For billions of years the universe lay enveloped in darkness till God the Eternal Spirit brought time and infinity to a standstill. The dark void then ceased to exist and the resplendence of divine glow submerged the dark universe. God then infused His own image and spirit in to the physique of Man and Woman. In this manner, the Spirit of God descended in to a finite realm of matter and decay for once in eternity by kindling the one only flame of hope in to human beings thereby Earth became the cradle of life and death. That opened up the dawn of a new era heralding a spirit of intimacy between Supreme Spirit and the one only intelligent human being created to rule over the universe and creation.
Life, a conglomeration of matter, intelligence and spirit embodying image, energy, instinct and reason rendered activity, liveliness and endurance on a hitherto shadowless world enveloped in still darkness. The term life covers a wide spectrum of elements comprising animate or inanimate objects, abstract or concrete, intelligent or dull, all of which constitute life and life sustaining components. Literally speaking, life is all energy with a spirited driving force within, allowing the body to tick on for a fixed span of time.
This endless universe with infinite number of celestial bodies locked in a race towards infinity has been abode of billions of human beings surviving in succession for last millions of years, on the one only known blue planet, namely the Earth. Survival and longevity of life within a human body depends largely on the quantum of nourishment received or the life span determined by Creator Himself. But once this life providing spell abates, life within terminates abruptly evoking an end to organic functioning called metabolism, thereby staving off any and all scope of revival of life thereafter. In such a state the body becomes numb much like a burnt out substance devoid of any originality, shine or endurance. Literally speaking, such a disposition is known as death or end to life.
According to Scientists life has existed on earth since last many million years although human life in the present form appeared on earth approximately four million years ago. With the ultimate end in the form of death hovering above man’s destiny, he is left to piece out his own survival on earth with the basics that the earth and its surroundings offer for his sustenance. In a nutshell, life for man constitutes a precarious journey in the company of hostile elements within or without, visible or invisible and productive or unproductive.
Man played a crucial and pivotal role in establishing his identity as the one and only intelligent being ever to have been created. In the same manner, man identified himself with whatever was available for his progress and development. By collective use of intelligence and faculties endowed on him by God Himself, man made giant strides towards establishing a progressive leap at achieving his destiny. By dint of hard work coupled with dedication and perseverance, man successfully narrowed down the inherent problems besetting his own existence. However, once the term ordained for man to survive on earth lapses, to all intents and purposes, man must bow before that imminent end ordained by God Himself, namely ‘death’.
As already stated, human beings have taken life and death in their stride, and generation after generation chalked out a distinct and progressive path through mutual trust and cooperation, giving a human direction to the universe. Right from the moment human beings first trod on the planet, man never yielded to the numerous odds confronting his progress. Rather, with a determined mind he managed to scale new heights in to advancement and kept the tempo on for arriving at the Destiny envisaged by him. Births and Deaths have intermittently registered their toll on human beings but they have not deterred man from giving life the desired thrust. He never stopped to fathom what lies in the aftermath. Mysteries too abound on the question of life after death. Believers are at a loss to explain the aftermath of life, fate after death and destiny of the spirit or soul of man after it gets terminated from the body. Generation after generation, man has vainly attempted to figure out the ambiguities surrounding God and eternity. Does death forebode the end for man? What awaits the soul after man’s death? Is death a symbolic break for man from his creator? These have all remained mysteries unsolved by man to this day.
Whatever be the fate destined for man after he passes over from this life, the one important factor to ponder over is the particular aspect of life after death. Is death a symbolic break for man or will fate return him back on the earth? Partly yes but definitely no! This is one universal question that must be provided with an answer so as to set at naught a notion making the round regarding life and rebirth.
God the Omnipotent, Omniscient and Superhuman Being holds man with utmost love and predilection. The infinite love of God for man renders the devil helpless. The very act of creating man in his own image and likeness and thereafter breathing in to him His Own Spirit or Soul per se points to a divine plan intended by God for man. Man may be at liberty to live the way he chooses only as long as his outer senses function but after death the soul would reunite with God while the body disintegrates, decay and become dust. As such, the soul after man’s death cannot in any manner be isolated from Divine Providence rather it stands destined to be reunited with God the Eternal Being. Jesus Christ said, “Thou art dust and in to dust thou shalt return”, incidentally, an indirect reference to man and his destiny. What needs an answer here is how long will the soul linger on before it reunites with the Eternal Being?
