Question: The laws of karma are very complex, but at least we have some understanding from Srila Prabhupada: there are 8,400,000 forms of life through which the soul can transmigrate, 400,000 of which are human. In any of those human forms (if I’m not mistaken), we are permitted the opportunity to re-establish our dormant relationship with Krishna.
But what is the nature and purpose of transmigration through the other 8,000,000 forms of life, a very long process to say the least? Are those species transmigrating due to their past activities, and how are they becoming qualified to accept the human form of life once again?
Answer by Romapada Swami: The understanding you have expressed is quite accurate. Yes, the soul transmigrates due to its past activities and desires. The many varieties of bodies are created by the Lord to facilitate the variegated, independent desires of the conditioned soul to enjoy separate from Krishna.
The human form of life is the most crucial juncture in this long cycle, where we are given the opportunity to either conduct our lives in such a way as to get out of this cycle altogether, or get another material body in any of the higher or lower species, based on the nature of desires one cultivates in this life and thinks of at the point of death. The more deeply a human being’s consciousness and activities are engrossed in passion and ignorance, the lower the life form one will attain in the hierarchy of species. The cycle of gradual evolution of species from that point onwards resumes.
The nature of transmigration in these species, expressed in a very simple manner, is that that they evolve through progressively higher forms until they once again reach the human form of life.
There is no further generation of karma in these lower species; they are simply conducted by the instincts of their particular bodies.
The purpose of this long process, as I mentioned before, is that each of the forms of life facilitate and simultaneously ever-so-gradually elevate the living entity in its evolving trajectory of variegated material desires.
