09-19-2006, 05:23 PM
Quote:What is the aim of the birth of every soul?
A) A soul is the part of creation. Veda says that the world is created for the entertainment of God only. Therefore, every soul should realize that its existence and life are for the pleasure of God only and not for the pleasure of one’s own self or his family.
I disagree. We are not a circus monkey for God's entertainment, anymore than my children exist for my pleasure. Yes, it pleases me when they are happy and show virtue, but is not the same as saying that they are created for me. I created them as an expression of myself, but they exist as themselves and me as myself.
Your original question is perhaps more interesting, if disconnected from your claim "A." What is the meaning of life? Where do the souls of the righteous and unrighteous really go? What is a soul? Those are all great mysteries, of course.
We are a family. We all exist for each other, not one for another.
While there is some hierarchy in a family between the young and the old, at some point the relationship is one more of as equals. If anything, we exist because God wants us as friends, but not for his pleasure.
Still, it is a great question that you ask, because it also gets into the question of what is heaven? God seems to want to serve us, and teach us wisdom. Wisdom is a wonderful joy. The ability to love one's enemies, and to have mercy towards all is the highest experience of love. While man sins, God always forgives. Man is such a sluggard, and so slow to learn. I doubt God finds any pleasure in that, but undoubtedly he takes great pleasure in the return of each lost lamb. Thus the lost lamb does not even know what he does, either when he is lost or found, until much later. Righteousness is behavior, but it not the same as wisdom. Once can learn the value of righteousness through the bad haabit of sin, but wisdom can only be learned through faith. We can teach children to behave righteously, but faith can only come from experience and maturity.