Hare Krishna to all Prabhujis and Matajis. Please accept my obisiences. I am very happy to ask my first question to you all in this forum. Actually, I have heard that this Human birth is very hard to achieve and now being a human I would like to know how hard it is to achieve Human birth and one have to do to achieve it. Please help me!!
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According to the Vedas, there are 8.4 million species /84 lakh species....of life and the conditioned soul is continuously passing through the different species according to his karma, under divine supervision. There is information given in Padma Purana that..
the 8.4 million species of life are divided into six groups, namely acquatics, trees, insects, birds, animals and humans. There are nine hundred thousand (9 lakh) types of acquatics, two million (20 lakh) types of trees, 1.1 million types of insects, a million types of birds, three million types of animal bodies and four hundred thousand types of human bodies. These aggregate to 8.4 million.
As a person puts on new garments, giving up old ones, similarly, the soul accepts new material bodies, giving up the old and useless ones. ( BG 2.22)
Prahalaad Maharaj explains to his demon friends at his school in the ( SB.7.6.1)
Durlabham Manushya janam.."This Human form of life is rarely gotten...
(2.13 BG)>As the embodied soul continually passes, in this body, from boyhood to youth to old age, the soul similarly passes into another body at death. The self-realized soul is not bewildered by such a change.
Since every living entity is an individual soul, each is changing his body every moment, manifesting sometimes as a child, sometimes as a youth, and sometimes as an old man. Yet the same spirit soul is there and does not undergo any change. This individual soul finally changes the body at death and transmigrates to another body; and since it is sure to have another body in the next birth—( purport under ...2.13 BG)
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.( SB 3.31.1)
So, according to the laws of karma and under the supervision of Lord ..you get another body..
Srila Prabhupada says...The body you get depends on your Karma.. "If you act like human being there is a chance that you may get a human body ..but if you are acting like a dog then you get a dog body. It all depends on your KARMA."
If we have a stock of sinful activities we will have to assume an animal’s body or even lower forms whereas if we have a stock of pious activities we may get a human or even a demigod body also..
yad gatva na nivartante....( 15.6..BG)..That abode of Mine is not illumined by the sun or moon, nor by electricity. One who reaches it never returns tothis material world.
Liberation ...... means putting a stop ..to the journey within the cycle of 8.4 million species. When one breaks this cycle, one is liberated from repeated birth and death, and is transferred to the spiritual sky, where he gets an eternal body. This body that he gets in the spiritual world is free from birth and death Once we reach the spiritual abode.... there is no chance of our falling back into the miserable cycle of 8.4 million species of life.
The chanting of the holy names of God..... Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare/ Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare... is the sure and best remedy....to get out from the miserable cycle of 8.4 million species of life.
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.
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. It is the Stock of Karma .. and the attachments we make decide out future births..
There is a story in Srimad Bhagwatam about Bharat Maharaj.. ( I wont tell the whole story you can read it).. He got attached to baby deer so much that he became deer in the next life.. though he was deer in that life ..he retained his pious activities and by God's mercy and arrangement....he could remember his past..
luckily the deer...got the association of devotees he was grazing in the fields near to the ashrama of Sages Pulastya and Pulaha. In the ashrama he ate only DRY LEAVES unlike other deers which ate fresh green grass. To get control over his taste buds. This is the effect of his pious activities in the past that he even if got a deer body was in close association of Sage.. He could listen to the chants by the sages daily.
Therefore we can say....Karma and attachments leads to different births..But in the Human birth only one gets the chance to utter Lord's name and erase the bad karma..
In animal body.. We cannot utter the name of lord...but there are other ways in which an animal can ascend to human birth..( just like this deer).
THERE IS A POSSIBILITY FOR A ANIMAL TO GET HUMAN BODY IF HE HAS SOME LITTLE STORE OF GOOD KARMA.. WE CAN UNDERSTAND THIS BY THE FOLLOWING STORY..>>
Once Narada Muni went to Lord Krishna and asked Him - "Lord can you please tell us as to why we should chant Your Names always ?" Krishna smiled at him and said, please go to the earth and chant My Names in the ears of the worm that is present there. Narada Muni went and did the same. To his surprise the worm immediately died. Narada Muni came back and told to the Lord - "Narayana ! the worm died.". The Lord smiled and said - "No problem. Now please go and chant My Name to butterfly in that garden." Narada Muni chanted and the butterfly died. Narada Muni came running and informed Krishna about it. The Lord continued to smile - "Now go to that forest and chant My Name in the ears of the deer." But when he did that the deer died. Narada Muni became very afraid and he came back running to Lord and this time the Lord asked him to chant the names in cow's ear. When the cow also died, Narada Muni became very upset. But the Lord instructed him, "Now please go to the kingdom of Kasi - There a child is born to the king. He will be very pleased to meet you. So please go and chant My Names in the ears of the newly born child." Narada Muni replied - "People already call me as mischief-maker. Now do you want them to call me as murderer as well ? ". Lord Krishna started laughing and said "Don't worry Narada. Just do as I say."
