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I learned that souls are never created, all souls existed, exists and will never cease to exist. from this answer So, are there a number to how many souls are there, let it not be exact but some figure, because there are mentions of how many gods are there in the scriptures? so are there any mentions of how many souls are there?

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  • I used to assume that, because there are a certain number of beings in this world, there must be a finite number of souls, but in reality, there are an infinite number of souls. So, just because there are about 7 billion human beings, we can't say that only 7 billion souls have existed. There have always been an infinite number of souls.
    – learner
    Sep 6, 2021 at 16:23
  • Infinity is not real it's just a concept?? Who said so??? You assumed. In Hinduism, Space, Time, No of Souls, Matter and Ability of God and Vedas all are infinite. Ananta Vai Vedaha is a well known dictum of Hindus.
    – user22253
    Sep 6, 2021 at 17:55
  • @Mr Green Gold infinity is by definition a concept. It is not a number since most operations in numner theory fail using this concept.
    – Wikash_
    Sep 6, 2021 at 23:13
  • The number of souls is infinite if you count the souls in the other universes. In this universe it is a very large number but not infinite.
    – Wikash_
    Sep 6, 2021 at 23:16
  • @Wikash_ Hinduism treats it like a number, in the sense there are certain things in the Universe which are infinite. And you are correct souls in all the Universe is infinite and souls in this universe maybe finite. But the question thinks no such infinite is possible
    – user22253
    Sep 7, 2021 at 3:59

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According to the eka-jIva vAda school (which is a sub-school of advaita), there is exactly one soul (jIva) in the world and everything and everyone else is the product of imagination of that one soul.

Appayya Deekshita, in his work Siddhantalesha Sangraha, summarizes the position of the eka-jIva-vAda advaitins –

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One may consult the Hindi translation in the same location. Here, I am giving the essence of the above passage in English from the book titled Idealistic Thought in Indian Philosophy by Shuchita C Divatia, page 170.

There is only one jIva, and hence only one body is animate, while the rest are inanimate like the bodies seen in a dream. The world is imagined by the ajnAna or nescience of that one jIva. All kinds of practical dealings take place as in a dream, until the ajnAna of the jIva lasts. Further, as there is only one jIva, there arises no question about the respective individual bondages and liberations. Liberation of Suka etc, is also an imagined one like the liberation of a man that takes place in the dream. In short, all types of doubts should be put aside by the analogy of a dream.

Who is this one soul/jIva? The person asking this question can assume himself or herself to be that one soul/jIva.

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