Soul

Can souls remember their actions in previous births?

Souls are finite in knowledge and power and cannot therefore be the seer of the three periods of time, the past, the present and the future. We cannot remember anything from birth to the age of five, how can we remember the previous birth. God’s mercy and compassion comes into action, for if we were to remember our previous births there would be no happiness.

We would always be in pain and constantly suffer mental anguish brooding over the terrible sufferings and sorrows of the past lives especially if we were rats. No one can ever know what happened in his past lives even if he were to try to do so; because the power and the knowledge of the soul are limited. How can the punishment, inflicted on the soul, reform it when it cannot remember the past? Different people were born and brought up under different conditions in this world such as affluence and poverty, happiness and misery, talent and idiocy.

These conditions are the reason to infer the previous existence of the life of a soul. If there was no pre-existence of the souls then how could it be consistent with God’s divine justice to bless some with riches, power and talent, while others are afflicted with poverty, suffering and idiocy. If as adults we suffer because of sin, then a child, too young to sin, should never suffer.

A doctor can find the cause of a disease because he studied medical science. But even the patient knows this much, that he must have violated some laws of nature to bring on the disease. God always desires justice and acts justly. He would not be God to act unjustly. We do not necessarily have to come into direct contact with pain to apply preventive method the next time around. The pain and miseries of other souls can bring us such deterrence.

Are souls in the bodies of humans and animals of the same nature or are they different?

They are all of the same nature, but are pure or impure accordingly, as they are virtuous or sinful. Virtue and sin are finite as each is acquired and thus happiness (heaven) and suffering (hell) are also finite.

Do souls of humans go into that of animals, male to female and vice versa?

Certainly! When sin predominates over virtue in a human, his soul goes into the bodies of animals and suffer the consequences of its sin, till they are equalized and then invested as humans again. When virtue predominates over sin in soul , it is born as a good and learned person. The soul is born as an ordinary man when sin and virtue are equal. The three different grades of sin and virtue, superior, medium and inferior, create three different classes of individuals also as in bodies, strength, mental capacities, talents, etc. 

Are sins forgiven?

A. ~ No; His injunctions of justice would be obliterated, and all mankind would become most iniquitous. This way, they will be encouraged to commit sins for there will be no fear of punishment, knowing that their sins will be forgiven by only confessing. For example, if governments should often pardon criminals, it would be seen as an encouragement to commit greater crimes and even those who are not criminals will begin to commit crimes since there is no deterrence by fear of punishment.

Therefore, to comply with His Laws of Nature, God has to award souls the just fruits (happiness or suffering) of their actions (good or bad). When sin predominates over virtue in a man, his soul goes into the bodies of animals, birds, insects and trees but when virtue predominates over sin in a soul, it is born as a good and learned person. When sin and virtue are equal, the soul is born as an ordinary man.

Is the human soul free to do whatever it wants to and is it responsible for the actions of the individual?

A. ~ It has the freedom to act in whatever way it chooses but it is subjected to the laws of God in the matter of reaping the fruits of its actions. It has the physical body, the vital forces, the senses and the mind subordinate to his will. Soldiers acting under orders from their commanding officers are not held guilty of murder in killing many in battle. Like wise if God were to influence the course of human conduct , the human souls will not be held responsible.

The soul is free to act according to its capacity, but once it has committed a sinful act, it becomes subjected to the operation of the laws of God. The soul is free in the performance of its deeds, but it has to submit to Divine laws in the matter of suffering pain and misery for its sins.

Was the soul created?

A.~ The soul was never created. It is beginningless like God, the Efficient cause and matter, the material cause of the Universe. The body and bodily organs were made by God, but they are all under the control of the soul. When an act is perform good or bad the soul and not God reaps the fruits, not only in this birth but future births also. As always it is logical to point out that the “purpose” has to exist before something is made.

The sole purpose of creation is for souls to take birth so that they can reap the fruits of their actions. Thus it is the only reason for God to create the Universe. If all souls were created, then they all, within logics, should be innocent and pure and all should have been born in happiness, but it is not so. Then again, since all things created must perish, then the souls will have to die.

What are God and the soul in essence? What are their nature, attributes and actions?

A. ~ In essence they are both conscious entities. By nature both are pure, immortal and virtuous etc., but the creation of the universe, its sustenance and dissolution into elementary form, and its control, the awarding of the fruits of their deeds, good and evil, to souls are the righteous actions of God; whilst the reproduction and rearing of children, the distribution of knowledge and arts, are acts of the soul which may be virtuous or sinful. Eternal knowledge, Eternal Bliss and Omnipotence and truth, are all attributes of God.

The attributes of souls are the desire for the acquisition of things. Repulsion, activity, feelings of pleasure, feelings of pain, sorrow, displeasure; consciousness, inspiration, and expiration, necessitation ~ the opening and closing of the eyes, organic growth, discernment, memory and individuality, movement, regulation of the senses, internal changes and disorders, such as hunger and thirst, joy or sorrow, are the attributes of the soul which distinguish it from God.

The existence of the soul is known only by these attributes, as it is not material nor perceptible by the senses. These attributes manifest themselves only so long as the soul is present in the body, but cease to do so as soon as the soul leaves it.

Those qualities that manifest themselves in the presence of a substance and cease to do so in its absence belong to that substance alone; as for example, light is the property of the sun and of the lamp, because it is absent in their absence and present in their presence. In the same way God and the soul are known by their attributes. God is one, souls are many. God is infinite, the souls are infinite. God is the source of knowledge and bliss.

The souls depend on God for their knowledge and bliss. God is the maker of this universe for the sake of the souls, who come to this bondage on account of their shortcomings or ignorance. God does not assume corporeal bodies; He does not need the aid of physical organs, like eyes and hands for seeing and doing; the souls function with the aid of these organs through the cycle of birth and death. Reincarnation is for the souls and not for God.

Are souls in the bodies of human and animals of the same nature or different?

A. ~ They are all of the same nature, but are pure or impure according as they are virtuous or sinful. There is also no more sinning or virtue gained unless embodied in an beings, and only under certain conditions. The separation of the soul from the body is called death, and its union with the body is called birth. When the soul leaves the body it lives in the atmosphere.

Thereafter God, the Great Judge embodies that soul according to the nature of its deeds done in the previous life. Guided by God it enters the body of some living creature with air, water, food, drink or through anyone of the openings of the body. All men naturally desire to obtain happiness and escape from pain and misery. But as long as they do not practice righteousness and renounce sin, they cannot obtain happiness and be freed from pain and suffering; because the effect cannot perish as long as the cause exists.