What is Reincarnation?

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physical form, and can influence the living, until they (the spirits) settle

into their 'new bodies. It would be impractical here to go into the details of

the different forms and fashions of this doctrine; more worthwhile perhaps

would be to describe the main substance of it. One argument for the antiquity

of the doctrines of reincarnation is the 'evidence' in ancient literature, in

the tales of metamorphosis for example, Ovid's colorful extravagances of that

name, in which 'gods' take on human and animal forms, humans take on a

diversity of different shapes, etc. But these tales do not constitute a

doctrine; the doctrine proper is not to do with, simply, colorful change of

form, but with a belief that an individual soul must pass through every 'level'

of creation, every species of life form, animate or inanimate, sentient or

insentient. If we reflect upon this we soon realize that the doctrine is really

a strange elaboration on the immortality of the soul. In other

words, the kernel of it is the intuition that the soul is immortal. That kernel

is true; the rest is not. The doctrine may also have arisen from the

observation of the likeness in physical and other traits between parents and

offspring: in other words, the biological phenomena of heredity, perfectly

intelligibly explained by the laws of genetics, are given a less intelligible,

indeed ownright irrational, explanation by the doctrine of reincarnation. The

doctrine is said to have emerged in the Nile basin, spreading thence to other

regions and peoples, to India, for example, and back west from thence, to

Greece. There, the eloquence of the philosophers rationalized it (incredibly,

it seems to us) into a source of consolation and hope for people who, as do all

people, longed for eternity. Among the major religions, the doctrine was,

initially, infiltrated into Judaism by the Kabbalists, and by the contrivance

of Jewish thinkers into Christianity, and finally into the ideas

of some Sufis-despite the hard labors of Muslim theologians to refute such a

distortion. To support it, every apologist for the doctrine put forward some

'evidence'. For instance, the Kabbalists mention the transformation of Niobe

(mentioned in the Old Testament) into a marble sculpture, and of the wife of

the Messenger Lot, into a statue made of dust. Another argument explains

instinct and intelligence in animals, and the splendors of the plant kingdom,

as once human intelligence and vitality, which had entered into them. The idea

debases humanity and shames its proponents: it is really difficult to accept

that such an assertion, even if made on the spur of the moment, could be made

by people of any understanding. Certainly, it is beyond doubt that there is a

program and a predetermined destiny for plants and inanimate creation. But it

is rather far fetched to trace the harmony and order we see in the plant or

mineral kingdoms to souls which formerly lived

as or in human beings. Actually, plants and trees have a certain life, a plant

life, a direction of growth towards light and moisture, but this does not mean

that this is the activity of the soul of a human soul cast down, or a soul on

its way up the levels of creation. Despite efforts to corroborate this, no-one

has ever received any message from a plant form confirming that it contains a

soul that once belonged to a human being, nor have we heard any account from a

human being that he or she was once the soul of a plant or animal. True, there

have been claims, spread about by tabloids and other such media, of people

recollecting 'past lives', even recounting incidents from their past lives.

Where these claims are not totally absurd and ridiculous ravings, their

substance can easily be explained as recollections of what the individual has

seen or read and then, knowingly or otherwise, elaborated and transformed as in

any ordinary human fiction. The fact

that Niobe and the wife of the Messenger Lot were transformed into sculptures of

marble or dust respectively, even if accepted literally, are neither an instance

nor evidence of reincarnation. What we have in this case is a transformation of

a physical kind; it has nothing to do with transmigration of the soul. As for

petrified bodies, that is not an arcane phenomenon: just such corpses have been

found, in considerable numbers, preserved by the absolute dryness of volcanic

ashes. Pompeii was destroyed by a sudden volcanic eruption and remained buried

under the ashes of Vesuvius for hundreds of years. The excavations performed

there revealed numerous Niobe-like petrified bodies. In these ruins, and in the

petrified faces and bodies, so busy in their self-indulgent vices, so secure in

their arrogance, we can, if we wish, read the signs of Divine wrath and

punishment. Perhaps these figures had their way of life solidified in ash and

so preserved, so that future generations might

witness and take heed. To interpret them as evidence of reincarnation is simply

untenable. Belief in reincarnation in Egypt, India and Greece developed as a

result of distortion of once sound beliefs in the hereafter, and from a longing

for the immortality of the soul. Neither in Ahen-Aten's Egypt nor in Pythagoras'

Greece did anyone know of the reincarnation, which these distorted beliefs

brought about. To Ahen-Aten, when man's life ends in this world, a different

one starts in heaven. As soon as one dies, one's soul sets off on its journey

to reach 'the Greatest Court' in heaven. It goes so high that it reaches to the

presence of Osiris, and hopes to give an account of itself in words like these:

'I have come to Your presence as I was free from sins, and throughout my life,

I did do everything I could that would make devout men pleased. I did not shed

blood nor did I steal. Neither did I make mischief nor did I mean any. I did

not commit any adultery nor fornication

whatever'. Those who can speak so join Orisis' congregation, those who cannot,

whose evil deeds outweigh their good, are hurled into hell and tortured by

demons. Such sound belief is witnessed also in epitaphs relating to

Ahen-Aten's religion as follows: 'what You have done is too much and our eyes

cannot perceive most of them. O One, Only God! No one possesses such might as

You have. It is You who have created this universe as You wish and You alone.

