Why do infants die, either in a mother’s womb or later after birth? That question may sound odd initially, but on deeper reflection it’s a very profound question. Why and how? Some time ago, there was a very interesting exchange of views about this subject on Hinduism Stack Exchange, a question and answer site. We see that some infants die just after they are born. Some cannot be born. Why does that happen? If the reason for their birth is to experience and expiate the karma of their previous birth, why do they die without experiencing and expiating their karma?
One of the answers by another site user explained that some believe such souls have already wiped out every bit of karma from their lives and have a little left, and thus they come into the world and leave immediately the moment that karma is exhausted. Some believe that such souls are those astral beings which after entering into the casing of a body, find it so unbearable that they leave immediately. Another answer pointed out that “experiencing” of karma takes place in the womb of the mother too and not just after the child comes out of the womb. How the child develops and undergoes pain in the womb is elaborately described by Lord Kapila to his “Mother Devahuti”.
Will such infants be re-born again? If so, will they die again in the same manner? What could their previous karma be—good or bad?, wondered yet another user. The answer on the site : “ Laws of karma are complicated… In some cases the child may just be born and die to burn out the last bit of karma and get liberated. In other cases he/she may be born again. For instance if someone is a mother who resorted to abortion she may need to go through the same experience by being put in the womb and getting killed.” So there is no specific answer, it varies based on a particular situation. Does that mean that the result that they should get for their previous karma is just dying at the stage of infancy? In general, yes.
However, if it is the first human birth for an infant, there may in fact be no karma involved at all. Phil Wittmeyer, a Michael Teachings follower, provides some thought provoking insights in the ‘The Infant Soul’. “One thing about firstborn souls”, he writes is that, being newly generated in the universal creative spirit, they are at once both closest to the source of truth, and farthest. They are at the end of divinity and the beginning of humanity. They instinctively sense their closeness to the source in terms of time, and yet their farness in terms of understanding. As such, they are unspoiled by involvement in the physical plane. They are clean of “karma”— unfinished business from past lifetimes. They have no subconscious links with other lifetimes. There is a freshness and originality about them, just like there is with children who are as yet unsullied by the pain, evil, trauma, responsibility, and rigor of adult life.
“Firstborn souls have no conscience—only parental and societal programming to guide them. Firstborn souls truly do not know the difference between right and wrong in social behavior, so it is necessary to teach them this. In the theory of reincarnation, this knowledge becomes inherent as the soul develops character—understanding which is carried over from lifetime to lifetime. Older souls are inherently socialised. They understand intuitively that it is wrong to lie, steal, cheat, and murder. This they have learned through karma….”
Incidentally, the Michael Teachings are “a system of describing and understanding who we are and why we are here”. According to the website, “Michael is a group soul, a collective consciousness of 1050 essences who finished all their lifetimes on Earth, cycled off the physical plane, and recombined into an Entity who now resides and teaches from the mid-causal plane. Basically, they are spirit-guides and mentors to us here on Earth, channeling their wisdom and energy to us for our spiritual advancement and learning… The journey they have taken is the same one we are on, they are just in another plane of existence now…”
To return to the question of infant deaths, if some infants are “clean of karma” because they have no past lifetimes, why do they die before they can actually begin life on earth and thus begin creating karma? In such cases, an evolved sadhu living in the forests between Haridwar and Dehra Dun explained that the ‘event of death’ itself constitutes the first “entry” in the karmic history of a “first birth” infant. Such an infant’s death may also occur because of the karma of one or both the parents.
I’ve written earlier about how) a maid who worked for us once had more than one miscarriage after her husband, a chronic drunkard, kicked and beat her. Eventually, a daughter was born and she too was often subjected to beatings by her sozzled father. One day, when she was about five years old and her father hit her, she told him: “You prevented me from coming to this world when I was in my mother’s womb. This time I came despite you. Do you want to send me back to the other world again?” In the case of this five year old who came back to the same mother’s womb, was it a matter of karma?
Last year, the Huffington Post carried an intriguing article, “9 Signs of a Reincarnated Soul” by Dr. Carmen Harra, a best-selling author, psychologist, and relationship expert. According to Dr. Harra, if a soul left before its time, it will be reborn into “situations that allow them to resolve what was left open… A reincarnated soul may be born under similar circumstances or have to live through events parallel with its previous life, except with different results. This serves as an opportunity to conquer and close out old karma.” Every religion, every culture has its own beliefs about infant deaths. More on these absorbing aspects in a future column.