Although belief in God received widespread acceptance among all segments of society right from the beginning of time, the basic concept regarding soul gained ground only gradually with the advancement of time and man. Nonetheless, the particular perception regarding soul has been inordinately distorted by diverse faiths in manner expedient to each section of society and their respective beliefs. Even so, save for the atheists who fail to accept the existence of God almighty Himself, the world is unanimous in their belief that the soul departs from the lifeless body of man immediately upon death.
Diverse views have been advanced by people of different faiths to explain the fate of soul after it departs from the body at death. On the one hand it is believed by a section of humanity that the soul after death departs the body and wanders around till it enters another body in a sequence of process till the soul is cleansed fit to enter ‘nirvana’ or heaven. The other view, which is accepted by a larger section of the globe constituting mainly Christians as also the followers of Islam, who believe that the soul immediately on death leaves the body and returns to be reunited with God for the second coming of God when the final judgment would be delivered. Christian belief also suggests that these souls after leaving the body await divine judgment in an altogether different zone known as “Limbo” or “Purgatory”.
Incidentally, man is left with his own wild guesses without a solid answer to mysteries regarding God, universe and life. Christian belief relies mostly on the written down testaments and inspirations through the power and intercession of the Holy Spirit, which to a large extent clarifies issues shrouded in mysteries. Most other religions mould their own beliefs and imaginations as suiting to their own conviction and convenience.
Naturally, only God has the power to terminate life of man and call back his soul. But, by no stretch of imagination can it ever be assumed that the soul would be allowed by the Almighty to stray away from the path laid out by the Creator Himself. That is to say, just as there is but one death destined by God for man, so too there can only be one only path for the soul whereby after his journey through life, man must return to the wholesome creator - God.
With world population numbering approximately 7.5 billion people around the world and major established religions constituting more than 21 by rough estimate which further get subdivided in to several more like beliefs, the topic of rebirth becomes murkier for acceptance and conviction. However, considering the belief by four of the major religious groups namely Christianity, Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism, what emerges as a point of debate is as to which way the truth faces? Incidentally, Christianity which numerically has a lead over the other three, and which has reason and logic behind its numbers to convincingly affirm to be the one and the only religion which existed, first as Jewish Christians and later on as Christ’s own followers, have an emphatic say on the issue of rebirth, which will follow in the subsequent paragraphs.
For the time being, it would only be fair to study what each of the above four religions have to say on the topic of rebirth.
RELIGIOUS BELIEFS
ISLAM
Islam which stands numerically second only to Christianity propagates a different doctrine on the question of life, death and rebirth. Islam is founded on the moral precepts provided in the Qur’an and accepted by the Muslim world as the inspired revelation, which was handed down to man by Allah Himself. Islam thus professes a faith constituted by the Divine Allah Himself, who in line with His creation also deputed a lineage of prophets right from Abraham onwards down to the last prophet namely Muhammad (Abu al-Qasim Muhammad Ibn Abd Allah Ibn Abd al-Muttalib Ibn Hashim) all of whom have been enlightened by Allah Himself to proclaim His name throughout the world.
Islam is founded on the moral precepts provided in the Qur’an which is accepted by the Muslim world as the inspired revelation handed down to man by Allah Himself. The Holy Book or the inspired revelation of Allah, namely Qur’an is divided in to 114 suras or chapters containing in all 6,236 ayat or verses, which more or less confine to moral guidance than legal assertions. Allah, the creator of the universe sent a number prophets in to the world out of the descendants of Abraham and Imran to convey the will of God to people and non-believers.
Allah, ta^ala, said in the Qur’an: إِنَّا كُلَّ شَيْءٍ خَلَقْنَاهُ بِقَدَرٍ - Allah creates everything according to his Will. Ayah 49 of suratul-Qamar.
