- Prev: Re: Abortion is Murder!
- Next: If God is All-Loving why is there Evil?
- Index: The Sudarsana Archive -- Date Index
- Thread: The Sudarsana Archive -- Topic Index
Date Index | Topic Index
Sudarsana Home madhudvisa@krishna.org
gmoore1@umbc.edu (moore geoffrey ( undc)) wrote:
>: species to the next until ultimately they reach the human platform. Up
>: to this point their promotion is automatic, as plants, animals, and
>: viruses don't have any real independence. They are working on the base
>ok, so they don't have any independence.
Animals don't have independence in the sense that they are driven by
instinct. The animal instincts are eating, sleeping, mating and
defense. They can't contemplate the meaning of life... But they have
individuality. They have personal likes and dislikes, they have a
"personality". Everybody knows not all dogs have the same mentality,
they all have their own "personality". The "person" in the dog is more
covered than the "person" in the human body, his consciousness hasn't
developed or "evolved" as much as the consciousness of the "person" in
the human body, but it will gradually develop until he gets a human
body then he becomes responsible for his actions...
>: human consciousness we have a certain amount of free will and a certain
>: amount of independence. With this independence comes responsibility. We
>Wait, is evolution instantaneous? how did it happen, and where did the
>independence come from?
We "the person" are a tiny particle of the "supreme person", so we have
the same qualities as Him, but in a minute quantity. He is supremely
independent and we are minutely independent. The independence is
there in every living being, it's a permanent quality of the soul, but
in bodies below the human form it is covered.
>Surely some small amount must exist
>even for animals, since you speak of evolution and not just existance.
The independence is there in the animals but it is covered. It is even
there in the trees but it is much more covered. The independence is
limited by the body.. How can a "person" in a tree's body express his
independence? -- But he has independence...
>(also promotion requires that the being have the ability to understand why
>it is promoted)
Yes, that is true for the human form. The "evolution" of the soul in
forms lower than human is automatic, but the human form is special. We
have more developed consciousness and therefore more independence and
the resulting responsibility for our actions. We have the ability to
understand these things... That is the real purpose of human life.
>those who aren't promoted die? Why should they die? (they aren't even
>independent, why is your god killing innocent animals?)
No one dies. The soul is eternal. Only the body "dies". But, really,
the body was never "alive" anyhow. It only exhibits the symptoms of
life because the soul is present. When the soul leaves it rots.
dehino 'smin yatha dehe
kaumaram yauvanam jara
tatha dehantara-praptir
dhiras tatra na muhyati
"As the embodied soul continuously passes, in this body, from boyhood
to youth to old age, the soul similarly passes into another body at
death. A sober person ls not bewildered by such a change."
(Bhagavad-gita 2.13)
Thank you. Hare Krishna.
Thank you. Hare Krishna!
Madhudvisa dasa
(madhudvisa@krishna.org) /sudarsana
All glories to His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada!
Sudarsana Home madhudvisa@krishna.org