Types of Life Forms
You have seen and heard living beings being born in multiple ways. In the scriptures you might have heard of some types of births that might be difficult to comprehend. And, there might be some that you have not even heard.
So here we briefly describe the types of life forms found in the creation and divine world. Total there are ten life forms; nine of which are material and only one is divine.
Let us briefly discuss them here
Material life forms
Most material life forms that propagate in the world can be divided into two types -
शरीरं द्विविधं योनिजमयोनिजं च ।
śarīraṃ dvividhaṃ yonijamayonijaṃ ca ।
"Body is formed inside the mother's womb called viviparous or yonij in Hindi, and those whose body is not formed inside mother's womb or non-viviparous or ayonij in Hindi”.
नर नारी योग से ही गोविंद राधे ।
बने प्रायः तनु प्राकृत बता दें ॥
राधा गोविंद गीत 7238
nara nārī yoga se hī goviṁda rādhe ।
bane prāyaḥ tanu prākr̥ta batā deṁ ॥
rādhā goviṁda gīta 7238
"Most often, material bodies are created by union of male and female form”.
Viviparous life forms
1. When the baby's body is developed inside the body of the parent those are called viviparous life forms. These includes human beings and many animals like cows, goats, whales etc.
Not Viviparous life forms
In the not viviparous category there are many sub categories. Of the ones listed below first three are very well known to us since those are within our everyday experience on earth.
Born from sweat
2. Sved (Devanagari: स्वेद ISO15919: sveda) means sweat. When the body is formed from the sweat the body is called svedaj (Devanagari: स्वेदज ISO15919: svedaja). Everyday examples of this type of bodies are those of lice, bacteria, viruses etc.
Born from eggs
3. Anda (Devanagari: अंड ISO15919: aṁḍa) means egg. The bodies born from eggs are called andaj (Devanagari: ISO15919: aṁḍaja). All birds, snakes, frogs etc are these kinds of bodies.
Born from land
4. The life forms that are born from land are called udbhij (Devanagari: उद्भिज ISO15919: udbhija). Ud means ‘created’, and bhij means ‘from earth’. E.g. of these life forms are trees, shrubs etc.
There are more not-viviparous type of bodies. Some of these you might have heard in the scriptures. In the following five types of bodies each subsequent one is increasingly superior than the previous one.
Born from Touch
5. When conception of a baby happens by a man touching a woman above the waist that child is called urdhvreta sankalpaj body (Devanagari: ऊर्ध्वरेता संकल्पज शरीर ISO15919: ūrdhvaretā saṁkalpaja śarīra).
Born by glance
6. When conception of a baby happens by a man casting a glace at a woman such a child is called to be born by glance (Devanagari: दृष्टि से उत्पन्न ISO15919: dr̥ṣṭi se utpanna). You must have heard this in Mahabharat, where Ved Vyas cast his glance on Ambika, Ambalika and their maid. Subsequently, a child was born from each of those women. Three children respectively were Dhritarashtra, Pandu and Vidur.
Born from resolve
7. When union of man and women is not needed to create a child. The child is born merely by resolving that a child be born. Such a child is said to be a manas (Devanagari: मानस ISO15919: mānasa) child.
Sage Narad is manas-puttra (son born from mental resolve) of Creator Lord Brahma. Kalavati, Menaka, Rantanmala are manas-puttri (daughters) born from resolve of pitra Arjmadi.
काम जन्य तनु हो या गोविंद राधे। ऊर्ध्वरेता संकल्पज बता दे ॥
राधा गोविंद गीत 7239
kāma janya tanu ho yā goviṃda rādhe। ūrdhvaretā saṃkalpaja batā de ॥
rādhā goviṃda gīta 7239
"Regardless of whether the body came into being due to union of male and female, or just by touch"...
दृष्टि मात्र हो या गोविंद राधे। बिना दृष्टि के ही देह हो बता दे॥
राधा गोविंद गीत 7240
dr̥ṣṭi mātra ho yā goviṁda rādhe। binā dr̥ṣṭi ke hī deha ho batā de॥
rādhā goviṁda gīta 7240
"it might be born by sight or otherwise"...
मैथुनी अमैथुनी गोविंद राधे । सभी देह हैं प्राकृत ही बता दे ॥
राधा गोविंद गीत 7241
maithunī amaithunī goviṁda rādhe । sabhī deha haiṁ prākr̥ta hī batā de ॥
rādhā goviṁda gīta 7241
"irrespective of whether the body was created by union of man and woman or not all such bodies are always material."
There are two more types of even superior material bodies. Those are not formed by union of male and female, yet they too are material.
Born by yogic power
8. Body created by yogic power is called nirmaan body (Devanagari: निर्माण शरीर ISO15919: nirmāṇa śarīra).
God gives every soul a body for a fixed duration. When the duration of a body elapses then yogis burn their body in the yogic fire (from the heat created through yogic austerities). And thereafter create a new body for themselves. This type of body is called nirmaan body.
In Mahabharat you might have heard of Amba, who burnt her body to ashes. She was reborn as a girl named Shikhandi.
Body created using yogic power is superior to the bodies described earlier.
योग निर्माण काय गोविंद राधे । शुद्ध है किंतु है प्राकृत बता दे॥
राधा गोविंद गीत 7242
yoga nirmāṇa kāya goviṁda rādhe । śuddha hai kiṁtu hai prākr̥ta batā de॥
rādhā goviṁda gīta 7242
"Body created by yogic power is pure yet it is a material body".
Ethereal body
9. Ethereal body is called taijas (Devanagari: तैजस् ISO15919: taijas). tej (Devanagari: तेज ISO15919: taija) means luster. This type of bodies are made from tej .
देवों का दिव्य देह गोविंद राधे । रक्त मांस अस्थि आदि रहित बता दे॥
राधा गोविंद गीत 7243
devoṁ kā divya deha goviṁda rādhe । rakta māṁsa asthi ādi rahita batā de॥
rādhā goviṁda gīta 7243
"Bodies of celestial-beings (devi-devata) do not have blood, flesh, bones, fat, bone-marrow etc. Their bodies do not produce urine or stool".
They have no flaws such as old age or physical ailments. These bodies are fragrant, their eyelids don’t blink, they walk in air. Their feet never touch the earth, they do not cast shadows and they don’t feel hunger or thirst either.
किंतु देव देह भी गोविंद राधे । प्राकृतिक देह है देवों ते बता दे ॥
राधा गोविंद गीत 7244
kiṃtu deva deha bhī goviṃda rādhe । prākṛtika deha hai devoṃ te batā de ॥
rādhā goviṃda gīta 7244
"Still, devi-devata bodies are material beings". These bodies are far superior than all other forms of material bodies. Still, after its prescribed duration has elapsed this body also dies.
Types of divine forms
10. God Himself and His descensions all have divine bodies (Devanagari: सच्चिदानन्द ISO15919: saccidānanda). These bodies are not made of any material matter.
After God realization, soul also gets a divine body. Even though both body and jeev are divine yet after God realization there is a distinction between the body and the jeev. In other words, the soul and its body are two separate things.
Even though bodies of God and God-realized saints are both divine still there is a huge difference between Shri Krishna's body and that of all others.
Read about Shri Krishna's body in more detail in What is so special about His Divine Form