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Summary of Question:	What About Children That Die Young ??
Category:	General Sikhism
Date Posted:	Friday, 5/02/2003 9:27 AM MDT

We saw on the BBC news last night that there was an earthquake in Turkey where a lot of babies and children died. This led to me & my wife thinking why would this happen ?? OK so the parents may have had some hangover from a previous life, but what about the children ?? I think Sikhism says that you come onto this earth as a soul with a spiritual bank balance, and your job is to make sure that you leave this life with more credit than debit - this is done through Naam Simran, Sewa and Sadh Sangat.

That's ok if you are given the chance to do this - or at least until you are aware that you need to do this. But what about those kids that died in the earthquake - what chance did they have to increase their spiritual bank balance ?? I think that you can change your time and manner of death through the amount of Simran/Sewa/Sangat that you do - so, what's the view on babies that die after a few hours/minutes ?? What could the purpose of a short human life in relation to the soul's overall journey possibly be??

(REPLY) Sat Nam. Whether we are 8 minutes old,or 8 years old, or 80 years old, we die when God calls us back Home. The infants undoubtedly did not have to have more experience on earth than those few brief months of life, and that was all they had pending in their karmic account. Life and death are under God's will. Suffering the loss of children is a very bitter lesson for parents, but again, whatever happens in our lives is to test our faith, and help us grow in surrender to God's will and recognition that all life on Earth is temporary.