Whenever we talk about the Origin of Life, for most people Darwin’s Theory of Evolution starts ringing in their minds. In reality, Darwin’s theory is not about the origin of life; rather, it is a speculation about how life may have evolved after it originated.
How did life originate? Even today, modern science does not have any proven scientific explanation for this question. In fact, Nobel Prize–winning scientist Paul Nurse writes in the introduction of his book “What Is Life” that science does not even have a definite answer to the question of what life actually is.
In this video, we will discuss what modern science and Vedic science say about the “Origin of Life.”
The Encyclopaedia Britannica roughly defines life as: “Life is all matter that grows, responds, transforms energy, and reproduces.” Based on this definition, matter is divided into two types: living matter and non-living matter. All the living matter, or life, that we see around us comes only from the reproduction of other living matter. That is, today on the entire Earth, every life takes birth only from existing life. But modern scientists believe that the first life must have come from non-living matter. That is why, from the 19th century onwards, all experiments conducted to discover the origin of life were focused on converting non-living matter, that is chemicals, into living matter, that is life.
In 1952, University of Chicago graduate student Stanley Miller and Nobel laureate Harold Urey conducted a famous experiment. They assumed that when the Earth was formed, large quantities of ammonia, methane, and water vapour were present on its surface, and lightning continuously struck over it. Miller and Urey recreated this situation in the laboratory. They injected ammonia, methane, and water vapour into a glass container and subjected it to continuous electrical lightning. As a result, amino acids began to form inside the container. Amino acids are organic chemicals from which proteins are made. All proteins found in nature today are made from just 22 fundamental amino acids, so for the scientific community, the Miller–Urey experiment was a breakthrough. Now the next challenge was: how were proteins formed from amino acids?
In all living organisms, RNA performs the function of synthesizing amino acids into proteins. In 2009, Cambridge University scientist John Sutherland discovered a chemical pathway for the formation of nucleotides from hydrogen cyanide. And these nucleotides are the building blocks of RNA. So now science has created in the laboratory the building blocks of two important components of living matter—proteins and RNA. But in the journey of creating a fully functional living cell in the laboratory, creating amino acids and nucleotides is equivalent to making a nut and bolt in the journey of building a satellite.
Considering the intricate complexities of the structure and functions of even the most basic living cell, scientists have now set aside the idea of creating living cells from chemicals.
Therefore, for the past two decades, instead of trying to create cells from chemicals, scientists have focused on replicating the processes that occur inside cells. Many times, their success in this is misunderstood, and it is said that they have created life. For example, in 2022, when University of Tokyo researcher rYo Mizuuchi artificially replicated existing RNA in the lab with slight variations, SYFY.com published it with the title “Life Recreated in Lab.” Similarly, in 2023, when Georgia Tech scientist William Ratcliff combined single cells of living yeast into multicellular structures in the laboratory, an Indian YouTuber made a video claiming, “Scientists finally created life in lab in just 600 days.”
In conclusion, modern science believes that life is living matter, and living matter came from dead matter. But when it came, why it came, and how it came cannot be explained.
Next, we will understand how the “Origin of Life” occurred according to Vedic Science. Vedic Science differs from modern science in the definition of life. Modern science says, “Living matter is life.” But the Vedas go one step deeper and describe life as the cause that makes living matter living. Life is that which converts dead matter into living matter. According to the Vedas, life is an energy. And when this energy enters dead matter, it converts it into living matter, and that matter begins to exhibit all the symptoms of life. Both the Vedas and modern science agree on the Law of Conservation of Energy. Therefore, regarding life, the Vedas state: “Just like any other energy, life can neither be created nor destroyed. It exists eternally.”
na jāyate mriyate vā kadācin
nāyaṁ bhūtvā bhavitā vā na bhūyaḥ
ajo nityaḥ śāśvato ’yaṁ purāṇo
na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre
Life energy enters matter and makes it living, and for some time keeps that matter alive. After that, life energy leaves that matter and enters new matter.
But it is obvious that the Earth was created at some point in time. To know how the Earth was created, please watch our previous video. And if you have already watched that video, then the next question is: after the formation of the Earth, how did the first life come to Earth? The answer to this question is given in the 32nd and 33rd verses of the 5th chapter of the Second Canto of Srimad Bhagavatam. It is explained there that from the energies of Lord Sri Maha Vishnu, different organs are formed from matter, and those organs further combine to form different bodies. This is very similar to what modern science says—that organic matter formed from inorganic matter, different components of living bodies formed from organic matter, and bodies were formed from these different components. But all this does not happen automatically or by chance; rather, it happens through the energies of Maha Vishnu. And Lord Maha Vishnu places different living entities into those bodies, and in this way, life begins. The same fact is also stated by Lord Sri Krishna in the 3rd verse of the 14th chapter of the Bhagavad Gita:
mama yonir mahad brahma
tasmin garbhaṁ dadhāmy aham
sambhavaḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ
tato bhavati bhārata
“I provide bodies to all living beings.” That is, Lord Sri Krishna places all living entities, composed of sat-chit-ananda energies, into different bodies. In relation to life, it is very important to understand that life is an energy, and by entering bodies made of dead matter, it converts them into living entities.
Thus, modern science and Vedic science present two different perspectives on the “Origin of Life.” Please tell us in the comment section which scientific topic you would like the next video to be on. Hare Krishna.
Attached is the YouTube link for your reference.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSqurvNJHU4&list=PLDW98weKSnDlNh4RkpKa_dL4tMUnDyDIU&index=23
Comments
Be the first to share your thoughts.