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Re: Reincarnation? Karma?
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To: alt-hindu@cis.ohio-state.edu
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Subject: Re: Reincarnation? Karma?
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From: susarla@owlnet.rice.edu (Hari Krishna Susarla)
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Date: Tue, 13 Jun 95 23:15:54 GMT
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From news@larry.rice.edu Tue Jun 13 20: 05:36 1995
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Newsgroups: alt.hindu
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Organization: Rice University, Houston, Texas
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References: <3rij6i$get@ucunix.san.uc.edu>
In article <3rij6i$get@ucunix.san.uc.edu>,
jgraham@lbs.lon.ac.uk (John Graham) wrote:
>I have a lot of trouble accepting karma and reincarnation; as well as the
>Eastern versus Western concept of the soul.
>
>As for karma, if the point of karma is that I should pay for my enjoyment by
>suffering, and vice-versa, through false attachment to material desires, what
>is the point if I do not know what I am being punished for, or what in past
>lives occurred that I should have to live through this life? If I commit a
>crime in the usual sense, the court makes it very clear to me what my crime
>was, and how much prison-time I have to serve to pay my debt to society. It
>does not make sense to keep this hidden from us in the karmic sense.
The problem is that you are thinking of karma as 'justice' when it might more
accurately be thought of as 'action and reaction.' If a child sticks his hand
in the fire, he will get burnt, regardless of the fact that he is ignorant of
the danger of fire. It's not a question of justice there, just action and
reaction. Similarly, the living entities are trying to become God by enjoying
their senses and ignoring their true nature as the servants of the Lord.
Consequently, they will continue to remain in the material world, because
their consciousness demonstrates that they are more interested in fruitive
activities than in service to God.
Anyway, let's just say that there is no such thing as karma or reincarnation,
as in the contemporary Judeo-Christian world view. Hmmm.... why is it that
some people suffer and others live very opulently? What did they do to deserve
their respective fates?? The argument that "God works in mysterious ways" does
not really hold water, especially when you could consider the far more logical
possibility that the activities of previous lifetimes have affected one's
present condition.
Yours,
-- HKS
