Early Writings — Page 2
2 THE essay, which is being reproduced below after this announcement. The essay, which was written in refutation of reincarnation, was compiled in such a manner that all the arguments mentioned in it were taken from the Holy Quran. I did not present even a single argument in this essay as did not have its origin or foundation in the Holy Quran. The essay was then presented to Pundit Sahib in a public gathering so that he could-in accordance with the method I had adopted myself—also present his arguments in favour of reincarnation citing verses from the Vedas. The purpose was to settle the issue of reincarnation once and for all, and also to manifest the reality of the Vedas and the Quran, and determine which of the two books emerged truly victorious in this contest and which was vanquished. After having listened to the entire essay of mine the Pundit, was completely unable to present any arguments from the Vedas and quoted only two verses of the Rig Veda which he believed spoke of reincarnation. He thus failed to disprove any of the argu- ments presented by me. He acted in this manner despite the fact that he ought to have expounded something of the philosophy of the Vedas before me so as to counter the arguments of the Holy Quran and prove the credibility of Pundit Dayanand's claim which he has been making for quite some time now saying that the Vedas are the fountain-head of all fields of knowledge. Sadly, Pundit Kharak Singh Sahib failed to say even a single word on this subject. He became absolutely dumbfounded, and felt so helpless and powerless during the debate that he eventually fled to his vil- lage. Having arrived in the village, he sent to me another essay of his, which shows that he still eager to have a debate with me teachings of the Vedas and the Holy and wishes to compare the