The Prophet, sallallahu ^alayhi wa sallam, said: اْلإِيمَانُ أَنْ تُؤْمِنَ بِاللهِ وَمَلاَئِكَتِهِ وَكُتُبِهِ وَرُسُلِهِ وَالْيَوْمِ الاخِرِ وَتُؤْمِنَ بِالْقَدَرِ خَيْرِهِ وَشَرِّهِ - “Belief is to believe in Allah, His angels, His Books, His messengers or Prophets, the Day of Judgment and to believe in the Qadar (Destiny), both the good and the evil”.
On the issue of life after death, Islam disbelieves in the cyclic effect of the soul as migrating from one body to the other. On the contrary Islamic doctrine (as also all divinely inspired religions) propagates the belief that after a person dies, his soul remains in a suspended state (i.e. “Barzakh” or partition) till the day he is brought alive by Allah on the “Day of Resurrection” or Yawm al-Qiyāmah (Arabic: يوم القيامة). Incidentally, the Day of Resurrection would bring about the destruction of the world where after the entire humanity would be brought back to life by Allah and made to stand in the presence of Allah, the only God worthy of worship and the Greatest of Judges. It is emphasized that a man will be rewarded or punished by Allah in accordance with his life i.e. those who believe (in the Qur’an) and those who follow the Jewish (scriptures), and the Christians…. And (all) who believe in God and the last day through righteousness, shall have their reward with their Lord; on them shall be no fear, nor shall they grieve.” [The Qur’an 2:62]
Thus the Prophet (SAW) had admonished that a person’s death is the beginning of his resurrection.
However, the day and time of Yawm al-Qiyāmah (Arabic: يوم القيامة) is preordained by Allah but is unknown to man. All the prophets have emphatically preached about life after death i.e. on the “Day of Resurrection” and those who disbelieved this concept could be denying the very Allah. As such, one day the whole world will be destroyed and the dead would be resurrected to stand in front of Allah.
What needs to be emphasized regarding the view propagated by Islam on rebirth is that the Islamic doctrine, besides coming frank on the issue of “Day of Resurrection” or the “Day of Judgement”, denies the very concept of transmigration of soul as totally humbug. Islamic doctrine lays special emphasis on resurrection of mankind from the suspended state they were in after death thereby Allah, the only God of worship and the Greatest of Judges would pronounce the judgement. This would in effect mean that Allah would physically resurrect the dead to a state of bodily physique as man was, restoring the rights and faculties they were created with. As such it is obligatory for Islam to lay special emphasis on physical Resurrection.
It needs to be added that time exists for those living on earth only but once a man dies, he leaves the time zone and a thousand years becomes a blinking of an eye. Similarly people who awaken from long comas often think that little or no time has passed.
Allah, ta^ala, said in the Qur’an: وَمَن لَّمْ يُؤْمِن بِاللَّهِ وَرَسُولِهِ فَإِنَّا أَعْتَدْنَا لِلْكَافِرِينَ سَعِيرًا viz. “Those who do not believe in Allah and his messenger are blasphemers, for whom allah has prepared hellfire”.
HINDUISM
Said to be world’s oldest religion, Hinduism evolved to become the third largest, with a billion followers concentrated mostly in the Indian sub-continent and thereabouts. This so called religion evolved through common belief in supernatural and related practice of rituals to appease the absolute being or divine power referred to as “Brahma”, which faith came in to being through diverse beliefs and traditions, the prominent among them being Dharma (ethics and duties), Samsara (rebirth), Karma (right action) and Moksha (liberation from the cycle of Samsara). Essentially, Hinduism is a conglomeration of religious, philosophical and cultural views set in to motion through belief and practice all of which percolated in to the day to day lives of people and devotees to finally form a belief in order to live a life of righteousness. Hinduism professes a belief in reincarnation and transmigration of soul in a cyclic process of births and deaths, required for its purification and final destruction before attaining the ultimate that is ‘nirvana’.
