Where do all the souls come from that enter into bodies. The idea of reincarnation makes me wonder about this because if one begins with 1000 bodies, then there are 1000 souls. Now there are 7 billion bodies on earth, and the population keeps growing. So, it is logical to want to know if souls are created in a way similar to human reproduction.
—Philippe Theodore Laperle, United States
Dear Philippe,
Many have pondered this question. While the answer, if any, won’t change our lives in any meaningful way, it is a curious one nonetheless. Paramhansa Yogananda commented, as others have in various ways, that the universe is peopled with souls: in many forms and on countless planets, even stars! So, mathematically speaking, there is no end to the number of souls whose forms are evolving along with the level of awareness. Perhaps for fun we could say that the loss of animal life on planet earth is resulting in the growth in human life, as souls formerly in animal bodies find their way into human bodies! (Who can say for sure?)
Yogananda also intimated that we can be reborn on a different planet than the one we had just been on, according to our consciousness, our karma and that of the planet to which we go next in our evolution. So maybe there’s a planet out there that has some relation to the consciousness of Earth but which is being depopulated owing to warfare, disease or cataclysmic events!
It is a mistake, however, to assume that reincarnation is arbitrary and that I can be reincarnated as a fly in my next life. There is a definite cause and effect (law of Karma) to what forms souls don in their next life. In addition, our planet (Earth) is slowly being exposed to increasing subtle rays from the center of our galaxy whose impact is to raise our awareness. (See the book, The Yugas by David Steinmetz and Joseph Selbie).
The teaching that humanity cycles through four basic ages of awareness from high to low and low back to high is a feature in every great civilization on Earth. So souls may be taking on human form from lower life forms as the energy of awareness is strengthening on our planet (manifested in science, tecnhnology, travel, and to a more slow degree, compassion, virtue and faith).
The well of souls is, so far as you and I are concerned, fathomless! Is it not taught that God is dreaming this universe and hence all is consciousness?
Blessings and joy to you!
Nayaswami Hriman
