Question: Was every soul split at the time of creation into male and female? Do all souls then have their soul-mates?

Sri Chinmoy: Indian philosophy and many other philosophies do not believe in soul-mates or the theory of the soul splitting into masculine and feminine at the time of creation. What do we learn in the Bhagavad Gita, which was composed about Lord Krishna, one of the greatest spiritual Masters of India? We learn that the soul has neither beginning nor end and we don’t get any indication that souls were split into masculine and feminine. The soul itself is neither masculine nor feminine, but if the soul starts the human stage of its earthly pilgrimage with a feminine body, then it continues to take feminine bodies in each of its incarnations. Similarly, if it starts its human journey with a masculine body, then it continues to take masculine bodies. At the animal stage the soul can incarnate as both male and female, but only two or three times in spiritual history has the soul changed its sex once it began taking human incarnations.

A masculine soul, a soul that has chosen to take masculine bodies, can have a feminine complementary soul and vice versa. In this case, one soul complements the other’s inner and outer qualities. Complementary souls are found primarily among mature, developed souls, not ordinary souls. Husbands and wives may have complementary souls, and this can also be true in the case of spiritual figures who accept a shakti as their spiritual partner on a very high level of consciousness. Again, there are some souls who either do not have complementary souls or who do not care for complementary souls at all.