human cloning and srimad bhAgavatam

[Guest guest]

Dear friends,

While in Madras recently, adiyen took the opportunity

to meet with a well-known holy man of orthodox Vedic

tradtion. (It is not necessary to name him here on the

bhakti-list). Adiyen has the greatest regard for this

particular 'veda-vith' since he is not only a devout

and uncompromising Vedic practitioner but also a

person with astute knowledge of worldly matters too

("loukeekam"). In adiyen's opinion he possesses in

abundance the rare wisdom that enables the Vedantic

"gnyAni" to perceive clearly what lesser men miss all

too often to see ---- the many uncommon truths in

the most common things of the world around us.

 

Adiyen took the liberty to put to the holy man the

same set of questions on "human cloning" that had been

put out on the bhakti-list a few weeks ago. Adiyen was

not sure if the holy man would welcome such queer

questions on genetics and religion. But adiyen was so

surprised when the "veda-vith" not only listened

kindly to all of adiyen's questions with patience and

understanding but also with a great deal of youthlike

enthusiasm.

 

******* ********* ********

(1) What is stand of the Vedic religion to human

cloning? Is the clone also a "baddha-jeeva"?

 

(2) Will present day religious leaders like

Sankaracharya, Azhagiyasingar and others support human

cloning or condemn it? Why and on what theological

grounds? (The Christian Church has come out against

human cloning, by the way. But then the Church was

also against the heliocentric view of the universe

when Copernicus first came out with that theory!)

 

(3) A human clone represents an exact biological

replica of the original. Is it a "spiritual-replica"

too? Does it have the "same" atomic soul ("aatmA")

too? Or is the clone to be treated as insentient... a

"jada"?

 

(4) If the human soul can be said to be 'cloned' then

isn't such cloning a bit like "srushti" or creation

itself? Has Man finally become God?

 

(5) If the original soul (aatmA) has a load of "karma"

upon it, then, does the soul of the cloned human also

have similar "karma"? Or does the clone start its

"kArmic" journey afresh from the first moment of its

cloned creation and existence?

 

(6) Do the "punya" and "pApa"... sin and good deed...

of the original human attach to the clone? And vice

versa? Are the cloned and the clone mutually

responsible for each other's actions in a moral sense?

 

(7) If the original human attains 'liberation' or

'mOksha' will the clone also similarly attain it? If

not why not?

*********** ***********

***********

 

When the holy man had listened to the above questions,

he closed his eyes for a moment, seemingly absorbing

their significance. Then he opened his eyes and looked

at me squarely in the eye and said with a beaming

smile on his face:

 

"My young friend, I am sure you do not expect me to

provide you with technical answers to your questions.

I am not a geneticist. Neither are you. I have a bit

of Vedic learning having spent more than 40 years in

Vedic pursuit. But you have none. And yet you ask

questions of such a nature as will require a

respondent to have deep knowledge of not only the

Vedic truth but also of the science of genetics!

 

"Both of us have a little knowledge about clones. We

probably have picked it all up from newspapers and

like publications. But our knowledge is incomplete.

Because our knowledge of human cloning is incomplete

it disturbs us deeply. Why?

 

"Why? We don't really know. But we believe that in

some future world where human clones will co-exist

with normal human beings, there are bound to arise

profound moral and ethical issues which will further

complicate the already chaotic human society we live

in today. The advent of human clones makes us

extremely uneasy. Why?

 

" You are asking me now: If the human soul can be

said to be 'cloned' then isn't such cloning a bit like

"srushti" or creation itself? Has Man finally become

God?"

 

"I ask you now: if creation of a clone or "srushti"

makes man arrogate Godhood upon himself, then by the

same token, through "destruction" (or "sarvanAshanam")

too Man may hope to become God? For, is Destruction

not one of the principal functions of God too? Two

atomic bombs were dropped in 1945. There was utter

destruction in the world then. Are we to conclude

therefore that Man became God by the utter Destruction

that he wrought in Hiroshima and Nagasaki?

 

"My dear young friend, Man's claim to Godhead is made

no stronger through human cloning... or "srushti"...

than it was through the awesome destruction his

atomic bombs wrought.... "sarvanAshanam".

 

"Human cloning, by the way, is not unknown to Vedic

tradition. The ancient 'sruti' has many references to

clones. So what we call the science of genetics is not

entirely alien to the Vedic system of thought. An

entire chapter in the 'Srimad Bhagavata purAna' has

references to clones, if only you cared to read it

carefully.

 

"But the difference between the science of genetics

and the Vedic system is this: Vedic inquiry goes far

beyond the scope of mere creation of clones to the

ultimate Truth of Creation itself. Genetic engineering

on the other hand looks upon the the creation of

"human clones" as if it were the ultimate triumph of

the human spirit in its quest to become the Creator

Himself!".

 

(Adiyen has only roughly translated in English above

the words of the holy man whose Tamil, indeed, was far

more forceful and eloquent).

 

Adiyen then asked the holy man,"Can you please explain

what is there about human clones in "Srimad

Bhagavatam?".

 

The holy man smiled and said,"Ah, but that is a long

story!".

 

"Sir, I would nonetheless like to hear it", I said.

 

"My dear friend, but it's time now for both of us to

perform our 'sandhyAvandanam'. So please go now and

return tomorrow if you are still interested in quaint

"purAnic" stories of the Vedic variety."

 

The holy man then dismissed adiyen rather abruptly.

Adiyen suspected he secretly hoped I would not bother

him again if asked to go away and return all the way

again the following day.

 

As adiyen left the holy man's house, I silently

said,"Holy man, if you think I won't be returning to

you tomorrow to hear out your explanations on

'cloning' in the Srimad Bhagavatam, you are wrong!

Wait until tomorrow when I knock on your door again!".

 

It's now time for adiyen's 'sandhyAvandanam'. So I

will continue this post tomorrow, if you don't mind.

 

dAsan,

Sampathkumar

 

 

 

 

 

 

Talk to your friends online with Messenger.

http://im.