Science

Published on March 31st, 2023 | by Madhudvisa dasa

83

The Scientific Theory of the Soul

The Soul Theory opens up a vast field for research and study based on the scientific method. It opens up the areas of past-life-recall and out-of-body experiences to rigorous scientific research and it also enables science to study all manner of previously unexplained phoneme from a new angle.

INTRODUCTION

The intention of this paper is to put forward a scientific theory stated according to the currently accepted “scientific method” which provides a verifiable and falsifiable theory establishing the existence of an eternal spiritual particle present within every living entity. The symptom of the presence of the soul in a body is consciousness. This scientific theory makes predictions and can be tested experimentally.

DEFINITION OF THE “SOUL THEORY”

The “soul” is defined as a non-material, eternal spiritual entity present within any living being. The symptom of the presence of the soul within a body is consciousness. The soul continues to exist after the destruction of the body and it existed prior to the creation of the body. The material body develops, changes and produces by-products [offspring] because of the presence of the soul within. The material body deteriorates in due cause of time and when it is no longer a suitable residence for the soul it is forced to leave the body. This we call death.

IS THE “SOUL THEORY” RELIGIOUS

The “Soul Theory” stands completely on its own. It says nothing about the existence or nonexistent of God. Although most religious people accept the concept of something other than matter that continues to exist after death and caries the person on to another life there are also atheists who accept such an entity exists. In India there are both theistic and atheistic philosophies accepting the presence of the soul. It is a compelling and convincing explanation of many things we experience.

THE “SOUL THEORY” EXPLAINED

There exists, within this material universe, three types of energy: gross material, subtle material and spiritual. The gross material energy consists of earth, water, fire, air and ether [defined as the “space” within the universe]. The subtle material energy consists of mind, intelligence and false-ego [defined as the identification of the body as the self]. The spiritual energy consists of the soul [the individual living entities] and the supersoul

The presence of the soul in any living entity is indicated by consciousness. Although we cannot actually see the soul, we can see its symptoms. We cannot “see” electricity but when we see an illuminated light-globe we can see the symptom of the presence of electricity. Similarly when we see consciousness we see the symptom of the soul.

Any material body inhabited by a soul will undergo changes. It will be created, it will grow, it will produce by-products [offspring], it will dwindle and ultimately it will die.

DEFINITIONS OF TERMS USED

The Soul:
A spiritual particle present within any living entity whose presence causes the entire body to be pervaded by consciousness, the symptom of the soul. The soul is eternal, it has no birth and it never dies. The soul is the “person within the body”, or “the ghost in the machine”. At the time of “death” the soul leaves the body and is transferred to the womb of it’s next mother’s womb according to it’s accumulated “karma”.

Any material body inhabited by a soul will undergo changes. It will be created, it will grow, it will produce by-products [offspring], it will dwindle and ultimately it will die.

Karma:
Karma means literally “actions”. It is described by the physical law that each action has an equal and opposite reaction. This universal law is not limited to physical actions, it works for any action. If we commit violence against another the reactions generated and we must experience violence upon ourselves in the future. This “karma” or the reactions to our actions is not immediate. The karma is stored in our hearts and it will mature and fructify in due course. If at the time of death there are still karmic reactions stored within the heart which we have not yet experienced then we have to take birth again in the material world in a body suitable to enjoy and suffer the stored karma.

Ether:
The space within the universe.

False-Ego:
The “ego” is the identity of the soul. In reality the soul is a spiritual person possessing an eternal spiritual body full of knowledge and ever increasing bliss. However, because of misusing their independence the souls in the material world misidentify with the material body. They think, “I am an American man”, or “I am an Australian women”. But such identification is false. We are only temporarily in a particular body. It is for seventy or eight years only, then we have to change bodies again. Our next body may be completely different. There is no guarantee someone who now has an “American” body will be again born as an American. There is not even a guarantee of birth in the human form. One can take birth in any species of life. So this identification with the material body is “false ego”.

EXISTENCE PROOF

Life or consciousness is the symptom of the soul. There is no other explanation of consciousness available. No one has been able to show life, consciousness can be generated from matter. And there are many inconsistencies which cannot be explained within the present framework, without considering the existence of the soul. Although there are very clear indications that valid scientific data could be collected on areas such as out-of-body experiences and past-life-recall because the current scientific theories don’t accommodate the possibility these things could exist there has been very little real scientific study in these areas.

There is a large body of data relating to out-of-body experiences. Currently science cannot relate to or study this body of evidence as the current scientific view cannot accommodate the possibility of a “person” being able to leave their body and observe what is happening to their body from a different perspective. A large body of evidence is certainly there and it requires scientific study and the “Soul Theory” will enable this. Unless there are two separate entities, the body and the soul, out-of-body experiences would be impossible. But it seems they are not. This is compelling proof of the existence of the soul.

There are many verifiable accounts of “past life experiences”. This is another area currently outside the boundaries of science but it could be studied in terms of the “Soul Theory”. If there was no soul, no entity that continued from one life to the next, there could be no memory of “past lives”. Another strong proof of the existence of the soul.

EXPERIMENTAL PROOF FOR THE “SOUL THEORY”

The “Soul Theory” makes many predictions that can be experimentally tested and also one can propose experiments which, if successfully carried out, could disprove it. So it is a theory suitable fro study using the currently accepted “scientific method”.

  • Predicts out of body experiences are possible
  • Predicts past life recollection is possible
  • Predicts “unembodied” souls are possible
  • Predicts life cannot be produced from a combination of chemicals

“Unless there is a soul present within matter it will not go through the cycle of birth, growth, production of by-products, dwindling and death. This cycle is a symptom of the presence of the soul. The soul is placed within matter by other living entities and then develops.”

Proof: Analytically study all living entities and confirm that all living entities are caused, or born from “parents”, other living entities.

Falsify: Show life can be created from matter only [a chemical mixture of earth, water, fire, air and ether.] Then show the resulting combination of matter can exhibit the symptoms of life [growth, changing, production of by-products dwindling and vanishing.]

“The soul is placed within matter by another living entity then a material body is developed around the soul from matter.”

Proof: Analytically study living entities to confirm their source is another living entity.

Falsify: Show living entities can be produced by a combination of chemicals. The resulting living entities must be able to exhibit the symptoms of the presence of the soul, ie: consciousness, and undergo the transformations of growth, change, production of by-products [offspring], dwindling and death.

FUTURE WORK

The “Soul Theory” opens up a vast field for research and study based on the scientific method. It opens up the areas of past-life-recall and out-of-body experiences to rigorous scientific research and it also enables science to study all manner of previously unexplained phoneme from a new angle.

REFERENCES

The science of the soul is described in the Bhagavad-gita, the timeless jewel from the Indian Vedic texts. A full understanding can be gained from this source.

Extensive data and documentation is available in the areas of past-life-recall and out-of-body experiences which could form the basis of much scientific research work. The “Soul Theory” will also enable many rigorous scientific studies to be carried out in this area to produce more conclusive data and clarify the interactions of the soul and matter.


