This article is a part of RESPONSE TO SWAMI DAYANANDA SARASWATI “LIGHT OF TRUTH” -Part -1-in-3
Source of this article:
http://responselightoftruth.blogspot.in/2011/06/response-to-swami-dayananda-saraswati.html?m=1
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(Followers of Islam are Muslims, not Mohammedans. We have tried to retain the Swami’s spelling.
There are various spellings of the Prophet’s name, we prefer ‘Mohammad.’ In the following presentation the designation ‘LOT’ refers to Swami Dayananda Saraswati’s book Light Of Truth.
Quotes from the Rig Veda are taken from Ralph T. H. Griffith, Hymns Of The RgVeda, Volumes I and II. First Published in 1889, and Published 1987 by Munshiram Manoharlal, New Delhi. Reference to quotes such as, I. VII. 4-5. Vol. 1, p. 10, indicates that the quote is taken from Book I, Hymn VII, verses 4-5, of Volume 1, page 10).
Karma/Reincarnation: The claim that the Vedic religion is the only religion for “enlightened” mankind and that karma and reincarnation are truths is a baseless claim. No one seems to know the origin for these doctrines: "The origin and the development of the belief in the transmigration of souls are very obscure…This doctrine of samsara (reincarnation) is attributed to the sage Uddalaka Aruni, who is said to have learned it from a Ksatriya chief. In the same text, the doctrine of karma (works)…also occurs for the first time, attributed to Yajnavalkya. Both doctrines appear to have been new and strange ones, circulating among small groups of ascetics who were disinclined to make them public.” (Ency. Brit; 15th Ed; Vol. 8, p. 911. Underlines added)
And Anoop Chandola states: “Through contact, the Aryans and non-Aryans began to modify and integrate each other’s path-ways. In the context of religion, for example, the Austro-Asiatics may have contributed the belief in each life passing to another life. This belief later, in the form of reincarnation, became a major element in the Upanishads.” (The Way To True Worship, p. 8).
If karma and reincarnation were Divine bequeath it could not be speculated to have been “contributed” by the “Austro-Asiatics.” Neither would the ascetics be "disinclined to make them public."
In believing that his suffering is the result of his actions in a past life, man “is thus induced to reconcile himself to social cruelty, exploitation and oppression,” wrote V.M. Tarkunde. (Radical Humanism, p. 69).
It is incredible that only Africans and Hindus and Bangladeshis seem to have the worst karma, considering that these are the nations/people that suffers the most of famine, flood, and poverty; even though they engage in little or no war or aggression or oppression or exploitation of others; and are probably more religious.
If suffering is the result of bad karma, no attempt should be made to alleviate the miserable conditions of the sufferers and the poor–those who try to improve the lot of the poor and the suffering would be working against karma. If their conditions can be improved, karma is meaningless–seeing that it can be subverted/defeated. If karma can be annulled, man can change the natural law of God. If man can change the natural law of God, man would be greater than God. But man could never be greater than God.
Also the need for higher education would be pointless. (Perhaps lower caste Hindus should be schooled to see how many are poor or illiterate because of karma).
Karma and reincarnation are cardinal doctrines of the Hindu faith. And, as they delineate between heaven and hell cardinal doctrines are to be clearly expressed: they are not to be left to the function of interpretation.
Jawaharlal Nehru points out in his book The Discovery Of India: “The early Vedic Aryans ….paid little attention to the soul. In a vague way they believed in some kind of existence after death.” (p. 79).
If these Vedic Aryans were followers of the Vedas they could not have in a “vague way” believed in “some kind” of existence after death if the Vedas expressly taught the doctrines of karma and reincarnation.
It is incredible that God would give man an “eternal” path to follow without a clearly charted map.
Swami Dayananda states: “If you refuse to believe in the pre-existence of the soul, how do you think it to be consistent with the justice of God to bless some with riches, power, and talent, etc., while afflict others with poverty, suffering, idiocy and the like without their having done anything–good or evil–in their previous lives to deserve them?”–(LOT, pp. 296-297).
If people are given wealth and poverty because of karma then the souls that are given wealth should not become poor; and the souls that are given poverty should not become wealthy; as sometimes happen in society.
The atheists who are born with power, wealth, and talent, it is rather strange that God “bless” with these them when they do not believe in Him. The drug dealers and the pimps, if God “bless” these persons they should not be criminalized. And if the vic-tim(s) of a sadist suffers because of deeds in a past life, the sadist is not to be prosecuted. And the masochist who punishes himself must have punished himself in a past life.
