doomed to a life of misery. It is because in the previous life the
former had lived virtuously while the latter had committed sins
which he has to expiate in the present life. If the purpose is to instill
the love of virtue and hatred of evil in the mind of man, it is hard to
see how it can be accomplished through the cycle of death and
rebirth. No memory of a former life lingers in the mind of man, and
so he cannot consciously relate his present distress to the evil deeds
he had committed in the previous life. No doubt, a few instances
have been recorded of man recalling the experience of a previous
life. It is, however, safer to regard these as cases of paramnesia than
of genuine recall. The concept (of the cycle of death and rebirth)
which was borrowed by Hindus from the early Greeks, has not
stood the test of time and is being discarded by the present day
Hindus.
Vedantic philosophy presents the same idea in a slightly different
form. It is essentially a pantheistic creed. The individual soul or
Jivatman has its source in the cosmic soul or Parmatman*. It was
separated from its source because of some unspecified cause. The
soul is lonely and unhappy and longs intensely for reunion with its
source. This it can achieve only by running away from the world of
matter and submitting to the rigorous discipline which is prescribed
in the Vedas. Salvation for the Jivatman lies in its merging again in the
infinite Parmatman.
Buddhism takes a still more pessimistic view of human life.
Man's life is wrapped in gloom, relieved only by occasional fitful
gleams of happiness. Pain is inseparable from life. Buddha taught
that the source of human misery is desire. Some desires are
insatiable. Others may be satisfied, but fresh desires spring up in
their place. Desire keeps us restless in this life and chains us to the
cycle of death and rebirth. To attain salvation, we must eradicate
desire from our heart. Peace and happiness are unattainable in life.
When desire has been rooted out, the way to salvation or Nirvana lies
open before us. He who has not extinguished desire in himself is
doomed to be reborn, to suffer pain and misery during a whole
lifetime. Existence is an evil and we can throw off its yoke only by
Islam: A Challenge to Religion 157
- Parmatman or Vishnu - Hindu deity - one of the three deities known as
trimurti, along with Brahma and Shiva. The worshipers of Parmatman
(Vishnu) believe in him as the supreme deity or Lord of the world. (Editor)