The Soul Enters at Conception, testimonies

I’ve received some great comments after I posted my article on When Does the Soul Enter the Body? in which I mention:

Some sensitive, intuitive parents do report feeling the soul being born to their family in that moment, and that it feels like a fully conscious presence that then becomes the baby. Some parents say they can sense something of the soul’s strengths and challenges, and how to best guide that soul, once he or she is born and ready for the School of Life.

I love hearing soul affirming wisdom straight from the lips of women who knew from the first moment that new life was within them…I received this note from a friend after she read my original article.*  Her daughter is now grown and has children of her own.

“Dear Mary,
This is so beautiful. Thank you so much. When my dear daughter came to me, I felt her fully formed, not by any biology, but by her own nature. I saw her personality fully present. She was smart and observant. She thought way before she could speak. It was such a joy to have her with me.
Joy to you, Mary,
Sheila”

And it is really great to hear from the dads, too! This one is from a devotee in Canada. He and his wife live surrounded by forest, and I feel that this natural peace, plus meditation of course, has deepened their intuition to a high degree.

One of his stories, below, gives testimony to the truth of Yogananda’s words: “At the moment of conception…when the sperm and ovum unite, there is a flash of light in the astral world….”

“I would like to briefly share my own private experience with you:

“At the point of my son’s conception, my wife and I had a mystical experience that will stay with us for our lives.  Both of us heard a pronounced, almost electrical PING” sound, and simultaneously saw a subtle inner flash, as we rested in the midst of our loving embrace.  We both exclaimed – “Did you hear that?!”—and yes, we both did hear it, and also both saw an almost electrical energy like charge take place in a subtler realm, distant yet somehow very close to us.  We knew at that moment that our pure expression of love had opened the way for a wonderful soul to come to us. My son, 26 years old now, remains a source of great joy in our family.

We have also been blessed with other experiences such as an unwavering inner knowledge, not provable to others, but without a doubt for us, that our daughter is my dear grandmother,  who previously loved my wife and I so much.  To see a soul you knew very well in one life, and who sang lullaby’s to me as a child, come into this world a clean slate in their own new conscious mind,  and travel a new journey with you in a new form as your daughter, is an amazing gift that deepens ones spiritual ardor.  To this day, my daughter (she’s 22 now) carries many of her strong willed and goodness tendencies from her past life, but remembers nothing of her past in this incarnation.

We usually avoid speaking of these things as they have been greeted with rolling eyes and unspoken skepticism, but my experiences have proved to me, truly, souls do congregate and are attracted to each other, coming into this Matrix of a physical world.”

These stories give testimony to experiences these parents had well before ever reading Yogananda’s teachings on the topic. Soul teachings are eternal, and we discover them for ourselves when we live more and more in the Divine Light.

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Swami Kriyananda was often present when Paramhansa Yogananda spoke privately with disciples, received visitors, or discussed his writings. These conversations are recorded in his book, Conversations with Yogananda. This question of life is addressed in entry #177:

It is a common belief these days that until a child is actually born, it is not yet a consciously developing human being. This belief is fallacious.

“When does the soul enter the body?” someone asked the Master.

“At the moment of conception,” he replied. “When the sperm and ovum unite, there is a flash of light in the astral world. Souls there that are ready to be reborn, if their vibration matches that of the flash of light, rush to get in. Sometimes two or more get in at the same time, and the woman has twins, triplets, or even – well!

“It is important, therefore, to come together physically with an uplifted consciousness. That flash generated in the astral world reflects the couple’s state of consciousness, especially as they felt during the moment of physical union.”

Conversations with Yogananda: RECORDED, WITH REFLECTIONS, BY HIS DISCIPLE SWAMI KRIYANANDA

*Read the full article in an easy to forward format:

When Does the Soul Enter the Body? by Mary Kretzmann