nantly aque ous, that must frst move through sev eral dis tinct phases as de lin

eated in the panchagni-vidya sect ions of the Chandogya and Brihadarany aka
Upanishads. Chandogya, !."-#$ and Brihadaranyaka, %.&' (hree courses are open
to the )iv atman* the +right north ern course of the gods devayana' for those e, clu
- sively de voted to med i ta tion- the darker southe rn course of the manes
pitriyana' for those .ho have led dhar mic lives, per formed script ural ritu a ls and
en gaged in .el fare ac - tiv i ties- and the third course for evil-do ers that leads to
non-hu man +irth, eit her di rectly or af- ter hell ish e, pe ri ences. (he devayana
and pitri- yana are chara c teri /ed +y as cent through vari - ous states like the sol
ar and lu nar spheres, .hich are, as 0.am i 1i ve kananda e, plains, vi sions that'
rise in suc cess ion +e fore the )iva, .ho him self nei ther goes nor co mes.& (he de
- scent along pitriyana is the proto typ al de scent, marked +y iden ti f cat ion in suc
ces sion .ith clouds, rain, crops, the man eat ing these crops, and f nally .ith a par
tic u lar .oman at the time of con cept ion. (hese iden tit ies, again, are only a+
stract con cepts and not gross transf or - ma tions, as 2ch ar ya 0hankara has clar i
fed in his com ment ary on the Brahma 0utras." (hese con cepts may not app ear
easi ly in - tel li gi +le, +ut they re 3ect the fact that Con - scious ness und er pins all
e, is tence and can man- i fest in spec ifc forms. (his Con scious ness is not to +e
conf used .ith a.are ness, for the )iv - atmans iden tity .ith rain, plants, and such
other stages in its transm i grat ory path are not marked +y a.aren ess.4 5ence the
conceptus in its early em +ryo nic and foet al stages in the mothers .om+ is not
con sid ered a sep a rate in di vid ual. 6ts in di vid ua l ity is es ta+ lished only .hen
the )ivatman ac tua lly en ters it and es - ta+l ishes a psy chic iden tity, for the
)ivatman is noth ing +ut the trans mi grat ing psy chic ap pa- rat us comp ris ing the
mind and re lated sense or gans in their su+t le form. 2c cord ing to the 7ar+ha
Upanishad, a te,t that deals .ith hu- man em+ ryo nic dev elo pm ent, this ent ry oc
- curs in the seve nth month of foe tal life. (his
.as also the time that the foet us .as trad i tion - ally con sid ered to take to reach
+i o log i cal vi a - +il ity, or the a+il ity to surv ive out side the mothers .om+. 5o.
ever, .ith ad vances in med i cal tech nol ogy, foe tuses de liv ered sev - eral .eeks
ear lier can no. +e helped to sur - vive. (his psy chic iden tity as so ci ated .ith vi a
- +il ity es ta+ lishes the in di vid u al ity of the de - vel op ing +a+y. 6t is then su+)
ect to a.aren ess al +eit in rud i ment ary forms' and the Upani- shadic and 8uranic
te,ts cite many ins tances of re mark a+ly height ened a.are ness of the +a+y in
the .om+. 6t is im por tant that though via +il ity marks the em +odi ment of the
)ivatman, yet the ear lier em +ry onic stages are not con sid ered non- liv ing, for the
in tegr ity of cel lu lar and tis - sue struc ture is ev i dence of the pres ence of ac -
tive prana the syn onym for life'. 2t this early stage, ho. ever, the prana is de
pend ent on ma ter nal sup port.! (his dis tinct ion +e- t.een life and its sup porti
ng Cons cious ness is in di cated +y 9a)navalkya dur ing one of the de +ates in :ing
;anakas court .hen he asks his in terl oc u tors, 6f a tree, af ter it is felled, springs
forth ane. from its root, from .hat root does a man spring forth af ter +ei ng cut
do.n +y death< and then imm ed i ately .arns, =o not say, >?rom the seed@, for
that is prod uced from a liv ing man.%
6s Cloning Athical< ?rom the a+ove-ment ioned facts it may +e de duced that any in
)ury to the via +le foe tus is likely to cause psy chic in )ury to the )ivatman and .ill
lead to kar mic rep erc uss ions. 6n )ury or loss in the ear lier em +ryo nic stages are
not likely to have these ef fects, yet the pres ence of prana de mands that even the
em +ryo +e treat - ed .ith re spect. 6s e, per i men ta tion on em +ry onic tis sue
then mora lly .rong< (he 1edantic an s.er to this ques tion de pends not so much
on the act as on the att it ude +eh ind the act. (he en tire thrust of the
Bhagavadgita is on theB.#%