Yet there are hardly any cred i ble sci en - tists who sup port hum an re pro duc

tive
clon - ing. This is be cause the proc ess is not only very ine f ic ient but also ent ails
cons ide ra ble risk. The ge netic re pro gram ming re quired of the adult nu cleus for
it to ini ti ate the form a tion of the em bryo is hardly ever as cor rect as that ob -
tained from nor mal re pro duc tive tis sue; so the cloned an i mals in vari ably have
some or ganic de fect. Cons eq uently there is a well-!us tif ied ef fec tive global
mor a to rium on hu man re pro- duc tive clon ing. The prom ise of adult nu clear
transf er lies else where in a pro cess called "ther a peu tic clo - n ing#. $f af ter nu
clear trans fer the de vel op ing em bry onic cells in stead of be ing im planted into
a womb are art if i cially cul tured in vi tro they give rise to a clone of em bryo nic
stem cells in stead of a foe tus. These cells can then be chemi c ally ind uced to
transf orm thems elves into vir tua lly any type of tiss ue cell which can be re in!ect
ed or transp lanted into the orig i nal do nor to cor rect var i ous de % cien cies in tis
sue func tion like di a be tes or &ar kin son#s dis ease. This tech nol ogy holds out
great hope for many inc ura ble cond i tions and also the prom - ise of more cost- ef
fec tive ther a pies. The moral ob !ec tions to ther a peu tic clon - ing are more fun
da ment al. $f hu man cells and em bryos are liv ing en ti ties can e' per im en ta -
tion with these be mora lly !ust if ied( )lso does not the comm erc ial i*a tion of
these tiss ues and proc esses vio l ate hum an dign ity( These ques - tions pro vide
us with an app ro pri ate point of de par ture for e' am in ing the +edantic view of
hu man life and bi o log i cal de vel op ment for it is this un der stand ing that will
help us for mu - late an an swer to these ques tions.
The,panishadic +iew of -ife and Transmigration )n un der stand ing of the +edantic
view of life is ess ent ial to an ap prec i at ion of its eth i - cal view point. Three ideas
are cru cial to this un der stand ing. one in di vid ual life as per- ceived by the
,panishads is only one com po -
nent in an in tric ately interl inked mass of Con - scious ness that is life; two our
pres ent e'i s - tence as liv ing sub !ects is only one of a se ries of transm ig rat ory
e'istences that we have been hav ing since time im mem o rial; three the e'- per ie
nci ng and transm ig rat ory sub! ect /!ivat- man0 is dis tinct from the physi cal body
de - rived from ge netic ma te rial con trib uted by par ents. ) de script ion of the
proc ess of transm i - grat ion is pro vided by the 1rihadaranyaka,pa- ni
shad.)charya 2hankara in trod uces the mat- ter in the foll owi ng words. "3ow the
quest ion is when the self loaded with knowl edge etc. is about to go to an other
body does it leave the old body and go to an other like a bird go ing to an other
tree( 4This is the 5aina view.6 7r is it car - ried by an other body serv ing as a ve hi
cle to the place where acc ord ing to its past work it is to be born( 4This is the view
of the devat8- v8dins.6 7r does it stay here while its or gans bec ome all-per vad
ing and func tion as such( 4This is the 2ankhya view.6 7r is it that so long as it rem
ains in the body its org ans are con- tracted to the body#s lim its but when it dies
they be come all-per vad ing9 like the light of a lamp when the /en clos ing0 !ar is
bro ken9 and con tract again when a new body is made( 4This is the +edantic
view. 6#: The +edantic view is sup ported by ,panishadic te'ts that e' pli - cate the
perv a sive na ture of the sense org ans /in their sub tle form0 /1rihad aran yaka
,pani- shad :.;.:<0 and their cont ract ion to /or iden ti - % ca tion with0 the lim its
of spe ci%c phys i cal bod ies. /$bid. :.<.==0 The same ,pa nishad %g - u ra tively il
lus trates the pro cess of trans mi gra- tion with the e' am ple of a mov ing leech.
