Guest guest Posted March 30, 2005 Report Share Posted March 30, 2005 Is the bacteria kingdom considered part of the 8.4 million species? Are bacteria or microscopic organisms mentioned in the scriptures? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theist Posted March 30, 2005 Report Share Posted March 30, 2005 There is talk of something called the gopa indra germ. But i would doubt anything like the modern scientific model which is attempting to analyize and clasify everything they can lay their microscopes on. My question goes to the literalness of the number itself whic may seem rather small today considering the size of the universe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kulapavana Posted March 30, 2005 Report Share Posted March 30, 2005 the Vedic definition of species is not the same as the current biological science definition of this term. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 30, 2005 Report Share Posted March 30, 2005 Thanks prabhuji /images/graemlins/smile.gif Anyone have more information about the gopa indra germ? Where is this mentioned? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theist Posted March 30, 2005 Report Share Posted March 30, 2005 In the Brahma-samhita there is mention of from the gopa-indra germ up to lord Indra there is birth and death or words to that effect. It was considered the lowest form of biological lifeform. Perhaps Kulapavanna or someone will explain how these classificaions are different. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 30, 2005 Report Share Posted March 30, 2005 "It was considered the lowest form of biological lifeform." so it could be a virus or a prion? Problem is that what we define as life is very narrow minded - even a single atom could be argued to be alive by virtue of the fact that God is there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 31, 2005 Report Share Posted March 31, 2005 this is the number of species, not the number of living entities. 8 million 4 hundred thousand - a small number? count that far and find out how long it takes you. it is much more than you think it is. VdK. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 31, 2005 Report Share Posted March 31, 2005 i think you misunderstood theist - he did actually mean species, not the number of living entities. 8.4 million species, scientifically speaking, is still a small number. Even the species of bacteria and virus on this planet would take up a large percentage of that number - and that doesn't even include the various species of fungi, plant and vertebrate life. And there again that is only THIS planet, what to speak of the entire universe. Biologically, the definition is "If organism A can mate with organism B and produce FERTILE offspring, then A and B are of the same species." The definition of species in the Vedic literature is somewhat different and relates to the actuall concious capacity of the living entity rather than its material consituency - in which case all (biological) species of bacteria are ONE (Vedic) species. In that case, 8.4 million is ENORMOUS. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kulapavana Posted March 31, 2005 Report Share Posted March 31, 2005 "The definition of species in the Vedic literature is somewhat different and relates to the actuall concious capacity of the living entity rather than its material consituency - in which case all (biological) species of bacteria are ONE (Vedic) species." I'm not sure if all biological species of bacteria are one Vedic species - since indra-gopa is listed as a separate species (type of body) and there are tremendous differences in bacteria bodies and living conditions. But it seems obvious, that some very closely related biological species would be seen as one Vedic form of life. Biologically, dogs and wolves can be seen as one species, yet the Vedas clearly make the distincion between these two (perhaps due to their different nature). Similarly, there are 400,000 human species and various human races are seen as different Vedic species. While in Africa, SP made a comment regarding some Bushmen tribes, that they do not belong in these 400,000 human species. I think the 8.4 million number is just a frame of reference, just as the distances between various planetary systems, etc. These numbers give you the proportions of Creation, but taking them literarily is not required. (is it 400,000 exactly or 406,021? - that is irrelevant) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theist Posted March 31, 2005 Report Share Posted March 31, 2005 I think you misunderstood theist - he did actually mean species, ... No I knew that. Still it seems absurdly small. It's a big universe. So maybe there is some other way of classifying things. Either way it is no biggie to me. At one time it may have seen like a big number. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theist Posted March 31, 2005 Report Share Posted March 31, 2005 this is the number of species, not the number of living entities. 8 million 4 hundred thousand - a small number? count that far and find out how long it takes you. it is much more than you think it is. VdK. Yes relative to me it is a big number. But that is just relative to how small I am. It's astounding really. How the more we contemplate such things we rapidly shrink and God rapidly expands before us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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