When dealing with a question of this nature let us start off with a ‘test case’.

Let’s say that a baby who is born, screams one scream and then dies. What will happen to this infant? Why was it born? To what purpose was its life?

If we go with the Muslim understanding, this baby was born, and Islam provides that it will go to heaven. But if it was only to live for an instant (as many babies do) why did God bother sending it? If this baby will go to heaven and share a spot with the greatest of Shahids (martyrs) who had to struggle through life, is this justice? Why was this baby given such a short life (ie. a short test) while the Shahid was given such a difficult test when the result will be the same i.e. heaven? If you say that the Shahid will have a higher level in heaven then I ask where is the justice in that? The baby wasn’t given an opportunity to get to a higher level.

If you take the Sikh approach, the baby was born due to karma (the law of action and reaction). It had the karma, maybe an unfinished karama, to have lived such a short life and now it has completed and will be reborn. The cycle of birth and death continues until the soul attains union with God while alive through Naam and devotion. After this, the soul is forever united with God in Sachkhand and reincarnation is finished. This is a system of total justice.

Why are some born with so many problems be they poverty or physical handicap, etc. while others are born with so many advantages? Where is the justice in this? If the reward is the same (Paradise) why is the test different for different people. This is an inherent injustice. If the reward is not the same (different levels of Paradise) then once again it is an injustice as not all have the same opportunity to achieve the higher levels.

Even the concept of Muslim after-life is an affront to spirituality. This afterlife of Paradise is an enjoyment of worldly pleasures like rivers of milk and wine and beautiful attendants, even though wine in haram or forbidden on Earth. These are physical pleasures that are even possible on this Earth if someone has the resources to create them or you just have to go to your local supermarket and buy as much milk and honey as you desire! Sikhism believes in the existence of Heavens and Hells but not as permanent places as in Islam and Christianity. The soul may enjoy(or suffer) these places for a time as a reward (or punishment) but then must be sent back into reincarnation. The ultimate goal is Sach Khand which is far greater than any Heaven. It is a state of UNION WITH GOD in which the soul forever enjoys SPIRITUAL bliss. Not physical pleasures.

At any rate, karma is not necessarily a positive-reinforcement process. Bad karma will lead to a negative outcome while positive will lead to a positive. Quite simple! The way Sikhism differs from Hinduism however is that the human is NOT A SLAVE TO KARMA. The way to break out of karma and reach God is through Naam meditation. Naam meditation is not in hinduism.

The source of “evil” is a separation from God. The soul has the light of God but when the individual is not aware of this, he sees himself as a distinct entity. Independent of all others in creation and will do anything to benefit himself even if it is destructive to others. But a spiritual and God-oriented soul will see that light within himself and in others and will not act selfishly.

I have already shown you how the real injustice is in the Muslim understanding of birth and death. It is in fact a system that lacks mercy as well because one who makes a mistake is never given a chance to repent or reform. If someone never has heard of Islam or God, how can they be judged? The system is intrinsically unfair to them. However in the Sikh understanding, even if someone does not know about Sikhism or does not realize God, they can have the opportunity in the future. There is compassion and mercy in this system because God is always forgiving and no soul is forever condemned to Hell. There is always a chance for reform where there is the will.

One may bring up the fact that past lives are not recalled. This is for the benefit of the individual. We have enough trouble managing just this one life, if we could recall countless past lives, imagine how much more trouble that would be. Instead of a duty to our immediate family we would have duties to so many parents and siblings, etc. At any rate, reincarnation is not a punishment as you have made it out to be so much as it is a continuation of the soul’s journey. Based on past karma, the soul is placed in a certain situation. Perhaps due to past karma the soul is placed in a situation of total poverty. Whatever the soul decides to do in that situation (earn money through hard work or become a thief, etc) is the source of new karma.

So characterizing reincarnation as punishment is incorrect. It is simply the soul proceeding on its journey.

There have been countless examples of young children who for whatever reason (perhaps as miracles of God to prove the world the truth of reincarnation) can recall pas lives. Through meditation this becomes quite possible.

The Sikh concept of the after-life is much more descriptive than any other faith.

Here is a fundamental question that no other faith can answer, including Islam. If a baby is born and screams one scream and then dies, what will happen to its soul? What was the purpose of its existence? If we believe in one coming and one going, then the birth of this baby makes no sense. It had no life to live and could not do anything and so will it go to Heaven or Hell? And why did God give this person such a short life in which it could do nothing?
No answer can be given to this question by Islam.

On the other hand, Sikhism believes that everything is a result of karma. The child's karma, due to its past actions resulted in this one act that it must perform before its demise, once its karma was completed it left the world on its continuing journey towards the Almighty. A human can only break free from the eternal circle of life and death by meditating on Gurmat Naam and immersing the self into Akal.

Let us take the concept of the Day of Judgment. Islam believes that on this day all will rise from the dead and the dead will be judged. Now, this Day of Judgment is a long way off. What happens when a person dies and is buried and his body decomposes, and in time that soil is used to nurture plant life which in turn gets eaten by another human being.

When this second person dies and is buried who will rise on the Day of Judgment?

Will it be the original person or the second person who has consumed the first? How can it be the first person since he is now part of the second? Since people have been living and dying for thousands of years and will continue to do so then how will the original people rise from their graves when they are now part of a myriad of other life forms? This body is but a mere vessel for our atma or soul, once we die we have no use for it and it is discarded, hence the reason why Sikhs cremate rather then bury their dead.

Sikhism believes that it is the soul that is eternal not the body, the body is just a shell that we discard when we die.

