Elephants have been known to die of broken hearts if a mate dies. They refuse to eat and will lay down, shedding tears until they starve to death. They refuse all human help.
2007-05-25 18:29:32 · 20 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Every single being in the animal kingdom has a soul. Can we ever say that when I am 25 years of age I have a soul... but when I was a child, I did not possess one! That cannot be. The insect life, the plant life, the animal life and form of human beings... all are stages in the cosmic life cycle of every soul atman. On its cosmic journey every soul is required to work out its karma to remove the impurities within. Only then the soul atman regains its original pure pristine form!
Similar as human beings have four stages in life... the age of learning (from beginning of life to 25 years of age... the age when we want to learn everything), the age of manifestation (whatever we learnt... We try manifesting it in physical life for earning our livelihood), the age of contemplation (after settling the family... one simply broods over meaning of life and searches for root causes) and finally the age of sanyasa (renunciation) when one must leave confines of home in search for a deeper meaning to life.
In the life of soul atman also we have four stages which are not exactly similar but the gist of the same is easily understood... the life of an insect, then plant life, animal life and finally the form of a human being. Every soul atman reaches the stage of human beings after manifesting 7.3 million life forms. In the human form alone we have 1.1 million manifestations and an earthly journey of 12.1 million years to reach the stage of enlightenment (kaivalya jnana) and finally salvation (moksha).
Every human being has already crossed through every single form of insect life, plant life and animal life. In simple words, I have been a fly, a banana tree, a deer, dog, lion etc. in my earlier manifestations. What can be more gratifying for the lusting human form that only as a human being... the soul atman within gains final release from the cycle of birth and death! The moment a human being gains enlightenment... one finally reaches the 8.4 millionth manifestation... the last leg in the cosmic life cycle! More on souls and animals - http://www.godrealized.org/do_animals_have_a_soul.html
2007-06-02 17:25:10 · answer #1 · answered by godrealized 6 · 4⤊ 0⤋
The heart is not the same as a soul.
The soul is the moral compass of our lives as where the heart gives us feeling of emotions.
God asks us as human beings with a heart and soul to be emotional for 3 days when our loved one dies but our soul will live on forever, but not for the elephant because the elephant never knows if it doing wrong or right during its life. It only knows how to survive.
2007-06-01 18:15:07 · answer #2 · answered by ringolarry 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Elephants ARE 'souls'
Just like people ARE 'souls'.
When Adam and Eve were created, they were created AS 'souls'.
They were NOT "given" separate souls, as wrongfully taught by some religions.
There is nothing separate [ spiritual] that survives death.
(Ecclesiastes 9:5-6) For the living are conscious that they will die; but as for the dead, they are conscious of nothing at all, neither do they anymore have wages, because the remembrance of them has been forgotten. 6 Also, their love and their hate and their jealousy have already perished, and they have no portion anymore to time indefinite in anything that has to be done under the sun.
(Genesis 1:20-21) And God went on to say: “Let the waters swarm forth a swarm of living souls and let flying creatures fly over the earth upon the face of the expanse of the heavens.” 21 And God proceeded to create the great sea monsters and every living soul that moves about, which the waters swarmed forth according to their kinds, and every winged flying creature according to its kind. And God got to see that [it was] good.
All living moving creatures ARE souls.
2007-05-25 19:21:44 · answer #3 · answered by pugjw9896 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
It is said that animals do not have conscious thought,only reason and instinct.
But I believe that some animals do have thought. I have seen Gorillas who can use sign language, Dolphins can also communicate w/ humans. And I've seen Elephant's mourn over other Elephants bones as though they know that they're some how connected....I believe that some animals are just more highly evolved than others.
2007-06-02 14:02:25 · answer #4 · answered by Constance C 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
DUST + BREATH = SOUL
The Biblical definition of a soul is simply a breathing body. Notice that the text does not say that man was given a soul, but rather he became a soul. A soul is not something a person has, it is the person. Souls have blood (Jeremiah 2:34). Not only are people souls, but so are fish and animals (Revelation 16:3).
The Hebrew word for soul, nephesh, is variously translated "person" (Genesis 14:21), "self" (Leviticus 11:43), "life" (Psalm 31:13), "me" (Judges 16:30), "creature" (Genesis 1:21), "beast" (Leviticus 24:18), "man" (2 Kings 12:4), "thing" (Ezekiel 47:9), and "fish" (Isaiah 19:10). When translated "body" the nephesh is usually dead (Leviticus 21:11).
The Greek word for soul, psuche, has the same meaning. In Matthew 16:25 Jesus commends anyone who will lose his soul (psuche) for Christ’s sake. It is often translated simply as "life" (Matthew 2:20). It means "person" (Acts 7:14). "My soul" and "your soul" are idiomatic expressions meaning "I" and "you" (Matthew 12:18; 2 Corinthians 12:15, margin).
2007-05-25 18:37:11 · answer #5 · answered by SDC 5 · 1⤊ 1⤋
This is basically a religious question. So the answer is whatever you want for your particular belief. You and your religious outlook is the only thing that matters when answering this question. You can decide any question about your belief. You can even decide that there is no such thing as a soul. It is all up to each person’s conviction.
2007-05-28 13:03:40 · answer #6 · answered by AnimalLovR 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
They have elephant souls not human souls. Never forget that.
2007-05-31 16:05:29 · answer #7 · answered by James O 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes as do all living entities. Cows also do the same thing yet people eat them which is the worst karma to eat a cow. (Gods favorite animal) The proof of the soul is the life within. Animals eat, sleep, mate, and defend, as do humans but humans have the intelligence to question their existence and relationship with God. Otherwise if one misuses their human form of life and don't realize that relationship they will get the appropriate body for their consciousness. To get off the animal plane and come to pure consciousness - chanting the maha mantra is the quickest and easiest way to attain self realization. for info go to harekrishnatemple.com Read Bhagavad Gita as it is By Bhaktivedanta Prabhupada-Karma, reincarnation and all species of life.
2007-05-25 18:37:34 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 3⤋
Everything living has a soul, we choose who or what we want to be in each earth life we have. Depending on what lessons our soul needs to learn....
2007-06-02 00:36:17 · answer #9 · answered by hmmmmm 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
We all do! Elephants are a lot more advanced then some people.
2007-06-01 10:02:21 · answer #10 · answered by ? 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