Question: What makes an animal want to take a human incarnation? Is it a conscious decision?

Sri Chinmoy: They do not want it consciously. In the process of evolution they come back again and again, unless they are helped by someone. We do not do anything consciously from the animal world. Only from the human world we try to do everything consciously. From the human world we try to realise God. God gives us a conscious way of praying and meditating. Before that it is all instinct.

From:Sri Chinmoy,Sri Chinmoy answers, part 17, Agni Press, 1999
Sourced from https://srichinmoylibrary.com/sca_17