We tried to explore about the human construct in my blog at - https://www.mayoan.com/post/11-the-construct-of-a-human. We also dwelled deeper into the other parts of the human body-mind-consciousness complex. The final part of the puzzle is to understand about the soul itself.

One of my earlier article talked about some of the higher level functions of the soul - https://www.mayoan.com/post/39-chittam-or-the-impressions-of-the-soul .

Soul is also used by the law of karma or karmic engine for accounting the karmic debt. The law of karma then helps the soul to dispense the debt by allowing it to be born in multitude of shapes and skins.

We now come to one of the profound questions in spirituality - Are the soul or the ‘Karana Shariram’ of all living things the same?

I thought about it and my understanding is as follows. Though by the basic structure it looks like a sphere or ‘Bindu’, a soul, it may vary in size and quality. I am listing down some of the considerations that drove me to that conclusion below. Please note that by different live forms and expected functions, the soul may differ in size and quality, but in a given single species, at least in a higher species like human, there will not be difference in the soul construct between the male and female specimens.

The soul, for a decent human, is usually located in the Anahata Chakra area and is expected to be the size of his thumb. But for an elephant, the soul is expected to be bigger – may be like a football. Does this mean the elephant is an advanced organism than human? That is where I beg to differ and is considering the prospect where besides the size there may be other attributes like characteristics, quality and potency. Within a single species, be it human or elephant, the souls may vary in their characteristics, quality and potency within a range, - a range (currently this is ADHRSTA) that ensures that it is taking shape as a human or an elephant and not as something else.

For example, how the characteristics, quality and potency of a soul destined to be born as an elephant pushes to form the digits of the child elephant's limbs may be drastically different from how characteristics, quality and potency of a soul destined to be born as a human pushes to form the digits of the limbs of a human child.

The female elephant gestates about 22 months before giving birth whereas it is about 10 months for a human. Besides the motherly nourishments, a soul uses its characteristics, quality and potency in the given gestation period to complete the normal expected development of the offsprings – as the elephant calf or as the human infant.

I am quoting about Dharma from wiki - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dharma.

The concept of dharma was in use in the historical Vedic religion (1500–500 BCE), and its meaning and conceptual scope has evolved over several millennia. In Hinduism, dharma denotes behaviours that are considered to be in accord with Ṛta—the "order and custom" that makes life and universe possible.[note 1] This includes duties, rights, laws, conduct, virtues and "right way of living". Dharma is believed to have a transtemporal validity and is one of the Puruṣārtha.

I have written some content about the human living dharma in my articles on the value systems. Considering the vices of the human species, I think the below are randomly happening.

1.      It is usually impossible to see a physically or mentally handicapped elephant or other such noble animals or in other species. Their brains do not deviate from the expected personality traits, and they abide by their expected living dharma mostly. This inherently protects their wombs and thus souls of the lower order species cannot take refuge in say, an elephant’s womb.  

2.      If by some means, the soul of a lower order (or some low quality soul of the same order) species enters the womb of a higher order species like that of an elephant, it may not have the characteristics, quality and potency of an elephant's soul but the mother elephant tries to build an elephant out of it in its womb. The long gestation period may save the day in completing the form, but when it comes to the mental capabilities and the newborn may be severely underdeveloped leading to abnormalities at birth. Far worse things, like missing limbs, physical deformations, other congenital defects etc., may also manifest despite long gestation periods. So, I think it is important that each species respects its living dharma and keeps a check on its vices and thus not lose its inherent characteristics, quality and potency.

Please note that in humans, other causes like the mother consuming drugs or meeting with an accident or parents having defective genes etc., may also cause damage to the child in the womb.

3.      Like it or not, the universe may be still in its nascent stage and there may be more lower order species than the higher order species. The pressure to be born and dispense the karmic debt is enormous and hence these souls are continuously looking to be born in a womb that is higher and finer as compared to its current form. All the higher order species, including the humans, should take precautions when planning childbirth. This is besides the fact that there may be some default protection provided by the universe in this process.

4.      Considering the above, how can the childbirth in a human be planned?

It is not just a 10-month journey ending in an unexpected rush to the emergency rooms of the hospital. It should be broken into 4-10-3 months journey to plan, get pregnant, nurture, give birth in the right way and finally heal. The couples trying to conceive should align to Sattvic living and surround themselves with the best environment leading to a blissful mental state during their attempts to get pregnant. Once they are ready to conceive, at least in the knowledgeable advanced societies, they together should be moved to what I call as ‘Birthing Centres’ and given the best possible care leading to expected pregnancy. The initial 4 months stay in birthing centres is to get the pregnancy started. This stage may take less than 4 months too. The next 10 months stay is for the child to be nurtured and protected in the best possible environment and the final 3 months is for the recovery of the entire family – mom, dad and the infant.

A final note on the soul is on the process of death.

Please refer to my articles on types of death and https://www.mayoan.com/post/43-3-types-of-deaths and the Panchakoshanas - https://www.mayoan.com/post/26-the-panchakoshanas-or-5-sheaths .

The best death is the one I listed as ‘Internally induced Death’ in my article. The 3rd layer of human construct – called as ‘Pranamayakoshana’ - within a minute mostly, recedes into the soul, causing this type of death. We might have seen a speaker at a podium, in the pink of his health, suddenly collapsing and passing away for no apparent reason. The reason may be that his time has come, and his karmic debt is finished for the current journey and the pranas of the Pranamayakoshana has quietly receded into his soul propelling him for the next phase of his soul’s journey!

Hari Om!