The Absurdities of Reincarnation-Transmigration
INTRODUCTION
The belief in Reincarnation and
Transmigration is in stark contrast to the belief of, what
is commonly referred to as the "Semitic" religions -
Judaism, Christianity and Islaam. In particular, Islaam
holds that Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allaah
be upon him) directed the Muslims to accept and believe in a
Resurrection following death and in a Day of Judgment. The
basic understanding, as taught by all of Allaah's Prophets
and Messengers, was:
-
The life and
reality of this created domain will come to a permanent
end on an appointed day. Everything will be annihilated.
That day is referred to as Yawmul-Aakhir - the Last
Day.
-
All human
beings will be restored to life and will stand before
Allaah for judgment upon absolute justice concerning how
they lived life.
This is called Hashr - Resurrection.
-
The entire
record of deeds for every man and woman - all his or her
doings and misdoings - will be presented to him/her
including a final judgment.
-
The ones who
obey Allaah and do righteous good deeds will be
rewarded. The ones whose evil deeds of disobedience
outweigh the good deeds will be punished.
-
Those who
emerge successful in this judgment; for them the doors
of eternal bliss will be opened and they will be
admitted to paradise (Jannah), whilst those who
are condemned and deserving of punishment, due to them
consciously rejecting the clear truth in life, will be
sent to Hell - the abode of eternal damnation and
humiliation.
The belief in Reincarnation-Transmigration of the eastern
religions in comparison to the Semitic religions is mutually
exclusive, i.e. contradictory.
Hence, it can be concluded that both cannot be true, but
only one is true.
AN EXAMINATION
This treatise will attempt to examine
Sikhism's concept of Reincarnation-
Transmigration and show that it contains fundamental flaws
that violates the universally accepted attribute associated
to God of absolute perfection - the all-Just ('al-Adl).
In doing so, we will show, insha'Allaah
(God-Willing), that this concept is flawed and
contradictory, violates the absolute perfection of God, and
must therefore, by necessity, be rejected as false and
untrue.
According to the concept of karma, our
present life is the result of our past karma. Karma operates
in this life and successive ones. The law of karma does not
cease to operate after death. According to Sikhi:
Karma does not mean
that everything is pre-ordained and that man has no
free-will. He carries his past Karma in the form of
character. It is his own actions that make him what he is.
Guru Nanak says, "The record of my deeds cannot be effaced
because God has recorded them."
[1]
Keeping in mind that
preordainment does not necessitate an absence of freewill,
there is a major problem with this concept of one's life
being determined by previous karma.
The first and most
obvious is that since we are living this life, then our
previous life was an unsuccessful attempt in achieving
moksha, due to our sinful actions. From this comes a
question that must be asked:
What were the mistakes we committed that resulted in our
failure to acquire liberation?
According to SGGS:
"After union, the separation comes and after
separation the union. After living the span of life, the
death comes and after death the life. He becomes the father
of many and the son of many, the disciple and preceptor of
many. Their lives in the past and future are countless.
Nothing is known what was in the past and what will be in
the future?" (Salok M.1. P 1238)
Hence, according to
Sikhism, our past life and actions are unrecollectable.
We are made to go through khand for past misdeeds we
are in fact incapable of recalling. Based upon this, the
next question one should ask is:
If one does not know what one is being
punished for, then does not the possibility exist of
repeating the same mistake?
The answer is not only
an obvious yes; but, the problem is further
compounded when we realise that since we do not know what
evil deeds we committed, resulting in failure to liberate
ourselves from the cycle of life and death, then how is it
possible for us to learn from our mistakes in order that we
do not repeat them, or worse still, commit worse
transgressions?
Leading on from this, if we hold to the concept of "A person
reaps what he sows" - "Jehaa
beejai so lunai karma sandraa khet: The man sows
so does he reap. Such is the field of actions." (SGGS
134) - it can safely be said that if one is born
under circumstances that could be construed as unfavourable,
then this is simply a case of reaping what was sown in a
previous life or lives. For example, if a baby was born with
a deformity or born into a family stricken by extreme
poverty, which in either case would assure a life of
difficulty and hardship, and as a result lead to an early
death, the question that would immediately arise is:
Is it just on God's part to punish a person
under such unfavourable conditions for past misdeeds that
one has absolutely no knowledge of?