If karma is the law of God, and if people are born wealthy or poor according to this law of God, and since the wealthy can be reduced to penury and the poor can be elevated to affluence, this shows that karma can be compromised. If this natural law of God –karma– can be annulled it would mean that man can change the natural law of God. If man can change the natural law of God man would be greater than God. But man is not greater than God. Therefore, either karma is a myth, or God is. But God is not a myth.
If souls come from previous births, and as there are more births than deaths–the number of people on earth has increased to more than six billion and it is expected to double again sometime in the future–where do these extra souls come from? If God keeps on making souls (on a daily basis?) to accommodate these new bodies, He could not be said to be Omniscient, not knowing how many souls He will be sending to earth. And if He has already made all the souls that He would send to earth, how many souls did He make? And with cloning in vogue, from where do all these souls (for the clones) come?
The Swami says “When sin predominates over virtue in a man, his soul goes into the bodies of lower animals and the like when virtue predominates over sin in a soul, it is born as a good and learned person. When sin and virtue are equal, the soul is born as an ordinary man”–(LOT, p. 299).
But it is rather strange that these souls whose “virtue predomi-nates over sin” and become “learned” are non-Hindus–consider-ing that Christians (of America) are the intellectual giants in mat-ters of science, technology, and medicine etc; and that Muslims were the rulers of the world in the early part of our era; even the atheists (of the USSR) were way ahead of the Vedic souls. One would expect that God would have reincarnated such virtuous souls into the bodies of Hindus–the believers in His Veda(s).
How is it that God reincarnates those souls that are deserving of human bodies into atheists? If He does so unknowing that they would become atheists, He is not Omniscient.
Hindus are also divided as to whether man is reincarnated into various kingdoms or as one type of creature only:
“The Vedas explain that the soul… may inhabit any of 8,400,000 general species of material bodies. …begin-ning with the primitive microbes and amoebas, continu-ing on through the aquatic, plant, insect, reptile, bird, and animal species, and culminating in human beings and demigods.” (The Higher Taste, pub. International Society for Krishna Consciousness, pp. 38, 39).
But the sage, Uddalaka Aruni, is said to have taught his son: “Whatever these creatures are here, whether a lion, or a wolf, or a boar, or a worm, or a midge, or a gnat, or a mosquito, that they become again and again.” (Meaning that they do not reincarnate into other kinds of animals). (Lin Yutang, Wisdom of India, p. 30. Italics/emphasis added).
Hindus are also divided over the method of one freeing himself from this cycle of deaths and rebirths known as Moksa: “The methods by which release is sought after and attained differ from school to school”–(Ency. Brit. Vol. VI, 15th Edn; p. 972).
If karma and reincarnation were clearly expressed doctrines in the Veda(s), it would be expected that the method of attaining Moksa should not “differ from school to school.” It should be the same.
Swami Dayananda notes from the teaching of Hinduism: “Should a wife out of her family pride desert her husband and misconduct herself, let the king condemn her to be devoured by dogs before all men and women” and “Similarly should a hus-band forsake his wife and misconduct himself with other women, let the king cause that sinner to be burnt alive publicly on a red hot iron-bed.” (LOT, p.199).
And The International Society for Krishna Consciousness states in its book The Higher Taste (p. 38) that “the law of karma ….operates impartially and unerringly, awarding us exactly what we deserve.”
Since karma is “awarding us exactly what we deserve” such a wife and husband (as in the above discussion) should not be subjected to human punishments, seeing that their actions were dictated by karma–they, in a past life had done the same things to each other for karma to now have the roles reversed.
Since karma is “awarding us exactly what we deserve,” there is no need for the Vedas. As we would not be able to circumvent karma.
(Incidentally, it is more barbaric to slaughter animals for food than to feed women to “dogs”?)
If God gives man sub-human bodies as punishment in judgment, man is keeping Him busy with his cloning, grafting of new plants, and crossbreeding of new animals for Him to assign errant souls into.
The forest fires that ravage North America and elsewhere, the souls that inhabit this multitude of trees, were their terms of kar-mic reaction expired for them to be razed or did they suffer pre-mature death?
Karma–law of action and equal reaction–is for science. Along with his right to retaliate, man is endowed with reason and to be merciful and forgiving. The God Who gives to all human action an equal and opposite reaction is devoid of mercy: there is no room in Him for forgiveness. If karma/reincarnation were Divine truths, trying to improve the conditions of the unfortunate–which is the “reaction” to their bad karma–would be to work against karma; if such works are successful man would have subverted karma. Whereas in earlier times India’s “intellectual inquiry and philosophical development” was “comparable” to the Greeks, as V.M. Tarkunde notes:
“By the 8th century A.D., however, the school of thought which came to prevail in the country was the other-worldly Vedant philosophy. It regarded physical exist-ence to be an illusion, the human body to be the prison-house of the soul, and escape from the cycle of births and deaths to be the highest human ideal. Self-denial, abstinence, celibacy, desirelessness and meditation be-came the highest virtues. The best spirits being thus pre-occupied in other-worldly pursuits, the rest of the society came easily under the domination of ambitious princes and self-seeking priests. The theory of Karma, which says that our sufferings in the present life are the result of the sins committed by us in our previous lives, recon-ciled the poor to their miserable lot and consolidated the prevailing caste system and the barbaric custom of un-touchability.” (Radical Humanism, pp. 10-11).
