Ambedkar-Philosophy of Hinduism

AMBEDKAR'S PHILOSOPHY OF HINDUISM AND CONTEMPORARY CRITIQUES
PROF. M. M. NINAN
IV REINCARNATION AND CASTE
John B. Noss
reincarnation is defined as follows:
"In its Indo-Aryan form it runs like this: the soul of a man who dies does not, except in the single case of one who at
death returns into indistinguishable oneness with Brahman, pass into a permanent state of being in heaven or hell
or elsewhere; the soul, rather, is reborn into another existence that will terminate in due time and necessitate yet
another birth.
Rebirth follows rebirth, with the one exception named, in an endless chain.
The successive births are not likely to be on the same plane of being.
Rebirth may occur for a finite period of time in any of the series of heavens or hells, or upon earth in any of the
forms of life, vegetable, animal, or human. It may thus be either higher or lower than the present or any past
existence.
A man of low social status now may be reborn as a rajah or a Brahmin, or which is more likely, as an out-caste, or
even as an animal, a beetle, worm, vegetable, or soul in hell" (Man's Religions 106-107).
Everett L. Cattel made these comments about reincarnation:
"Two other essential concepts are the doctrines of karma (works) and transmigration.
The laws of moral action are immutable.
Wrong actions inevitably produce punishment, and good actions their reward.
This is inescapable in an almost fatalistic sense, and to talk of forgiveness or the canceling of sin is completely
unrealistic and does injustice to the noble moral law of cause and effect essential in the universe. Whatever of ill
one bears in this life is the product of wrong action in a previous existence, and life's blessings come from the good
that was done. Our works set off reactions as cause and effect and they must work them-selves out to the bitter
end. Salvation consists, not of having this canceled or interfered with, but through doing enough good gradually to
evolve toward the highest, where one may then experience the enlightenment that we are essentially God. In Him
there are no distinctions, even of good and evil, and thus one escapes from the ceaseless round of rebirths"
("Hinduism," Religions in a Changing World, Howard F. Vos, editor, 200).
according to Noss:
"When the caste system was linked up with the Law of Karma, the inequalities of life had at once a simple and
comprehensive explanation. The existence of caste in the social structures immediately acquired a kind of moral
justification.
If a man was born a Shudra, it was because he had sinned in previous existence and deserved no better
lot. A Brahmin, on the other hand, had every right to exalt his position and prerogatives; by good deeds in previous
existences he had merited his present high station. . . . The social consequences of the moral justification of caste
was apparent in another direction. Any attempt to level up the inequalities of society and lay a broader basis for
social justice and reward now became either impious or morally wrong-headed. To question the operations of the
Law of Karma, as fixing the just retribution for deeds in former lives, became the rankest of heresies" (Noss 108).
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