The answer to this question can quite easily
be determined when we see children suffering and realise
that this is merely just reward (punishment) for misdeeds
committed in some unknown and unrecollectable past life.
THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN KARMA AND THE SUFFERING CHILD
The problem with this
relationship is that since it is inexorably linked to the
notion of Karma, Reincarnationists habitually conflate the
following two propositions:
(1) Everything has a cause:
"The man sows so
does he reap. Such is the field of actions." (SGGS 134)
(2) The effect it has on one's present life,
including happiness and unhappiness, is determined by past
deeds: "Beej bovas bhog bhogahi keeyaa appnaa pavaye:
As are the seeds one plants, so are the fruits;
he receives the consequences of his own efforts."
(SGGS 705) "Jaisaa kare so taisaa paavai. Aap beej
aape he khavai: Man is rewarded according to his
actions; as he sows, so does he eat or reaps." (SGGS
662)
These are quite distinct claims and neither
implies the other. Subject to certain qualifications, (1) is
plausible but (2) is not, and it is the latter which
reincarnationists need for their argument.
The idea that Karma is a "Law", if it can be
defined as such, which operates autonomously, i.e.
automatically produces the appropriate results like any
other law in the natural domain, nobody can cheat the law
and that it is as inexorable as any natural law, on the face
of it sounds reasonable.
However, let a further examination determine how just this
"Law" really is.
Going back to the example of the child born
with a deformity or one that suffers terribly and then dies,
we can examine the implications in light of the following:
1. The child's
suffering is directly related to sins committed in previous
lives.
2. The child's parents
are likewise suffering the pain and anguish as a result of
their own sins committed in their own respective past lives.
SGGS: "Daddai dos na deyoo kisai dos
krammaa aapanyaa. Jo mai keeyaa so mai paayaa dos na deejai
avar janaa: Do not blame anyone else; blame
instead your own actions. Whatever I did, for that I have
suffered; I do not blame anyone else." (SGGS 433)
Before we determine how just and humane this
concept is, we have to realise certain factors.
Recalling that the parents and child have no
recollection of their past lives in terms of sins and
transgression to justifiably warrant them being reborn, we
can, thus, see clear absurdities that lead us to inevitable
conclusions of injustice when we consider the following:
(A) Personality and self-awareness developed
over one lifetime comes to an end after we die.
(B) Upon being reborn, there is absolutely
no trace of ones personality and self-awareness from any
so-called previous life.
(C) Hence, if a completely new personality
and a totally different self awareness exist, then various
reincarnations, extending over a period of time, are no more
significantly linked than the lives of all the individuals
who happen to be alive at the same given moment in time.
The questions that
needs to be asked is:
1. How is it
possible to justify the suffering of a person as a deserved
punishment for previous sins when one has absolutely no
recollection of the transgressions committed in a past life?
2. Is there any
difference between this and accusing a newly born child, who
has no means of determining the difference between right and
wrong, good and evil, of possessing a sinful nature before
it has acquired the faculties of reason - similar to the
Christian notion of Original Sin?
If there is no connection between ones
previous life and the next in terms of personality and
self-awareness, it stands to reason, therefore, that actions
of a previous life are separate, distinct and unconnected to
the next life. This implies that an innocent person will be
punished for crimes committed by another said person, i.e.
one person accumulates karma and another completely
independent person with a different personality will suffer
the consequences. It is a case of 'one person sows and a
different person reaps', since no personal characteristics
can be preserved from one incarnation to the next. This is
not only unfair, but fundamentally contradicts the idea of
perfect justice. From this absurdity, can it therefore be
said that Hitler will suffer for his sins in the next life?
No! Since there is no continuity between the person of
Hitler and that of the individual who has to endure,
presumably, the severe hardships incurred by Hitler's karma.