About the Author

My first contact with a Hare Krishna was a most merciful Mataji in Oxford Street, London who sold me a "Higher Taste" cook book in 1984 while I was on holidays there. I started seriously reading Srila Prabhupada's books in Australia 1985 and by 1986 Srila Prabhupada had convinced me "Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead" and "we should surrender to Krishna." I joined the Hare Krishnas in Perth, Western Australia in 1986. Since then I have been chanting Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare, reading and distributing Srila Prabhupada's books and preaching as much as I can. That's my life and full-time occupation now really. I like it more than anything I've ever experienced before. Srila Prabhupada's books are so amazing... Even after reading them all many times they're still fresh and new. They are truly transcendental! That's it really. Now I'm just hankering to once again see the world chant Hare Krishna, dance and feast and float away in the ecstasy of Lord Caitanya's Sankirtana movement as it did in Srila Prabhupada's physical presence. Let the whole world drown in the ecstatic flood of love of Krishna!



83 Responses to The Scientific Theory of the Soul

  1. Ajay Ganesan says:

    Hi,
    I have a little confusion. Does the soul have its own mind and intelligence which is dormant apart from subtle body’s mind and intelligence?
    if yes,
    In the comment section you have mentioned after death the subtle body’s mind, intelligence, false ego is carried to the next body along with soul. But when the soul reaches spiritual world what happens to its mind, intelligence that was with the soul so many births in this material world?…Is it like the material world’s mind and intelligence gets deleted and soul’s own mind and intelligence gets activated as it now became fully god conscious.

    • Yes, of course, soul has spiritual intelligence. But material mind and intelligence is subtle and carries the soul from one body to another in the material world but, like the material body, is discarded when the soul goes back home, back to Godhead.

      Subtle body [mind, intelligence, false ego] is what carries the soul from one body to the next in the material world.

  2. Samir says:

    Hare Krishna!

    When a soul enters a body is consciousness the soul? Are our thoughts, intelligence , touch, hearing, taste etc controlled by the soul, though limited by the body? Is it through more knowledge, praying, service that we remove the dust of our ego and find our true self? And this depends on the body that we enter, as mind and intelligence may not be enough to identify and learn our true self?

    When we leave the body, do we take all that we have learnt and experienced? Is the soul ever learning until we reach the abode of Krishna? or is it already full of knowledge and already happy a constant that needs no more but to only to untangle itself from maya?

    Thank you!
    Samir

    • Hare Krsihna Samir

      Consciousness is not the soul, consciousness is the symptom of the presence of the soul. Our original consciousness, Krishna consciousness is covered by first the subtle body of mind, intelligence and ego, then to gross body of earth, water, fire and ether. We tend to identify with our gross material body and our subtle mind, intelligence and ego, thus forgetting our original eternal nature as spiritual beings, servants of Krishna.

      When we leave on material body the subtle body of mind, intelligence and ego carry us to our next body. So when we take birth again in our next body our previous mind, intelligence and ego are still with us.

      If, however, at the time of death can remember Krishna then we do not have to take another material body but can do directly back home back to Godhead and reinstate ourselves in our eternal position as servants of Krishna.

      Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!

      Madhudvisa dasa

  3. ROSALIN PANDA says:

    I want to know about my pastlife

    • There is nothing you can do about your past life, there is no point in knowing about it. You can’t change it.

      But you can change your future life. That should be your interest, how to become Krishna consciousness and go back home, back to Godhead…

  4. Aman says:

    Hare Krishna Prabhu
    Please accept my humble obeisances
    All glories to Srila Prabhupada!

    When a devotee is suffering from some disease should he try to ignore it and let the past bad karna get burned up? If he gets cured by medicine he will again suffer with the remaining bad karma that was not burned up because of taking the medicine?

    • There is saying about disease and debt should not be ignored. So you have to use common sense on these things. Krishna has given us a brain so we should use it. If your leg is infected and becoming blue and septic and you just leave it and wait for it to fall off that will be no good because how will you dance ecstatically in the Kirtan on only one leg?

  5. Ian says:

    Very fascinating lesson. Namaste to you.

  6. Anthony Gajadhar says:

    Many things that you have said I agree with you, though I have not read all the book, the only thing is that you mentioned, is that the thoughts or actions of man is stored in the heart, actually, they are stored in the unconscious mind, the unconscious mind is between the body and soul, when the body dies, unconsciousness stays with the soul, and from there where we are judged.

    Anthony Gajadhar

    • Anthony gajadhar says:

      The unconscious is where all past things are stored ( sorry I did not say that all things are stored in the heart, if stated, it is a typographical error) this is part of the physical man that is closest to soul

  7. Jim says:

    Sorry for my english and grammar, I have no time to go though this text, it would takes hours, as I always have to correct, change or add words and sentences. I’m not good at construct text in a methodical way. I don’t know if you would be able to identify all the true authentic feelings that are located below the words veil. Some words or sentences may be loaded with wrong authentic feelings due to my imperfections as a human to interpreted the words real meaning and to construct the sentences with match the feelings I want to deliver. I always have to struggle with the language and it is also my biggest weakness, but instead I have developed other qualities which I’ve always priorities before other things like language. I’m also from Sweden and learned my english 2006 by self education, mostly by using google translate.

    I think Krishna works in a similar way as our brain works for our will and consciousness (as I call the soul which I define has its origin in time=0, with other words, the infinite present.)

    As a soul we have our own complete wholeness and with a tool like a brain we can divide this wholeness in pieces and store the pieces as memories in the brain.

    Now, the soul and the brain is not equal to 1, it is equal to separation from eachother, which mean the soul has its own place and the brain its own.

    One property the consciousness has is the ability to merge temporarily with brains finial outcomes. What I mean is when you demand something that you know the brain is able to make, the brain is (cooking) calculates that particular demand and sending it back to consciousness for your consciousness to merge with it and to be aware of. It can be pictures, feelings (not the feelings derives from your soul that you instantly creates in the infinite time=0), taste, inner voice as speech, ect.

    But for instance, if you don’t ask the brain to bring, for example, a past memory visual, then that visual will stay in the darkness as a memory in the brain so it can’t reach the consciousness. It is still there, but hidden until you want it to reveal it self by sending that particular feeling energy (that derives from time=0) which contains the information and the address, for the brain to analyze the data, transform the energy so it can be executable for the brain, which in turn takes the transformed information further to its destination. When it has arrived, that part of the brain reads the blueprint (information), and build it according to the information the soul from the beginning wanted it to be constructed, and after that part of the brain is done with the construction it sends the final output back to the consciousness for the consciousness to experience that particular desire.

    And this is happening in real time with a very small time delay. It’s like a constant flow going from the soul (time=0), to the brain and back to the soul (consciousness). The soul is experiencing always time=0 (present) at the same time it experience the final output data the brain sends back to the soul, but there is a delay between which we are not conscious about and that is due to the brain which is separated from us.

    The brains duty is to constantly send various energies according to souls desire, it has also the duty to send constant stream of energies (information) which coming from the out side world, outside our bodies, that constantly hits our senses, more or less, so we as soul can have the ability to experience even more things; like enjoying energies we may attract too, after they have been discovered, or even go crazy with other energies which can put the soul in disharmony; we may be able to manipulate the energies according to our desires, with the help of the brain that holds the memories of our past experiences with the energies.

