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TG Kalghargt
tion from the principle of retribution and Karmd Such Isolated study will not lead to the proper understanding of the problem of rebirth The two Minciples are intimately linked up with cach other and transmigration implies the retribution and Karma Again this phenomenon has to be looked ut from the higher point of view of the insight of the seers and the testimony of those who have known this problem by intuition and higher Loowledge Their words have to be considered with respect
The Indian philosophers, on the other bind, have always looked at this problem of rebirth in relation to the Karna and the principle of nioral retribution Indian thought had buca careful and had the philosophical acumen not to separate the two principles of Karma and rebirth In order to understand rebirth we have to take a synoptic picture of moral retribution and its effect on the self
The Dotion of retribution governs all the great nietaphysical systems of India and it is the common fundamental dssuinption of the philosopbical and religious view 10 general The Indian Weltansaung 19 woven in the matrix of the two fundamental assumptions All the systems of Indlan tbought, except Carvaka have accepted Karma and retribution The association of the idea of immortality with the moral retribution has been a selfevident principle in almost all the systems of Indian thought
However, in the Rgveda it is ineptioned that evil doers are cast into the bottomless darkness and the pious to heaven 02 In the Brahmanas the reward of heaven has been mentioned but not particularly for moral action Emphasis is given more on ritual and worship For 10stance, the man who performs borse sacrifice (asvamedha) is valued more than the man who lives a moral life It has been described that even the correct procedure of burial of the dead is important for the attainment of heaven But at the time of Upanyads there was a gradual emphasis on moral action and not 10 much on the ritualistic practices for the sake of getting pleasures in bonven
The doctrine of Karma and Its jpplication ID rebirth, as we mentioned earlier, is common to most of the systems of Indian thought it is difficult to trace the origin and development of this doctrine There is no mention of this doctrine in the older Vedic literature Later in the Upanişads it was formulated as a secret doctrine conveyed only to the initiates 8 "The view frequently advocated, that it was taken over from the pre-Aryan inhabitants of India bas, therefore, much in its favour, the more so as recent investigation has established that a high culture already existed in the lodus valley
52. Raude, 1, 164, 30, 53 Dyahadananyaka Upanijad, 3, 2, 19
