From venkata sharma venkatasharma at .co.in
Question by Chris Devol cvdevol at wrote:
Is there a fixed number of individual souls in existence?
If not, then that means new souls are being created. But if they are being created, then they are not beginningless, which is contrary to the Vedic teaching.
But if there is a fixed number of souls, then since the souls are supposed to be beginningless, and the material universes are supposed to have been created and destroyed over and over again from eternity past, then how come ALL the souls haven't gone back to Godhead by now, leaving the material universes empty of life?
It would seem that there must be a large number of souls who never ever, go back to Godhead, but remain eternally conditioned.
But, subtracting the number of eternally conditioned souls, that still leaves only a fixed number of souls who are capable of going back to Godhead, and the question remains, why haven't they all gone back by now, since they have had eternity to do so? And since the Vedas say that they never return to the material world, then there should be
nobody left in the material universes except those who can never go back to Godhead!