Hinduism propagates a different school of thought. According to Hindu doctrine rebirth is an unending cycle of extended creation, whereby a soul leaves the body of a person immediately at death and migrates to another body. In this unending process the soul gets purified and becomes fit to rejoin God through a process of destruction. Incidentally, Hindu belief accepts human body to be a mere costume which adorns the soul and the soul makes its transition from one stage to the other within the garb of soul.
The very term rebirth was coined by Hindu religion whereby human beings sought to explain off the mysteries regarding universe, evolution and man’s destiny vis-à-vis the Brahma.
During the enactment of actual living process the soul hides behind a false personality by name ‘jiva’ which is a subtle body or an outer personality called mind and body or the ego which constitute the gross physical body. The ‘jiva’ undergoes several births and deaths. According to Hindu doctrine, life in heaven will only be a mortal life. Once the karma gets exhausted the ‘jiva’ is returned to turmoil of an unstable earthly life. The process is unending. Hindu doctrine also teaches that life on earth emerged gradually during which process the static and inert consciousness of matter yielded place to dynamic movement of life and consciousness. The animal tendencies within ‘jiva’ were shed gradually so that the outer elements of human body acquired chaste human reasoning or thoughts out of which process emerged a spiritual man of divine consciousness with supra mental faculties, the like of Sri Aurobindo.
The doctrine propagated by Hinduism suggests that every human being has to live many lives, undergo vast experiences before attaining perfection to become one with the Divine Spirit. Creation according to Hindu school of thought becomes effective the moment the matter and soul, through extensive process of evolution and transformation in to a conscientious being, assumes the role of a differentiated or live human being. This cycle of creation stretches over millions of years. And the endless process goes on under the nomenclature ‘Rebirth’.
The concept of ‘rebirth’ is gradually gaining wide spread curiosity among the religious and scientists at large, who are eager to speculate on the evidences provided by most believers of rebirth. Much has remained under debate but a positive break through to truth can only be achieved once the issue is laid bare with solid evidences for the world to be convinced of. However, the massive evidence gathered from learned men who by and large have had similar experiences are in the process of retrieving facts and memory related to their past lives through spiritual awakening. Some enlightened men of wisdom have even come to accept reincarnation as a factual reality.
BUDDHISM
Buddhism with over 376 million following is listed fourth amongst world religions. Founded by Siddhartha Gautama (563-460 B.C.), the Buddhist belief is based on three truths namely, first that nothing is lost in this world, rather a cyclic rotation effect exists in everything, second that everything keeps changing and thirdly the ‘karma’ effect viz. the law of cause and effect applies to human beings of all categories.
The four noble truths of Buddhism are: (1) Life is suffering – (2) Suffering is due to attachment – (3) Attachment can be overcome –and- (4) There is a path to accomplishing this.
Buddhism teaches denial of worldly happiness for achieving the end of cycle whereby the person succeeds in reaching nirvana.
Buddhist belief implies a merger of divinity (spirit) with humanness (matter) and is more or less a concept which defies human logic where the explanation allows the transition of spirit from matter to spirit or vice versa. Buddhist belief allows life a prolonged period as a result of accumulated karma without life actually coming to an end. The final destination of spirit and body is nirvana or enlightenment.
Buddhism in the Dhammapada teaches us (i) to do no evil (ii) to cultivate good and (iii) to purify one’s mind. However, the essence of Buddhist doctrine is denial of worldly happiness for achieving the end of cycle whereby the person succeeds in reaching nirvana.
On the issue of rebirth, the view commonly held by the Buddhists is that death is not the end of life; rather the spirit would exist on in a suspended state to be reunited later with another body at a place and disposition that would match the positive or negative action or better put as cause and effect of one’s actual life. The rebirth would occur in any one of the six realms namely heaven (with 37 different levels of happiness), human being (life in different dispositions), asura (a spiritual state below that of heavenly bliss), hungry ghost (a state of penance due to excess indulgences), animal (a state visible to humans for excess ill treatment to animals) or hell (a state for existence on account of excess negative karma).
