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Many New Age followers uphold an idea that there is no degradation to the lower species from the human form of life and "all paths are the same". They think that if one acts wrongly he will be at worst born few times as a human being and then he will continue to beelevated. They think that the only purpose of this life is to get rid of one'shangups and gain some experience, and ultimately to become God, the commondesire of all pseudo spiritualists. (One group with partially Christianbackground believes in a variation of this idea - the soul eternally developsso in the future we will become as powerful as God. But God also develops so Heis always ahead...)

This idea is found in the Tibetan Buddhism which teaches that after one becomes a so-called Rinpocche, one cannot degrade to the subhuman species regardless of how he behaves. It is based on the misunderstanding of the Upanisads. Kausitaki Upanisad 2.1 says: "All wholeave this world go to Candraloka (moon) [one of the heavenly planets]."

The wrong conclusion is that they will remain there eternally, enjoying the heavenly life. This desire for higher standard of material enjoyment is common to all materialists, religious or not.

The Vedic scriptures provide many quotes and examples to refute this idea. Some are:

Bhagavad-gita As It Is, 9.20-21:

trai-vidya mam soma-pah puta-papa yajnair istva svar-gatim prarthayante
te punyam asadya surendra-lokam asnanti divyan divi deva-bhogan

"Those who study the Vedas and drink the soma juice, seeking the heavenly planets, worship Me indirectly. Purified of sinful reactions, they take birth on the pious, heavenly planet of Indra, where they enjoy godly delights."

te tam bhuktva svarga-lokam visalam ksine punye martya-lokam visanti
evam trayi-dharmam anuprapanna gatagatam kama-kama labhante

"When they have thus enjoyed vast heavenly sense pleasure and the results of their pious activities are exhausted, they return to this mortal planet again. Thus those who seek sense enjoyment by adhering to the principles of the three Vedas achieve only repeated birth anddeath."

Srimad Bhagavatam 3.32.20-21:

daksinena patharyamnah pitr-lokam vrajanti te
prajam anu prajayante smasananta-kriya-krtah

"Such materialistic persons are allowed to go to the planet called Pitrloka by the southern course of the sun, but they again come back to this planet and take birth in their own families, beginning again the same fruitive activities from birth to the end of life."

tatas te ksina-sukrtah punar lokam imam sati
patanti vivasa devaih sadyo vibhramsitodayah

"When the results of their pious activities are exhausted, they fall down by higher arrangement and again come back to this planet, just as any person raised to a high position sometimes all of a sudden falls."

BG 9.24:

aham hi sarva-yajnanam bhokta ca prabhur eva ca
na tu mam abhijananti tattvenatas cyavanti te

"I am the only enjoyer and master of all sacrifices. Therefore, those who do not recognize My true transcendental nature fall down."

PURPORT:Here it is clearly stated that there are many types of yajna performances recommended in the Vedic literatures, but actually all of them are meant for satisfying the Supreme Lord. Yajna means Visnu. In the Third Chapter of Bhagavad-gita it is clearly stated that oneshould only work for satisfying Yajna, or Visnu. The perfectional form of humancivilization, known as varnasrama-dharma, is specifically meant for satisfyingVisnu. Therefore, Krsna says in this verse, "I am the enjoyer of allsacrifices because I am the supreme master." Less intelligent persons,however, without knowing this fact, worship demigods for temporary benefit.Therefore they fall down to material existence and do not achieve the desiredgoal of life. If, however, anyone has any material desire to be fulfilled, hehad better pray for it to the Supreme Lord (although that is not puredevotion), and he will thus achieve the desired result.

9.25:

yanti deva-vrata devan pitrn yanti pitr-vratah
bhutani yanti bhutejya yanti mad-yajino 'pi mam

"Those who worship the demigods will take birth among the demigods; those who worship the ancestors go to the ancestors; those who worship ghosts and spirits will take birth among such beings; and those who worship Me will live with Me."

PURPORT:If one has any desire to go to the moon, the sun or any other planet, one can attain the desired destination by following specific Vedic principles recommended for that purpose, such as the process technically known as darsa-paurnamasi. These are vividly described inthe fruitive activities portion of the Vedas, which recommends a specificworship of demigods situated on different heavenly planets. Similarly, one canattain the Pita planets by performing a specific yajna. Similarly, one can goto many ghostly planets and become a Yaksa, Raksa or Pisaca. Pisaca worship iscalled "black arts" or "black magic." There are many menwho practice this black art, and they think that it is spiritualism, but suchactivities are completely materialistic. Similarly, a pure devotee, whoworships the Supreme Personality of Godhead only, achieves the planets ofVaikuntha and Krsnaloka without a doubt. It is very easy to understand throughthis important verse that if by simply worshiping the demigods one can achievethe heavenly planets, or by worshiping the Pitas achieve the Pita planets, orby practicing the black arts achieve the ghostly planets, why can the puredevotee not achieve the planet of Krsna or Visnu? Unfortunately many peoplehave no information of these sublime planets where Krsna and Visnu live, andbecause they do not know of them they fall down. Even the impersonalists falldown from the brahmajyoti. The Krsna consciousness movement is thereforedistributing sublime information to the entire human society to the effect thatby simply chanting the Hare Krsna mantra one can become perfect in this lifeand go back home, back to Godhead.

14.14:

yada sattve pravrddhe tu pralayam yati deha-bhrt
tadottama-vidam lokan amalan pratipadyate

"When one dies in the mode of goodness, he attains to the pure higher planets of the great sages."

14.15:

rajasi pralayam gatva karma-sangisu jayate
tatha pralinas tamasi mudha-yonisu jayate

"When one dies in the mode of passion, he takes birth among those engaged in fruitive activities; and when one dies in the mode of ignorance, he takes birth in the animal kingdom."

PURPORT:Some people have the impression that when the soul reaches the platform of human life it never goes down again. This is incorrect. According to this verse, if one develops the mode of ignorance, after his death he is degraded to an animal form of life. From there one has toagain elevate himself, by an evolutionary process, to come again to the humanform of life. Therefore, those who are actually serious about human life shouldtake to the mode of goodness and in good association transcend the modes andbecome situated in Krsna consciousness. This is the aim of human life.Otherwise, there is no guarantee that the human being will again attain to thehuman status.

14.16:

karmanah sukrtasyahuh sattvikam nirmalam phalam
rajasas tu phalam duhkham ajnanam tamasah phalam

"The result of pious action is pure and is said to be in the mode of goodness. But action done in the mode of passion results in misery, and action performed in the mode of ignorance results in foolishness."

14.18:

urdhvam gacchanti sattva-stha madhye tisthanti rajasah
jaghanya-guna-vrtti stha adho gacchanti tamasah

"Those situated in the mode of goodness gradually go upward to the higher planets; those in the mode of passion live on the earthly planets; and those in the abominable mode of ignorance go down to the hellish worlds."

16.16:

aneka-citta-vibhranta moha-jala-samavrtah
prasaktah kama-bhogesu patanti narake 'sucau

"Thus perplexed by various anxieties and bound by a network of illusions, they become too strongly attached to sense enjoyment and fall down into hell."

16.19:

tan aham dvisatah kruran samsaresu naradhaman
ksipamy ajasram asubhan asurisv eva yonisu

"Those who are envious and mischievous, who are the lowest among men, I perpetually cast into the ocean of material existence, into various demoniac species of life."

PURPORT:In this verse it is clearly indicated that the placing of a particular individual soul in a particular body is the prerogative of the supreme will. The demoniac person may not agree to accept the supremacy of the Lord, and it is a fact that he may act according to hisown whims, but his next birth will depend upon the decision of the SupremePersonality of Godhead and not on himself. In the Srimad-Bhagavatam, ThirdCanto, it is stated that an individual soul, after his death, is put into thewomb of a mother where he gets a particular type of body under the supervisionof superior power. Therefore in the material existence we find so many speciesof life--animals, insects, men, and so on. All are arranged by the superiorpower. They are not accidental. As for the demoniac, it is clearly said herethat they are perpetually put into the wombs of demons, and thus they continueto be envious, the lowest of mankind. Such demoniac species of men are held tobe always full of lust, always violent and hateful and always unclean. The manykinds of hunters in the jungle are considered to belong to the demoniac speciesof life.

16.20:

asurim yonim apanna mudha janmani janmani
mam aprapyaiva kaunteya tato yanty adhamam gatim

"Attaining repeated birth amongst the species of demoniac life, O son of Kunti, such persons can never approach Me. Gradually they sink down to the most abominable type of existence."

PURPORT:It is known that God is all-merciful, but here we find that God is never merciful to the demoniac. It is clearly stated that the demoniac people, life after life, are put into the wombs of similar demons, and, not achieving the mercy of the Supreme Lord, they go down anddown, so that at last they achieve bodies like those of cats, dogs and hogs. Itis clearly stated that such demons have practically no chance of receiving themercy of God at any stage of later life. In the Vedas also it is stated thatsuch persons gradually sink to become dogs and hogs. It may be then argued inthis connection that God should not be advertised as all-merciful if He is notmerciful to such demons. In answer to this question, in the Vedanta-sutra wefind that the Supreme Lord has no hatred for anyone. The placing of the asuras,the demons, in the lowest status of life is simply another feature of Hismercy. Sometimes the asuras are killed by the Supreme Lord, but this killing isalso good for them, for in Vedic literature we find that anyone who is killedby the Supreme Lord becomes liberated. There are instances in history of manyasuras--Ravana, Kamsa, Hiranyakasipu--to whom the Lord appeared in variousincarnations just to kill them. Therefore God's mercy is shown to the asuras ifthey are fortunate enough to be killed by Him.

16.21:

tri-vidham narakasyedam dvaram nasanam atmanah
kamah krodhas tatha lobhas tasmad etat trayam tyajet

"There are three gates leading to this hell--lust, anger and greed. Every sane man should give these up, for they lead to the degradation of the soul."

Srimad-Bhagavatam 4.9.10:

ya nirvrtis tanu-bhrtam tava pada-padma- dhyanad bhavaj jana-katha-sravanena va syat
sa brahmani sva-mahimany api natha ma bhut kim tv antakasi-lulitat patatam vimanat

"My Lord, the transcendental bliss derived from meditating upon Your lotus feet or hearing about Your glories from pure devotees is so unlimited that it is far beyond the stage of brahmananda, wherein one thinks himself merged in the impersonal Brahman as one with theSupreme. Since brahmananda is also defeated by the transcendental bliss derivedfrom devotional service, then what to speak of the temporary blissfulness ofelevating oneself to the heavenly planets, which is ended by the separatingsword of time? Although one may be elevated to the heavenly planets, he fallsdown in due course of time."

SB 4.29.29:

kvacit puman kvacic ca stri kvacin nobhayam andha-dhih
devo manusyas tiryag va yatha-karma-gunam bhavah

"Covered by the mode of ignorance in material nature, the living entity is sometimes a male, sometimes a female, sometimes a eunuch, sometimes a human being, sometimes a demigod, sometimes a bird, an animal, and so on. In this way he is wandering within the materialworld. His acceptance of different types of bodies is brought about by hisactivities under the influence of the modes of nature."