It is You who decree the world suitable for human beings, for all animals,

whether big or small, whether they walk on the earth on their legs or they fly

up in the sky on their wings. And it is You alone who sustain and nourish them.

Thanks to You, all beauties come into existence. All eyes see You by means of

those. Verily, my heart belongs to You (You are in my heart)'. The ideas quoted

verbatim above were the things which were believed in as truth in Egypt some

four thousand years ago. Likewise, in Ancient

Greece, the belief in resurrection and the immortality of the soul were quite

sound. The great philosopher Pythagoras, for example, believed that the soul on

leaving the body has a life peculiar to itself; in fact any soul has this same

kind of life even before it quits the earth. It is commissioned with some

responsibilities on earth; if it commits any evil, it will be punished, thrown

into hell and tormented by demons. On the other hand, in return for the good

that it does, it will be given high rank and blessed with a happy life.

Allowing for the changes that might have been made in the views of Pythagoras

over time, we can certainly still see that there are fundamental similarities

with the Islamic creed of resurrection. Plato's account is not so different

either. In his famous treatise The Republic, he says that the soul on leaving

the body forgets the material (corporeal) life totally; it ascends into an

appropriate realm, a spiritual one, saturated with wisdom and

immortality; the soul is free from all scarcity, deficiency, error, fear, and

from the passion and love which afflicted it while it lived on earth; and then,

being free from all the evil consequences of human nature, it is blessed with

eternal bliss. In a comparable way, no doubt also through unscrupulous

translation away from the original language and subsequent further

distinctions, the Ancient Egyptian, Indian and Greek religions became

unrecognizable. The doctrine of reincarnation may well be one such alteration

from an originally sound conception of the immortality of the soul and its

return to the Divine Judgment. After reincarnation was inscribed into the

beliefs of the Ancient Egyptians, it became one of the central themes of songs

and legends throughout the vicinity of the Nile region. Elaborated further with

the eloquent expressions of Greek philosophers, it became, with the expansion of

Greek influence, a widespread phenomenon. The

Hindus consider matter as the lowest manifestation of Brahma, and deem that the

convergence of body and soul is a demeaning of the soul, a decline into evil.

However, death is believed to be salvation, a separation from human defects,

and a possible chance to achieve an ecstatic union with the truth. The Hindus

are polytheistic in practice. Their greatest god is 'Krishna', who is believed

to have come in a human figure in order to eradicate evil. Their second

greatest god is 'Vishnu', which means that which can penetrate the human body.

According to Hinduism, Vishnu has descended into this world nine times in

different shapes (human, animal, or flower). He is also expected to descend for

the tenth time. Since they believe that Vishnu will next come to this world in

the shape of an animal, killing any animal is absolutely prohibited. Killing

animals is only allowed during war; and the zealots of that religion do not

normally eat meat. According to the Vedanta, the most important

religious book of the Hindus, the soul is a part, a fragment, of Brahma; it will

never be able to get rid of suffering and distress until it returns to its

origin. Soul achieves gnosis by isolating itself from the ego and all

wickedness pertaining to the ego, and by running towards Brahma, just as a

river flows down into a sea. When the soul reaches and unites with Brahma, it

acquires absolute peace, tranquillity and stillness, another version of which

is Nirvana in Buddhism: there is an abatement of active seeking, a passivity of

soul in the latter, whereas the soul is dynamic in Hinduism. All ancient, new

and contemporary acceptance of the doctrine of reincarnation has one

characteristic, one root, in common, that is the belief in incarnation. There

is a shared failure of intellect to both grasp and accept the Absolute

Transcendence of God: corrupted by this failure, people have been persuaded to

believe that the Divine mixes with the corporal and that the corporal or

the human will mix or can mix with the Divine. But in reality every individual

lives and dies according to his or her individual destiny, carries his or her

individual load, will be individually resurrected and individually called to

answer for his or her intentions and actions and their consequences, and each

individually will receive Divine judgment (which is perfect justice) according

to the same criteria. We set below, in the form of a list of points, the

cardinal reasons why the doctrine of reincarnation should be rejected. Belief

in the Resurrection and Judgment when justice is meted out to each individual

soul according to that individual's record in life. 1. If the individual

soul passes into different lives, in which form or personality will it be

resurrected, commanded to give account, and rewarded or punished? 2. This

world is created for the purpose of test and trial,

to benefit the soul thereby. One focus of the test is belief in the Unseen.

Under the doctrine of resurrection, those who live a bad life pass into a lower

form of life (animal, tree, etc.) after death. But in that case, they will know

the consequences of their former life and life as test loses its meaning. To

get round this, believers in this doctrine also have to have a doctrine of

forgetfulness-the soul 'forgets' its past existence. In that case, for all

practical purposes, having had (or not having had) a past existence is of no

consequence to any living creature. Plainly, the doctrine contradicts itself

and has no bearing on life as it is lived except to make the individual accept

his condition whatever it may be without actively striving for salvation. 3.