    What I wanted to say in the beginning about God is; as we can chose to make visualization appear from the darkness at will, God would be able at will to appear from the darkness too. The whole universe may be hidden for us, it appears to be completely dark. The soul has its own wholeness, its own universe where we can lit up and reveal infinite different forms of our selves. We can choose to be what ever we want within the boundaries the brain has, but still it has its limitation one can create infinitely different forms.

    As the brain is a separated part from our soul, then we can confirm that whatever the brain gives you, whether it is senses experiences, different suitable forms which makes you appear as something, ect; it is still separated from the soul. No brain = no disguise for the soul. The brain is something we have been borrowing and has to be given back and you’re not allowed to keep anything that you’ve collected from the material world, whether it is visual memories or things that surround your body.

    What are all these energies that we can’t keep? I think it’s God himself. We as conscious beings just have been given the ability to merge with some of God’s energies so we could experiences a sense of being one with it, to feel no separation when it comes in contact with our consciousness, and when we have that feeling of being one with things we falsely thinks this is a part of me because we cannot feel that we are separated from it.

    Why God gives of this false idea making us believe we are the body in our consciousness? Maybe he wants us to be able to do things according to our desires which we constantly have within the core of the soul. As we are not able to create vehicles to our soul to merge and being one with by will, a higher authority has to do it for us and he gives us according to our wishes, we don’t need to build, it’s already constructed for us to jump in and use. We cannot build a brain from ground up and then jump inside, it’s impossible, an outer authority has to do it. As a consciousness devoid from the brain, we don’t know nothing, can’t do nothing, we have to be depended on the energies that surround our consciousness, it does not belong to us but if its God’s wish we can experience them, use them to understand a little bit what God is, but when the energies hid them self we are not fortune to understand anything but our own consciousness devoid from the whole external existent which is God him self, inclusive your own consciousness (soul). So it is God’s will if he wants to feed our consciousness with would reveal his true form, or a part of it, or only a few energies. But when he reveals his energies we imminently becomes one with it so there is no difference between your soul or God’s form, or more or less the energies he choose for you to experience, but still there is a separation and you know it only when the energies leaves your consciousness. The depth sensation and the various objects we see scattered all over in our the space and time experience, we can somehow feel that we are separated from it, but in fact we are not, the consciousness frame where the experience is held gives you the whole experience as one in the constant time=0, you have merge with all the objects you see visually at the same time, it temporarily became a part of your self, there is no actual depth, it is a flat experience like a computer monitor which creates 3d worlds.

    God is here and everywhere, for years I’ve been studying his creation, which partly is God himself, within the limitation according to what God wants to reveal for my consciousness.

    He has witnessing all the action I’ve made so far and will continue with that after I send this message. I’m aware of him hiding his true form from my consciousness. I am nothing, he is everything. I’m infinite small, then how I can defeat someone who is big as everything that can exist in this infinite big wholeness. I would permanently offer my past memories and the material existence, only to permanently be there and see his true form, similar to what I did when I merged and became one with this spiritual effulgence aka brahman?

  8. Gulshan says:

    In SB certain demons like Sukracarya had the power to bring dead people(eg Bali) back to life.How was this art done? Can modern scientists also learn this art?

    • Hare Krishna Gulshan

      Yes. Modern science can restart the heart of someone who has died in some cases and sometimes the soul will come back in the body.

      The thing is the body is a machine and it is a mechanical thing. So if the body becomes unfit for the residence of the soul it is forced to leave the body. But if the body can be repaired then very often of course the soul is very attached to the material body so he may reenter it.

      You know there are three bodies. The gross body made of earth, water, air, fire and ether; the subtle body made of mind, intelligence and ego; and the actual spirit soul with its spiritual body. So we are actually the spirit soul with a spiritual body. But in the material world we are covered by the subtle and gross material bodies. So death means the subtle body and soul leave the gross body. So if the soul is still hanging around and the gross body machine can be repaired and made functional again the soul may, because of being overly attached to the gross body, reenter the body.

      But if the soul has gone, like gone back home back to Godhead, or gone to Hell, then there is nothing anyone can do to bring life back to the body.

      The body has no life. The soul is the life. So once the soul leaves the body it is lifeless and there is nothing anyone can do to bring life back.

      Only if the spirit soul reenters the body is it possible for the life to return.

      Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!

      Madhudvisa dasa

  9. Josephine Gordon says:

    Dear sir
    My name is Josephine gordon
    I live in Ireland and here we have over 400thousand people who suffer mental illness
    I am trying to write a book In order to help people
    I would greatly appreciate your kind assistance and permissions to quote from your works and the gita
    Thankfully Josephine gordon

    • Hare Krishna

      If you are writing a book you are allowed to quote from other books in your book as long as you acknowledge the source of the quotations which is generally done in a bibliography at the end of the book.

      So you don’t need my permission to quote from my works or the Gita. Just quote and write the source in the bibliography of your book.

  10. Rahul says:

    Hare krishan
    Sir i wanna know that after my soul leaves material body and goes to Krishna will i (soul) will remember my all births ? and sir i am really sceared of loosing my memories and consciousness after Death…will i looses them or i wil get the feeling that i am dead and taken away with the power of karma

    All i want to know is that will i remember my i diviual self and all the births and my consiousness after i die…kindly reply me sir i am really scared…
    And how will i feel when i reach the kingdom of krishna ?

    Hare krishna hare krishna
    karishna krihsna
    Hare hare hare rama hare
    rama rama rama hare hare…

    I want this reply from Mr.dasa

    • Hare Krishna Rahul

      Yes. After your soul leaves your body you will still have your identity. We have three bodies, the gross body made of earth, water, fire, air and ether, then we have the subtle body made of mind, intelligence and false ego, these two bodies are temporary coverings of our eternal spiritual soul. So when you leave your gross material body your soul is carried to the next body within your subtle body of mind, intelligence and false ego. So your identity is leaving with your soul at the time of death. So you will still remember everything that you remember now. There is no death. You will never get the feeling of being dead. Sleeping yes. But never dead. The soul never dies. So you will never get the feeling of death.

      You will always have your identity and will always be conscious of your individual self. If you take birth in the material world again you will still have your memories of your past lives, etc, in your mother’s womb, but the time of birth is very traumatic and once you take birth you will forget about all your previous lives.

      That is the mercy of maya. If we could remember that we have taken birth and suffered old age, disease and death so many times before, then we would not be very enthusiastic to do it all again. So maya makes us forget…

      As far as how you will feel when you reach the kingdom of Krishna why not go there and find out for yourself. You can go there by constantly chanting:

      Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
      Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare

      and at the same time strictly follow the four regulative principles: no illicit sex, no meat eating, no gambling and no intoxication and read Srila Prabhupada’s books at least 1-2 hours a day.

  11. Man singh says:

    Dear sir,

    The “soul theory” can be possible through Technology of Consciousness to connect Soul and material.
    Thanks and warm Regards.

  12. abhiram says:

    Can u please tell me how soul never changes prabhu please. Hare Krishna

    • ashis ranjan gouda says:

      dear sir,
      i have a question regarding soul transfer. suppose a soul from a body of a man tranfers after its natural death to a zygote located at new york, how will it travel and how much time it will need and what is the path it will traverse or simply it will jump.

