This is something thats always fascinated me. I personally believe that the body n soul are two separate entities which is what the dvaita philosophy states. This means that any living being is a combination of matter and energy or conciousness.
Coming to think of it from the point of view of science, by the Law of Conservation of Energy, energy can neither be created nor destroyed but can only be converted from one form to the other. So, the total energy of the universe is constant.
Let us assume that some 'X' dies. If the energy contained in 'X' was 'E' units, this energy dissipates out of the body of 'X'.
It could be assumed that this 'E' units of energy dissipates into the atmosphere.But it must be kept in mind that new 'bodies' are coming into existence too and they need energy to become 'living'.
So this 'E' enters a body ( or matter) and so it becomes living completing a full cycle of events.
It is not at all necessary that this 'E' units must enter a single 'body'. Depending on the quantization, it can enter as many 'bodies' as possible..
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Some views:
Ajay, nice writing. I wonder, though, what you're trying to say, in the end. Is this some kind of reflection on the Dwaita thoughts? Or is this sort of corroborating their ideas (if it is, then, perhaps, I will prove you wrong)?
Anyway, some views:
1.
Consciousness is not as easily simplificable to "energy", or "matter plus energy", as, perhaps, Isckon (is that the spelling?) would have it. Please refer to literature before you use a heavily frequented word.
Or, you could always device a working definition :)
2.
Your premise, as follows from your belief, is that each living being has some energy.
Thus, X, that, or who, was alive, had some energy E.
And, since energy can not be created, at birth a body must be, (shall we say?) infused with energy. This is acceptable, as a result of your premise.
However, I think in connecting this to Dwaita philosophy, we err somewhere.
So this 'E' enters a body ( or matter) and so it becomes living completing a full cycle of events.
You speak of "this 'E'". You have qualified E by its previous life. That may not be true.
Let us, for example, not use variables, because, quite simply, it would be artificial to do so.
X as 100 units of energy (say). In the space-time exterior to all living bodies, say there are 1M units of energy.
Now, X (and only X) dies. In the space-time exterior to all living bodies, there will be 1M + 100 units of energy.
No longer can we say "this 100 units". The 100 units are merely connected to X in that X possessed it for some continuous units of spacetime.
Hence, it is not necessary that there is a "cycle".
Why I say that is that a Dwaitin would say that X's soul contains the 100 units, and it would still be X's soul that inhabits the body that is yet to be born. That is, the 100 units is X's soul's, and will only be so (perhaps till Nirvana).
[Actually, we can question Dwaitins about Nirvana if they speak of the "cycle", and I'm pretty sure they have some shoddy mathematics to show us. Hmmm.]
It is only through the concept of the soul that they can speak of a cycle.
3.
Suppose you buy their concept of the soul. Then your final conclusion would be wrong. That's because each life can be related to a single soul, and only that one soul.
It is not at all necessary that this 'E' units must enter a single 'body'. Depending on the quantization, it can enter as many 'bodies' as possible..
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