In monozygotic twins where do the differences come from?

From Subhash P

In the example of monozygotic twins You have quoted if one is of cruel nature and one is of loving nature does this mean the soul of one has a cruel personality. Isn’t the cruelty due to Ajnana obscuring the pure soul as in chapter 5.

Transcribed by: Argha Maji

Question: How do the differences in the monozygotic twins come from?

Answer: Yes, soul is not evil. Soul is mamaivāmśo jīva-loke, always pure. The nature of a person is largely determined by the subtle body. Our past karma creates impressions, tendencies, desires in the subtle body.

ajñānenāvritam jñānam

tena muhyanti jantavah ( 5.15 BG)

As the Bhagavad Gita fifth chapter says that ajñāna covering is in the subtle body primarily. So the point of monozygotic twins example is that we cannot reduce our whole human personality to the gross material level, the genetic level as modern genetics tries to do. Now what is beyond the gross material level cannot be perceived by just living at the gross material level. For that we need scriptural revelation which classifies the reality which is beyond gross material into two levels, subtle material and spiritual.

So there are unaccounted differences between these two twins, which cannot be accounted for at the material level. So are they accounted for the spiritual level? No.

They are accounted for at the subtle material level. The material personalities that different people have not in terms of looks, but in terms of nature. They are largely because of the subtle body. Thank you. Hare Krishna.