      • Hare Krishna

        The spirit soul leaves the gross material body at the time of death and it is carried by the subtle material body which is composed of mind, intelligence and false ego. So when to soul leaves at the time of death it is not that it is just the spirit soul. It is covered by the subtle material body. That is what a ghost is. A soul with a subtle material body. So it can travel more easily of course than we can travel in the material body.

        But there is direction. It is not that the soul can just go wherever he wants and take birth there. No. He is carried by the force of his karma. Yamaraja takes charge of the sinful living entities after their death and punishes them in the hellish planets according to what they deserve because of the sinful activities they have committed during their life. So it is not that a sinful man will immediately take birth again. No. At the time of his death the Yamaduttas, the order carriers of Lord Yamaraja, the Lord Of Death, will come and they will drag him down to the hellish planets and he will have to suffer there for a long time. And when his suffering in the hellish planets is finished then he may get a chance to take birth again in the middle planets.

        So it all depends on the particular living entity and what his karma is. But there is a superior power controlling the movements of the spirit souls after death and it is this superior power that places them in the wombs of their next mother according to their karma.

        To understand these things fully please read Srila Prabhupada’s books.

        Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!

        Madhudvisa dasa

        • ashis ranjan gouda says:

          Hare Krishna
          What is HELL and HEAVEN. Are these just concepts or physically realisable ? If really HEAVEN and HELL exist, where are these? Are these in Earth or in some other planet.

          Does Yumraj really exist or it is only in stories to frighten men not to do evil?

          Do GHOSTs really exist? If GHOST is Subtle material body +Spirit Soul, can we realise it(him) ?

          • Hare Krishna Ashis

            Hell is real, heaven is real, Yamaraja [the Lord of Death] is real, Ghosts are real. It is all real and to explain it all here would take too long. It is all described in Srila Prabhupada’s books perfectly. PLEASE READ THEM…

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  14. suresh sukumaran says:

    Eternal All Pervasive Soul is beyond our 5 senses. So this intangibility, should be accessed with Tapas & meditativeness of a pure and one pointed Mind .

  15. Jo says:

    when we say that souls exist in all living things, does that also pertain to things such as grass, rain, trees? is the wind alive?

    can a soul be misplaced? are some souls just incompatible with some forms? so say, can a soul be too quiet to exist as a human? is that why some humans are so uncontent or misplaced in their existences?

    thank you.

    • Hare Krishna Jo

      Souls are everywhere in various states of consciousness. It is the material body that allows the soul to interact with the material world and a soul gets a particular type of material body according to his consciousness. There are certainly souls in plants like grass and trees. The living force is the soul and the plants have living force so they have souls.

      In the material world there are two things, the dead material elements and the living souls. It is the living spirit souls that animate the dead material elements and give the illusion they are ‘living’.

      Actually our material bodies are dead. They are made of the same inert material elements that dead material things are made from. Our bodies only appear ‘alive’ because of the presence of the spirit soul and when the spirit soul leaves the material body then we see the real nature of the material body. Dead.

      Soul fall down in the rain. The rain is controlled by a demigod, Indra. But the actual water itself is a material element. Earth, water, fire, air and ether are ‘dead’ material elements that exist in this material world.

      Souls are not ‘misplaced’. The souls are placed in a certain type of material body, in a certain situation, because of their previous work or karma. The human form is the most evolved form, at least on this planet, that the soul can take. So the soul’s consciousness has to be elevated to the level of human consciousness before he can take birth in a human body. The soul is given a body according to his consciousness. So if the consciousness is low then he will get a low body, like the grass for example. But if his consciousness is more elevated he can take birth as an animal with more ability to interact with the material world than the grass, and ultimately when his consciousness is elevated enough he can take the human form of body.

      So you see the souls are undergoing a process of evolution of consciousness. Darwin was wrong but had the right idea to some extent. There is evolution going on but it is the souls who are evolving their consciousness and thus transmigrating through a series of various different material bodies.

      It is not that the material bodies are evolving into different material bodies. The number of species, 8,400,000, is fixed. These different species exist eternally. Even when the whole universe is apparently destroyed the blueprint for these 8,400,000 species continues to exist on a more subtle platform so when there is another creation the exact same animals and plants and fish and human species will come out again.

      So the species do not evolve. There are no intermediate steps where one species evolves into another species. This is a mistaken idea. The species exist eternally and a certain soul is given a certain type of body according to that souls current evolution of consciousness.

      Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!

      Madhudvisa dasa

      • Gary near NYC says:

        Being someone unaware of Krishna, I stumbled upon your article while searching for on-line content about the human soul. I am fascinated. Naturally, I would want this to be reality. Ending at the death of the body would be such a horrible tragedy, that our lives would be meaningless outside the context of those whose lives we touch. That all we learn would be for naught. I cannot subscribe to the major religions that have been fabricated by man, masquerading as the “one truth”… they all cannot be, and it seems far too illogical for a true Creator of the universe to allow for such chaos in the human condition… the tremendous waste of time and lives. I am trying to keep an open mind and will explore this Soul Theory. Thank you for posting.

        • Hare Krishna Gary

          Yes. Certainly we are not these temporary material bodies. We existed prior to accepting this body and we continue to exist after leaving this current body. We are changing bodies like we change clothes. Just because we put on a different set of clothes does not mean that we have changed. No we are the same eternal spirit soul changing through a series of different bodies.

          I suggest you read Srila Prabhupada’s Bhagavad-gita As It Is:

          http://krishnastore.com/bhagavad-gita-as-it-is-with-bonus-dvd-h-krishna-407.html

          http://asitis.com

          You will find the science of the soul is explained there in much greater detail along with many other very interesting spiritual topics.

          Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!

          Madhudvisa dasa

  16. manoj bansal says:

    Full of knowledge

  17. pranathi sweety says:

    Do u think does soul exist??????

  18. Mandar says:

    It is always DEGREE OF CONSCIOUSNESS. It matters. It doesn’t matter whether you call it soul, atma, quantum, etc.. Truth is, you can’t call it anything . It’s a proof in itself. It has to be experienced by itself.

    Only thing you can do. Chant Maha-mantra properly, read Swami Prabhupada’s books, perform your worldy duties by being unattached and when death comes…remember Krishna. That’s all.

    In the meantime, chant hare krishna and be happy !