Narada Muni entered the palace and the king cordially welcomed him and requested him to bless the new born prince. With great fear, Narada Muni went near the child and uttered the Lord's names. As soon as he uttered the child started speaking. Narada Muni was completely taken aback. Then the child replied - "O great sage, Don't you know the power of Lord's Names ? I was a worm in the beginning and when you chanted the Lord's names, I became a butterfly and then a deer and then a cow and now I have got this valuable human birth in which I can perform devotional service unto Supreme Lord and purify my existence." Hearing the child speak Narada Muni said - "Indeed the Lord's name is all powerful and all potent !"
Animals get a chance to ascend to higher births when the come in contact with pious persons like Narad muni or any Sages or Bharat Maharaj...
One day a brahmin was walking by.....he saw a dog in a helpless condition somehow felt love for it...and he wanted to give something for it to eat.. all he had was some prasadam in his hands as he was coming from a temple..He fed the dog prasadam...By having that prasadam ...After the death of the dog.. the dog next birth got a human birth as he did one pious karma in the last birth..that was having the prasadam.... and circumbulating one time around the temple unknowingly...
unknowingly eating....the remanants of vaishnavas and prasadam......and serving the vaishnava.. being a maid son' also can become great personality like Narad Muni..
THOUGH IN ANIMAL BODY one cannot utter the name of lord.. if he has some little stock of good merits ..the animal can ascend and get a human body... It all depends on Lord's mercy and his karma...
....THEREFORE NOT ONLY IN HUMAN FORM OF LIFE ONE GETS THE RESULTS OF ACTIONS ONE CAN GET RESULTS OF ACTIONS IN LOWER FORMS OF BIRTH ALSO >> THAT IS HOW THEY ASCEND TO NEXT HIGHER BIRTHS.
Like for example..the last words heard by a dog.....that got trampled under a truck...which was near a temple...where the pure devotee were chanting Mahamantra.. and the last word that the heard by the dog was Krishna.. and so luckily it got the next higher birth next life becoz of one pious deed it did that life..next life the dog becomes a devoteee.
Hare Krishna
SB 7.6.1
The whole purpose of Vedic civilization and of reading the Vedas is to attain the perfect stage of devotional service in the human form of life. Acco…
As you may be aware, there are 84 lakh species of life forms in the material world, as per scriptures. Out of these 84 lakh species, only 4 lakh species is considered human form. So balance is 80 lakh species. It is amoeba, virus, worm in stool, plant, aquatics, animals - all forms put together (80 lakh species).
One soul has to travel in these 80 lakh species before it becomes evolved enough to deserve a human form of life. That is why human form of life is considered rare. One has to qualify to get a human body. Human form of life is considered most evolved because only in this form one has the power to discriminate between right and wrong, to choose one's actions. Therefore, only in the human form of life one gets results of one's actions - rules of karma are applicable.
The purpose of human form of life is to inquire - who am I? Why am I here? What is the purpose of my life? Then human being has to search for these answers and mould one's life as per the answers. The way any gadget made by man has a purpose and a manual on how to operate and maintain it, that same way there is a purpose for human form of life. The manual of what is the purpose and how to maintain this life is the vedas. Since in Kaliyuga, one is not able to read the vedas in entire lifetime, one does short cut - read Bhagavad Gita, Srimad Bhagawatam, commentaries of Acharyas and lead one's life accordingly.
I hope this answers your preliminary questions. If you want to ask further, or if there are any further clarifications, please ask.
Haribol,
Your servant,
Radha Rasamayi DD
Radhika > Radha Rasamayi DDDecember 16, 2018 at 1:21am
Hari Bol Radha Mata ji
I am new to the site and was shocked to see the reply you gave. You are scaring new devotees like us. Stool worm?????? What was that. I had a nightmare. We are into KC and chants everyday to hear we take 80 lakhs birth?????
