Living vs Non-Living
Almost all of us agree that there are living and nonliving things on this planet. However, there is no agreement on what makes anyone living. There are many theories. Commonly agreed aspects of living are:
- Birth
- Death
- Reproduction/Replication
- Consumption of food/energy
- Excretion of waste material
- Growth
- Respiration/Breathing
- Movement
- Presence of senses
- Response to external stimuli
- Changing shapes during life
- The boundary between internal structure and outside
All these aspects are not present in all living beings and their absence does not make anyone nonliving.
Living things are usually a mixture of solid, liquid, and gas.
Nonliving things are solid, liquid, or gas, and these do not replicate/reproduce, grow, breathe, excrete waste, take food, and move.
The above criteria are not perfect. Based on these aspects, many so-called living things may qualify for nonliving status and vice versa.
Some questions:
Earth moves-- Is earth alive? Are earthquakes alive?
Boundaries--so-called nonliving things have boundaries e.g. mountains, stones, fallen wood log, dead bodies.
Is a child alive, he/she cannot reproduce?
Are old people alive as usually they do not reproduce, do not grow, and may not move?
Is a bedridden person alive?
Is a single human alive as he does not reproduce?
Is a person alive after the removal of testis and ovaries?
Yogi’s do not react to external stimuli. Are they alive?
If moving things are alive then what about wind, sun, stars, water, lightning? These all move.
Are sperm and egg living beings? Sperms are very motile, they swim or crawl, consume energy, have a goal and destination, they travel, have a structure, can penetrate ovum, have genetic material in them, and they die. They cannot replicate on their own but are still considered live.
Ova are alive for a few days after ovulation. These are formed in fetal life and keep maturing for years. However, the ovum can not replicate on its own.
Throughout the universe living things give rise to nonliving things e.g. humans grow nonliving hair, nails, etc., and nonliving building blocks become living e.g. seed becomes a plant, DNA becomes an organism, protein and lipid structures may become a replicating virus.
Seeds are dead or are just dormant. However, when proper nutrition and environment are provided, they become live. In the absence of proper nutrition and the environment, these are dead.
Heart, lungs, and kidney cannot survive independently. Human is a complex system of connected organs. These organs do not replicate on their own, however, they can grow in size. For humans to live, these organs have to work inside the body.
Some say anything is alive until cells are functioning or in other words, cell processes are happening. However, cells function even after death.
Do not we know that fruits ripen after plucking? Are fruits live after plucking? Banana, apple, and spinach turn brown after plucking. Apple keeps taking gases from the atmosphere, create energy, and ripen. Leaves function after death, they change color.
Coming to basics, whether living or non-living everything is made up of atoms.
As per Hinduism:
- everything is made of panch tatva which are Aakash, Vayu, Agni, Prithvi, and Jaal
- Brahman pervades everything.
Does it mean that everything has the potential to become life as Brahman pervades everything?
Virus, seed, rock, lipids, proteins have the potential to become life.
So, anything can become alive when Atma enters it. When Atma leaves, that thing becomes dead or nonliving.
Embryo gets life when Atma enters in it. Before this, there is no life in embryo, though it has the potential to become alive.
As per the dictionary, Jeevatma means Living or existing, the individual soul enshrined in the human body and importing to it life, motion, and sensations.
Parmatma is different than Jeevatma. Jeevatma is in Jeevs, making them live. All Atmas come from Parmatma and go back to Parmatma.
Animism
Animism is the belief that there is life in everything. Soul is embedded in all the objects.
Have you ever heard this-
After going to bed but before falling asleep tell your pillow to wake you up at a specific time. Next day you spontaneously wake up at that specific time without an alarm or someone waking you up.
Is this implying that pillow is a living being and has the ability to listen and follow instructions?
Soul/Atma:
Do zombies have souls?
After death atma leaves the body. It means it can exist outside the body. So, why will it find another body and reincarnate? Ans- It need a body to do some specific tasks?
When humans eat fruits veggies, and meat- Are they eating the food with its soul?
Artificial insemination- from where the soul comes?
Do eggs and sperm have souls? Are two souls uniting to become one human?
Do conjoint twins have one atma or two?
During pregnancy, the mother's body has two souls in it. So, can two souls exist in a normal person's body?
Bharti Raizada