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Reincarnation is a core belief within Hinduism. In most Indian philosophical traditions, including the Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh and Jain systems, an ongoing cycle of birth, death, and rebirth is assumed as a fact of nature. These systems differ widely, however, in the terminology with which they describe the process and in the metaphysics they use in interpreting it. Within Hinduism, it is avidya, or ignorance, of one's true self, that leads to ego-consciousness of the body and the phenomenal world. This grounds one in desire and the perpetual chain of karma and reincarnation.

Historical

In India the concept of reincarnation is recorded in detail within the Upanishads (c. 800 BCE), which are philosophical and religious texts composed in Sanskrit. The notion of reincarnation is most notably present in the Śvetāśvatara Upanishad 5.11 and Kauśītāki Upanishad 1.2. According to Professor Joanna Jurewicz of Warsaw University, reincarnation theory is also found in the Rigveda, which generally considered the oldest Hindu scripture.

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End of re-birth?

When the cycle of rebirth thus comes to an end, a person is said to have attained moksha, or salvation. While all schools of thought agree that moksha implies the cessation of worldly desires and freedom from the cycle of birth and death, the exact definition of salvation depends on individual beliefs. For example, followers of the Advaita Vedanta school (often associated with jnana yoga) believe that they will spend eternity absorbed in the perfect peace and happiness that comes with the realization that all existence is One (Brahman), and that the immortal soul is part of that existence. Thus they will no longer identify themselves as individual persons, but will see the "self" as a part of the infinite ocean of divinity, described as sat-chit-ananda (existence-knowledge-bliss). The followers of full or partial Dvaita schools ("dualistic" schools, such as bhakti yoga), on the other hand, perform their worship with the goal of spending eternity in a loka, (spiritual world or heaven), in the blessed company of the Supreme being (i.e Krishna or Vishnu for the Vaishnavas, Shiva for the Shaivites). The two schools (Dvaita & Advaita) are not necessarily contradictory, however. A follower of one school may believe that both types of salvation are possible, but will simply have a personal preference to experience one or the other. Thus, it is said, the followers of Dvaita wish to "taste sugar," while the followers of Advaita wish to "become sugar."

See also

• Bhagavad Gita
• Hinduism
• Karma
• Moksha
• Reincarnation
• Samsara

Footnotes

1. Brodd, Jefferey (2003). World Religions. Winona, MN: Saint Mary's Press. ISBN 978-0-88489-725-5. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
2. Gombrich, Theravada Buddhism, 2nd edn, Routledge, London, 2006, page xi
3. Karel Werner, A Popular Dictionary of Hinduism 110 (Curzon Press 1994) ISBN 0-7007-0279-2
4. Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, Translation by Swami Nikhilananda (8th Ed. 1992) ISBN 0-911206-01-9

• Hindu philosophical concepts
• Reincarnation