Mental deficiencies
QUESTION: Masters, many mentally retarded children take embodiment on Earth. They may not have any emotional feelings. Are they incarnated to pay off some karma? My child Kshitij is one of such children. I feel that I am on spiritual path because of him. What was his purpose to take the life form? ~Diwakar, India
ANSWER: First, you must understand that there is no such judgment system as the way you are speaking of karma. The concept of things being either right or wrong and souls having to undergo a punishment for what they have done before does not exist outside of the human incarnation. Each soul decides what it wants to experience during a lifetime. This is partially done within contracts that it agrees to and makes with other souls. Such was the case between you and your son.
Within his body, your son is very aware of what is going on around him. He wanted to be an observer in this lifetime to see the reactions of other people to him and to feel the sense of helplessness of not being able to fully communicate his needs and desires to others. This was not the result of any past life but rather a conscious choice that he made.
One of the contracts made between the two of you was for him to stimulate you to find your emotional core and to examine your spiritual self for understanding of this situation. The ultimate goal of an incarnation is to spend the time trying to understand and appreciate the true nature of ourselves. Having a blessed friend, like your son, in a life with you helps you to focus on the issues you seek.
This life and this contract were more for your benefit than for his. Thank him for his sacrifice. He has taught you a lot and allows you to see so much more of human interactions than you could have seen in any other way.