  19. Kyl San says:

    The soul is in fact a primitive difinition Put forth by early man To describe an our inner thoughts and “conciousness”. Biologically this conciousness stems from the Impulses that occur within our nervous System which happens due To the Transfer of electrons through Nerves. This Transfer triggers biological reactions such As that which allows sight, touch, hearing, movement, taste and a combination of any of those. Our thoughts Are the brains (central nervous System) way of internally giving US a “view” of perticulär ideas it Uses Past recollections based On our senses To construct an internal Image of something that we May Not actually be sensing At that Point in Time. Our conciousness is also a product of this nervous reaction where the Impulses created triggers recollection of Words and language and Past experiences of These things that allows US To Put together answers Or questions “Inside our Head” without actually vocalizing Them. This also address Past life and out of Body experiances. Monks and Sages Are master chemists who take Herbs that Alter brain activities. This makes Them “ästal project” and recall “Past life experiences” in a more profound Männer.
    If u understand how These processes Work u would then understand the concept of the soul and all the proof u have of it isnt accurate although i believe in external forces which i look For Hard evidence of i would dispell current and all aforementioned Theories of the soul if i See a more accurate explanation that is in fact testable in some way.
    The soul As many describe is an eternal entity existing outside the Material World. Very similar To Energies such As Anti matter, dark matter and Sub atomic forces.
    The Talk of reincarnation is also True in some aspect As “Matter isnt destroyed but changed” this means that matter(that makes Up living things) would have previously been Part of another Organism. As they die their physical make Up is decomposed which is where matter is changed some released Into The Air, soil, bacteria and Water. This undoubtly finds its way Bäck Into other organisms such. For example a plant absorbs nutrients from The soil which was previously a Part of another Organism, The plant Uses These molecules and Atoms To create their food source and energy which is consumed by other Organisms so this is a “circle of life” basically. This is only a Brief Point of view from a biological stand point any more would be too lengthly but consider There Are also sociological and psychological aspects To These things so ask away 😉

    • madhudvisa says:

      Nonsense Kyl

      The soul is the life-force. Matter is a separate thing alltoghether. The matter can only exhibit the symptoms of life if the soul is present.

      If you believe that consciousness, life is just the result of chemical reactions as you have described here then prove it. Create life from chemicals.

      But you can not. Because life does not come from chemicals. Life is a different thing alltogether…

      Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!

      Madhudvisa dasa

  20. Otto Krog says:

    I think that consciousness is in the form of anti-energy. Antimatter is the tiny bit of anti-energy we observe in the physical universe. The anti-energy is located in separate parallel mental universes.

    • Maybe. It could be described like that. The energy of Krishna consciousness is certainly the opposite of the material energy. Actually Srila Prabhupada has put forward this idea in his book Easy Journey to other Planets:

      http://prabhupadabooks.com/ej

      You might like to read this. Especially the chapter entitled “Antimaterial Worlds”

      Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!

      Madhudvisa dasa

  21. fishnman1973 says:

    A abay is born and becomes concious he/she is alive. Here we are in the world all the sudden who am I? Could have been a human, a fish, a dog, or something with no concious like a tree. So its the conciousness, not living matter so this could exist in an artificial brain capable of producing conciousness. That conciousness is for one body or whatever. Once the lights go out for me forever, will I reapper again? Just becoming into the world seemed to be a random act. No way for me to remember if I was ever on this world or another, a different time, or a different creature before.

    • You are an eternal spirit soul. You can take birth in any one of the 8,400,000 species of life. Trees are conscious, but their consciousness is very covered and very dull. Your existence is continual. Whatever consciousness you have at the time of death will determine your next birth. It is not at all random. Your consciousness will carry you to your next body. So if you are in animal consciousness at the time of death, only concerned about eating, sleeping, mating and defending, then your next body will be an animal body. If you are Krishna conscious at the time of death and you remember Krishna then you can go to the spiritual world, back home, back to Godhead, and live there eternally in a youthful spiritual body full of unending and ever-increasing transcendental bliss and full of knowledge and be engaged perpetually in the ecstatic service of Krishna in the association of the other devotees of Krishna there. It is better to think of Krishna at the time of death…

      Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!

      Madhudvisa dasa

  22. Taran Randhawa says:

    Hey All,

    I believe that we all humans are part of a game. Irrespective of existence of soul or not, one cannot eacape the fate. Consider ourselves as the characters of a game and the creator chooses who to be villain and who to be hero irrespective of our karmas

  23. truthseeker5 says:

    How can someone even say that the soul is eternal when it hasn’t even been proven by science and something material wouldn’t know of the existence of non-material entities because something non-material wouldn’t be able to be seen by material beings.

    • Someone can say the soul is eternal if he has learned that knowledge from a perfect authority. If you hear some scientific knowledge from an expert person, like for example water is H2O, two molecules of hydrogen and on molecule of water, then actually you have no idea, you have no way of testing this for yourself, but you accept the knowledge because the person who gives you this knowledge is an authority and he knows. So you can then say water is H2O and you will be correct, you have the real knowledge.

      So if you hear that there is an eternal soul from a bona fide spiritual authority who knows the constitution of the body and the soul then you get the real, perfect knowledge. This is the only way to get real knowledge, you have to find a perfect person, a pure devotee, and hear the knowledge from him…

      Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!

      Madhudvisa dasa

  24. Thank you for the information presented.
    We all need to pay closer attention to what gives meaning to our being alive.

    I do have a few questions. Can Soul Theory explain:

    1- How can one soul confess to having Over-Lapping past life experiences, as it is done under hypnosis?
    2- As the population of man is increasing, where do the extra souls come from?
    3- What is the difference between “soul” and “spirit”?
    4- What is the difference between states of Dreaming, Coma and Seizure?

    Thank you again for having such a site for this kind of meaningful information exchange.

    Take care and may everyone have a pleasant day.
    Bahram Esmailzadeh

    • Hare Krishna Bahram

      We do not have overlapping lives. We are an individual soul and except for some very rare cases of some great yogis and mystics we are only in one place at any point in time. So there are not overlapping past lives. People can say any crazy things under hypnosis, we don’t have to believe that craziness.

      The population of man is increasing. The extra souls can come from many places. There are three animals who take their next birth as humans: monkeys, lions and cows and we are in a very gigantic universe and there are many other planets with intelligent human begins on them and they can also take birth on any other planet at the time of death. And our universe is only like one mustard seed in a big bag of mustard seeds. So there are so many other universes and people from those other universes can also take birth in this universe. And there are also souls falling down from the brahmajoyti, so there is really no shortage of spirit souls. There are unlimited spirit souls. There is Krishna and a spirit soul present within every atom even. So there is absolutely no shortage of souls whatsoever…

      Soul refers to the entity referred to as the atma in the Sanskrit language. Spirit is more generic I guess.

      as far as your fourth question I wonder why you are asking such questions?

      Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!

      Madhudvisa dasa

      • Abed Fleifel says:

        wait a second , lions , monkeys and cows become humans ? are you really serious ? lol .

        so if i eat a cow , which i do everyday , im eating a human being .

        do u expect anyone to believe what you have just said and then you want to talk science , after saying we were cows , lions and monkey ????????

        if that is so , i believe that fat people were elephants !

        • There is an evolution of consciousness through the different species of life and there are three modes of material nature and there are three animals in this natural evolutionary series who will take their next birth as humans. And that would be cows, lions and monkeys. Not elephants…. Their next birth is not human.

          This is a science, the science of the transmigration of the soul.

          And yes. You have realized correctly, you should not be eating cows. We should not unnecessarily commit violence upon other living entities. It is true, jivo jivasya jivanam, “every living entity lives by eating another living entity.” This is the law of nature, but for civilized human beings the allotted food is fruits, vegetables, milk products and grains. We can live very happily and be very satisfied with this sort of diet which is very suited to nourish the human body perfectly.

          Of course the living entity who is now an elephant can also become a human being later on, but not in the next life generally. If you understand just this one point you will have made a great advancement in spiritual knowledge. We are all spirit souls. We are living in a particular body at the moment because of our actions in previous lives and we will be placed in a different body after the death of this body according to our consciousness at the time of death.

