdrawn. Collectively, a big unit of ‘life’ is withdrawn from the human body. Science explains that living things have evolved from nonliving organic matters.

As you see, each material, each organism is a combination of several things. These are matter, energy, mind, consciousness, feelings, emotions, and the atman. The minerals have a form, which is sharira. They have energy. But they do not have the others. If you think atman is present in a mineral, it is in a state of ‘deep sleep.’

Pyramids for example have a sharira (with shape). A pyramid has no mind, but surprisingly it has consciousness. Because of this, it is possible for a person to appeal to their consciousness and get things to happen.

A plant has a form composed of matter and energy. It has feelings. But it has no mind. Animals have bodies made of matter and energy, they have mind and feelings, but lack consciousness. This faculty is present only in humans. Therefore, organic evolution is a gradual increase in complexity with reference to the body and mind.

We cannot expect a plant to meditate and reach the supreme, because it has no consciousness of its own to understand the methods of understanding the truth.

The next evolution is the spiritual evolution. There is no time limit for this. Depending upon the accumulated negative or positive karmas of the past, the evolution can be short or prolonged involving many thousands of incarnations.

There are highly enlightened incarnations such as Prahalad. They need not accept another janma. There are people who become enlightened because of certain shocks. This is sudden as in the case of Buddha. Others have to increase their good deeds, and gradually and simultaneously release from bad karmas.

One can attain salvation through good karma or good gnana. This is what you see in Bhagavad Gita. Bhagavan Krishna says, one can join the Parabrahman by following different paths, which he names as karma yoga, bhakti yoga, jnana yoga etc.

Question: Is it possible that an atman which rejoins the Parabrahman is once again expelled to go through another cycle?

A: You have light coming from the sun. You have candlelight in your house. Where does the candlelight go? You can think in this line. The mistake you are making is once again applying statistics. There is no limitation with reference to Parabrahman. ‘He’ is beyond the limits of space, time, speed, volume, and weight.