Reincarnation In Hindu Religion

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What happens to us when we die? This has been a question commonly asked and ardently debated by many since the beginning of humanity. Reincarnation, a solution for some to this question, involves the rebirth of a soul into a new body after its death, thus beginning a new life for the same soul. It is one of the most fascinating, yet mysterious concepts that reveals itself in several of today’s major world religions. Literally meaning, “to take on the flesh again”, reincarnation is especially popular among the beliefs of those who practice Hinduism. For Hindus, this rebirth can be in the form of not only a person but any living thing, such as an animal or even a plant. I would like to explore how the process of reincarnation among Hindus …show more content…
Karma is derived from the Sanskrit for ‘deeds’ and is related to one’s behavior in preceding lives” (Van Voorst 77). Karma results from a person’s actions and can be considered good or bad. For example, if a husband were to cheat on his wife, he would have bad karma attached to him. If one dies with a lot of bad karma attached to them, they may undergo transmigration, which is rebirth into an animal. If there is any karma, good or bad, attached to an individual upon their death, their spirit will be reincarnated into another living thing. The goal of Hindus is to have no karma attached to them upon death so they can experience moksha, which is the liberation from the cycle of rebirth known as samsara. However, actions will undoubtedly take place; therefore, one must perform their actions altruistically in order to have no karma attached to it. In other words, the cessation of the process of rebirth consists in the elimination of our attachment to routine life itself (Sharma 29). Hindus view every living thing to be undergoing this cycle of reincarnation known as samsara. Once they are released from this cycle, their souls merge with Brahman, a single “world soul” that is the foundation of all physical matter, energy, time and space, and being in itself, following their …show more content…
The first theory of interpretation is presented by Christian theologian John Hick. Hick believes it to be possible that while the human body is completely dead after death, the living mind of that human leaves behind a mental corpse of its own. Since the mind is invisible, so is this corpse as it floats freely in the atmosphere. This mental corpse proves to be useless without a human mind to “read” it; therefore, it makes contact with a young, living human, thereby passing along its information. A second alternative to reincarnation states that the dead may produce an earthbound spirit that shares a mind with a living person. Therefore, the living person contains knowledge from that spirit along with their own knowledge. In Devi’s case, she knows her own parents as well as her parents from her past life. While Stevenson recognizes the possibility of these two theories, he believes that these ideas are more implausible than the actual idea of reincarnation

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