          So if you think of an elephant at the time of death you too can become an elephant…

          You can take on any body. It depends on your consciousness. You get a body that matches your consciousness..

          Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!

          Madhudvisa dasa

  25. Mithun says:

    Can you people kindly say what happen to the soul after we die?

    • Hi.

      The soul is eternal, it does not die and it is not born. So there is no death for the soul. Only the material body becomes an unfit place for the soul to stay so it is forced to leave that material body and then that body appears to ‘die’. But the body was never living at all. It is only because of the presence of the spirit soul within the body that it appears to be ‘alive’ and when the soul leaves the material body it shows it real feature as ‘dead…’

      So the soul is transferred to another body according to the consciousness of the person at the time of death. So it is your consciousness at the time of death that will cause your soul to travel to a particular body next…

      Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!

      Madhudvisa dasa

      • az says:

        If the soul cannot die and cannot be born, does that mean there have always been the same amount of souls on earth? And if every human being has a soul, then how do you explain the increase (in billions) in population over history? Does it make sense by your logical definition of the soul?

        • Hare Krishna

          Yes. The souls are not created and destroyed. They exist eternally. But they are virtually unlimited. There are so many souls that are unmanifest at any time. Every ant, every insect, every microbe, every plant, even there are souls in more unmanifest states. So a little change in the human or other species population is not a problem. There are virtually unlimited souls available. Also souls are coming and going from different planets and different universes. At the time of death the soul can go anywhere, any planet, any universe, even the spiritual world. And the souls that are taking birth can also come from anywhere. They do not have to come from this planet. So we are talking about an unlimited reservoir of souls and an unlimited number of planets and universes for them to live on… So a little change of the population of some species here and there can be easily adjusted.

          Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!

          Madhudvisa dasa

          • Krishnaprasad says:

            Well .. Interesting concept of ET coming into picture. But how well can we describe a soul of an organism which is biological in nature.
            What I believe is, Soul is a concept, energy is what exist and which is being traveled as through the universe and planets as you said. Soul is being used by religions to make a Life worth!
            An intelligent thinking by some Ancient ALIEN’ ..

          • fM says:

            Life cannot exist without a soul particle.

            Eternity is what comes after death and before one’s soul attachment after conception. What is eternity like for the soul? In eternity there is no biophotonic light, it is truly black though at times it seemed as if there were areas in this space that was blacker. There is no awareness of time or space in eternity, time and space have no meaning in eternity. There is only pure awareness of self in eternity nothing else. There is no thought, only awareness and awareness of truth.

            Assume the following exists; physical universe, life and soul particles. The first two assumptions being that a physical universe exists and that there exists life in this universe require little proof, it’s only the third assumption that is in question, but since it’s assumed, then what follows explains this process.

            During the fusion of gametes, the process involving the fusion of an ovum with a sperm leads to the formation of a diploid cell called a zygote. As DNA combines the structural change lowers in entropy of the cell, some of this energy loss is in the form of spontaneous ultra weak photon emission from the cell or simply biophoton emission. The cell can be viewed as an optical cavity emitting coherent light and in the reverse process the cell acts is a physical antenna. The S-particle is attracted to this antenna and is weakly held, if the cell fails to attract and hold an S-particle it eventual dies.

            The process of DNA being exchanged between homologous chromosomes is called homologous recombination, perhaps this is the process resulting in the spontaneous biophoton emission from cell that enthralls its awareness, or more simply the S-particle detects these transmissions. There is a shorter time period in which there is no biophotonic emission from the cell prior to division, but the process restarts sometime shortly after each division. The experience from this process is like a growing tree of light. This on-off division process continues until roughly the 14th day when the neurulation begins thereby trapping the soul particle into its DNA determined life form.

  26. Gopal says:

    I want to more about True-Ego (Real Ego) and how do we develop it?

    • Hare Krishna Gopal

      Ego means identity, so the ‘real ego’ means the real identity. Our real identity is that we are eternally servants of Krishna and we do not really have to develop it, it is there with us eternally, but it is now covered by this material body and our false ego that is misidentifying myself with my body. So the problem is the false ego is bewildering us into thinking that we are this material body and that if we satisfy the senses of this material body we will be happy. So this bodily concept of life is a product of the false ego. The real ego is still with us but it is covered by the false ego. So we simply have to uncover our real ego and that is done by chanting:

      Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
      Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare…

      Madhudvisa dasa

  27. K.V.Rangaswamy says:

    Krishna how happy I am ? You wake me up from my dreams and opened my eyes with your Namasmarana.I opened krishna website and forget this world after seeing you everywhare. If I had rebirths you Krishna help me to know more as I am stranch follower of Bhagavadgita. Krishna you are my father,mother and in one word everything. Oh Krishna please help me to remember you always and particularly in my last breath. I read Bhajagovindam and understood why is this life without thinking you My last request please do not give me rebirths and unite with you, Hare Rama Hare Rama RamaRama Hare Hare Hare Krishna Hare Krishna KrishnaKrishna Hare Hare.Please help me to remember you always.

  28. kate sisco says:

    i don’t think we will have to wait 13 my; if consciousness is what I see as ‘pressure’ generated by an energized gas cloud expanding and in doing so compressing all materials and gases of bodies in the cloud, then we are currently experiencing our maximum potential as a conscious –fully aware of self– human being.
    If Hannes Alfven was right, and the universe is blobs of matter/antimatter and we are in one of the matter ones, we exist because of that fact. He said that the universe was composed of ambimatter, and that protons/antiprotons were separated from electrons/antielectrons by a thin energy slice, this DL was the purposeful nature of matter.
    We now know that antiprotons exist on Earth above the South Atlantic Anomaly. All science is recording increases in kinds of atmospheres of all our solar planets, new species are being identified, mirror neurons were discovered in just 2005! At it is not a coincidence that we are experiencing the apex of the 5,000 y cycle at 2012.
    I propose the Milky Way is functioning like a capacitor storing energy and from our point out here on the Sagitarrius arm it discharges when overloaded at the 5,000 y mark. That means that neutrinos are being stored in core bodies which reflect this by heating. The Earth core is getting hotter. Additionally, we are wrapped in our local gas could NASA calls Fluff. Fluff is absorbing the neutrino also and is energizing. This energizing is what is compressing the entire solar heliosphere down to somewhere close to Sol.
    I suggest that our entire development has been determined by this continual and periodic compression by Fluff which NASA says has a 10 my age. I suggest that group minds like bees and termites have a mentality that was steered by this compression. I suggest that is the normal outcome. Our individuality is caused by our development being exposed not just to compression but to expansion by the backside of the Double Layer plasma sheath. I further suggest our consciousness –our self awareness– is not unique and now is the time for the ‘discovery’ of consciousness in the animals not thought to be self aware. The pressure exerted by the gas cloud is at near maximum we will experience at this time –other cycles have been more–and science has pinned down most of human feeling–even thinking about what others think!! –in a definite part of the brain but self awareness eludes them.
    It is because consciousness is external; it is the pressure from our energized gas cloud Fluff. As such, it will soon become a subject of conjecture once again — but right now, we have the evidence that consciousness is external, applied by the electromagnetic field of enormous energy we can never match. This periodic rise and fall is what makes us wonder and propose– we see it so fleetingly and then it is gone without us being aware—!!

