The soul comes the moment the body realizes it’s presence. Plants & animals are not conscious enough to realize the presence of a soul. To realize a soul a body requires a higher level of consciousness & human beings can reach that level & this is what makes them unique. A human being who can’t realize a soul in his/her body is just an animal with a higher level of intelligence.
Good question. Where does our soul come from?
I am not a religious person but am very open minded. I beleive our soul is passed on from our mother. If you think about it, it sounds logical…well to me it does.
I think my soul or energy, whatever you want to call it, stretches to every inch of my body. I do not differentiate between energy and the soul as it appears to be the same thing to me.
Anything that is part of my body also has my soul or energy in it. Would you agree? If I have a mole, a growth or cancer that is part of me then it also carries my energy. It probably used my energy to grow anyway. Then why should it be any different for a baby who attaches itself to the womb and grows. If energy flows through our bodies, then of course it is going to be part of the baby. So I think we have a soul at conception which grows and develops from there just like the baby and its mind do.
All these theories about the soul coming from god or entering the body after birth seem a bit far fetched for me. Have you ever seen god or noticed the time when your baby seems to suddenly have a soul? There is a lack of evidence to back those claims up but there is more evidence towards psychic connections with our mothers who share our energy. Thats not to say some dont have a psychic connection with their fathers. But for those who do that development comes after birth I think.
Kimba, your view about the “energy” of the mother and the child might actually be true.
I salute your honesty. It would be foolish to believe things you cannot comprehend or imagine, there is the danger of getting lost in phantasizing and illusions created by our own mind.
With love and respect
Hi Hubert…It seems we all have different beliefs and thoughts on the soul. I guess perhaps we will never know the truth. Or perhaps we do already know the truth.
I think I should retract my words about the theory of god and the soul entering the body after birth. Some people do believe that is how the soul enters the body and I am respectful of their beliefs, I hope nobdy was offended by my comment. 
Christians say the soul is created by God at the moment of conception. Materialist science denies the existence of the soul.
This is a yoga forum. Yoga is based on yoga philosophy, and it’s cosmogony says the soul is immortal, and incarnates endlessly.
But because yogi’s should trust only personal experience instead of any dogma, all opinions are respected. Atheism, as an example, is a very honest approach. (I am not saying you are atheist as I don’t know that, this is just an example)
This does not mean mental understanding of concepts or things we cannot yet experience is useless, on the contrary, given that reason and logic, are used togheter with an open mind.
Hi Hubert…I’m not athiest, christian or scientist. Perhaps I am more spiritual…with some logic and reason…ha…I dont know. But I do have a mix of beliefs. Like you, I also beleive the soul is immortal and lives on (this is from personal experience when my first partner who died came to say goodbye in a dream. He answered questions only he could have answered and then told me he had to be somewhere else, so I am convinced there is something after here). Im enjoying reading the different views on the forum. It is very interesting. However, I would be very interested to know of other members who have experienced a similar experience to me when a loved one has died. Other people I know who have lost someone close all say the departed came back in a dream to say goodbye before moving on.
Kimba
And there you go … some people will say dreams are just creation of our mind … illusions. But you know this is not true, from your own experience.
I studied my meditation guide last night, you are right, it is not good to over-rationalize these things.
This thread was very fascinating, not to mention potentially political. After pondering it for a while, taking from my readings, as well as my personal birthing story. I there for believe that (following the laws of reincarnation) asking the birth of a soul is like asking the start of a circle, it’s constant. We go through many rebirth through our lives. Every time we breakdown we are reborn and anew.
As for the birth of the body, in a more logic based sense: I think it’s when you first take breath. Prana fuels us, without breath there is no heart beat, without heart beat, there is no brain function, and so on. I gave birth to my son via water birth. It was fascinating to be able to see him floating in the water and when he was lifted out, seeing that first breath of air. It was in that moment I saw his soul enter his body. It WAS thee most amazing moment in my life.
Hello Bridgette and welcome to the forum. Thank you for sharing your story of the birth of your son–it is lovely to hear about your experience.
I would like to respond to this part of your contribution to the thread because you are mistaken about certain aspects of fetal development: the heart of an embryo, and later the fetus, does beat without bringing breath into its lungs. In fact, the heart begins beating between wk 4 of 5 of early gestation, before the lungs even begin to form. And while there is not “breath”, there is certainly fetal respiration and a gas exchange between mother and fetus. Breath and respiration are only 2 ways that we can build and sustain prana in our bodies. There is also measurable fetal brain function, as well as, basic ego function and ahamkar. There is prana, or lifeforce, within the body of the fetus and of the earlier embryo too–it is shared first and gained from the mother’s own prana and it strengthens to be self-sustaining during the pregnancy.
Studies have shown brief-duration brain function without respiration or circulation, even for the few minutes immediately after death; this is because our bodies will give the glucose and O2 resources to the brain first. These few minutes of body-death and brain-dying is what many of us are trying to prepare for with our Yoga and meditation practices.
I wanted to thank everyone who has contributed to and shared in this thread so far–I find it all very interesting, especially the personal sharing. I am glad to see that so many of you are enjoying it too.
Kind wishes,
I should have been a bit more specfic, sorry.
Prana fuels us, without breath there is no heart beat, without heart beat, there is no brain function, and so on.
I was directing that comment to the post-birth body. I’m aware of the heart beat of the fetus but the heart beats because the body is receiving oxygen from the body of the mother. The lungs however are collapsed and unused. The child is developing but in order to become and individual, the entrance of the soul, (at least from my perspective) is in the first breath.
