In Bhagavad Gita (14.4) Krishna says, “I am the seed-giving father of all living entities.” And in Bhagavad Gita (7.10) Krishna says, “I am the original seed of all existences.” The word used for “seed” in this case is bija. It could be taken to mean the atma (conscious self), which comes from Krishna. Bodies are vehicles for conscious selves, and without the presence of a conscious self, a body would not exhibit symptoms of life. But the presence of the conscious self is not itself sufficient to explain the form of a particular body. All bodies, according to Vedic thought, have conscious selves, including plants and animals. But each unit of conscious selfhood resembles the others. If the conscious self is the same in all bodies, then how do we explain the generation of different kinds of bodies?
We can do so by considering an additional meaning of the word bija, or seed. In his commentary to Chaitanya Charitamrita (madhya lila 19.152), Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada said, “Everything has an original cause, or seed. For any idea, program, plan or device, there is first of all the contemplation of the plan, and that is called the bija, or seed.” I propose that the development of bodily forms involves a seed of this type, in addition to the seed of the soul. This subtle developmental seed contains the plan for the body. In his commentary on Shrimad Bhagavatam (3.10.7), Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada explained that in the beginning “the living entities were all already generated in seedling forms by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and Brahma was to disseminate the same seedlings all over the universe.” From this it can be taken that the seeds (or seedlings) were given to the demigods, demigoddesses, and sages, who then used them in their reproductive processes to produce the forms of bodies to serve as vehicles for conscious selves.
Bodies of living things are manifested in the course of cyclical creations and destructions of universes and the planets within them. The basic unit of Vedic cyclical time is called the day of Brahma. The day of Brahma lasts for 4,320,000,000 years and is followed by a night of Brahma, which also lasts for 4,320,000,000 years. During the nights of Brahma, the conscious selves enter the body of the Garbhodakashayi Visnu in each universe and remain there until the next day of Brahma begins. Each day of Brahma is divided into 14 manvantara periods, each lasting about 300,000,000 years. There is normally a partial devastation between each manvantara period. During this period, the planets of the higher demigods are not touched, but the earthly planetary system is devastated. After each manvantara period, the demigods must again manifest the bodily vehicles for conscious selves. We are now in the seventh manvantara period. This means there have been six devastations, after which the earth has again been repopulated. This is interesting, because according to modern paleontology, the history of life on earth has been interrupted by six major extinction events, spaced at intervals of about the same order of magnitude as the devastations between the manvantara periods.
The fourth chapter of the sixth canto of Shrimad Bhagavatam contains a description of how repopulation occurred at the beginning of the sixth manvantara period. The repopulation was carried out by Daksha, a prajapati (generator of population). Shrimad Bhagavatam (6.4.19–20) says, “With his mind, Prajapati Daksha first created all kinds of demigods, demons, human beings, birds, beasts, aquatics and so on. But when Prajapati Daksha saw that he was not properly generating all kinds of living entities, he approached a mountain near the Vindhya mountain range, and there he executed very difficult austerities.” After this, Daksha and his wife Asikni had sixty daughters. The daughters were given to various demigods and sages. The sage Kashyapa received seventeen daughters as wives. In Shrimad Bhagavatam (6.6.24–26), Shukadeva Goswami said to King Parikshit, “O King Parikshit, now please hear from me the names of Kashyapa’s wives, from whose wombs the population of the entire universe has come. They are the mothers of almost all the population of the entire universe, and their names are very auspicious to hear. They are Aditi, Diti, Danu, Kashtha, Arishta, Surasa, Ila, Muni, Krodhavasa, Tamra, Surabhi, Sarama and Timi.” Some of the wives of Kashyapa gave birth to various kinds of demigods. According to Shrimad Bhagavatam (6.6.26–31), others produced various species of animals: “From the womb of Timi all the aquatics took birth, and from the womb of Sarama the ferocious animals like the tigers and lions took birth. My dear King Parikshit, from the womb of Surabhi the buffalo, cow and other animals with cloven hooves took birth, from the womb of Tamra the eagles, vultures and other large birds of prey took birth. . . . The sons born of Krodhavasa were the serpents known as dandasuka, as well as other serpents and the mosquitoes. All the various creepers and trees were born from the womb of Ila. . . . animals whose hooves are not split, such as the horse, were born from the womb of Kashtha.” One of the wives of Kashyapa was Aditi, and one of her sons was Aryama. Shrimad Bhagavatam (6.6.42) states: “From the womb of Matrka, the wife of Aryama, were born many learned scholars. Among them Lord Brahma created the human species, which are endowed with an aptitude for self-examination.” Exactly how the demigods use their reproductive processes to generate the bodily forms for conscious selves is not specified in the Shrimad Bhagavatam. But from other parts of the Vedic literature, we get some clues. The mahabharata (Adi Parva 118) tells us that once the sage Kindama and his wife transformed themselves into deer to engage in sexual intercourse. Not understanding their identities, King Pandu killed them, and was cursed. Similarly, we learn in the seventeenth chapter of the Ramayana of Valmiki that various demigods took on the forms of monkeys and engaged in reproductive activities to generate a population of monkeys with humanlike intelligence. Therefore, it is possible that the demigods take on the forms of a particular species and then, using bijas supplied by God, engage in a special kind of sexual reproduction in order to produce bodies of that same kind, as vehicles for conscious selves. Once this happens, reproduction of that species can continue in the ordinary way. There are, however, instances where demigods and humans on this planet produce offspring. For example, Arjuna, the hero of the Bhagavad Gita was born of a terrestrial mother, Kunti, and a celestial father, the demigod Indra.
The process by which conscious selves descend to the realm of the material energy, and are placed in material bodily vehicles, is the primary meaning of devolution, as I have defined it. But there is another sense in which conscious selves devolve. According to its quality of consciousness, a conscious self can receive any kind of body. The human body is especially valuable, because in the human form the conscious self can understand the difference between spirit and matter, and make progress on the way back to its original spiritual home. However, if a conscious self misuses the human form, it will after death take birth in a body not as well equipped for self realization. The conscious self can descend into the animal and plant species. If this happens, the conscious self must then usually pass through births in several species before again attaining the human form. This process may be characterized as a kind of spiritual evolution.