The Search for God Page 5.6.4
We have three old religions or philosophies that involve the use of a karmic system or karmic particles. The belief in karma is central to Hinduism, Jainism, and Buddhism. Without the karmic system, these religions begin to fall apart.
Here I am not arguing for or against the karmic system but considering the knowledge and final states of man. So each of these three systems claims to possess the correct knowledge and understanding of the karma particles that attach to each human soul for good deeds and for evil deeds.
The belief in karma is central
Jainism is quite explicit in all the different types of karmic particles. If each of these religions have this universal knowledge of karma and also of reincarnation, but possesses different knowledge about the ultimate state of the human soul, which one is correct?
All three religions cannot be correct, only one or none can be correct. Jainism and Buddhism have very different views of nirvana and liberated souls, yet both claim that their knowledge is from who? Is there an all-knowing being who provided this information or is this information derived from observation and theory?
Is this a philosophy of man like Plato or Socrates or is this higher knowledge from some greater being? If this is higher knowledge from a greater being, then why do they differ so much? The karmic law of attraction is seductive teaching—man is in control of our own destiny and future.
We control the present. If you do good, more good comes to you. I like it. But we are searching for ultimate reality and absolute truth; can man, through our own mind, find this?
The second issue is the mechanistic process of karma. Just like the material world, the immaterial world of the soul has a mechanistic process. Who determines what are good actions and what are evil actions? These karma particles are attracted to human action, cause and effect.
There is no way to prove or disprove the immaterial soul or karma system without some being from those realms communicating with mankind. These philosophies have the same problem as atheism, you can’t disprove what is not communicated.
Therefore, if any of the three karmic systems is correct, I think Hinduism would be most correct. It is the oldest, it supports communication from divine beings and speaks of one single God with numerous lower gods. I see Jainism and Buddhism as almost an atheistic response to a Hindu religion.
In both Jainism and Buddhism, man becomes the central focus instead of a being with higher knowledge. These religions both take the karmic system but rid themselves of where the knowledge came from. Karma becomes some judge that somehow weighs the actions of humankind without intelligence.
Hinduism correctly recognizes that this complex universe requires intelligence. I am not disregarding the karmic system, but stating that the attainment of knowledge from Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism all which use the karmic system are different.
Therefore, all three cannot be correct; basically, we have to choose one. Hinduism being the oldest and having a single greater God as the source of being and knowledge should be the correct karmic religion to evaluate.
What Next?
- What is the crucial concept?
- Karma acts as a judge attracted to good and bad actions. Someone had to determine what those actions are. Only Hinduism recognizes this aspect.
- Why is that significant?
- If karma is true, an intelligence would have to “program” how this system functions.
- If you agree, the next steps.
- If you disagree, please consider reading.
References and Links
The articles below provide further explanation of the karmic particles described in each religion: