Inquiries Into the Absolute: Digest 181, Purpose of Transmigration andHuman Form of Life

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Digest 181, August 15th, 2006. Answers by His Holiness Romapada Swami Maharaja

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Purpose of Transmigration and Human Form of Life

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Question: The laws of karma are very complex, but at least we have some

understanding from Srila Prabhupada: there are 8,400,000 forms of life through

which the soul can transmigrate, 400,000 of which are human. In any of those

human forms (if I'm not mistaken), we are permitted the opportunity to

re-establish our dormant relationship with Krishna.

 

But what is the nature and purpose of transmigration through the other

8,000,000 forms of life, a very long process to say the least? Are those

species transmigrating due to their past activities, and how are they becoming

qualified to accept the human form of life once again?

 

Answer: The understanding you have expressed is quite accurate. Yes, the soul

transmigrates due to its past activities and desires. The many varieties of

bodies are created by the Lord to facilitate the variegated, independent

desires of the conditioned soul to enjoy separate from Krishna.

 

The human form of life is the most crucial juncture in this long cycle, where

we are given the opportunity to either conduct our lives in such a way as to

get out of this cycle altogether, or get another material body in any of the

higher or lower species, based on the nature of desires one cultivates in this

life and thinks of at the point of death. The more deeply a human being's

consciousness and activities are engrossed in passion and ignorance, the lower

the life form one will attain in the hierarchy of species. The cycle of

gradual evolution of species from that point onwards resumes.

 

The nature of transmigration in these species, expressed in a very simple

manner, is that that they evolve through progressively higher forms until they

once again reach the human form of life.

 

There is no further generation of karma in these lower species; they are simply

conducted by the instincts of their particular bodies.

 

The purpose of this long process, as I mentioned before, is that each of the

forms of life facilitate and simultaneously ever-so-gradually elevate the

living entity in its evolving trajectory of variegated material desires.

 

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Responses to some very frequently asked questions (Karma, free-will, demigods,

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Jesus Christ, spiritual and material relationships and morality of Lord Krsna's

conjugal pastimes, spiritual master, spirit soul/jiva/living entity):

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