soul and sperms

Hare Krishna Prabhuji. Dandavat Pranam. All Glories to Srila Prabhupada.

Actually people in general specially in India has very little knowledge about what actually science is may the person holds a big degree but still they have faith in the scientist rather than the science because they don't know.No one here want to know how the apple fall in the ground rather they are after how to get the best apple.

Question: What is the Vedic perspective on the genome pioneer Craig Venter's claims of creating artificial life?

Answer: Let's see what Venter actually did:

Determined the sequence of the DNA in one of the world's simplest bacteria,
Synthesized a copy of that DNA from components sold by a biological supply company,
Replaced the natural DNA in a living bacterial cell with this synthetic DNA.

Now we need to remember that DNA is not life. It is simply a sequence of biological codes storing the instructions for building proteins.

So, speaking analogically, Venter has certainly not created the complete computer; he has just replaced one chip with another in a pre-existing computer. That’s why Caltech biologist and Nobel laureate David Baltimore stated that Venter has "overplayed the importance" of his results; he "has not created life, only mimicked it."

What if scientists someday use the biochemical components to create the entire cell? Would that amount to creating life? No, because that would just be like making the computer, not the person who would use the computer. Although reductionist scientists would have us believe that there is no such “person” and that life is just a product of bio-chemicals, living systems behave in ways fundamentally and inexplicably different from nonliving objects. Nonliving objects are created, deteriorate over time and eventually meet with destruction. Living systems exhibits three additional features: maintenance, growth and reproduction. A living human hand, if cut, can clot and heal itself; the most state-of-the-art artificial hand, if cut, cannot clot or heal itself. The simplest unicellular organism can grow; the most sophisticated computer cannot. The most primitive living systems can reproduce; even the most advanced robots can’t.

No wonder Boston University bioengineer James Collins candidly admitted the scientific ground reality: “Scientists don't know enough about biology to create life.”

What do scientists not know about life? What gives living systems their remarkable properties of maintenance, growth and reproduction? The soul, which the Bhagavad-gita explains, is the source of life. The soul is eternal and can never be created. The Gita (13.33-34) also points out that the soul remains distinct from the body it animates, as does sunlight illuminating the universe or air pervading space. So, when a part of the body is changed, the soul remains unchanged, just as when a component in a computer is changed, the computer-user remains unchanged. Thus, in Venter’s experiment, the soul animating the bacteria remained unchanged when the DNA within that bacteria was changed.

To summarize, Venter’s attempt at creating artificial life is a failure – both in practice (he did not create life) and in principle (the soul, the actual source of life, can never be created).

Your aspiring servant

Hari Bol

know.no

Replies

Alka February 11, 2012 at 6:17pm

Hare Krishna prabhuji

Doctors do put the fertilized embryo in the uterus using test tube baby procedure(IVF) but the heart starts beating only after couple of days ( I believe when soul enters it).

Test tube babies is not always successful.Why? Does doctors/scientist know how and when heart starts beating ? Do some research on net you will never find an answer for this.

Test tube bay procedure will be a success only if God puts a soul in it.
Volunteer

Mohini Madhavi dd Maral Alymova February 10, 2012 at 5:53pm

Hare Krishna dear Devotees, please accept my humble obeisances! all glories to Srila Prabhupada!

To create a child in laboratory is not a new thing. People used to use this method even in early ages.

For example,

Drona was born from the pot. His father seeing some heavenly denizen lost his semen and put that in the pot.

also Varuna had son born in the pot.

It says that whenever there is needed environment for life Krishna puts soul within it.

Or when Lord Indira cut into pieces Diti's son into other parts also entered living entities and they became 44 or 22 Marutas.

or cloning:

Vyasadev did cloning with Duryodhana and his 99 brothers. All these things are not new.

Your servant,
Volunteer
Sudipta Roy February 10, 2012 at 11:58am
Hare Krishna Prabhuji. Dandavat Pranam. All Glories to Srila Prabhupada.

Actually people in general specially in India has very little knowledge about what actually science is may the person holds a big degree but still they have faith in the scientist rather than the science because they don't know.No one here want to know how the apple fall in the ground rather they are after how to get the best apple.

Question: What is the Vedic perspective on the genome pioneer Craig Venter's claims of creating artificial life?

Answer: Let's see what Venter actually did:
1. Determined the sequence of the DNA in one of the world's simplest bacteria,
2. Synthesized a copy of that DNA from components sold by a biological supply company,
3. Replaced the natural DNA in a living bacterial cell with this synthetic DNA.
Now we need to remember that DNA is not life. It is simply a sequence of biological codes storing the instructions for building proteins.

So, speaking analogically, Venter has certainly not created the complete computer; he has just replaced one chip with another in a pre-existing computer. That’s why Caltech biologist and Nobel laureate David Baltimore stated that Venter has "overplayed the importance" of his results; he "has not created life, only mimicked it."

What if scientists someday use the biochemical components to create the entire cell? Would that amount to creating life? No, because that would just be like making the computer, not the person who would use the computer. Although reductionist scientists would have us believe that there is no such “person” and that life is just a product of bio-chemicals, living systems behave in ways fundamentally and inexplicably different from nonliving objects. Nonliving objects are created, deteriorate over time and eventually meet with destruction. Living systems exhibits three additional features: maintenance, growth and reproduction. A living human hand, if cut, can clot and heal itself; the most state-of-the-art artificial hand, if cut, cannot clot or heal itself. The simplest unicellular organism can grow; the most sophisticated computer cannot. The most primitive living systems can reproduce; even the most advanced robots can’t.

No wonder Boston University bioengineer James Collins candidly admitted the scientific ground reality: “Scientists don't know enough about biology to create life.”

What do scientists not know about life? What gives living systems their remarkable properties of maintenance, growth and reproduction? The soul, which the Bhagavad-gita explains, is the source of life. The soul is eternal and can never be created. The Gita (13.33-34) also points out that the soul remains distinct from the body it animates, as does sunlight illuminating the universe or air pervading space. So, when a part of the body is changed, the soul remains unchanged, just as when a component in a computer is changed, the computer-user remains unchanged. Thus, in Venter’s experiment, the soul animating the bacteria remained unchanged when the DNA within that bacteria was changed.

To summarize, Venter’s attempt at creating artificial life is a failure – both in practice (he did not create life) and in principle (the soul, the actual source of life, can never be created).

Your aspiring servant

Hari Bol
know.no

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