Saturday, May 8, 2010

The Transmigration of Soul in Vedism and Brahminism

Posted by Manju-Ganesh | Saturday, May 8, 2010 | Category: |









Although transmigration is a fundamental teaching of Hinduism and has an extraordinarily firm hold on the mind of the people of India, not only Hindus, but also of Buddhists, Jains and Sikhs, the origin of the doctrine of transmigration is one of the most difficult problems of Indian Philosophy.12 The theory of reincarnation (rebirth) does not appear in the Vedas. The seeming references to transmigration which have been seen in the Rigveda are all of the most improbable character. 13 The Vedic religion did not have this belief. Instead the theory of re-death (punarmyrtyu, new death) appears at a very early stage in the Vedas. In fact the ideas about death predate and predetermine the theory of birth.14 SO also the idea of karma (in its broader sense which includes the concept of"ment transfer") present in the Vedas, preceded the idea of rebirth.15 In this W. D. O'Flaherty is in agreement with David M. Knipe, who, analyzing the funeral rites of sraddha 16 and sapindikarana 17, comes to the conclusion that the theory of karma ("which includes the idea of merit transfer") preceded that of rebirth or reincarnation. Such rites were expressions of the desire of the Vedic and pre-Vedic man and performed to "prevent the dissolution of an after-life for the deceased"18. The offering of ritual food for the deceased ancestors suggest the desire of the ritual performer to keep them there, in a place of happiness (heaven) or limbo, and the desire to prevent them from suffening "repeated death (punarmrtyu)". All the karma texts begin with death and then proceed to describe birth.