Different species of human beings according to the Vedas

Do the Vedas support the idea of human beings being divided into different species with some being higher than others? What about genetics?

Over the centuries, many theories were created to try to classify human beings into different species, resulting in different types of racist theories. The whole issue of slavery was based on the idea that some human beings were inherently inferior to others and thus could be enslaved and exploited. Even in the United States, people of dark skin continued to be openly discriminated against and segregated up to the 1960s, with vestiges of discrimination persisting up to today. In India, discrimination during the medieval period was based on caste. Brahmans were considered inherently different from other social classes, with many believing that the only way to progress to the state of a brahmana was to take another birth and thus receive a “brahmana body.”

What do the Vedas have to say about it? Do the Vedas support the idea of human beings being divided into different species with some being higher than others? What about genetics? Do the Vedas support the modern theory of monogenesis, where it’s believed that all modern human beings come from a common ancestor and share the same DNA? The Vedas describe a race of evolved human beings called “Arians,” who were believed to be stronger, more intelligent, and more culturally refined than others. Would the Vedic Arians be different from other human beings at a genetic level? If not, how could the differences be explained?

The main point is that scriptures classify species according to the level of consciousness, not according to DNA. This makes the classification radically different from modern scientific theory, which classifies species according to their capacity to generate viable offspring. In the classification of the Vedas, a dog from another planet would still be counted as a dog (since the consciousness is similar) even though their bodily structure may be very different. According to the modern definition, there are 12,000 species of ants, but according to the Vedas, the number would be much smaller since they are still ants and have an ant consciousness, even though their bodies may be different and they may not be able to mate. According to the Vedic description, the forms of different beings may change and diversify over time due to adaptation to the environment, but they will still be counted as the same species.

The Vedas explain that, counting species of the whole universe, there are a total of 8,400,000 different species of living entities, including a whopping 400,000 species of human beings! However, many of these species are different from what we would call a “human being” and are present on the different planets of the universe. When the Vedas describe 400,000 species of “human beings,” they talk about different species of intelligent beings and not exactly the same anatomic characteristics as people from our planet. The Kinaras, for example, mix human and animal characteristics; the Nagas are intelligent snakes that live on the lower planets, while the Kimpurushas mix characteristics of humans and monkeys (like Hanuman and the other monkeys who assisted Lord Rama). The classification of “human being” also includes different types of demigods and so on.

These different species are described in the second canto of Śrīmad Bhagavatam:

“O King, know from me that all living entities are created by the Supreme Lord according to their past deeds. This includes Brahmā and his sons like Dakṣa, the periodical heads like Vaivasvata Manu, the demigods like Indra, Candra and Varuṇa, the great sages like Bhṛgu, Vyāsa and Vasiṣṭha, the inhabitants of Pitṛloka and Siddhaloka, the Cāraṇas, Gandharvas, Vidyādharas, Asuras, Yakṣas, Kinnaras and angels, the serpentines, the monkey-shaped Kimpuruṣas, the human beings, the inhabitants of Mātṛloka, the demons, Piśācas, ghosts, spirits, lunatics and evil spirits, the good and evil stars, the goblins, the animals in the forest, the birds, the household animals, the reptiles, the mountains, the moving and standing living entities, the living entities born from embryos, from eggs, from perspiration and from seeds, and all others, whether they be in the water, land or sky, in happiness, in distress or in mixed happiness and distress. All of them, according to their past deeds, are created by the Supreme Lord.” (SB 2.10.37-40)

What about human beings on our planet? Do the Vedas describe different races of people, like Africans, Europeans, Asians, etc., as different species of people?

To the frustration of the ones who are expecting to use the Vedas to sustain their racist theories, the answer is no. The Vedas describe different species of human beings according to the cultural level, going all the way from aboriginal humans all the way up to the Arians, the followers of Vedic culture, who were considered the most evolved. According to this definition, people in our age are all considered Mlecchas, the lowest kind of human beings, since in our age there are no true followers of the Vedic culture.

The difference, however, is not based on genetics but on the level of consciousness. There is also the idea of progression by initiation and other forms of purification. A Śūdra, or even a Mleccha who is properly initiated and receives the proper training, can thus progress to the stage of a Brahmana without having to change his body.

In lower forms of life, there is no possibility of such migration between species. No process can transform a dog into a horse or anything else, but in the case of human beings, the presence of evolved intelligence makes it possible. A human being can thus migrate to a higher level of consciousness if properly educated. Without education, however, people are all considered aborigines, regardless of the color of their skin.

This doesn’t just open the possibility of one progressing in this same lifetime but also giving birth to enlightened children of a similar disposition. The scriptures mention that during conception, the body of a child is not formed just from the DNA of the parents, but from their consciousness. A man and a woman from lower birth who have thus progressed to the Brahmana level due to initiation, education, and spiritual practice can generate a child who will have the same brahminical propensities since the beginning.

How can we then explain the physical differences between different groups of human beings? Why do people from Africa have black skin, while Europeans generally have white skin, for example?

These differences are just based on descendency. People share physical characteristics with their ancestors, and thus the son of a black man will be also black, and so on. This, however, doesn’t mean one is higher or lower than the child of a white man. Europeans and Caucasians are believed to be descendants of the Ksatriyas who fled Paraśurāma thousands of years ago. Because they lived geographically distant from other human groups, they were marrying among themselves for thousands of years, and thus they preserved some of the physical characteristics of these ancient Indian Ksatriyas, such as white skin. The Ksatriyas who stayed in India, on the other hand, mixed with people from other groups over time, and thus most people living now in India have darker skin. These physical characteristics don’t make them higher or lower, since the Vedic definition is based on the level of consciousness and not on the color of the skin.

The Vedas describe the history of human beings as a devolutionary process, where the perfect human beings from Satya-yuga gradually degrade into different groups of uncivilized human beings throughout the four eras. We like to see ourselves as civilized and enlightened people, but according to the Vedic concept, the meat-eating, intoxication, gambling, and low moral principles present in most modern societies put us among the uncivilized human beings.

There are different groups and species (according to the Vedic definition) of human beings living on our planet at different times (some of them genetically different from modern human beings), but the Vedas don’t emphasize these distinctions, focusing instead on offering transcendental knowledge that can help all classes of people to progress.

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