  29. fM says:

    Eternity is like an endless railway and life are the temporal stops in the universe along the way.

  30. fM says:

    Awareness is the soul and consciousness is the physical bridge between the soul particle and the physical universe.

  31. Jordan Cramer says:

    Here’s a Christian’s take on the soul.

    Firstly, I’d like to go to physics. Energy is convertible into matter and vice versa. Yet, the fact my consciousness appears to be separate and self aware is impressive. Not only that, but humans tend to display creativity and individual consciousnesses see to take up certain space and time. Taking up space or time is a property of matter or energy. Yet this consciousness seems to produce thoughts and opinions while matter and energy is never produced nor destroy, but converted according to physics.

    From my religion and scientific view I deduce that the idea of a trinity could completely represent a human being and God.

    Energy is the life and motion; the Holy Ghost; a binding energy required to keep all matter together and create all matter and omnipresent.

    Matter is a vessel of sorts. Jesus Christ was the body. We have bodies and live in a world of matter. Both matter and anti-matter.

    Then comes this living self awareness that produces thoughts and ideas. It seems to be more then the rearrangement of molecules and energy into our nerves and cells, because it somehow takes up unique and individual space. This is why I only see out of my eyes because I am attached to my own vessel. It goes beyond just a vessel because as particles from my body are lost, like skin cells and hair, I still feel like I occupy the same space and am not partially lost. The very word “I” denotes that a person be somewhat separate and individual regardless of the similarities they hold towards other living beings. This is the Godhead or soul of God. Probably the most complex part as it produces thoughts and ideas that cannot be quantized by any mathematics we have learned.

    I feel as if there has to be God. Your God and mine. Something that transcends me more than by a small margin because it is clear in physics and chemistry no one truly dies.

    In Christianity there is a recycling of souls into new bodies. However, there isn’t a reincarnation back into the same type of mortal bodies. There was something interesting that caught my eye though. Souls can be disembodied, and therefore if there were to be an attempted reincarnation according to Christianity it could become considered “demonic possession”.

  32. Harsh Sharma says:

    Hare Krishna

    When we look at the soul from scientific perspective, we should evaluate the situation it objectively (of course one can accept Krishna and not investigate any further). I still feel we do not have any direct evidence for the existence of soul as in my opinion what is mentioned above are implications for the existence of the soul. However, it must also be mentioned that just because we do not have technology to detect something it does not exist. Indeed, according to the scientists, the electron existed for more that 13 billion years. Only after this time we, on Earth, thought about its existence. Before discussing the soul in terms of matter and non mater we must discuss recent scientific theories on matter and energy. For example, if the soul is non matter, do we then accept it is energy or it may be another distinct entity apart from matter and energy.

    To complicate the issue further the matter as we know (atoms consisting of neutrons, protons and electrons makes up less than 25% of the total matter in the universe. More than 75% of the matter is the dark matter (dark refers to little knowledge and has nothing to with evil/no light etc). We know very little about this dark matter and cannot measure it or detect its existence except for its gravity. Dark matter may be all around us as well as out there in space.

    Likewise, energy that we know is only less than 25% of the total energy in the universe. Nature of more than 75% energy is unknown to us. Similarly this is referred to as ” dark energy”.

    Just to complete the argument there is also the anti matter which is similar to conventional atoms but polarity of the particles reversed.

    So finally I ask my question, the soul being non matter, is it non conventional matter but could be dark matter? Is it energy and if so coventional energy or dark energy. Soul could not be anti matter since matter and anti matter anhilate each other. Having said that scientist usually manage to find exception to the rule! And of course Krishna is all powerful!
    Finall y, is it something totally different form these.
    For one to claim there is direct evience for the existence of the soul, one must be able to give categorical (with proof) answers to these questions.

    Any way, I do believe in the soul and am prepared to wait for another 13 billion years (or more) before we have direct evidence for the existence of the soul. Many a scientists have made wonderful discovries by believing the unbelievable and looking for it!

    • vivek jain says:

      i totally agree with you harsh, even if you go through quantum physics and its properties than u will find, there is a resemblance between the soul and quantum world……..

      • Hare Krishna Vivek

        This is nonsense. You have no idea what the ‘quantam world is’. That is simply a dream of the physicists. It is more religion than physics. And certainly their dreams have nothing whatsoever to do with the nature of the soul.

        The soul is a completely different nature to anything that can be perceived with the material senses in the material world. The soul resembles the supersoul, Krishna, it has the same qualities as Krishna, but in minute quantity. Krishna is unlimited in every respect and the soul is miniscule in every respect. But like a drop of ocean water shares the same qualities as the entire ocean, the spirit soul shares the same qualities as Krishna. The ocean is salty therefore you will find salt in a drop of ocean water. But the quantity of salt in the ocean water is miniscule whereas the quantity of salt in the entire ocean is very great. This analogy gives the idea, but of course the ocean does have a limited amount of salt in it, but there is no limit to any of Krishna’s qualities.

        Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!

        Madhudvisa dasa

  33. SANJAY HEMANI says:

    By asking our-selves we can get an idea both Soul & Body are altogateher seperate entity.
    1. We have five senses Eyes (to see ), Ear (to hear ) , Tounge (to test ), Nose (to smell ) & Skin ( to touch ), ask your self who KNOWS this five senses & With help of this five sense WHO also “KNOWS” thing can be Identified and that who is “SOUL” that I or WE
    2.When death occurs ! why Body & their senses do not respond because Who factor (SOUL) went out of body.
    3.Why some people are Rich & some people are Poor , some are Healthy & some not not Health ,some are good looking & some not good looking ,some are intellengent & some not intellegent, if ask this question to ourselves ,then there must be our past lifes and what ever we have done in past lifes are result we see today . And that also proves that we were in the past & we are today that means our body dies not “WE” or “I”
    From this we can carry out an Idea the presence of “SOUL” in the body, however, if WE want to get RELIASATION of our SOUL to HIGHEST level we need the guidence of EXPERIENCED (SELF-RELIASED) person.

  34. Andrew says:

    Hello

    In my attempts, I have not at least by logical deduction, been able to proove that that there is a non-physical soul resident or attached to our physical body.

    It is argued that it is just as likley that the soul as we percieve it emerges strictly from the brain, and the physical brain alone (Atheist perspecdtive).

    The Christian perspective teaches that our soul is spiritual, and develops after creation of the physical body, and departs the body at death, and from my above readings in this blog the Krishna perspective teachest the soul is eternal and resides temporaily in physical body to body. In both religious perspective, the soul is immaterial (non-physical) and housed or attached – and operative with our physical body.

    The Atheist perspective teaches that the soul is strictly physical, manifested or emergent from the brain, which ceases to exist at death. Hence our consciousness is manifest by a complex compilation of neural firings and brain chemistry.

    Neither theist or atheist would disagree that a soul – as defined as that entity which percieves and controls our consciousness, exists however (common ground).

    In the end there is a true dichotomy, the soul (that which percieves and controls our consciousness)is either physical (emergent from brain) or non-physical (eg. spiritual).

    It would be interesting if a test could be developed to test at least the validy of either claim – hencing proving or disproving the alternate.

    Any ideas out there?

