Question

A main, foundational teaching in Hinduism is that people are looking to break free from samsara, the cycle of death and rebirth that we call reincarnation. Interestingly, many people in the West (non-Hindus) speak of reincarnation lightly or fondly. There are people who believe in reincarnation and find it to be a good thing, or who sort of joke about reincarnation. Why, from the Hindu perspective, might reincarnation be a bad thing? Why do people pursue their religious beliefs and practices in order to achieve moksha?

Answer 1

According to Hindu religious philosophy, life and death are seen as endless cycles where Life itself is often characterized as an unending dream or an illusion that has little to no relevance to the true nature of things in terms of the universe and the transcendental forces operating behind life. Reincarnation in this context is the transmigration of the soul from one life form to another based on good and evil deeds. If a person has lived a virtuous life s/he moves up the scale, say, from a lower organism like an insect to a higher organism such as a high caste intellectual. If a person has lived an unworthy life he/she moves down the scale, say, from a low caste human being to a rat.

Thus, the doctrine of reincarnation or karma holds within it an inevitably negative force as Reincarnation is viewed as a never-ending set of cycles ( yugas and kalpas ). One may be reincarnated millions of times until s/he attains te universal truth or moksha (nirvana) from the cycle of births and deaths. Karma determines what a person is reincarnated as and the Escape from the cycle of reincarnation can be achieved through escape into “the correct religious order or practices which would lead to the attainment of moksha. Thus, people require deeds and prayer to help them establish their place in the world outside the spiral of reincarnation and reach closer to their atman.