Aug 26, 2017 07:22 AM
https://www.ashishdalela.com/2017/08/14/...-religion/
EXCERPT: [...] Most people think that reincarnation is the rebirth of the soul in a different form of life in another time and place, but in Vedic philosophy there is rebirth at every moment. The process by which a soul is born into a new body is the same process by which the person changes bodies in this life. For example, if you walk across a room, the same body isn’t moving. Rather, the soul is continually stepping into a new body. Therefore, the process is called changing bodies rather than moving bodies. The term “reincarnation” thus has a broader significance—it is the substitution of the theory of “motion” in modern science; the soul is eternal not just because it is born into new bodies after this body is dead, but because it is continually being born into new bodies. If we have to prove the eternity of the soul, we have to describe how the body is not moving, although the body is changed.
The process of the change of bodies is mediated by karma in Vedic philosophy. Karma is the abilities and opportunities accorded to the soul; of these, the body is the ability to perform some actions, and when this body comes in contact with other bodies it has new opportunities. The soul chooses which abilities to enact and which opportunities to use. So the world exists as a possibility from which the soul selects. But these possibilities are themselves created as a consequence of previous actions—i.e. karma. In order to describe how the body is changing, we have to describe the process of karma creation.
Karma is produced through judgments of right or wrong. If we have to explain karma we have to first explain judgments. Why is this a problem? Judgments have become a problem because we have conceived of matter as particles and waves which do not judge. Some religions therefore add judgments as God’s decisions based on His commandments. But note that we just said that to prove God we need to prove the soul, to prove the soul we need to prove reincarnation, to prove reincarnation we have to prove karma, and to prove karma we need judgments. So we are trying to prove the existence of God and we cannot assume God in that proof—in order to avoid circularity. Instead, we have to prove the reality of judgments in nature itself: nature has to determine right and wrong....
MORE: https://www.ashishdalela.com/2017/08/14/...-religion/
EXCERPT: [...] Most people think that reincarnation is the rebirth of the soul in a different form of life in another time and place, but in Vedic philosophy there is rebirth at every moment. The process by which a soul is born into a new body is the same process by which the person changes bodies in this life. For example, if you walk across a room, the same body isn’t moving. Rather, the soul is continually stepping into a new body. Therefore, the process is called changing bodies rather than moving bodies. The term “reincarnation” thus has a broader significance—it is the substitution of the theory of “motion” in modern science; the soul is eternal not just because it is born into new bodies after this body is dead, but because it is continually being born into new bodies. If we have to prove the eternity of the soul, we have to describe how the body is not moving, although the body is changed.
The process of the change of bodies is mediated by karma in Vedic philosophy. Karma is the abilities and opportunities accorded to the soul; of these, the body is the ability to perform some actions, and when this body comes in contact with other bodies it has new opportunities. The soul chooses which abilities to enact and which opportunities to use. So the world exists as a possibility from which the soul selects. But these possibilities are themselves created as a consequence of previous actions—i.e. karma. In order to describe how the body is changing, we have to describe the process of karma creation.
Karma is produced through judgments of right or wrong. If we have to explain karma we have to first explain judgments. Why is this a problem? Judgments have become a problem because we have conceived of matter as particles and waves which do not judge. Some religions therefore add judgments as God’s decisions based on His commandments. But note that we just said that to prove God we need to prove the soul, to prove the soul we need to prove reincarnation, to prove reincarnation we have to prove karma, and to prove karma we need judgments. So we are trying to prove the existence of God and we cannot assume God in that proof—in order to avoid circularity. Instead, we have to prove the reality of judgments in nature itself: nature has to determine right and wrong....
MORE: https://www.ashishdalela.com/2017/08/14/...-religion/