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Hindu Philosophy of Karma & Reincarnation

The purpose of this paper is to assess the relationship between a personÆs social/spiritual attainments and his or her status in the afterlife, according to Hindu beliefs. Hinduism has a central philosophy about the concepts of karma and reincarnation that dates back to the earliest Hindu sacred scriptures, and which serves as a common ground among many of the most important Hindu sects.

Hindu thought is essentially cyclic. Common Hindu belief, going back to the Vedas and Upanishads, is that all humans are in the state of samsara: trapped on the wheel of rebirth, undergoing an endless series of reincarnations, the level of each one being determined by karma, the consequences of all oneÆs moral or immoral actions in the preceding life. The goal of all spiritual discipline in Hindu (and Buddhist) thought is to achieve moksha: liberation from the wheel of rebirth, and thus union with the ultimate Divine, which is usually personified as the Creator God, Brahman (Walker, 1968, p. 340).

Within Hinduism, does the achievement of moksha represent what one deserves as a result of oneÆs social and/or spiritual attainments, or is it more? It would seem that it is more, since moksha releases a person from his or her karma. It would thus seem to provide a parallel to the concept of divine forgiveness in Western thought.

From a Western perspective the ôlaw of karmaö seems very mechanical, very unforgiving--but so it seems from an Eastern perspective as well. Karma is not really a moral concept, in the Western sense; it is much more like the law of cause and effect: If you do this, the natural result is that. To attempt to acquire more and more good karma misses the point, in Hindu thought: all karma keeps one in samsara, bound to the wheel of rebirth. The point of moksha, therefore, is the release from all karma, and therefore from the consequences of oneÆs actions.

Similarly, in Western thought, the issue of whether one i...

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Hindu Philosophy of Karma & Reincarnation. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 08:04, March 29, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1712200.html