So far, there is no evidence of any life anywhere else in the universe. Of course, there is always a possibility that worlds like ours exist in the vast universe, to which we have no access. But of whatever is known in the solar system, in our galaxy The Milky Way, and the next-near galaxy Andromeda, there are no traces of life. But according to one count, there are 170 billion galaxies in our universe, which can go up to a trillion or even more.
As per one estimate, our planet Earth is 4.54 billion years old, give or take about 50 million years.
It was formed after Mercury and Venus, by swirling gas and dust pulled into a spherical mass by gravitational force. Later, flying particles got converted into Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, the other distant planets away from the earth. Life started on Earth 3.7 billion years ago as microscopic organisms, when it sufficiently cooled down.
Some 2.4 billion years ago, some microorganisms started making food using water and the sun’s energy and releasing oxygen as a result. This created multicellular beings and around 600 million years ago, animals evolved, living on metabolizing oxygen first in water and then crawling on land. Mammals evolved 250 million years ago, and modern man arrived only 300,000 years ago roaming around as apes on two feet, hunting for food.
Agriculture happened merely 10,000 years ago and we know the history of merely 3,000 years, which is equivalent to 10th century BCE (Before the Common Era).
The DNA we carry in our bodies is transferred through successive generations from the first set of males and females. The 7 billion people on planet Earth today were born through 400 generations. Forty generations occur in 1000 years and thus DNA keeps moving through new bodies. Know that you owe your life to all those ancestors. Two lines of DNA – one from the father and the other from the mother – have created you, and you evolved it further by procreating children with your partner. You can feel in your bones, those who lived before you, and your heart must be burdened with the responsibility of the children who are born because of you.
Gautam Buddha, who lived in 6th century BCE, established the doctrine of Dependent Origination. Whatever exists emerges out of twelve links between dying and becoming. Nothing exists without a cause.
When there is this, that is.
With the arising of this, that arises.
When this is not, neither is that.
With the cessation of this, that ceases.
For a new birth, there is a mental play of conditioning, desires, and actions, creating intermediate stages of phenomena, which must all eventually die and be reborn.
Be watchful of your desires. Feel the drives generated in your body – of hunger, thirst, likes and dislikes – and examine how you are always moving toward certain things or running away from others. Stop living like a robot driven by your desires. Take a pause and stop and allow life to happen without acting on it. A few moments of letting things happen, letting your desires pass without acting on them, will set up a process of advancement in you towards the better.