Perhaps I normally would let it pass as the siren call to bore on my special subject but when it seems to form a barrier as an article of faith I must take the risk of seeming a monomaniac. What is forgotten in this discussion is that reincarnation and the resurrection of the body are doctrines and thus their opposition to each other is not something that can be finally adjudicated on as though they were matters of fact. No evidential grounds exist for coming down on one side or the other. How then did perfectly enlighted prophets arrive at such different tenents? They are coherent with the basic view of human identity which they variously hold.

Reincarnation is by no means the simple straighforward doctrine that it seems to be. What is to make us choose one over the other? What engages our spiritual imagination? I cannot imagine me approaching a master like the aspirant in the Upadesa Sahasri of Shankaracarya- A certain Brahmacarin tired of the transmigratory existence consisting of birth and death, and aspiring after liberation, approached a Knower of Brahman established in It and sitting at ease and said, "How can I, Sir, be liberated from this transmigratory existence?"

What is the purpose of doctrine? What is the difference between doctrine and matter of fact? How will you behave if you are a believer in one or the other? All religions have elements which are readily rejected by natural reason.