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Internal Forces of Life
There is much evidence that bodies of all living organisms on earth from plants, bacetria, jellyfish (the simplest of animals that has a nervous system) to apes and humans, all use the same DNA Code and similar amino-acids. And yet, no two organisms are totally identical. True, that all members of a particular species and sub-species would possess the same genetic code but the genes, themselves, would vary from member to member. This is because, the genes are not only hereditary but are also significantly influenced by the karman of the individual member. Thus, while the general behaviour of all the members of a species would be the characteristic one of the species, it would infinitely vary from member to member. This is because, though humans alone appear to have consciousness or minds distinct from their bodies, each and every living organism, also, has a non-material soul associated with a material body. The existence of the soul distinct from the body is not merely a concept but a metaphysical reality.
1. Basic Biological Principles
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According to biology, living organism is qualitatively distinct from the non-living matter. Functioning of the former is governed by some unique biological laws. The essence of living organism is the set of principles determining the transmission of genetic information from one generation to the next.
Living organisms are composed of the same constituents as the rest of the earth, but it possesses, besides free will, which is the characteristic of life, all of the following attributes: organization, excitability, conductivity, contractility, metabolism, growth and reproduction. One or more of these, but not all, may be possessed also by non-living matter.
Vitality and Homeostasis
In its composition, a living organism contains no special element but is mainly made up of some 16 of the 92 elements that occur naturally on the earth. Not only are these elements a very special set but they are combined together to make molecules more complicated than any others known in the universe. Biologists do not accept that living depends upon
