“As a person puts on new garments, giving up old ones, similarly, the soul accepts new material bodies, giving up the old and useless ones.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 2.22)

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वासांसि जीर्णानि यथा विहाय
नवानि गृह्णाति नरो ऽपराणि
तथा शरीराणि विहाय जीर्णान्य्
अन्यानि संयाति नवानि देही

vāsāṁsi jīrṇāni yathā vihāya
navāni gṛhṇāti naro ‘parāṇi
tathā śarīrāṇi vihāya jīrṇāny
anyāni saṁyāti navāni dehī

“The science of self-realization makes sense in its presentation of the continuation of life. You get that information right at the start of Bhagavad-gita, that the spirit soul continues to live on. No one can actually kill anyone else.

“The soul is not affected by conditioned life. The confusion relates only to the consciousness, which temporarily falls into illusion. There is a choice in the matter; hence the condition. Nevertheless, the soul is always pure and spotless, above the conditions relating to the material covering.

“That is fine and well, but then you get this added teaching about evolution. You see, it is the soul which supposedly evolves. Not actually a change to the soul, but the individual travels through different species. For one lifetime I am a bird. I might have four arms or two. I might be able to move or remain stationary the entire time.

“The skeptics will insist on evidence. At least with the more popular theory of evolution, they have fossils to use for comparison. You see, the fossils from a certain period of time showed species with only two hands. Then, over time, the species evolved to have feet.

“I know, it sounds ridiculous, but think of it from the perspective of evidence. How can you prove that the soul was in a different species in the past and can inhabit different species in the future?”

How does one species suddenly grow an extra hand? What is the mechanism for the supposed adaptation? If there is evolution of the species, why are not all members part of this evolution? Why do some get left behind? What was the point of failure that prevented a certain subset of species from growing a new hand in the future?

The entire proposal is preposterous. It is the sophistry of a child presented through supposedly credentialed adults. There is no evidence that proves the evolution. There is only guessing. There is only theory. They say that the evidence is there when you study a population over an extended period of time, like thousands of years, but there is still no explanation for the mechanism. Why did one species one day decide to adapt?

The evolution of the spirit soul makes more sense. It is easy to understand, to the extent that we can comprehend the laws of nature. We cannot fathom infinity with respect to the beginning and the end, dealing with time and space, so how can we expect to understand the intricacies of the material energy with respect to its influence on the sparks of spirit known as jiva-brahman?

Shri Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is so kind that He offers different explanations to aid in our understanding. We have the concept of changing clothes. We wear a certain uniform to the office or the schoolhouse. At the end of the day, we take off those clothes and put on something else.

Perhaps people identify us differently based on what we are wearing. At the office we are the head administrator. In the home, we are the spoiled husband who always seems to find a way out of household responsibilities, including taking care of the kids.

The uniform does not determine our identity. In the same way, the gross and subtle elements covering the soul change in nature. Life and death are different moments of association and detachment for that relationship.

देहिनो ऽस्मिन् यथा देहे
कौमारं यौवनं जरा
तथा देहान्तर-प्राप्तिर्
धीरस् तत्र न मुह्यति

dehino ‘smin yathā dehe
kaumāraṁ yauvanaṁ jarā
tathā dehāntara-prāptir
dhīras tatra na muhyati

“As the embodied soul continually passes, in this body, from boyhood to youth to old age, the soul similarly passes into another body at death. The self-realized soul is not bewildered by such a change.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 2.13)

Krishna gives another example. Comparing the changes from boyhood to youth, the same changes continue at the time of death. We already have validation for this evolution. We do not require additional evidence.

Everyone knows that their body has evolved. They are not the same as they were while in the womb. The boyhood form goes away completely. This is evolution. The body has evolved, but the individual inside is the same.

It naturally follows that the individual will remain the same in the future. This concept is easier to believe than the fairytale that a species somehow enhances itself in subsequent generations by developing a different kind of body, through the sudden appearance of an attachment or two. The individual soul, who is helpless to the effects of time, suddenly finds a way to manipulate material nature in a future existence, after death? No sane person would accept this faulty conclusion.

The evolutionary journey of the spirit soul continues until there is a change in consciousness. As soon as the individual wants out, their wish is granted. This means that absent consciousness of the Divine, the life of an animal and the life of a mature human being are really no different. The human birth is thus meant for the revival of the spiritual consciousness, or as His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada puts it, going back to Godhead.

In Closing:

No more illusion to attack,
With goal of going back.

The sophistry to end,
That species an arm to append.

Or that nature dominating so,
Where vitality of spirit to know.

Soul evolving through bodies shifting,
For awakening as human gifting.

Categories: questions

Tags: evolution, hare krishna, poem, poems, poetry, reincarnation, science