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When I was going through this question and this question I found out that after the death of a body, the soul has three choices: heaven, hell and moksha.

It is said that if soul/atma left the body through bramha randra then the person may attain Mukti/Moksha/liberation. But those who have done any type (Bad or Good) of karma in their lifetime (current birth) will leave their physical body through one of the nava randhra marg and get a new life (next birth/re-birth).

I want know about those souls who will get a new life (next birth).

There are 16 sanskar (sacraments of life) described in the great texts of Hinduism. In that first three sanskars are related to Pregnancy.

  • How does a soul enter in a new body? Is there any way to know?

  • Does a soul enter from the same Nav randhra marg that it left from?

  • In which month of pregnancy a soul enters into a new body (foetus)?

  • Is there any possibility of a soul choosing the wrong? If yes, then what happens?

  • What are the basic things (like the genetics of both parents) required for a soul to enter a new body?

  • What things come from the last birth into the new life? (like education, duration of life, etc.)

  • Does any Hindu text explain this?

I came to know that Punsavana (seeking birth of a male child) or Strisavana (seeking birth of a female child) sanskar is done in the third month after conception.

  • Does this mean that a soul enters after the third month of pregnancy?

I got Strisavana (seeking birth of a female child) sanskar information from Ayurvedic books.

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  • Answer no 2 seems to be correct. Other than hyponosis one more proof lies in the astrology books, where the start of the life is considered at the exact time of the delivery. All astrogical " kundalies" are made using the time of delibery and not the time of conception. Thus we can say that the soul enters the body only after delivery.
    – user7079
    Commented Jul 7, 2016 at 7:33
  • once u know the answer, the question itself seems wrong.. it's like asking, "in what month did an owner enter into a company" - that would mean the company was there first and then an owner entered it. No, the company itself was started only because of, and around, the owner. similarly, the soul came to earth through rain (which was its body), then food, then entered Man, then Woman, and started developing a bigger body around it (whether it was a body of a dog, or fly, or a human, depends on which body it entered through food).
    – ram
    Commented Jun 25, 2017 at 5:02
  • this confusion occurs because of a wrong assumption we generally make. We see a body after soul has left it (corpse) and assume there must be a body before soul entered it.
    – ram
    Commented Jun 25, 2017 at 5:04
  • The concept of soul is strictly a Cristian concept. Concepts of Jeeva, Aatmaa, Puryasthaka, Deh, Dehii, Shariir are there in Hinduism and all of these are different from each other. Study about these first and then restate your question in terms of these concepts.
    – Love Bites
    Commented Aug 6, 2020 at 15:04

5 Answers 5

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Ayurvedic texts are not Veda.

The Chhandogya Upanishad (V. x. 5-6.) answers this question directly. It says

Having dwelt there [in the lunar world] till their [good] works are consumed, they return again the same way they came. They [first] reach the akasha, and from the akasha the air. Having become air, they become smoke; having become smoke, they become mist; Having become mist, they become cloud; having become cloud, they fall as rain-water. Then they are born as rice and barley, herbs and trees, sesamum and beans. Thence the exit is more difficult; for whoever [capable of begetting children] eats that food and injects semen, they become like unto him.

Sankaracharya's commentary is rather extensive on this verse. To sum up, birth as a human is rather difficult. Having fallen as rain, one may fall into a million places and not be absorbed by a plant that is eaten. One can stagnate for years before rebirth. Water can make it to the ocean without ever reaching a plant. Even when absorbed by a plant, it may be eaten by a brahmachari, children, or even an animal. "...like unto him" means the birth is the same as the father, i.e., if the father is human, the birth is human, if the father is an animal, you become the same species as the father. Sankaracharya says "For these reasons an exit from this state is extremely difficult."

Your soul (jiva) enters the mother's womb in your father's semen.

What carries over from your last life are your samskaras. Impressions only.