The only conclusion one can arrive at is that not only will
an innocent person be unduly punished, but Hitler himself
will go unpunished for his crimes against humanity because
he ceased to exist! As a result, it is not possible to
justify punishment for past actions (deeds) that are neither
connected to one's present existence nor recollectable, let
alone being able to justify it for an innocent child.
Moreover, this child, for all intents and purposes, is
innocent of those unrecollectable yet incriminating actions
since it has absolutely no means of learning from them.
In Islaam, Prophet Muhammad (peace and
blessings of Allaah be upon him) said that the pen for the
recording of actions and deeds in life, including the
judgment, is lifted i.e. suspended, in such cases where one
has either not developed the means or lost the ability to
rationalise, i.e. the use of sound reasoning and moral
judgment:
"The pen has been lifted for three: the
insane until he regains his sanity, the child until he
reaches puberty (age of discernment), and the sleeper until
he wakes up."
And yet, under the Karmic worldview, this
child is not only held accountable for unrecollectable
actions, but must also be deemed and described as a guilty
sinner! The ramifications are of course shocking to say the
least and in light of this, we can do nothing but come to
the harrowing conclusion that in relation to the suffering
child, God must be described as unjust.
We seek refuge in Allaah!
In Islaam, the suffering of the child is not
due to previous sins. On the contrary, it occurs due to
factors external to it and beyond its control by the decree
of Allaah. It cannot be said that the child is being
punished since punishment is only meted out upon the one who
commits sins and transgressions. As for the suffering of a
child then this could either be due to punishment meted out
upon others with whom it is associated to, e.g. parent's
being punished for their transgressions and evil deeds, the
consequences of which directly affects the child, or Allaah
is testing the parents to see how they will react in the
face of their child's suffering. In both cases the child is
considered innocent from any personal blame.
It is
from
the distinguishing characteristics of God's
absolute justice that He punishes the guilty after
they have been informed clearly of truth and falsehood,
right and wrong, good and evil, with evidence established
against them. This is certainly true for Islaam as Allaah
says in the Holy Qur'an:
"...And We never punish until We have sent
a Messenger (to give warning). And when We would destroy a
town (population), We would (firstly) send a definite order
(to obey Allaah) to those among them who live at ease. Then
afterwards they would transgress, thus the word (of torment)
was justified against them.
And We would then destroy them utterly." (Qur'an
17:15-16)
However, this does not hold true for the
Karmic theory, which assigns guilt, blame and punishment for
unrecollectable past woes unbeknown to the unfortunate
victim. Hence, the potential for rectification, by learning
from these previous errors, does not exist.
AN EXAMINATION OF REAL-LIFE SCENARIOS
Can the defender of Karma admit that some
suffering is outrageously severe or must he say that all
suffering is a priori just and necessarily deserved merely
because it occurs?
[Philosophical Quarterly, 1965, p. 151, Steinkraus]
In light of what has preceded, let us examine other real
life scenarios by attempting to interpret them under the
umbrella of the so-called Karmic Law.
1. What can we say of the
incineration of six million Jews by their Nazi
exterminators? In accordance to the theory of Karma, they
merely "reaped" what they had "sown". That is to say, their
physical and
mental torture, starvation and eventual murder was no more
than what they deserved based upon the notion that their
suffering and eventual demise is connected to transgressions
committed in a past life. In answering the question posed
above: "Can the defender of Karma admit that some suffering
is outrageously severe or must he say that all suffering is
a priori just and necessarily deserved merely because it
occurs?" we are forced to conclude that suffering in life,
no matter how severe and torturous, is directly proportional
to the degree of transgression and evil committed by these
Jews in a past life. Since the most important factor here is
an inevitable reaping of past crimes, the manner in which
this occurs - what can be referred to as: The Karmic Effect
- is seemingly irrelevant. This creedal Fatalism
[2] accepted by Sikhism
forces one to an amazing conclusion:
No matter what transpires in life, it is wholly justified
and inevitable.
By this rationale, 'The Karmic Effect' for the Jews, i.e.
their Nazi exterminators, was merely a consequence of what
they had sown.
Hence, from the viewpoint of the Jews, the action of these
Nazis was an inevitable consequence of what was destined to
occur. In other words, the Jews got what they deserved! Do
not be surprising if one is accused of being "Anti Semitic"
after forwarding such an explanation!