On the issue of death and rebirth Buddhism preaches that all have to pass through death either at birth, old age or death. Death is not the end of life, it is only an end of the body we possess in this life but the spirit or soul will seek a new body depending on the past and accumulation of the positive or negative karma. A rebirth takes place in any one of 6 realms viz. heaven, human beings, asura, hungry ghost, animal and hell in accordance with the severity of one’s karmic actions. However, these realms are never permanent till ‘Nirvana’ is attained. Hence the supreme aim of Buddhism is to obtain nirvana or enlightenment whereby the soul or spirit is liberated from the cycle of rebirth through countless lives through the six states of existence.
THE MYTH
Despite numerous people claiming to have knowledge of their past lives, or claiming to have stimulating knowledge of their previous birth, none of them have till this day come up with hard truth as to what transpired after death and where their soul was for the interim period immediately after leaving the body at death and prior to germinating in another medium of a body. Even the view of Dr. Kulin Kothari, that "Reincarnation cannot be proven scientifically," is feigning ignorance of the very topic that fails reason and logic but attempting to pull all stops to baffle the unsuspecting public.
Basics, regarding rebirth from the Hindu standpoint of view vis-a-vis Christian belief, have differed in entirety, leaving Hindu belief with gaping holes on issues of magnitude, which as a matter of fact do not in any manner conform to logic and conviction. The following issues may need a second look:
EVEN BY ACCEPTING THE THEORY OF MIGRATION OF SOUL FROM ONE BODY TO THE OTHER, THE FOLLOWING ISSUES PROP UP FOR ANSWER:
Why does soul wait for man to die before hopping in to another body?
How come two souls do not cohabit within one single body?
Why the lack of coordination between body and soul in regard to knowledge about past life?
Why is the embodiment of soul, body and human intellect unable to throw light on the Almighty or universe despite working in tandem for a whole life or surviving for centuries in diverse medium of bodies?
Why has the embodiment of soul, body and human intellect failed to provide clues about human beings in the outer universe?
How come the soul failed to make human body as much mystic, eternal and self-sustaining like itself?
How come the soul in a particular human body is unable to communicate with other souls within other bodies or link up with other souls that have accomplished their span of existence and attained eternal life?
How does a soul assume upon itself the scourge of reincarnation for the sake of guilt by human body whereas every soul is unblemished of sin or guilt right from the moment it was created or existed?
How is the soul at fault for sins and lapses committed by human body?
Why has the soul to repent for the guilt by body and allow itself the pain of a cyclic rebirth till the body is cleansed of all guilt?
What makes the believers of rebirth assume the soul as a separate entity from God Almighty to have to undergo a repeat of birth or hopping from one body to the other for the sake of guilt committed by the human body?
Is not rebirth an excuse to indulge in sinful acts or to encroach in to forbidden areas of life?
Incidentally, man is left with his own wild guesses without a solid answer to the mysteries regarding God, universe and life. Christian belief relies mostly on the written down inspirations through the power and intercession of the Holy Spirit which to a large extent clarifies the issue shrouded in mysteries.
Man’s casual attitude to life and choosy verbal abuses flung at people and opponents are a pointer to the extreme disbelief in life and its aftermath.
It goes without saying that God alone has power to terminate life of man or call back his soul. But, by no stretch of imagination can it ever be assumed that the soul would be allowed by the Almighty to stray away from the path laid out by the Creator Himself. That is to say, just as there is but one death destined by God for man, so too there can only be one only path for the soul whereby after his journey through life, man just returns to his wholesome creator - God.
Whatever the human reasoning or explanations provided on the issue of rebirth, we need to accept that the Almighty alone commands the universe and His creation. As such, even by reason or logic one must assert that God alone has the power to terminate life or call back the soul. And by no stretch of imagination can it ever be assumed that the soul would be allowed by the Almighty to stray away from the path laid out by the Creator Himself. That is to say, just as there is but one death destined by God for man, so too there can only be one only path for the soul whereby after his journey through life, man must return to the wholesome creator – God. Reasoning on the lines of this simple logic, it would only be apt to abandon all inferences and hallucinations to the supreme and inspired belief that the soul, immediately after death, must report back to God or rest in Limbo awaiting God’s final call to a reward or punishment as the case may be.
