According to the Sanskrit Grammarian Yāska life exists in six stages:
They exist (asti)
They are born (jāyate)
They grow (vardhate)
They mature (vipariṇamate)
They decay (apakṣhīyate)
They perish (vinaśayti)
But what is it that sets these wheels in motions? We know the science…sperm meets egg etc. but what else? Where does the consciousness come into it? Can we truly divide consciousness from matter? What happens to consciousness when we die?
Honestly… this is far too big a contemplation for a blog post so I am just going to offer these two notions:
Firstly, from the Bhagavad Gita 2:20…
“The soul is neither born, nor does it ever die; nor having once existed, does it ever cease to be. The soul is without birth, eternal, immortal, and ageless. It is not destroyed when the body is destroyed.”
The verse states that the Soul exists beyond birth and death - and beyond the six states of being.
Then in the Yoga Vasistha we find this:
“How can Parabrahma be the cause which is above the reach of mind and thought? How can one be actor and audience? As it would be impossible, it must follow that this universe is not created by anyone, nor is Self-created. The Supreme Will of the Absolute Consciousness is Brahma, nothing else is the one true Wisdom. All the objects created out of that Wisdom can be said to be none other that the form of that Wisdom.”
This is offering us the notion that ALL is one in the same…Soul, agency, action, the field of action.
These two views offer us food for thought… and I would love to hear your if you have any…comment below.
NB: This blog post first appeared as a SM post as part of me posting 30 days of Yoga Darshana (philosophy).