• God Does Not Torment Souls
    Good News—To Make You Happy

    • Here reference is made to the belief, common in Buddhism and Hinduism, that at death the soul “transmigrates” or passes over into another body. Persons who believe this feel that they have lived innumerable lives before and will continue to pass from one life to another in a virtually endless cycle of rebirths. Karma (deeds) performed in one life will determine what type of life the next one will be.

      12. How do the Hindu scriptures describe the law of karma, and how do you react to these statements?

      12 One of the Hindu scriptures, the Chandogya Upanishad, explains the law of karma in this way:

      “Those who are of pleasant conduct here​—the prospect is, indeed, that they will enter a pleasant womb, either the womb of a Brahmin [priest], or the womb of a Kshatriya [the military], or the womb of a Vaisya [farmer or merchant]. But those who are of stinking conduct here​—the prospect is, indeed, that they will enter either the womb of a dog, or the womb of a swine, or the womb of an outcast.”

      In similar vein are the following excerpts from the Hindu code of Manu concerning women:

      “Though destitute of virtue, or seeking pleasure elsewhere, or devoid of good qualities, yet a husband must be constantly worshipped as a god by a faithful wife. . . . By violating her duty towards her husband, a wife is disgraced in this world; after death she enters the womb of a jackal, and is tormented by diseases, the punishment of her sin.”

      13. (a) What effect has the teaching of transmigration had on people? (b) How is it said that Nirvana may be attained?

      13 Of course, Hindus and others are completely free to believe that way if they want to. But does such a belief bring them happiness? Professor John Noss writes in Man’s Religions:

      “Hindus have come to speak of the process of rebirth as ‘The Wheel.’ They look upon it with despair. . . . their hearts have failed them at the prospect of a possible thousand million rebirths stretching out their length before them.”

      Hinduism teaches that when a person realizes that his real self is a part of God, he can lose desire for further physical life, escape from the rebirth cycle, and attain Nirvana. According to various sects of Hinduism, this can result from Yoga, or from ecstatic dancing and chanting.