Therefore, only in the human form of life one gets results of one's actions - rules of karma are applicable - This line of yours is wrong. i am newbie but can still say this is not true. Rule of karma applies to animal as well. Their karma are also recorded. Gajendra elephant and so many nice examples were given by Gayatri Mataji
i request to not spread fear among new devotees. Your reply gave me nightmare. Also I tried to contact you many times for help you never replied. e counselors should be helpful
First of all, apologies for not responding to your attempts to contact me. I am not able to access chat on the website because of firewalls in office. I do not log on to this website from home. That is the reason even if I appear online, I am not aware that someone is trying to contact at all.
The way to contact me is to write to my inbox. I will surely respond to that.
Now coming to what scared you - what I have mentioned is all fact. We obviously don't want to think that we were born as cockroach or lizard in some birth - but we may have. So many lifetimes, so many bodies - who know who has been to which body, and how many times....
Regarding karma rules applying only in human form of life, what I have mentioned is also true. Animal yoni is itself a result of karma. A tiger doesn't get karma for killing and eating non veg. The desire of the soul was to eat non veg, that is the reason it got tiger body in the first place.
Example of deer given in Bharat maharaj pastime is - because of the good deeds of the soul, the soul remembered his past life in deer birth also, and therefore did everything to get out of that birth fast (did not eat or drink). The memory continued when he was born as Jada Bharat and therefore, he was careful not to mix with people and develop attachment.
Gajendra moksha pastime also - the memory is of past birth, because of devotional activity done in that birth. Animal yoni per se did not attract the crocodile or the memory of past sadhana. Therefore, in animal yoni, karma doesn't get added to the soul's kitty.
My purpose is never to scare anyone. If one is getting scared, it can be used positively. Now that you realise that there are so many life forms and one can land in any life form due to this birth's karma, better to do so much sadhana that we go back to Godhead at the end of this very lifetime, burning all karma of all past births.
Replies
Hare Krishna Sinjini mata ji,
According to the Vedas, there are 8.4 million species /84 lakh species....of life and the conditioned soul is continuously passing through the different species according to his karma, under divine supervision. There is information given in Padma Purana that..
the 8.4 million species of life are divided into six groups, namely acquatics, trees, insects, birds, animals and humans. There are nine hundred thousand (9 lakh) types of acquatics, two million (20 lakh) types of trees, 1.1 million types of insects, a million types of birds, three million types of animal bodies and four hundred thousand types of human bodies. These aggregate to 8.4 million.
As a person puts on new garments, giving up old ones, similarly, the soul accepts new material bodies, giving up the old and useless ones. ( BG 2.22)
Prahalaad Maharaj explains to his demon friends at his school in the ( SB.7.6.1)
Durlabham Manushya janam.."This Human form of life is rarely gotten...
https://www.vedabase.com/en/sb/7/6/1 Read the purport under this
(2.13 BG)>As the embodied soul continually passes, in this body, from boyhood to youth to old age, the soul similarly passes into another body at death. The self-realized soul is not bewildered by such a change.
Since every living entity is an individual soul, each is changing his body every moment, manifesting sometimes as a child, sometimes as a youth, and sometimes as an old man. Yet the same spirit soul is there and does not undergo any change. This individual soul finally changes the body at death and transmigrates to another body; and since it is sure to have another body in the next birth—( purport under ...2.13 BG)
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.( SB 3.31.1)
So, according to the laws of karma and under the supervision of Lord ..you get another body..
Srila Prabhupada says...The body you get depends on your Karma.. "If you act like human being there is a chance that you may get a human body ..but if you are acting like a dog then you get a dog body. It all depends on your KARMA."
If we have a stock of sinful activities we will have to assume an animal’s body or even lower forms whereas if we have a stock of pious activities we may get a human or even a demigod body also..
yad gatva na nivartante....( 15.6..BG)..That abode of Mine is not illumined by the sun or moon, nor by electricity. One who reaches it never returns to this material world.
Liberation ...... means putting a stop ..to the journey within the cycle of 8.4 million species. When one breaks this cycle, one is liberated from repeated birth and death, and is transferred to the spiritual sky, where he gets an eternal body. This body that he gets in the spiritual world is free from birth and death Once we reach the spiritual abode.... there is no chance of our falling back into the miserable cycle of 8.4 million species of life.
The chanting of the holy names of God..... Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare/ Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare... is the sure and best remedy....to get out from the miserable cycle of 8.4 million species of life.
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.
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. It is the Stock of Karma .. and the attachments we make decide out future births..