However, the farce does not end there. Many more
mind-boggling absurdities arise that question whether the
theory of Karma is just:
2. Returning to the suffering child. In light of the
explanation cited earlier from SGGS: "Do not blame anyone
else; blame instead your own actions. Whatever I did, for
that I have suffered; I do not blame anyone else"
(SGGS 433), consider giving the following
heartless explanation to the child's parents: "It all
makes sense - your child deserved her fate; she sinned in a
previous life, and the severity of her suffering is directly
proportional to the severity of the sins she committed. What
is more, you yourself are, likewise, suffering and there is
no doubt that you are being punished for some serious
transgression either in this or an earlier life or both. You
can see that, as always, justice prevails!" Upon
receiving such an heartfelt explanation, how many would not
look to take a baseball bat to the cranium of such an
individual!
3. What conclusions would be
drawn if we attempted to explain away the deaths of
thousands of people due to a natural disaster? Let us take
the example of the great Tangshan Earthquake of 1976 in
China, which lasted between 14-16 seconds, leaving a death
toll of approximately 242,000 people. Were all these men,
women and children, who died so suddenly, simply deserving
of such a fate?
Perhaps they were even a catalyst for the disaster itself!
Can we not ask whether nature too is subject to this deadly
Karmic Effect?
Was this disaster meant to occur so that these people payoff
the past-debt? And was death the ultimate and necessary
price for those unrecollectable actions they had sown?
If one were to hold to this incredulous Karmic theory, the
absurd and inexplicable conclusions reached for any given
scenario in life would not only be morally untenable, but
also extremely distasteful, objectionable and wholly
unjustifiable.
The difference between the fatalism of Sikhism and Islam's
understanding of Divine
Preordainment is explained beautifully by the great scholar
Shaykh Muhammad ibn Saalih al-'Uthaymeen, in his book: "The
Divine Pre-Decree and Ordainment of Allaah":
O
Brothers, know that the Muslim ummah (nation) is divided
into three groups with respect to Allaah's Pre-Decree:
The First Group:
They went overboard in their affirmation of Allaah's
Pre-Decree, denying that the human being has any ability or
choice in the matter. They hold that "A person has no
ability or choice - he is controlled and has no free will,
just like a tree when it is blown by the wind." They do not
distinguish between a person's action that occur as a result
of his choice and an action of his that occurs without him
choosing so. No doubt, these people are astray, because
what is known from the Religion by necessity, and from the
intellect and customs, is that a human being knows the
difference between an action he chooses to do and an action
he is forced into doing.
The Second Group:
They went to extremes in their affirmation of a person's
ability and choice, such that they negated Allaah having any
part in Willing or Choosing or Creating what action a person
does. And they claimed that a person is independently
responsible for producing his action. This is such that a
group amongst them went too far, saying: "Allaah does not
know what actions His servants will do until after it occurs
from them." These people have also gone to extremes and
shown great radicalism in affirming a human being's ability
and choice.
The Third Group:
These are the ones who truly believe, and so Allaah has
guided them concerning that which is disagreed upon from the
truth. They are Ahlus- Sunnah wal-Jamaa'ah [the people of
the Prophetic guidance of Muhammad and those who follow
him]. They have treaded the moderate path and the middle
course, which is based on religious and logical proofs and
evidences. And they say: The actions that Allaah introduces
into existence are divided into two types:
First:
The actions from Allaah that He causes to occur in His
Creation. No one has any choice in regard to these actions,
and they are such as when rain descends, when the earth
produces vegetation, when life or death occurs, when health
or sickness befalls and so on and so forth - from the many
things that can be observed occurring within the
creation. Without doubt, no one has any part in choosing or
willing for these things to transpire, but rather it is only
Allaah who wills that to happen.
