How difficult or rare is it to get human life?

Question

According to scripture(s), how difficult or rare is it to get human life?

Answer 1

The scriptures definitely say that human life is rare or difficult to get. But IMO it will be hard to answer the "how much" part in your question.

Given below are a few relevant verses, which are the words of Lord Shiva.

Atra janma sahasreshu sahasrairapi PArvati | KadAchit labhate jantur mAnushyam puntyasanchayAt ||

Meaning

[Lord Shiva says to Goddess PArvati] Thousands and thousands of jivas are getting equally numerous births, but among them only rarely (kadAchit) one gets a human birth due to its accumulated merits (punyasanchaya).

SopAnabhutam mokshashya mAnushya, prApya durlabham | YastArayati nAtmAnam tasmat pApatarohatra kah ||

Meaning

Human life, which is like a staircase to liberation (moksha), is rare (durlabham) to achieve. Who is more sinner than the one who gets it but fails to utilize it [to the fullest].

KulArnava Tantram, UllAsah 1, Verses 15,16.

Another relevant verse is the following:

Chaturvida sarirAni dhritvA sahasrashah | SukritAnmAnavo bhutvA jyAni chenmokshamApluyAt ||

Meaning

The jiva upon obtaining the four kinds of bodies, repeatedly and for numerous times finally obtains the life of a human, and if in that life he attains knowledge [of the Self or atma jyAna], he attains liberation (moksha).

KulArnava Tantram 1-14

Commentary on the chaturvidhasarirAni is as follows:

"JarAyujAndajAtAni SvedajAnyudvidAni cha"- Plants, Svedaja (born from Sveda?), Andaja (born of eggs) and JarAyuja (born of a Yoni) are the four kinds of bodies.

The KulArmava Tantram and several other Agamas also talk about the 84 lakhs of bodies viz "chaturshitilaksheshu sarireshu" but even with that info we can't seem to answer the "how much" part.

Answer 2

Adi Shankara's Vivekachudamani

जन्तूनां नरजन्म दुर्लभमतः पुंस्त्वं ततो विप्रता तस्माद्वैदिकधर्ममार्गपरता विद्वत्त्वमस्मात्परम् । आत्मानात्मविवेचनं स्वनुभवो ब्रह्मात्मना संस्थितिः मुक्तिर्नो शतजन्मकोटिसुकृतैः पुण्यैर्विना लभ्यते ॥ २॥

jantuunaam nara-janma dur-labhamatah punstvan tato viprataa
tasmaad vaidika-dharma-maarga-parataa vidvattvam asmaat param.
aatmaan'aatma-vivechanam svanubhavo brahm'aatmanaa samsthitih
muktir no shata-janma-koti-su-kr^taih punyair vinaa labhyate

Among sentient creatures birth as a man is difficult to attain, among human beings manhood, among men to be a Brahmana, among Brahmanas desire to follow the path of Vedic Dharma, and among those, learning. But the spiritual knowledge which discriminates between spirit and non-spirit, the practical realization of the merging of oneself in Brahmatman and final emancipation from the bonds of matter are unattainable except by the good karma of hundreds of crores of births.

दुर्लभं त्रयमेवैतद्देवानुग्रहहेतुकम् ।
मनुष्यत्वं मुमुक्षुत्वं महापुरुषसंश्रयः ॥ ३ ॥

durlabham trayam evaitad devaanugrahahetukam
manushyatvam mumukshhutvam mahaapurushhasamshrayah

These three things are rare and attained only by the grace of God - human nature (birth), desire for liberation, and refuge under great sage.

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Non-scriptural, common-sense calculation:

7 billion (10^9) humans on earth

10 quintillion insects

Who knows how many more bacteria, worms, fish, plants, animals etc. Let just say 100 quintillion living beings.

Chance of being born as human = 10^9 / 10^20 = 10^-11 = 0.00000000001

That means, if you die now, assuming average age of 1 year of life per rebirth (insects live very short lives, trees have very long lifespan, so average it out), it would take you another Billion years to be reborn as human again.

Now, this is just on earth - if you include Devas, Asuras etc in other 13 worlds, whole life might be spent just in calculating this.