There is a story in Srimad Bhagwatam about Bharat Maharaj.. ( I wont tell the whole story you can read it).. He got attached to baby deer so much that he became deer in the next life.. though he was deer in that life ..he retained his pious activities and by God's mercy and arrangement....he could remember his past..
luckily the deer...got the association of devotees he was grazing in the fields near to the ashrama of Sages Pulastya and Pulaha. In the ashrama he ate only DRY LEAVES unlike other deers which ate fresh green grass. To get control over his taste buds. This is the effect of his pious activities in the past that he even if got a deer body was in close association of Sage.. He could listen to the chants by the sages daily.
Therefore we can say....Karma and attachments leads to different births..But in the Human birth only one gets the chance to utter Lord's name and erase the bad karma..
In animal body.. We cannot utter the name of lord...but there are other ways in which an animal can ascend to human birth..( just like this deer).
THERE IS A POSSIBILITY FOR A ANIMAL TO GET HUMAN BODY IF HE HAS SOME LITTLE STORE OF GOOD KARMA.. WE CAN UNDERSTAND THIS BY THE FOLLOWING STORY..>>
Hare KRsna Mataji,
PAMHO.
Welcome to this forum and to discussions hereon.
As you may be aware, there are 84 lakh species of life forms in the material world, as per scriptures. Out of these 84 lakh species, only 4 lakh species is considered human form. So balance is 80 lakh species. It is amoeba, virus, worm in stool, plant, aquatics, animals - all forms put together (80 lakh species).
One soul has to travel in these 80 lakh species before it becomes evolved enough to deserve a human form of life. That is why human form of life is considered rare. One has to qualify to get a human body. Human form of life is considered most evolved because only in this form one has the power to discriminate between right and wrong, to choose one's actions. Therefore, only in the human form of life one gets results of one's actions - rules of karma are applicable.
The purpose of human form of life is to inquire - who am I? Why am I here? What is the purpose of my life? Then human being has to search for these answers and mould one's life as per the answers. The way any gadget made by man has a purpose and a manual on how to operate and maintain it, that same way there is a purpose for human form of life. The manual of what is the purpose and how to maintain this life is the vedas. Since in Kaliyuga, one is not able to read the vedas in entire lifetime, one does short cut - read Bhagavad Gita, Srimad Bhagawatam, commentaries of Acharyas and lead one's life accordingly.
I hope this answers your preliminary questions. If you want to ask further, or if there are any further clarifications, please ask.
Haribol,
Your servant,
Radha Rasamayi DD
Hari Bol Radha Mata ji
I am new to the site and was shocked to see the reply you gave. You are scaring new devotees like us. Stool worm?????? What was that. I had a nightmare. We are into KC and chants everyday to hear we take 80 lakhs birth?????
Therefore, only in the human form of life one gets results of one's actions - rules of karma are applicable - This line of yours is wrong. i am newbie but can still say this is not true. Rule of karma applies to animal as well. Their karma are also recorded. Gajendra elephant and so many nice examples were given by Gayatri Mataji
i request to not spread fear among new devotees. Your reply gave me nightmare. Also I tried to contact you many times for help you never replied. e counselors should be helpful
Hari bol
AGTSP
Hare Krsna mataji,
PAMHO.
First of all, apologies for not responding to your attempts to contact me. I am not able to access chat on the website because of firewalls in office. I do not log on to this website from home. That is the reason even if I appear online, I am not aware that someone is trying to contact at all.
The way to contact me is to write to my inbox. I will surely respond to that.
Now coming to what scared you - what I have mentioned is all fact. We obviously don't want to think that we were born as cockroach or lizard in some birth - but we may have. So many lifetimes, so many bodies - who know who has been to which body, and how many times....
Regarding karma rules applying only in human form of life, what I have mentioned is also true. Animal yoni is itself a result of karma. A tiger doesn't get karma for killing and eating non veg. The desire of the soul was to eat non veg, that is the reason it got tiger body in the first place.
Example of deer given in Bharat maharaj pastime is - because of the good deeds of the soul, the soul remembered his past life in deer birth also, and therefore did everything to get out of that birth fast (did not eat or drink). The memory continued when he was born as Jada Bharat and therefore, he was careful not to mix with people and develop attachment.
Gajendra moksha pastime also - the memory is of past birth, because of devotional activity done in that birth. Animal yoni per se did not attract the crocodile or the memory of past sadhana. Therefore, in animal yoni, karma doesn't get added to the soul's kitty.
My purpose is never to scare anyone. If one is getting scared, it can be used positively. Now that you realise that there are so many life forms and one can land in any life form due to this birth's karma, better to do so much sadhana that we go back to Godhead at the end of this very lifetime, burning all karma of all past births.
Haribol,
Your servant,
Radha Rasamayi DD