Merely on the basis of an animated belief by hardly a fragment of world population which attracts in to its fold varying features and characteristics of animal or material wisdom with no any specific clue to the core aspect of migration of soul, no conclusion can be arrived at for holding the concept of rebirth as literally a defined truth or reality. Moreover, the very concept of religion making mockery of divinity or enhancing its credibility by depicting deities that match dumb creatures with hardly any intelligence except the animal instinct, must convince one and all on the fallacy of such belief where no originality or truth would come to exist.
Christianity alone holds key to eternal happiness with firm, convinced and rational belief which is furthermore embellished by inspired scriptures compiled by contemporary, holy and chosen people of God which by its very concept allows credibility to God and His omnipotence. Christians adheres to a solemn belief that God Almighty has destined man for a single unique life on Earth after which he would be judged at the second coming of Jesus Christ or on the Judgment Day to either inherit the heavenly reward or be damned eternally in the company of devils and the bad angels. Likewise, Christians profoundly believe that after death the soul immediately departs the body to be reunited with the omnipotence of the Almighty and Everlasting God.
Christianity alone holds key to eternal happiness with firm, convinced and rational belief which is furthermore embellished by inspired scriptures compiled by contemporary, holy and chosen people of God which by its very concept allows credibility to God and His omnipotence. Christians adheres to a solemn belief that God Almighty has destined man for a single unique life on Earth after which he would be judged at the second coming of Jesus Christ or on the Judgment Day to either inherit the heavenly reward or be damned eternally in the company of devils and the bad angels. Likewise, Christians profoundly believe that after death the soul immediately departs the body to be reunited with the omnipotence of the Almighty and Everlasting God.
CHURCH & CHRISTIANITY
Hard-work, devotion, dedication, patience, spirit of denial, sacrifice and to top them all, perseverance, virtues in abundance, you name them. He has them all – the Devil!
Hard-work, devotion, dedication, patience, spirit of denial, sacrifice and to top them all, perseverance, virtues in abundance, you name them. He has them all – the Devil!
If there is any single trait that we ought to learn from the devil, it is perseverance, an attribute the devil is so possessive about and would not be prepared to even grudgingly part with for a no return. And what could at all be a return but the loss of a soul. The world, the religious institutions, men of spirituality, all earnestly look forward to living a truthful, honest and dedicated life acceptable to God. Unfortunately the devil puts the unwanted spoke in the wheel of man’s thinking process, living style and his day to day activities, and resultantly man glides down in to sin marring a life of precarious make. To guide these finite human beings from going astray has been established a cluster of religions, with dogmas and supporting scriptures. Catholic Church is one such religion which has surpassed all other religions throughout the world, not merely on being the real God-ordained faith, but which has, in fact, a human touch adhering to spiritual needs of people from all walks of life.
CATHOLIC CHURCH
Roman Catholic Church is the only one of its kind and a religious institution of immense magnitude, which has after centuries of sacred and dedicated efforts established and streamlined a dogma and procedure for the welfare of its faithful and devoted souls. The Church has minutely and very scrupulously monitored all aspects of spiritual and congregational requirements of the Catholics and Christians across the world for setting in to motion a spiritual institution under the able guidance of Holy Father the Pope, assisted by Cardinals, Bishops, Priests and laity in a move intended to thwart any untoward occurrence that might upset the belief and conviction of the faithful due to incessant efforts by Satan. Prompted by this factor Catholic Church streamlined its dogma and procedures after putting together views and suggestions of diverse people including the Holy See, Cardinals, Bishops and Priests including laity. Incidentally, Christians constitute the largest religious group from all over the world.
Due to different ideologies nursed by various sections of people, Christianity got divided in to splinter groups each making light of the other’s belief but maintaining their firm belief in the one only Savior and Redeemer Jesus Christ. However, the core concept regarding the fate of soul after death has remained uniquely the same. All Catholics or Christians, in general, believe that immediately on death, the soul departs from the body and returns to God. Here emphasis needs to be laid on the attempt by Christianity in to bringing the concept of ‘soul’ in to focus, which eventually translated in to a general belief and adopted on a universal scale by all Christians across the world.