Abdul Haque Vidyarthi has pointed out in his monumental work Muhammad in World Scriptures, Vol. 1 (p. 6): “No scripture of any religion was to be found in its original form and pristine purity at the time of the Holy Prophet’s (Mohammad) advent, nor is one found today. Such books, therefore, cannot prove the truth of religion.”
The religion that cannot prove the “pristine purity” of its text and the clear basis for the articles of its faith could not be the religion for “enlightened” mankind.
On page 690 of his book, the Swami quotes the Qur’an which says that for Muslims there will be Paradise “under whose shades shall rivers flow: decked shall they be therein with bracelets of gold, and green robes of silk and rich brocade shall they wear, reclining them therein on thrones. Blissful the reward! and a pleasant couch!”–(Qur’an 18:31).
The Swami has given this verse a literal meaning, ignoring or ignorant of the fact that Allāh, God says “So no soul knows what refreshment of the eyes is hidden for them: a reward for what they did”–(Qur’an 32:17). The Prophet Mohammad is reported to have said: Allāh says, I have prepared for My righteous servants that which no eye has seen and no ear has heard, and which the heart of man cannot conceive–(Bokhari Vol.’s 4:467; 6:302-303; 9:589)
Man can relate to things only in the physical life. To us the ultimate in possessions are gold and precious stones, wealth and carnal pleasure. So Allah relates to us in terms of what we understand. These descriptions of paradise are to let us know that we will receive in paradise the ultimate in bliss. This reward is not a lure for us to do good and to avoid evil, but rather the fruits of our own labor that we have toiled for in this life.
To the above noted verse the Swami comments: “Indeed! What a fine place is the paradise described in the Qoran! It has gardens, ornaments, clothes, cushions, pillows for affording pleasure to those who live therein. A wise man will, on reflection, find that the Mohammedan paradise excels in nothing except injustice which lies in the fact that the soul will have infinite enjoyment or infinite suffering for actions which are finite. Besides, infinite happiness will appear to them infinite misery, even as if a person goes on eating sweet things for a long time, they begin to taste like poison to him. Therefore, the belief that the soul is reborn after having received the bliss of salvation till the Grand Dissolution (of the universe) alone constitutes the true doctrine.” (Meaning that belief in karma and reincarnation is the true belief).
There is no infinite suffering in Hell, as noted in “HELL.” If the Muslim Paradise has ornate furnishings for its righteous, what does the Hindu heaven has for those who attain the heavenly planets–those who are freed through moksa? (Dealt with later).
If the luxuries of paradise will become “infinite misery” what will constant deaths and rebirths become when one is returned as worms to feast on sewage and on decayed corpses –human and animals; as cockroaches to be reviled and smashed; as maggots and as flies to feed on sores and wounds; as cats, dogs, and swine and vultures to live in filth, to feed on filth, to forage in sewer and to scavenge on carcasses? Such living could hardly be blissful for the human soul.
Let the “wise man” and woman reflect which of the two he/she would have–the ignominious rebirth of (the mythical) karma and reincarnation, or Paradise’s “infinite misery” of gardens and delight?
The Bhagavad Gita speaks of hell–(Bhagavad-Gita As It Is, 1:43; 16:16, 21. See p. 193). The Rig Veda also speaks of hell:
“They who are full of sin, untrue, unfaithful,
they have engendered this abysmal station.”
(“This abysmal station: that is, says Sayana,
narakasthanam or hell. The wicked are the cause of the existence of the place of punishment prepared for them”).
(IV. V. 5, note # 5. Vol. 1, pp. 427, 428)
“The friends have sung in unison, the prudent wish
to sacrifice: Down sink the unintelligent.”
(“Down sink: narake, into hell, says Sayana.)”
(IX. LXIV. 21, note # 21, Vol. 2, pp. 338, 339).
If man is punished by being reduced to taking births in lower forms–animals, birds, insects, etc –according to his deeds, there is no need for hell– a “place of punishment.” If there was no hell in Hinduism, it is doubtful that reference would be made to it. To have hell and karma/reincarnation seems to be a contradiction.
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