Hindus believe in three fundamental ideas about the afterlife; they believe in karma, reincarnation and liberation. In terms of karma and reincarnation, most all Hindus have very similar beliefs, but there are numerous ideas about what happens to the soul in liberation. At the beginning of the first millennium BCE descriptions of the afterlife in Hinduism became more detailed and complex. The fundamental beliefs around karma and reincarnation are the same because they occur in the conditioned reality/material world. Liberation is all about trying to reach the unconditioned reality/brahman/an enlightened state which is something people wanted to reach but often in different ways. This is why there is numerous ideas involving how to reach moksha, the hindu liberation.
Ideas involving the afterlife began to become more complex as Hindu texts were created and developed. One very important characteristic of the religion is the belief in karma, which by …show more content…
Most Hindus find reassurance in the fact that through reincarnation they get another chance to act well and receive good karma. The universally accepted elements of the Hindu afterlife are that reincarnation results from selfish and desirous action, and therefore reincarnation is a negative thing. In the Bhagavad Gita, a holy Hindu text, reincarnation is spoken of: “just as a man discards worn out clothes and puts on new clothes, the soul discards worn out bodies and wears new ones.” To be reincarnated means remaining in samsara and still having desires. Hindu’s ultimate goal is to reach Brahman, the ultimate reality, in which you no longer see separation in the world. Karma and reincarnation are so closely tied together as they act in a constant cycle, so therefore there only needed to be a single unifying understanding of both
Ideas involving the afterlife began to become more complex as Hindu texts were created and developed. One very important characteristic of the religion is the belief in karma, which by …show more content…
Most Hindus find reassurance in the fact that through reincarnation they get another chance to act well and receive good karma. The universally accepted elements of the Hindu afterlife are that reincarnation results from selfish and desirous action, and therefore reincarnation is a negative thing. In the Bhagavad Gita, a holy Hindu text, reincarnation is spoken of: “just as a man discards worn out clothes and puts on new clothes, the soul discards worn out bodies and wears new ones.” To be reincarnated means remaining in samsara and still having desires. Hindu’s ultimate goal is to reach Brahman, the ultimate reality, in which you no longer see separation in the world. Karma and reincarnation are so closely tied together as they act in a constant cycle, so therefore there only needed to be a single unifying understanding of both