TORONTO, CANADA, May 18, 2002: Many religious North Americans believe the idea of cloning amounts to scientists playing God in a way that’s dangerous and sinful. According to this article, such concerns are based on the Biblical concept of God and Creation. The advaita or non-dualism philosophy of Hinduism does not separate God from man. Instead, man is engineering Divine Law alongside the architect. In other words, God is executing his will through humans, including scientists. While researching this issue the author, Ajit Adhopia, came across an interesting Hindu viewpoint. By taking a living cell, a scientist can clone the physical structure of an organism, but the process doesn’t necessarily duplicate the soul, which means that the cloned person may not possess the characteristics or personality of its original. From a Hindu perspective, if people with bad karmas were to be cloned, their souls may reincarnate in another body, while their cloned bodies may be assigned the souls of others. According to a report summarizing Hindus spiritual leaders’ varied thoughts, submitted to Bill Clinton’s National Bioethical Advisory committee, “A cloned body might be useful.” “Instructions exist in ancient Indian (Hindu) texts explaining how to conceive a child of a passionless and poised nature, all based on the thoughts and yogic practices of the parents during conception,” it says, “If that is true, might not cloning, with its total elimination of human sexuality, provide a physical-emotional home for an advanced soul seeking an earthly passage of solace, needing to live without emotion or powerful desires and sentiments?”
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