According to Sikhism, when a person dies, his soul is taken to the court of Dharam Rai. This is a very painful journey in which the soul of the manmukh (one without the Guru) encounters much hardship. Once in the court of Dharam Rai, his account of deeds is read to him and he cannot deny anything. He cries that he did not take advantage of human life and become one with Akal. He is then given his sentence. This will be according to the fruits of his deeds. Heaven and Hell are not permanent places. They are not where a Sikh wishes to go. They are simply transitory places where one receives either pleasure or pain.

To deceive a person into converting to ones own faith is a mighty sin and punishable when one passes into the afterlife. There are NO 72 virgins to command at your whim. There is no carnal knowledge with these maidens, there are no lakes of wine, the people who believe in this have been sold lies. If carnal knowledge with maidens and wine are haram or forbidden in this life then how are they allowed in the higher realms? Just think about it, why would God need to entice people towards Him with false pleasures, the love of Him should be more then enough. These are all lies to lock people into a particular doctrine. Sikhs do not need to offer any such enticements; their love for their Guru is enough.

There are five Khands or realms: the first is Dharam Khand in which all souls must appear to receive their account in the court of Dharam Rai. The next realm is Giaan Khand in which reside countless gods and goddesses and angels and also beings like Buddha and other prophets. After this realm is Sharam Khand. Sharam Khand is a level that cannot be understood by the human mind. In it, the mind and intellect are re-shaped to see and understand new realities.

All the above mentioned places: heaven, hell, Dharam Khand, Gian Khand, Sharam Khand are all transitory. Beyond these are "true" realms. These are Karam Khand and Sach Khand. Karam Khand is for true devotees of Akaal who have meditated on him and Sach Khand is where Gursikhs go who have meditated on Gurmat Naam and become one with God. Here they are forever immersed in bliss and unity with God and forever sing his praises.

Clearly then, this system is different than any other faith. It is not "borrowed" from or has connection with Hinduism.

What must be understood is that in Hinduism there is no concept of Naam Simran no merging with the Almighty. Hindus will pray to ShivJi and Ganash and the goddess Durga and can only reach as far as these deities influences extend and no further, to reach the realm of God one must follow a Gurmat path cleaning the soul with meditation on the One Almighty.

Christianity and reincarnation.

History records that the early Christian church believed in Reincarnation and of the souls journey back to oneness with God. This all changed by Imperial decree some 500 years after the death of Christ. Emperor Justinian in 545 A.D. was able to apply the full power of Rome and his authority to stop the belief in reincarnation. He forced the ruling cardinals to draft a papal decree stating that anyone who believes that souls come from God and return to God will be punished by death. The actual decree stated:

“If anyone asserts the fabulous pre-existence of souls, and shall assert the monstrous restoration which follows from it: let him be anathema. (The Anathemas against Origen), attached to the decrees of the Fifth Ecumenical Council, A.D. 545, in Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, 2d ser., 14: 318).”

This passage is aimed straight at the teachings handed down from Yeshua (Jesus) the Christ to his disciples that mankind came from God and was destined to become one with God as he was one with God.

When the Jews tried to stone him for calling himself the son of God, Jesus responded by reminding them that they were all gods. Later, just before Christ was crucified, he revealed in a prayer that he wanted his disciple to become one with God.

Jesus Prays for All Believers
John 17:20"My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message,
21 that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.
22 I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one:
23 I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.

A prominent theologian named Origen wrote around 250 AD about the pre-existence of the soul. He taught that the soul’s very source was God and that the soul was travelling back to oneness with God via the lessons learned in multiple lives. He taught that Christ came to show us what we can become. For centuries this was the mainstream view of Christianity but 400 years or so later it became a huge issue and the belief was made illegal because Emperor Constantine believed it was dangerous to the Empire to believe in reincarnation.

Islam and reincarnation

I died as a mineral and became a plant,
I died as plant and rose to animal,
I died as animal and I was Man.
Why should I fear? When was I less by dying?
Yet once more I shall die as Man, to soar
With angels blest; but even from angelhood
I must pass on: all except God doth perish.
When I have sacrificed my angel-soul,
I shall become what no mind e'er conceived.
Oh, let me not exist! for Non-existence
Proclaims in organ tones, To Him we shall return.

In his Masnavi, Rumi speaks about the "seventy-two forms I have worn".

Modern Sufis who embrace the idea of reincarnation include Bawa Muhaiyadeen and Hazrat Inayat Khan .

Bhai Gurdaas writes:

"the Guru has created the mighty Gurmukh panth. This panth keeps itself away from the boundaries of the Vedas and the Semitic scriptures..." (Bhai Gurdas, 23.19)

Guru Granth Sahib Ji over and over stresses the importance of "Gurmat Naam". Without Gurmat Naam no one can find God or reach sachkhand. Gurmat Naam is only available in the house of Guru Nanak: "Nanak kai ghar keval (only) , naam" .

So, unless someone receives Gurmat Naam from Guru Nanak, there is no liberation. They will be rewarded for their good deeds and good karma, but their will be no liberation.

Christians are content with heaven, and they will receive it. The Muslims also long for heaven but lust after the 72 virgins but they will not get, for they have been decieved. But this heaven they speak of is only a temporary stage once they have completed their stay they will enter the cycle of births and deaths again, endless and ongoing. Only with Gods grace in their life will they one day come closer to liberation. Gurmat, the Guru's way, respects all religions and will go as far as saying that they are not sent to hell, but they will only get what they work for. All faiths will get what they work towards, but only Gurmat has a concept such as a true path to Satch Khand and God-realisation in such a clear way. Thus, Gurmat is the only path to Sach Khand and the ultimate merger with AkaalPurkh.

Like Sri Harmandir Sahib, the Golden Temple : God is open and available in all directions and to all the people of the world, but the path to God is ONE : Gurmat.