Bridgette,
Thank you for being more specific. 
This helps all of us to be more clear on what you sharing in terms of your beliefs on when a body becomes animated by a soul. I am always curious about this belief (perspective, whatever) that the soul comes to the body after birth when it is held by a woman who has delivered a child and herself become a mother. Is it too personal of a question to ask how you came to this belief? If not, please share and if so, please respect that.
Just for clarity for all the readers, the embryonic and/or fetal heart beats due to a number of physiological factors, not solely the presence of O2. Also, there can be–and likely will be with the absence of severe brain injury–a short period of brain function and awareness even after the heart stops beating and the last breath is taken due the to O2 and glucose rations of the central nervous system.
Namaste
Is there a Body? a soul?
The whole plant has only one soul so when the leaves and fruits from it are plucked you are not killing (removing the soul from the body of the plant) the plant. There are some varities of Mango Trees which when 2 different types (like bangapalli and rumani) of mango trees, the branches are combined together.
This being the case it is said in the vedas that vegetables and fruits are to be served to God before eating it to avoid bad karma only for Hindus and Brahmins in particular.
In any case the plant itself is not killed when only the fruits and vegetables are plucked from it.
Some animals in some parts of the world can be eaten for example goat can be eaten ONLY after giving sacrifice to the Godess. This is prescribed only for the Hindus in the vedas. Others can eat insignificant animals.
When Gallelio said earth rotates around sun they gave him poison for telling the truth, but when later it was found to be true nobody cared to feel sorry for him. So where is the proof of the Earth revolving around sun. Could anybody prove and show to people? Can satellite do that?
Then how you people believe such a thing without proof, but asking for proof for this one Soul and REincarnation? I couldn’t understand.
Likewise after the soul leaves the body, the body decays. The decaying body is the proof of the soul once inside it. Is there any better way to prove the existence of the soul?
still there are people to argue.
If this is the case then it is only logical to conclude that the same soul will re-enter another body which it does according to its previous karma(s). The body may be either of the bird, plant, animals or insects or bugs depending upon the kind of karma it has done.
The vedas says the soul enters the sperm at the time of conception. So the sperms itself has no life, but as soon as the soul enters the sperm which it is forced to enter by its Karmic principles, it pushes its way through to the ovum. Does this not look like science for you then what else will?
Nobody can prove and show to the world how the soul “Empowered” sperm enters the ovum while the couple is copulating.
While it is a well known fact that there are millions of sperms in one ejaculation but only one succeeds in entering (rarely in cases of twins more than one soul enters 2 different sperms) which is a brilliant proof that only one has life, which is what the vedas says that fits the explanation perfectly.
The soul thus enters the womb of a woman through the Sperm finding its way through the ovum and thus reaches the embryo stage before growing into a full grown baby. It is therefore absurd to say that the body gets consciousness. The body is consciouss because of the presence of the soul.
The soul in the body of a human has higher consciousness and that of dog and cat has lower cosciousness etc…
It is only too logical to conclude that the soul born to a brahmin family has higher consciousness.
I still doubt people will doubt and will fail to understand. That is also said in the vedas in KaliYuga people will be so dull and poor in intelligence.
Rashmi, if by abortion we are killing the chance of a soul to take incarnation as human and progress his journey upward, where do you suppose karma comes into it in that case? i thought that whatever we incarnate as be it as aborted foetus etc etc is due to the law of karma. Maybe the soul chose to come into a womb where he would be aborted as part of his karmic debt?
When the parents are aborting then it is amounting to killing. The parents get the punishment for killing. There is answer in the vedas for everything.
You should not be assuming without studying vedas.
[quote=Nichole;8796]I would love to hear about your opinions, thoughts, beliefs, and experiences that helped create your beliefs about the body and soul connection.
What have you been taught about when the soul comes to the body?
If you weren’t taught something, then how did you arrive at what you believe?
Does the soul and body connection begin at conception? at birth? later?
Is the soul “attached” to the body? Inside the body?
*[/quote]
Please, keep to the original questions of this thread. If you’d would personally like to discuss abortion, or any other topic, please begin a new thread in the proper sub forum.
Hello Jaisimha,
Please, speak specifically and succinctly to which of the vedas you are drawing from.
*nichole
Nothing is NOT given in Bhagavadgita. This information is from Bhagavadgita.
The Bhagavad Gita, thank you. I had always been taught that the Mahabharata was a corollary of the Vedas; that it was post Vedic.
Please, if you would, share the author of the Gita translation you are citing and the exact verse. I am very curious about this, so I thank you in anticipation.
Yogananda answerd this question in his book: Hidden Teachings of the Gospels.
[I]When the soul enters physical incarnation at conception, the entire body grows from the seed cell. From its original seat in the medulla oblongata, the life energy flows downward, activating the seven astral cerebrospinal chakras, that create and give the physical spine, nervous system and the whole body. When the work of the life force is complete, it comes to rest in a coiled passage in the lowest coccygeal center.
Here the name kundalini or serpent force. In Sanskrit kundala=coiled
Because it completed its creative work, it is said to be “sleeping kundalini.”
Man’s physical, astral, and causal bodies are tied together and work as one by a knotting of life force and consciousness in the seven cerebrospinal centers.
The final tie is a coiled knot at the base of the spine, PREVENTING the ascension of consciousness into the heavily astral kingdom. UNLESS one knows how to open this knot of astral and physical power, the life and consciousness remain attracted to the mortal realm.[/I]