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    @AnilKumar 1) Unfertilized eggs have no souls. Only fertilized eggs. 2) As my answer says - Sankara says "For these reasons an exit from this state is extremely difficult" 3) I have posted an answers to this question already on 2 postings on Hinduism SE.
    – Swami Vishwananda
    Commented Oct 23, 2015 at 5:45
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    Sankara warns that a single human birth is difficult to get and that is why it should not be wasted. Raindrops per se are only carriers, but that does not mean every raindrop carries a jiva.
    – Swami Vishwananda
    Commented Dec 2, 2015 at 8:14
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    Ironically we say "your soul", when we know actually you = soul
    – Ritesh.mlk
    Commented Mar 1, 2017 at 4:49
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    @RakeshJoshi, where did you come up with that idea..
    – ram
    Commented Jun 25, 2017 at 4:25
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    @RakeshJoshi, ok i saw that thread - you are assuming upanishads are not Vedas based on what ? There is not a single authority who says upanishas are not vedas/shruti.
    – ram
    Commented Jun 25, 2017 at 4:58
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I'm only going to answer this question:

In which month of pregnancy a soul enters into a new body (foetus)?

According to Garbha Upanishad, the soul enters the foetus in the seventh month:

सप्तमे मासे जीवेन संयुक्तो भवति |
अष्टमे मासे सर्व संपुर्णो भवति ||2||

English Translation: In the seventh month, [the embryo] comes to have the jīva (conscious self), and in the eighth month, it becomes complete in every sense.

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  • Jeeva is not the same as soul. Vedic philosophies cannot be explained or understood in terms of alien concepts.
    – Love Bites
    Commented Aug 6, 2020 at 15:07
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A person interested to know this has to read some upanishads. It seems there will be 3 types of bodies stula, sukshma and linga. I think one is prana. One is body and the other is atma.
I think first the body forms. I think it is called pinda sareera.
Prana and atma enter in different months.

One of them enters through the top of the skull. After that the skull is closed, then he is sealed. He will have memory of a previous birth, and then realise that because of some sins he was not liberated and he suffers in his mother's womb till delivery. After delivery when the naval tube is cut, memory of previous birth is lost.

To know this briefly one has to listen a song on "manava janma marala radu", from the telugu movie Srimad virat pothuluri veera brahmendra swamy vari charitra.

To know one has to read Shankaracharya's commentaries on some upanishads and understand himself by listening again and again, reading again and again. Should have belief in it but not doubt in it. As one goes on reading it will be realised if he is blessed by god.

This is not exactly or 1% of what it is.This is what I understood and just what I remember. I may be excused if that is not this at all.

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A soul enters human fetus after 3rd month. So until 90 days it does not enter but on the 91st day it does. As i have heard from Pundits and Brahmanis who study Sanskrit scriptures. Well, let's hope they are correct.

Additional help for you; hope this helps your question. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnwLEMfpBMA

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    Well when a soul leaves a complete body how can it enter an incomplete body, I mean in 3rd month the body isn't fully developed...no?
    – Just_Do_It
    Commented Sep 28, 2017 at 20:54
  • The YouTube video link in your answer says 42-48 days.
    – user9969
    Commented Dec 20, 2018 at 17:39
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Birth is a secret. How a soul takes a body, and the criteria for selecting the place and time of birth, type of body, and parents etc. are all a secret. This is known as Janma Rahasya in Sanskrit. Although, this might shed some light:

...So after death, every individual energy stays, and the impressions it has taken, accordingly to that it experiences those stages there. But then after sometime that soul comes back.

The soul enters the body at three times – this is all a secret. It is called the birth secret and death secret.

So the soul enters at the moment of conception, or it enters in the fifth month, or at the time of birth. So the three sections are there, but there is no way to determine when it enters.

Excerpts from a Q&A with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: http://www.artofliving.org/what-happens-after-death

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    Why is birth a secret? Why should it be? This secret thing seems to be invention of Ravi Shankar.
    – Say No To Censorship
    Commented May 19, 2017 at 0:27
  • @Amit Saxena "The soul enters the body at three times", what does that even mean?
    – Ikshvaku
    Commented Apr 5, 2018 at 20:28
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    @Ikshvaku Its all nonsense and brain wash being done of poor Indians by Ravi Shankar, it is all explained in Garbha Upanishad en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garbha_Upanishad and Chhandogya Upanishad. First Birth in Father when soul enters Man through food(refer 1st answer), Second Birth during union in mother's womb and Third Birth when kid comes into world from mother.
    – user16678
    Commented Oct 31, 2018 at 14:26

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