    Regards

    Andrew

    • Charles says:

      Andrew,

      Scientists have already tested it. They found that for all the people that they tested on, their masses decreased by a small amount immediately after death. This change in mass is small but significant enough to be a possible indication of a “soul” leaving the body, Whether the atheists, or religions are right is your choice. But bottom line is, the test was conducted, and they found a decrease in mass of the dead bodies.

      Being an atheist myself, I would not deny the existence of the soul, but then again, I will not support the view that there is a soul, since the tests, such as the one I mentioned above, are still in it’s infancy stage.

  35. Tom says:

    In order for this to be presented as a science, it’ll have to under go the scientific process. In the very first sentence, the Soul is described as a “non-material” object which is a paradox unto itself. An object is something composed of matter, and non-material is the lack of matter. In short, considering a non-material idea as science makes it impossible to record, test, and observe which makes it impossible to apply the scientific method to it.

    Clever try though, otherwise well written but simply off-hand in any consideration that this will ever be considered as science.

    • Hare Krishna Tom

      This is science. The soul is not impossible to record, test or observe. It is no different from electricity. You can not see the electricity. But you can see the light that the electricity produces when it is connected to a light-bulb. You can see the soul by comparing a living body with a dead on. The difference is dramatic. The difference is the presence of the soul within the living body. There is no other explanation.

      So there is no question. You can record test and observe the soul. You can formulate theories and hypothesises and experiments to prove and disprove the existence of the soul. I have written all this in the article. Did you actually read the article?

      • shivam pratap singh says:

        i am myself a spritual scholar i have read geeta and other religious books. i think the whole difference comes the way we view things! what tom believes will continue believing until he realizes the supreme happines and existence of pure life that lies within. no quotes and theories have ever power to make this understand its only possible to understand when things are put into practise under guidance of a guru!

  36. I am in the process of understanding this soul concept,life after death issue. Presently my impression is that inspite of great advances in science , it is still not in a position to give better insight than bagavad geeta/other religious texts regarding understanding universe, life processes. But at the same time we can not deny whatever science says it is on concrete ground, where as whatever the religious texts say it is based on blind faith. One question comes to my mind, if there is any person today who has reached the full realisation state spiritually he/she should be able to provide scientifically acceptable proof, if he/she can not then it will be dismissed as a make believe idea but not true.

  37. Debendra Narayan Ray says:

    If I talk about spirituality must to say feel vices of a pure soul from a living body. My knowledge about spirituality not sufficient to explore happiness in every moment. please guide me i have dream in a border sense………………

  38. Guy magee says:

    There are explenations for consciousness. Just look into nuroscience. There reason why you are how you are (ie personality and morality)it is not because of a soul it is because you brain and only your brain.
    And what time period was this writen 450 BCE the mattirials that make everything are not the four elements fire earth water and air. what does make everything are particles called atoms which combine to create moulicules and those combine to cereate everything.

    pardon my spelling

  39. glenn currie says:

    hey, i was thinking, does anyone think that there is a ‘energy’ inside are bodies, is the soul not just what you want to be? can the soul not be something that we use to describe what person we are?

    • Jay says:

      My name is Jay Maheshwary.

      I love KRISHNA one who gave cream eternal knowledge through “DIVINE BAGHWAT GEET” for MANAV KALYAN.

      I have found after I read Geeta that I have been reincarnated in this world only for KRISHNA so I am born every age & die only for KRISHNA this is my inspiration for HIM ( The Lord Shri Krishna is really Supreme Personality of Godhead.

      He is Allah, Baghwan, Eshwara, Jesus Christ or Absolute Truth for me.

      I always remain in the imagination of Bhagwan Krishna.

      I understand & believe that Geeta is the main source of all VEDAS & Upnishads of our Vedic Culture of thousands years of history which can never be denied. This is Universal reality.

      b/rgds,
      Jay.

  40. jayesh says:

    very good scientific proof

  41. aswini says:

    THIS IS THE GREAT TOPIC SHARING ABOUT “SOUL”. I GOT A VERY GOOD INFORMATION REGARDING SCIENTIFIC SOULS CONDUCTED BY ISCON IN TIRUPATHI. THANKS& MY WISHES TO CONTINUE THIS PROGRMME. THANK YOU…………….

  42. Dejan says:

    I think i have very good exempel of exsistance of soul and that is our felllings coming from a aeria where our hearts is plased .Like someboddy say “It’s so sad” and holding hand in the aeria of heart we fell from heart not from a brain .Like passion, sadnes ,happynes .Thats rewel both location and existance of soul.

    • Raja says:

      What do you think, what the soul is?

      • There is no question of ‘think’. ‘Think’ is useless. Who cares what I think or what you think? It has no value at all.

        I know what the soul is. And I know what the soul is because I have heard it from a bona fide authority. I have heard it from someone who knows.

        The soul is the living entity. I am the spirit soul who has taken shelter within this material body. My material body is just like a set of clothes which covers my real self, and my real self is the spirit soul. I am the spirit soul. And it is by the direction and energy of the spirit soul in conjunction with the direction and energy of the Supersoul, Krishna, who is also present within my heart, that “I” am acting.

        It is just like a motor car acts and moves under the direction of the intelligent person, the driver, who is controlling it. My material body is moving and acting only because I, the spirit soul, are present within it directing it and controlling it.

        Just like the motor car can not move or act if there is no driver present in it if the soul is not present in my body my body is dead and lifeless.

        There are two types of energy — material and spiritual. The soul belongs to the spiritual energy and is superior to and is capable of controlling and directing the material energy.

        It is a big subject and can be discussed very extensively but I do not have the space or time to do that now. I think you get the idea…

        Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!

        Madhudvisa dasa

        • Priyanka says:

          Hare krishna pravuji!
          I knew the basic idea of soul theory! It’s just the supreme power the godhead sri krishna! The spiritual entity the soul,that you pravuji said the “I”..is nothing but the paramatma lord sri krishna! Then why do we can’t stop ourselves from thinking about the emotions coming from the material body? Why krishna not let us stop acting like this? Hare krishna!

          • Hare Krishna Priyanka

            You are very confused. You have confused the supersoul with the soul, you have confused the living entity with Krishna.

            We, the spirit souls, the living entities are not Krishna. Krishna is unlimitedly great and we are unlimitedly small. That is the difference. Krishna is infinite and we are infinitesimal. Krishna is like the ocean and we are like a tiny drop of that ocean.

            So it is true that we and Krishna are composed of the same substance. Krishna is Parabrahman and we are brahman. So Krishna is the whole and we are a tiny part of the whole, like a drop out of the ocean.

            So the drop can never be equal to or compared with the ocean. At the same time there is salt in the drop and there is also salt in the ocean. But in the drop there is such a tiny amount of salt and in the ocean there are millions of tons of salt.

            So we are nothing and Krishna is everything, we are tiny and Krishna is great. So the business of the tiny is to surrender to and serve the great.

            The way to become Krishna conscious is a great science and like any great science if one wants to learn it, to understand it, then he has to study the bona fide books on that science. So if you want to understand how to become Krishna conscious then you have to study Srila Prabhupada’s books and practically apply what Srila Prabhupada teaches you as you read his books in your life… That is the only way.

            Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!

            Madhudvisa dasa

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