Holy Bible which is held in reverence by the Catholic world as the one only inspired word of God, describes death and its aftermath in the following verses viz. Hebrews 9:27 – “it is appointed unto man once to die and after this the judgment”.
Catholic Church confers the following seven holy sacraments to its faithful namely, Baptism, Eucharist, Confirmation, Reconciliation, Anointing of sick, Holy order and Matrimony. By these sacraments, the Church ensures that the faithful stay in the grace of God and practice their faith in their day to day lives. Observance of these sacraments enables Catholics to be well prepared always so that death does not find them in an unprepared state. Naturally, the Church is aware of the lives the faithful have to spend amongst sinful and wayward elements which takes a lot of spirituality within in order to stay prepared always in the grace of God so that at death the soul be adequately prepared to face the Almighty with confidence and conviction.
It is the belief of Catholic Church and the faithful that immediately upon death the soul returns to the Almighty provided the person has lived a just life. Incidentally, the good souls go to heaven in the company of Almighty and His angels and saints, whereas the bad ones are cast in to hell. However, those souls that may be found wanting in the sight of God, would be made to undergo a process of purification in a separate place called purgatory, after which they too enter in to heaven.
As human beings we may only connote religious beliefs to the extent we understand life and as taught to us by religious heads. However, the concept of heaven or hell and for that matter purgatory as well, cannot be ignored as hearsay because we all run the race and there is definitely a winner and the winner (or winners) takes heaven as the prize. For John Oxenham briefly puts it as “To every man there openeth, a high way and a low. The high soul climbs the high way while the low soul gropes the low. And the rest on the misty flats go to and fro. But to every man there openeth a high way and a low and every soul decideth the way his soul shall go”.
REBIRTH - A MYTH
&
A FIGMENT OF IMAGINATION
People with insight in to the core aspects concerning creation of man and its aftermath were uniquely privileged to perceive the hand and power of the Almighty at work. This fact has been testified by witnesses and men of wisdom right at the start of creation. The elite who were witnesses to divine excellence at the start of creation constituted the Jewish Christians as well as a few among the early believers but who failed to stand firm on their belief, as a result of which their descendants drifted from the core aspect of faith, Islam being one. That was an era which witnessed an air of enthusiasm all around whereby people sensed the hand of God overshadowing their life and related activities. Incidentally, as age progressed and the number of earthly inhabitants rose to unaffordable limits, people spread far and wide to settle down in other parts of the world. Their living habits changed, thought process varied and adopted customs that suited their own human ways and views. But God Almighty had already sown the seed of righteousness and truth, which only a few managed to savour. These select few were the chosen ones of God to partake of the everlasting truth, which a few religions like Christianity or Islam etc. etc. managed to nurture to this day forliving an upright life acceptable to God.
Others who strayed in to areas of mistrust and barbarism multiplied in large numbers with utter disregard of faith, trust and spirituality. Astonishingly enough, this group of people failed miserably to bridle their culpabilities and started sowing the seed of enemity all around. In course of time, they started resorting to extremely violent and aggressive methods to vent their frustration, which brought about rivalry, strife, battles and wars. There was discontentment all around; they sensed their own nothingness without the help of God. Life became substantially difficult to live without adding to their existing woes. Some searched for solace and looked around for God, but none came to their aid. Being illiterate and ill-bred, these barbarous elements started diverting their minds to whatever appeared powerful or beneficial to them, thereby paying obeisance to mortals and other objects of God’s creation. They professed their own faith the way it suited their mindset and brought about what the present day world acknowledges as Hinduism and like minded religions.
Illiterate and ill-bred men of prehistoric days in their eagerness to imitate other religious habits and beliefs under the guise of belief in God, a few of which constitute the present day Islam, Christianity (the offshoot of Judaism) etc, put together their ill-gotten wisdom to project their own model for asserting their spiritual aspirations. This particular concept of worship and myth managed to survive till this day under the style of ‘Hinduism’ and the subsequent offshoots.