Second:
The actions that the creation, i.e. all of the various types
of creatures that possess a willingness, do. These actions
occur as a result their choosing and wanting to do them,
since Allaah gave them the ability to do that, as He says:
"To
whoever amongst you wills to go straight." (Surah
At-Takweer: 28)
And He says:
"Among
you is he who desires the worldly life and among you is he
who desires the Hereafter." (Surah Aali 'Imraan:
152)
And He says:
"So
whoever wishes, then let him believe, and whoever wishes
then let him disbelieve." (Surah Al-Kahf: 29)
A
human being knows the difference between what occurs from
him as a result of his own free will and what occurs from
him as a result of being compelled and forced. So for
example, when a human being climbs a ladder to get to the
roof of a house, he ascends the ladder out of his own free
will, and while knowing that he freely chose to do so. But
when he trips and falls down from the roof, he knows that he
did not choose to do that. So he can tell the difference
between these two actions - that he freely chose to do the
former, while he was compelled to do the latter. Every human
being knows this.
...We stated previously that: The Divine Pre-Ordainment is a
hidden secret, you have no way of finding out about it. So
right now, you are between two paths - a path that will take
you to salvation and success, and a path that will take you
to destruction and regret. So right now, you are standing
between these two paths with a free choice. There is no one
in front of you preventing you from taking the right path or
the left path. If you wish, you can go here, and if you
wish, you can go there. So how can you take the left path
and say: "This has been pre-decreed for me!" Isn't it more
befitting for you to take the right path and say: "This has
been pre-decreed for me!"
And if you want to go on a journey to some other country and
before you lies two roads, one of which is paved, short and
safe, while the other is unpaved, long and dangerous, we
would find you choosing the short, paved and safe road and
not the other one. So this figurative road is similar to it
and doesn't differ from it at all.
However, it is the souls and desires that sometimes govern
and take over the mind.
The believer must take over and control his desires. And
when his mind judges, the mind, according to its correct
meaning, should prevent a person from what harms it and lead
it to what benefits and pleases it.
With this it becomes clear that people have a free choice
when it comes to their actions, and that they are not
coerced. And just as he has a free choice in the acts of his
worldly affairs, if he wills he will put out this product or
make that his business, then likewise he has a free choice
with regard to the affairs of the Hereafter. In fact, the
paths of the Hereafter are clearer by far than the paths of
this worldly life, because the One who clarifies the paths
of the Hereafter is Allaah, in His Book and upon the tongue
of His Messenger (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon
him). So the paths of the Hereafter are clearer and more
lucid than the paths of the worldly life.
This shows that Islam does not hold in anyway that Allaah
punishes mankind for actions committed in the past in which
they have no choice. According to Islaam, people fall into
trials and tribulation, or receive punishment after they
have consciously chosen to disobey the commandments and
violate the edicts of their Lord, i.e. they have knowledge
of right and wrong and based upon this they continue to go
ahead and do wrong, before they are subjected to any type of
worldly punishment.
KARMA ABDICATES PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY
On the face of it, the Karmic theory seems alluring since it
merely shifts the immediate consequences of one's actions to
past lives. However, when viewed holistically, this concept
leads not only to apathy, but also a very real undermining
of the meaning of the term: personal responsibility.
We have seen that all outcomes in life are inexorably linked
to the actions of past lives. From this it was understood
that blame cannot be assigned to a person or people who
choose to do a particular action since these actions, and
the results, are a direct consequence of actions carried out
in previous lives.
This concept shifts any immediate blame from the one who
consciously committed wrong to his/her alleged past life.
Hence, the Karmic theory abdicates complete personal
responsibility from that person and places it squarely upon
unrecollectable past lives, which, as we saw, has no real
tangible connection to one's present life.
It is an incredible proposition that this theory provides
one with the excuse of shrugging off responsibility for any
wrongdoing with the comforting thought that they were merely
forced to enact actions in order to pay off some mysterious
karmic debt.
LEVELS OF SIN AND PUNISHMENT
We come to the question of whether Sikhism provides any
indication of "levels of sin" that determines what the
consequences would be for a person in the next life, e.g. a
person who is a thief will come back as a rat.