But above is based on random/Normal distribution, whereas actually your birth is in your hands, based on your karma. As humans, we have choice to use brain to control our senses, do charity, follow shastras, bhagavad-nama-japa, and get rid of samsara cycle.

Answer 3

According to Ramacharita Manas (Tulsi Ramayana), Human birth is very difficult to attain for Devas also!

RamacharitaManas 7.42.4:

बड़ें भाग मानुष तनु पावा। सुर दुर्लभ सब ग्रंथिन्ह गावा।।
साधन धाम मोच्छ कर द्वारा। पाइ न जेहिं परलोक सँवारा।।

"It is by good fortune that you have secured a human body which - as declared by all the scriptures - is difficult even for the gods to attain. It is a tabernacle suitable for spiritual endeavors, gateway to liberation. He who fails to earn a good denisty hereafter even on attaining it" - Sri Rama

English translation is quoted from Gitapress book available on Internet Archive.

Answer 4

Manuṣyajanma is indeed atidurlabha (such as Śānti Parva 180, Vivekacūḍāmaṇi 2a, Bhāgavata Purāṇa 7.6.1, etc.). Why is it so durlabha? There are caturaśītilakṣa (84 lac) yonis, and extremely few of these are manuṣyayonis. When sahasras of jīvas are getting janma in these yonis, only a fortunate few, attain such a highly coveted janma. Only upon the sañcaya of immense pūrvapuṇyakarma (from pūrvajanmas), and nāśa of a lot of pūrvapāpakarma by successive adhogati stretching over yugas, kalpas, etc., is one able to attain this mahārha sugati of manuṣyayoni. It's the only yoni, through which one is able to attain tattvajñāna and mukti, and one of the only few yonis, in which one is able to do puṇya and avoid pāpa. Thus, manuṣyajanma is amūlya (ref. Kulārṇava tantra 1.12-16). As this has already been covered copiously by others including @Rickross, I would proceed ahead and state something new.

Sureśvara says that manuṣyajanma is attained by a mixture of pūrva pāpa & puṇya, unlike devatva that's attained with excess puṇya and narakagati with excess pāpa.

śubhaiḥ prāpnoti devatvaṁ niṣiddhair nārakīṁ gatim /
ubhābhyaṁ puṇya-pāpābhyāṁ mānuṣyaṁ labhate 'vaśaḥ //
~ Naiṣkarmyasiddhi (1.41) ; Candraśekhara Bhāratī's Vivekacūḍāmaṇibhāṣya (2)

Attaining such a specific a miśraṇa of śubha & aśubha karma that yields manuṣyajanma, is itself extremely difficult. Although durlabhatā of attaining manuṣyajanma is a fact, as clearly stated in śāstras, yet this durlabhatā cannot be quantified, in order to know how much it really is. However, an analogy/metaphor may help in explaining this durlabhatā.
Śākya Tathāgatha presents an apt analogy, which is referred by Śāntideva in Bodhicaryāvatāra -

ata evāḥ bhagavān mānuṣyamatidurlabham /
mahārṇavayugacchidrakūrmagrīvārpaṇopamam //
~ Bodhicaryāvatāra (4.20)

Bhagavān (here Buddha) says that manuṣyajanma is atyanta durlabha like a kūrma (turtle) getting its neck stuck in a yoke in the mahāsamudra (great oceans).

This famous analogy, referred by Śāntideva, is stated as follows by Buddha-

“Bhikkhus, suppose that this great earth had become one mass of water, and a man would throw a yoke with a single hole upon it. An easterly wind would drive it westward; a westerly wind would drive it eastward; a northerly wind would drive it southward; a southerly wind would drive it northward. There was a blind turtle which would come to the surface once every hundred years. What do you think, bhikkhus, would that blind turtle, coming to the surface once every hundred years, insert its neck into that yoke with a single hole?”
“It is unlikely, venerable sir, that that blind turtle, coming to surface once every hundred years, would insert its neck into that single-holed yoke.”
“So bhikkhus, that's how unlikely it is to attain manuṣyajanma... ~ SN (56.48)

This wonderful analogy (by Buddha) helps in explaining the durlabhatā of attaining manuṣyajanma by comparing to the durlabhatā of the blind turtle getting its neck stuck in a single-holed yoke, that's freely floating in vast oceans, stretching across the entire earth.