"5ust as a leech mov ing on a blade of grass reaches its end takes hold of an other
supp ort and draws its elf to gether to wards it so does the self /!ivatman0 throw
this body aside > take hold of an other supp ort and draw it self to - gether to
wards it.# /$bid. ?.?.<0 This alt ern ate body how ever is not the gross body that the
!ivatman is %n ally des- tined to take up. $t is a subt le body pred om i -
:; &1 -@)ACB =CC;
1ioethics and Cloning :?D
nantly aque ous that must %rst move through sev eral dis tinct phases as de lin
eated in the "panchagni-vidya# sect ions of the Chandogya and 1rihadarany aka
,panishads. /Chandogya ;.<-:C and 1rihadaranyaka E.=0 Three courses are open
to the !iv atman. the bright north ern course of the gods /devayana0 for those e' clu
- sively de voted to med i ta tion; the darker southe rn course of the manes
/pitriyana0 for those who have led dhar mic lives per formed script ural ritu a ls and
en gaged in wel fare ac - tiv i ties; and the third course for evil-do ers that leads to
non-hu man birth eit her di rectly or af- ter hell ish e' pe ri ences. The devayana
and pitri- yana are chara c teri *ed by as cent through vari - ous states like the sol
ar and lu nar spheres which are as 2wam i +i ve kananda e' plains "vi sions /that0
rise in suc cess ion be fore the !iva who him self nei ther goes nor co mes#.= The de
- scent along pitriyana is the proto typ al de scent marked by iden ti % cat ion in suc
ces sion with clouds rain crops the man eat ing these crops and % nally with a par
tic u lar woman at the time of con cept ion. These iden tit ies again are only ab
stract con cepts and not gross transf or - ma tions as )ch ar ya 2hankara has clar i
%ed in his com ment ary on the 1rahma 2utras.< These con cepts may not app ear
easi ly in - tel li gi ble but they re Fect the fact that Con - scious ness und er pins all
e' is tence and can man- i fest in spec i%c forms. This Con scious ness is not to be
conf used with aware ness for the !iv - atman#s iden tity with rain plants and such
other stages in its transm i grat ory path are not marked by awaren ess.? Bence the
conceptus in its early em bryo nic and foet al stages in the mother#s womb is not
con sid ered a sep a rate in di vid ual. $ts in di vid ua l ity is es tab lished only when
the !ivatman ac tua lly "en ters# it and es - tabl ishes a psy chic iden tity for the
!ivatman is noth ing but the trans mi grat ing psy chic ap pa- rat us comp ris ing the
mind and re lated sense or gans in their subt le form. )c cord ing to the Garbha
,panishad a te't that deals with hu- man emb ryo nic dev elo pm ent this ent ry oc
- curs in the seve nth month of foe tal life. This
was also the time that the foet us was trad i tion - ally con sid ered to take to reach
bi o log i cal vi a - bil ity or the abil ity to surv ive out side the mother#s womb. Bow
ever with ad vances in med i cal tech nol ogy foe tuses de liv ered sev - eral weeks
ear lier can now be helped to sur - vive. This psy chic iden tity as so ci ated with vi a
- bil ity es tab lishes the in di vid u al ity of the de - vel op ing baby. $t is then sub!
ect to awaren ess /al beit in rud i ment ary forms0 and the ,pani- shadic and &uranic
te'ts cite many ins tances of re mark ably height ened aware ness of the baby in
the womb. $t is im por tant that though via bil ity marks the em bodi ment of the
!ivatman yet the ear lier em bry onic stages are not con sid ered non- liv ing for the
in tegr ity of cel lu lar and tis - sue struc ture is ev i dence of the pres ence of ac -
tive prana /the syn onym for "life#0. )t this early stage how ever the prana is de
pend ent on ma ter nal sup port.; This dis tinct ion be- tween life and its sup porti
ng Cons cious ness is in di cated by Ya!navalkya dur ing one of the de bates in Hing
5anaka#s court when he asks his in terl oc u tors "$f a tree af ter it is felled springs
forth anew from its root from what root does a man spring forth af ter bei ng cut
down by death(# and then imm ed i ately warns "Io not say JKrom the seedL for
that is prod uced from a liv ing man.#E
$s Cloning Mthical( Krom the above-ment ioned facts it may be de duced that any in
!ury to the via ble foe tus is likely to cause psy chic in !ury to the !ivatman and will
lead to kar mic rep erc uss ions. $n !ury or loss in the ear lier em bryo nic stages are
not likely to have these ef fects yet the pres ence of prana de mands that even the
em bryo be treat - ed with re spect. $s e' per i men ta tion on em bry onic tis sue
then mora lly wrong( The +edantic an swer to this ques tion de pends not so much
on the act as on the att it ude beh ind the act. The en tire thrust of the
1hagavadgita is on the im por-