This differentiation and categorisation is necessary since
all actions, be they good or evil; differ in terms of the
degree of good and evil. Hence, murder is recognised as
being more evil than swearing. Hence, the punishment for
murder is more severe. This understanding is important
because it not only serves as a means of dissuading people
from carrying out actions recognised to be major sins, but
also reflects God's absolute justice. We as social human
beings have recognised and implemented that the severity of
punishment is directly proportional to the severity of the
crime committed. If this is known to us, then it stands to
reason that the One we recognise to be all-Knowledgeable and
all-Wise has a greater right of knowing this. Further, it
would be unjust on His part to have knowledge of this
categorisation, and not inform us in order to bring about
clarity and consistency.
We know that the precursor to Sikhism - Hinduism, affirms
Reincarnation and Transmigration, and has established, for
example, the following categorisation of "levels of sin" and
punishment:
"The
murderer of a brahmin becomes consumptive, the killer of a
cow becomes hump-backed and imbecile, the murderer of a
virgin becomes leprous - all three born as outcastes. The
slayer of a woman and the destroyer of embryos becomes a
savage full of diseases; who commits illicit intercourse, a
eunuch; who goes with his teacher's wife, disease-skinned.
The eater of flesh becomes very red; the drinker of
intoxicants, one with discoloured teeth...
Who steals food becomes a rat; who steals grain becomes a
locust... perfumes, a muskrat; honey, a gadfly; flesh, a
vulture; and salt, an ant.... Who commits unnatural vice
becomes a village pig; who consorts with a Sudra woman
becomes a bull; who is passionate becomes a lustful
horse.... These and other signs and births are seen to be
the karma of the embodied, made by themselves in this world.
Thus the makers of bad karma, having experienced the
tortures of hell, are reborn with the residues of their
sins, in these stated forms." (Garuda Purana 5 [Similar
punishments are figured by The Laws of Manu 12,
54-69])
The question we ask is:
Does Sikhism provide this type of
categorisation that differentiates "levels of sin" and its
subsequent punishment?
Yes it does:
a(n)th kaal jo lashhamee simarai aisee
chi(n)thaa mehi jae marai
sarap jon val val aoutharai
aree baaee gobidh naam math beesarai rehaao
a(n)th kaal jo eisathree simarai aisee chi(n)thaa mehi jae
marai
baesavaa jon val val aoutharai
a(n)th kaal jo larrikae simarai aisee chi(n)thaa mehi jae
marai
sookar jon val val aoutharai
a(n)th kaal jo ma(n)dhar simarai aisee chi(n)thaa mehi jae
marai
praeth jon val val aoutharai
a(n)th kaal naaraaein simarai aisee chi(n)thaa mehi jae
marai
badhath thilochan thae nar mukathaa peetha(n)bar vaa kae
ridhai basai
At the very last moment, one who thinks of wealth, and dies
in such thoughts, shall be reincarnated over and over again,
in the form of serpents.
O sister, do not forget the Name of the Lord of the
Universe.
At the very last moment, he who thinks of women, and dies in
such thoughts, shall be reincarnated over and over again as
a prostitute.
At the very last moment, one who thinks of his children, and
dies in such thoughts, shall be reincarnated over and over
again as a pig.
At the very last moment, one who thinks of mansions, and
dies in such thoughts, shall be reincarnated over and over
again as a goblin.
At the very last moment, one who thinks of the Lord, and
dies in such thoughts, says Trilochan, that man shall be
liberated; the Lord shall abide in his heart.
(Bhagat Trilochan, Raag Gujri, p.526 SGGS)
The sheer absurdity of the above is apparent to see. Even if
one's final thoughts before death is for the concern of his
wife and children, as maybe the case for most if not all,
this is considered blameworthy and will cause one to
transmigrate as a pig or prostitute! Is it not possible for
one to think of his Lord and also hope for the well-being of
his family prior to death?
It seems unjust of God to hold one responsible for mere
thoughts. How many things must race by for a person who is
about to die? The aforementioned Hindu categorisation of
"levels of sin" and punishment at least holds one
responsible not just for mere thoughts, but for actualising
those thoughts into action. Here in Sikhism, just the mere
thought or intention is enough to condemn a person.