In their eagerness to evade truth and belief propagated by their other brethren in Christianity and Islam, they credited matter and material of God’s creation to conclusively acknowledge man as a product of evolution. Likewise, with a view to surpassing other doctrines, Hinduism and its offshoots dwelt on the concept of Rebirth, which belief spiralled in to extremes of myth and hallucination. With a view to differing with other beliefs, Hinduism gave unnecessary boost to disbelief in creation and in its stead came up with a mythological belief in rebirth and migration of soul as a continuing process to attain ‘self realization’, ‘God realization’ or ‘Nirvana’. However, in their eagerness to boost their belief and evading real truth, they wound and rewound the concept to extremes out of which chances of a return to reality has become bleak or impossible, to say the least.
In their eagerness to evade truth and belief propagated by their other brethren in Christianity and Islam, they credited matter and material of God’s creation to conclusively acknowledge man as a product of evolution. Likewise, with a view to surpassing other doctrines, Hinduism and its offshoots dwelt on the concept of Rebirth, which belief spiralled in to extremes of myth and hallucination. With a view to differing with other beliefs, Hinduism gave unnecessary boost to disbelief in creation and in its stead came up with a mythological belief in rebirth and migration of soul as a continuing process to attain ‘self realization’, ‘God realization’ or ‘Nirvana’. However, in their eagerness to boost their belief and evading real truth, they wound and rewound the concept to extremes out of which chances of a return to reality has become bleak or impossible, to say the least.
Buddhist belief too implies a merger of divinity (spirit) with humanness (matter) and is more or less a concept which defies human logic where the explanation dwells on the transition of spirit from matter to spirit or vice versa. The final destination of spirit and body is nirvana or enlightenment. The belief in fact allows life a prolonged span as a result of accumulated karma without life actually coming to an end.
In the meantime, the other group of righteous ones progressed within the true path laid out by God Almighty Himself whom the world today identifies as Christianity, Islam, Judaism etc and a number of other religions.
Judaism upholds a belief that emerged out of the covenant of God and Jewish people, disbelieving in the concept of incarnation of God as believed by Christians. As a matter of fact, Christianity evolved out of this particular sect of people who clung on to the New Covenant based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ as the only path to salvation.
Christianity alone which holds the key to eternal happiness, with firm and rational belief embellished by inspired scriptures of holy and chosen people of God, adheres to a belief that God Almighty has destined man for a single life on Earth on the basis of which he would be judged in the second coming of Jesus Christ or to put it literally, the Judgment Day. Likewise, after death the soul immediately departs the body to be reunited with the omnipotence of the Almighty and Everlasting God.
Basics regarding rebirth from a standpoint of view as propagated by Hindu, Buddhist and a number of other stray religions vis-a-vis Christian belief differ in entirety, leaving the belief by former with gaping holes on issues of magnitude, which in fact do not conform in any manner with logic or conviction. The professed belief by religions that give credence to rebirth professing migration of soul prop up the following vital issues which need a second look:
Religious beliefs abound, controversies multiply and mysteries soar above human reasoning, yet Hinduism, Budhism and a cluster of such believers manage to baffle the general public with mythological beliefs and solutions to all life related puzzles with ease. In a way, these religions connote with all movements and related effects of stars and heavenly bodies to successfully confuse people on how such phenomena affect human lives by twisting mysteries in ways unfathomable by finite beings. It is another matter that most galaxies are yet to be explored and data on existence of aliens and extraterrestrials are yet to be accomplished by man, which if he did, would project these religions as having covered larger ground than even what Almighty God has hitherto done. In short, divinity and humanity are seen being within reach of these religions and its doctrines. A puzzle of extremely unfathomable gravity indeed!
Naturally, only God has the power to terminate life of man and call back his soul. But, by no stretch of imagination can it ever be assumed that the soul would be allowed by the Almighty to stray away from the path laid out by the Creator Himself. That is to say, just as there is but one death destined by God for man, so too there can only be one only path for the soul whereby after his journey through life, man must return to his wholesome creator – God.
