Showing posts with label Sikhism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sikhism. Show all posts

Sunday, June 12, 2022

Cinderella's Pumpkin Carriage And Samsara

Cinderella is a fairy tale. In that story, a fairy godmother turned a pumpkin into a carriage by magic. Let us think about this for a moment. Can the fairy godmother use a water melon instead of a pumpkin? What if the fairy godmother used a water melon? Will the carriage be green in colour? Can the fairy godmother use a small fruit, like grape? Must she use fruits? Can she use a big stone instead? If we established a course to study how fairy godmothers make carriages out of stuff, will there be any definite conclusion?

Samsara or reincarnation is an unprovable process. Like the carriage making process in fairy tale Cinderella, we cannot come to any definite conclusion with reincarnation. For example, can we reincarnate as plants? We can come up with all kinds of reasons to argue about it but we can never come to a definite conclusion. It is like asking if the fairy godmother can make carriages out of something else besides pumpkin. Can anyone prove that she can or cannot?

The Dalai Lama reincarnated fourteen times as Dalai Lama. Is that possible? What kind of karmic law allow this kind of reincarnation? Can the 14th Dalai Lama provide a definite proof that he is the 14th reincarnation? Can he provide a definite and objective proof for his 15th reincarnation so that China cannot install their own Dalai Lama? Can he reincarnate as a woman so that the 15th Dalai Lama will be the first female Dalai Lama? Can one choose where, how and when one can be reincarnated? How come the Dalai Lama can? Does the Dalai Lama know that he can and know that he has the power to do so? Can he prove it? Or is this another Cinderella's Pumpkin Carriage proof?

The Bible said that all humans are descended from Adam and Eve. Evolution has a last universal common ancestor (LUCA) from which all living things today evolved from. So how does reincarnation account for the increasing human population? Also from one soul? Can one soul be reincarnated as two or more souls? Or is there a constant number of souls going through the reincarnation process? So how did the initial number of souls get started? Buddhists do not believe in souls. So are they right?

Major Indian religions like Hinduism, Buddhism and Sikhism took reincarnation for granted. They do not attempt to prove it. They just give solutions on how to escape reincarnation. But when a religion based their solution on an unprovable process, I think the foundation is shaky and anything built on top of it can collapse any time.

What is unprovable is not necessarily untrue. Every religion require some amount of faith. But I prefer a religion that based their faith on something provable instead of something unprovable.

... speaking the truth in love ... (Ephesians 4:15 NIV)

Thursday, May 5, 2022

Sikhism

Sikhism is an Indian monotheistic religion. This is the Mool Mantar, the fundamental creed of Sikhism:
ੴ ਸਤਿ ਨਾਮੁ ਕਰਤਾ ਪੁਰਖੁ ਨਿਰਭਉ ਨਿਰਵੈਰੁ ਅਕਾਲ ਮੂਰਤਿ ਅਜੂਨੀ ਸੈਭੰ ਗੁਰ ਪ੍ਰਸਾਦਿ

Ik onkarThere is only one God
ਸਤਿ ਨਾਮੁSat NamEternal truth is his name
ਕਰਤਾ ਪੁਰਖੁKurtah PurakhHe is the creator
ਨਿਰਭਉNir BhauWithout fear
ਨਿਰਵੈਰੁNir VairWithout hate
ਅਕਾਲ ਮੂਰਤਿAkaal MooratTimeless without form
ਅਜੂਨੀAjooniBeyond birth and death
ਸੈਭੰSaibhangSelf-existent
ਗੁਰ ਪ੍ਰਸਾਦਿGurprasaadBy the Guru's grace

Since there is only one God, how can there be so many monotheistic religions like Judaism, Christianity, Islam and Sikhism? Is the God in these religions the same God?

Let us look at how God introduced Himself to Moses personally while Moses was at mount Sinai:

The LORD came down in a cloud, stood with him there, and proclaimed his name, "the LORD." The LORD passed in front of him and proclaimed:
The LORD - the LORD is a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger and abounding in faithful love and truth, maintaining faithful love to a thousand generations, forgiving iniquity, rebellion, and sin. But he will not leave the guilty unpunished, bringing the consequences of the fathers' iniquity on the children and grandchildren to the third and fourth generation.
(Exodus 34:5-7 CSB)

Tuesday, June 23, 2020

Karma Is False

And his disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" Jesus answered, "It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him. (John 9:2-3 ESV)

Karma is the Indian cause and effect. Karma states that everything that happened to oneself is caused by one's earlier action, or one's action now decides one's fate in the future.

We know that karma is not true. A simple proof is the birth of a baby. Every baby born is the effect caused by a man and woman having sex and not the baby's own action. So to make karma true, an unprovable process call samsara (reincarnation) was added. So karma and samsara now make a complete system. This system is a fundamental concept in all Indian religions, like Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism.

The Bible agree with the observable fact that karma is false. The Bible also use the birth of twins as a proof.

And not only so, but also when Rebekah had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac, though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad - in order that God's purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of him who calls - she was told, "The older will serve the younger." (Romans 9:10-12 ESV)