The immortal soul

There are basically three theories pertaining to the progress of one’s soul after death. I call these theories the destination theory, the reincarnation theory and the progression theory.

The Zoroastrians, Christians and Muslims subscribe to the destination theory. They believe that the final destination of the soul is either heaven or hell, which is judged by the Almighty God at the gateway to heaven, the Chinwat Pul of the Zoroastrians, the Bridge of Separation of the Christians and the Alsirat of the Muslims.

God does not care how one’s mortal remains are disposed of. Yet unfortunately some fundamentalists in our community still believe that crossing the Chinwat Pul and getting eternal bliss in heaven can only be achieved through dakhmenashini.

The Hindus on the other hand believe in the transmigration of the soul after death into another body, what is termed as the theory of reincarnation, which is based on the Vedic concept that man suffers for his crimes on earth, not in hell, but the human soul is given rebirth in another physical body to make amends for past misdeeds.

Surprisingly, in spite of the vast difference between the destination and reincarnation theories, the Hindus observe ‘chautha’ on the fourth day after death, corresponding to the ‘charham’ of the Zoroastrians, implying a link between the Veda and the Avesta.

Some spiritualists, based on their conversation with the souls of the departed, claim that a soul’s progress to heaven takes place in seven stages or celestial planes, and the progress from the lowest plane to a higher one depends on one’s performance at each celestial plane.

A comparative reading of the three theories seems to indicate that the progression theory of the spiritualists is more plausible, because it may be a difficult judgment even for the Almighty to give the immediate benefit of salvation in heaven or immediate condemnation of lifelong drudgery in hell. One drawback of the spiritualist theory is failure to answer the question why God would demand further good performance in the celestial planes for progress to paradise, when one has already spent a lifetime on this planet honestly and devotedly doing one’s duty.

Dr P. D. SUNAVALA