Вы находитесь на странице: 1из 1

The Spiritual Scientist

An ezine for those who think!

Do Animals Have Soul ?

Question:Doanimalshavesoul?
Answer:Obviously.Thesoulisnotthemonopolyofhumans.
Howcanweknowthepresenceofthesoul?Bytheremarkabledifferenceinthe
behavioroflivingorganismsandnonlivingsystems.Nonlivingsystemshavethreephasestotheir
existence: creation, deterioration and destruction. Living organisms exhibit three more phases:
growth,reproductionandmaintenance.Theseadditionalphases,theVedicscripturesexplain,are
duetothepresenceofthesoul.Andasthesesixchangesareexhibitednotjustbyhumansbut
alsobyanimals,wecansafelyinferthattheytoohavesouls.Thislogicalinferenceconcurswith
theverdictofmanyVedictextsliketheYajurVeda,theBrihadaranyakaUpanishadandthePadma
Purana,
which
describe the souls
journey
through
subhumanbodies.
In fact, this Vedic conclusion is echoed by the scriptures of the Semitic religions. For example,
Genesis1.30declaresthatallcreatures,whetheronland,inthesea,orinthesky,havealiving
soulwithintheirbody.Godusesthewordsnepheshforsoulandchayahforliving,whichare
thesametwowordsusedatotherplacesintheBibletodescribethesoulinhumanbodies.
Then, why do some people think that animals dont have souls? Because they misdiagnose the
causeofhumanspecialness.ThegreatspiritualtraditionswhetherEasternorWesternagree
that among all living beings humans are special: they alone have the developed intellect for
spiritualenquiry.Fromthisuniversalfactofhumanspecialness,somepeoplemakethesectarian
extrapolation that humans alone have souls. However, this extrapolation is invalid because
animalsexhibitthesixphasesthatcharacterizeensouledmatter.Theactualcauseoftheunique
humancapacityforspiritualenquiryisthatthehumanbodycoversthesoulslesserthanananimal
body.TheBhagavadgita(3.38)states:Asfireiscoveredbysmoke,
as a mirror is covered by dust, or as the embryo is covered by the
womb,thelivingentityissimilarlycoveredbydifferentdegrees.In
this enigmatic verse, the smokecovered fire refers to the soul
coveredbyahumanbody,thedustcoveredmirrorreferstothesoul
coveredbyananimalbodyandthewombcoveredembryorefersto
the soul covered by a plant body. Just as smoke, dust and embryo
are progressively thicker coverings; human body, animal body and
plant body are progressively thicker coverings on the soul. Thats
why,thoughthesoulinanimalsandhumansisofthesamekind,we
humans alone can express the souls innate search for spirituality.
Therefore, lets begin expressing it by acknowledging the latent
spiritualityofouryoungerbrothersandsistersintheanimalworld.
Z
Published by VOICE (Vedic Oasis for Inspiration, Culture and Education)
ISKCON (International Society for Krishna Consciousness), Pune, India

Page 1 of 1

Вам также может понравиться