How Merciful (ar-Rahmaan), Generous, Kind (al-Kareem)
and Just (al-'Adl) is Allaah who rewards the
good-doers from His over-flowing bounties (thu-Fadhalil-'Atheem)
and forgives bad deeds. The Prophet of Mercy, Muhammad
(peace be upon him), said:
"Allaah has forgiven my ummah (nation) for
thoughts that cross their minds, so long as they do
not speak of them or act upon them." (Muslim 127)
And he said:
"Allaah
has decreed hasanaat (good deeds) and sayi'aat (bad deeds),
then He explained it. Whoever intends to do a good deed, but
does not do it, Allaah will write it down as one complete
hasanah; if he intends to do it and does it, Allaah will
write it down as (a figure) between ten and seven hundred
hasanaat, or more. Whoever intends to do a bad deed, but he
does not do it, Allaah will write it down as one complete
hasanah; if he intends to do it and does it, Allaah will
write it down as one sayi'ah (only)." (Al-Bukhaari 81)
THE ORIGIN OF BAD KARMA
According to the Karmic theory, our Karma is an accumulation
of evil actions stemming from past lives and is responsible
for suffering in this life.
However, a unique dilemma arises.
If we take the present life to be the 100th life and the
suffering that occurs is from the 99th life and the Karma of
the 99th life stemmed from the 98th life, etc. one would
eventually come to life number one. Since there was no life
before the 1st, the question we ask is:
Where did this karma originate from?
According to SGGS, we began to believe our
mind and body to be our own, which resulted in the cycle of
birth and rebirths:
"kaachae bhaaddae saaj
nivaajae anthar joth samaaee.
jaisaa likhath likhiaa dhhur karathai ham thaisee kirath
kamaaee.
man than thhaap keeaa sabh apanaa eaeho aavan jaanaa.
jin dheeaa so chith n aavai mohi andhh lapattaanaa.
He created and adorned the earthen vessels (human bodies)
and infused His Light within them. As is the destiny
pre-ordained by the Creator, so are the deeds we do.
The human began to believe that the mind and body were all
his own; this is the cause of his coming (births) and
going (rebirths). He does not think of
the One who gave him these; he is blind, entangled in
emotional attachment." (AGGS, M 5, p. 882)
The question that follows is:
When did this occur
and what was the initial reason behind man acquiring this
free-thinking aberration?
Guru Arjun Dev in SGGS asks:
"jab kachh na see-o
tab ki-aa kartaa kavan karam kar aa-i-aa: When
nothing existed, what deeds were being done? And what Karma
caused anyone to be born at all?" (SGGS p.748 Arjun
Dev)
Likewise, Bhagat Naam asks:
"Saasat no hotaa Bed
naa hotaa karam kahaan te aa-i-aa:
When there was no Shastras and no Vedas, where
did the Karma come from?" (SGGS p.973 Nam Dev)
However, this above explanation opens up a
whole new can of worms. If the cycle of birth-rebirth was
kick-started by those free-thinking humans, it stands to
reason that this cycle of birth-rebirth did not exist
amongst their ancestors. If this is true, then the question
is:
What type of belief did they hold and did
they only share the understanding of the Semitic religions
of just one life?
Another interesting question is:
Why did these pre-Karmic humans not achieve
liberation from the cycle of birth-rebirth and become one
with God?
Had this occurred, the existence of karma
would not arise. Or perhaps even more profoundly, they would
not have formulated the reincarnation-transmigrational
theory and accepted the just revelatory truth of Islam.
CONCLUSION
We have seen from the above arguments how the notion of
karma leads to absurdities and mind-boggling scenarios that
point to two possible conclusions:
1. God is unjust for subjecting mankind to a countless
number of lives, wherein so much suffering is endured, based
upon the indefensible reasons derived from the Karmic Law.
2. God is all-just, but Sikhism is untrue and
man-invented explaining why such insurmountable problems
exist when attempting to justify
reincarnation-transmigrations
May Allaah guide us all away from falsehood and towards the
clarity and light of our Creator and His Truth so that our
hearts become united upon a singular understanding and
worship of Him; brothers and sisters upon a singular faith
and creed.
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