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Summary of Question:	Re-Incarnation Or Heaven/Hell?
Category:	General Sikhism
Date Posted:	Tuesday, 6/08/2004 5:59 AM MDT

I heard that guru gobind singh ji went through many reincarnations until his character was perfected.

and staying on the subject of re-incarnation, this is something which is fundamental to sikhism, but not to other religions (except hinduism)
the prophets sent by god (from noah to mohammad) throughout the ages all revealed that you have one short life and your eternal life begins in either heaven or hell! Never did they preach the concept of re-incarnation which cant be found in their scriptures either. so how is it that the sikh gurus teach us about a different concept to that revealed to all the other prophets sent by god. surely god would send his messengers with the same basic teachings and not something contradictory to what he has previously taught.

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reply
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Sat Siri Akaal. So, is your premise that the prophets of the faiths that were born in the in Mesopotamian basin are superior to Sikhi or Hinduism just because they don't teach the concept of re-incarnation? That they have cornered the market on divine truth? Sikhi and Hinduism are not the only faiths that teach reincarnation; Buddhists everywhere believe in reincarnation, and I know a lot of Christians who believe it whether or not it's taught in Christian scripture.

I cannot tell you why reincarnation is a teaching common to faiths that were born in what we know today as India. You don't have to believe the Gurus, if you don't want, but don't put them at a lesser level than the Jewish/Christian/ Muslim prophets because the teachings we have on record from those prophets do not teach reincarnation. I do suggest, however, that you do some serious research on the entire topic. I have seen well-written arguments/evidence for reincarnation. And don't take everything so literally. Remember that the Jewish and Christian scriptures as we read them in English today have been through MANY MANY permutations and changes and corrections/modifications, let alone the issue of translating concepts from an ancient language to a modern one. Sikh scripture ultimately came through 2 Gurus (Guru Arjan and Guru Gobind Singh) and has never been modified. That's enough for me to think there is something to this reincarnation thing.

And one other thing, heaven and hell are not necessarily literal places, but allegories for place that represent love and light, versus no-love and darkness. Who is to say that the place the liberated soul-bride of Sikhi goes to is any different than where the good Christian goes? There is no question that life in physical form is short, and that whether you believe in ONE physical life or many incarnations in physical form, the time we have in physical bodies should be used to grow our selves spiritually as much as possible. This teaching is common to all the faiths mentioned here.
guru ang sang,
DKK