Cloning

[Giri]

On Tue, 18 Mar 1997, Gummuluru Murthy wrote:

> Unless and until we believe and accept that our thoughts and actions are
> not ours but we are simply playing the role allotted to us in the supreme
> scheme of things, in that state, there is no karma associated with the
> thought or action.
>
> Until then, any "action" or "thought" however trivial it may look like,
> or however trivial one may try to make them out to be, has karma
> associated with it. It is inevitable.

        Yes. Unless one is "realized" one has to follow Dharma.

> Now, the advaita literature is full of statements that the body is a
> corpse powered by the sense organs.
  ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
        I am not so sure about this, but maybe I am just misunderstanding
your statement. Even if the sense organs don't work (coma is a good
example) the person is still alive, since his central nervous system and
brain are functioning (atleast partially). Even if the person is
"unconscious" the person can be alive. I believe that a person is alive
so long as the "soul 'is in' the body."

> In cloning, you are giving life
> to a body. Thus, you are "donating" more than the body.

        I would say, than it in cloning you are just creating a body, just
like 'creating' a child, not "giving life" to it. If one is capable of
giving life to another, then surely, we should be able to revive all
corpses.
        However, I do agree with you and Vidya that the issue of cloning
has much more ramifications than, say, donating blood to an
already-existing body.

Namaste.