When we are swept by the current of pomp and pleasure, which assails us from all directions, He steps aside to watch us exhaust the well earned karma.
Similarly when we sail through the stormy seas and rapids in our lives, never having seen even a day of clear sky, let alone a silver lining in the cloud, again He steps aside to watch us exhaust the deserving karma.
Our karma bombards us with gifts and pleasures in life; unknowingly and out of ignorance we believe that to be lasting, and indulge in it further and deeper; while for others their karma veils them from receiving even the very basic necessities and good things in life; holding back their desires and wishes from being fulfilled. But they forget for that moment that that too shall come to pass.
The earnings have to balanced out and karma exhausted. The veil is then pulled aside to allow the grace of Erai in. He steps into our lives in the form of a guru, either living or as a jhothi or light.
Erai is said to have 5 tanmai or characteristics, taking on these tasks, namely: Creation (Padaithal), Sustenance (Kaathal), Elimination (Alithal), Veiling (Maraithal) and Showering His Grace (Arulal). We see his presence all around us and moving in us, as Agathiyar tells me he was there, showering his blessings, even before we began to take shape in the womb of our mothers.
Sperm production starts in the testicles, the two glands contained in the scrotal sac beneath the penis. The testicles hang outside the body because they are sensitive to temperature. To produce healthy sperm efficiently they have to stay at a balmy 34 degrees C. This is about four degrees cooler than normal body temperature. Once the sperm is created, it’s stored in each testicle in the epididymis, a six-meter long coiled tube. Just before ejaculation the sperm is scooped up and mixed with semen.
From start to finish it takes about 10 weeks to create a new sperm cell. The average sperm lives only a few weeks in a man’s body, and at least 39 million are set free with each ejaculation.
Some mysterious hand leads a male reproductive cell to an egg cell in the female, fusing with it and developing into a new organism. But it isn't as easy as it seems. The battle and onslaught that we face in life starts even before we have taken shape.
Those millions of sperm have begun their quest to find your egg, and it’s not an easy journey. The first obstacle may be your cervical mucus, which can seem like an impenetrable net on your non-fertile days. When you’re most fertile, however, it miraculously loosens up so the strongest swimmers can get through.
The sperm that survive still have a long road ahead. In all they need to travel about 18 cm from the cervix through the womb to the Fallopian tubes. When you consider that they travel at a rate of roughly 2.5 cm every 15 minutes, that’s quite a trip. The fastest swimmers may find the egg in as little as 45 minutes. It can take the slowest up to 12 hours. If the sperm don’t find an egg in the Fallopian tubes at the time of intercourse, they can survive inside you for up to seven days. This means that if you ovulate within this time window you could still conceive.
The mortality rate for sperm is very high and only a few dozen ever make it to the egg. The rest get trapped, lost (perhaps heading up the wrong Fallopian tube) or die along the way. For the few that get near the egg, the race isn’t over. Each one has to work frantically to penetrate the egg’s outer shell and get inside before the others. The egg needs to be fertilized within 24 hours of its release. When the hardiest sperm of the bunch makes it through, the egg changes instantaneously to prevent any others getting in. It’s like a protective shield that clamps down over the egg at the exact moment the first sperm is safely inside.
Source: https://www.babycentre.co.uk/a545272/how-you-conceive
It is a miraculous journey all the way. It is a miracle how a single and lone cell battles all odds and its competitors and survives to fertilize the egg.
The ovaries are packed with eggs, which are made before you are even born. Every baby girl is born with 1 to 2 million eggs in each of her ovaries.
Many eggs begin dying off almost immediately and the rest steadily decrease in number as you get older. When you start your periods, usually between the ages of about 10 and 14, only about 600,000 eggs are still viable. By the age of 30, scientists calculate that about 72,000 viable eggs remain. You’ll probably release about 400-500 eggs during your fertile years, between your first period and the menopause. In countries such as the UK, the average age of menopause is about 51.
During each menstrual cycle, some time after your period, between three and 30 eggs start to mature in one of your ovaries. The ripest egg is then released, a process known as ovulation. The egg is quickly sucked up by the tulip-shaped opening of the nearest Fallopian tube. There are two Fallopian tubes, each about 10 cm in length, which lead from the ovaries to the womb.
Ovulation is usually about 14 days before your next period starts.
The average egg lives for up to 24 hours after release. It needs to be fertilized by a sperm within this time for a baby to be conceived. If your egg meets up with a healthy sperm on its way to the womb, the process of creating a new life begins. If not, the egg ends its journey at the womb and disintegrates
During fertilization, the genetic material in the sperm and egg combine to create a new cell that will rapidly start dividing. This bundle of new cells is known as the blastocyst. It continues travelling down the Fallopian tube towards the womb, a journey which can take another three days or so.
The gender of your baby depends on which type of sperm burrows into the egg first. Sperm with a Y chromosome will make a boy baby, and sperm with an X chromosome will make a girl.
Source: https://www.babycentre.co.uk/a545272/how-you-conceiveWatch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5OvgQW6FG4
Having survived the ordeal and journey, we begin to take shape. Again a mysterious hand looks over us while we begin to form and grow in the comfort and safety of our mothers' womb.
Let "Indiana Right to Life" take us by the hand, as we journey into the awesome world of life in the womb month-by-month at https://www.irtl.org/resources/life-in-the-womb/