Question: Is there life on other planets?

Sri Chinmoy: On the other planets, there is no actual plant life or human life. When it is a matter of physical existence, you have to know that it comes only from the five elements, and these are found only on earth. But there are living things in other worlds. The soul itself is a living thing. The subtle physical is living, the subtle vital is living, the subtle mind is living. Anything that is in its subtle form is real and has life.

In the higher worlds which we call Heaven, you will see big, big trees. But there is no actual physical tree in this plane of consciousness. Form is there, although with your physical eyes you cannot see it. But with the intuitive eye, with the third eye, easily you can see it. In these other worlds, there are also beings, but they are not like us. If you use the mind, the mind will bring forward a form; the mind conceives of everything the way it does on earth, so you will see them as human beings. But if you try to touch them to see if they are flesh and blood, they won’t be there. You won’t feel bones or muscles or anything like that, because their form is not on the physical plane. Also, they can take form themselves. They can take form and frighten you. When they come from the vital world, they can really be frightening. They actually bring solid power with them, undivine power. When you conquer them on the physical plane, they burst like a balloon.

Here on earth we identify with the physical form. Once we see the form, it is recorded in our mind. This is Joe’s face. If somebody else’s face comes, we recognise that it is not Joe. In other galaxies it is different. Even if the form totally changes, it doesn’t matter, because the identification is with the soul proper, and not with the physical form. If someone saw you at the age of ten, and now you are forty, he will not recognise that it is the same person. But in other galaxies, no matter which form the soul takes, the soul will be recognisable. You will be able to know who you are and others can also know because you are the same soul.

The planets themselves are all living and when I go to the planets I talk to them. Just today I was talking to Jupiter. The planets can take any form they want to. It can be the form of a human being, it can be the form of an animal, it can be the form of a tree. It may look as though they have a physical form, but it is not on the gross physical plane. Our physical is composed of five elements, whereas the reality of these beings is composed of Peace, Light and Bliss. But life is definitely there; otherwise, how could I talk and mix with them?

So, life is in all the galaxies. But life that takes physical form is found only on earth. There is physical life, there is universal life, there is transcendental life and there is immortal life. Inside earth-bound life, this span of fifty or eighty years, immortal life is there, hiding. Again, universal and transcendental life is also there. Immortal life is in all the galaxies. It is our aspiring consciousness that is aware of the immortal life inside the transitory life.