If each individual is supposed to go through a painful cycle of transmigrations

in order to acquire eternal bliss, then God's promise to punish the wicked and

the

sinful, and to reward the good and the righteous, has no meaning for the

individual life. This is unacceptable for Providence, and God is far from being

vain or futile in His actions. 4. The Holy Book and other Divine Books state

that sins will be forgiven (if truly repented). This proves how unnecessary and

cumbersome a device it is, this doctrine that the soul must endure innumerable

cycles to realize forgiveness. How much better do the concepts of mercy and

forgiveness befit God, the Beneficent Merciful Creator. There is no sin, which

God cannot forgive as He wills. God, the All Mighty, reveals and promises in the

Holy Book that He will forgive those who repent what they have done wrong and

sincerely intend not to do it again. In this respect, God does not see how

great or little your sins are, nor how late your penitence is. This may mean

that a sinner who disobeys and rebels against God throughout his life can also

be

forgiven by a single act of true repentance, done with absolute sincerity and a

profound understanding of servanthood and dependence on God. (But no individual

knows his or her future, none knows if that late hour will come how unwise then

to postpone it!) 5. Long, and tiresome cycles of rebirth are contrary to the

mercy, favor, grace and forgiveness of God, the All Compassionate. If He wills,

He takes ordinary, worthless, inferior things and turns them into what is

purest and best and beyond price. Infinite indeed are His blessings and

munificence. 6. Among the followers of the Messengers, there have been many

who led wicked lives but who afterwards reformed and did so within an

incredibly short time, then being the revered models of virtue for later

generations. After meeting the Messengers, and embracing the Divine Message,

some of them even surpassed previous followers and came to be more

revered than them. This indicates that by the favor of God one can easily and

quickly rise to the summit, even if, previously, one had been of those

apparently destined for the pit. It also shows, again, how unnecessary is the

doctrine of souls 'graduating' into higher levels of being: indeed the doctrine

may have the effect of lessening incentives to moral effort. 7. To believe

that God, the All-Mighty, has created for each individual an individual soul is

a part of belief in His Omnipotence. To believe, instead, that a limited number

of souls migrate from body to body argues the illogical proposition that the

Omnipotent is not Omnipotent. The sheer abundance of life, its infinite

variety, its refusal of mere repetition of form, is everywhere evident: God is

indeed All Mighty. There are approximately 5 or 5.5 billion people in the

world. In recent times we have learnt how to prove that each individual is

absolutely unique by looking at

fingerprints or gene codes. No individual's gene code or fingerprint is like any

other's a fact so reliable as to be used in forensic science to identify

criminals. Another example is the observation by a German professor, over

thirty years, of millions of pictures of snowflakes not one of which is ever

exactly like any other in shape or pattern. It is scarcely imaginable how many

snowflakes fall in one season on one mountainside, let alone all that have ever

fallen. How foolish to imply then that the Omnipotent could not create an

infinite number of individual souls and supply them with an infinite number of

bodies. 8. As there are about 5.5 billion people altogether on the earth,

could not a few of them at least have had some marks, or signs on them, or

evidence, or something convincing to tell, of their memories, adventures and

experiences in different forms and bodies? Must not there have be an

accumulation of knowledge, experience

and culture in some of those who have come to this world a few times or even

completed their cycles? If this happened in only one out of a million should we

not expect there to be a great number of people now living of extraordinary

virtue and competence? Should we not have met a few of them even in our own

countries? If so, where are they? 9. When a body reaches an age (let's say

three or four years), a measure physical maturity, should we not expect the

soul to emerge with, as it were, all the acquisition and achievement of

previous lives? Should we not expect prodigies? There have been quite a few

prodigies in recorded history, but their special gifts need not be the result

of lives lived many times before. It can equally well be explained as a special

combination of genetic characteristics occurring in a particular time and place

which is attributable to Divine Grace and Favor, together with supreme effort

on the part of the

individual to understand his or her own gift in the tradition and context in

which it is given. 10. No faculty special only to human beings has ever been

found in any other entities, animate or inanimate. But we should expect such a

discovery if there were any truth in reincarnation. If a lower form of life is,

so to speak, the consequence (punishment) for particular evil deeds in the

previous life, then, presumably, the good in that life (outweighed by the evil)

must also be carried forward. In other words, some part of the individual's

previous life should be retained in the next life. In this case we would expect

the boundaries of particular forms to be frequently burst open with, for

example, plants never known to do so, suddenly showing properties associated

with animal life. But, by the Mercy of God, zoology and botany have not, for

all their many welcome advances in recent years, discovered any such monsters.

11. If being a man or animal is the consequence of one's deeds in a former

life, which first existed, man or animal, the higher or the lower? Advocates of

the doctrine cannot decide or agree on any form for the first creature, for

every generation implies a preceding generation in order that the succeeding

generation may be considered as the consequence of the former. And if

generation is an evil, as some who believe in reincarnation also believe, why

did the whole thing start? Why did life begin at all? Plainly, the doctrine

leads again and again to absurdity. Thank you Aravind

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