...Hindus believe in reincarnation. I it explains the natural way the soul evolve from immaturity to spiritual enlightenment. Life and death are realities for all of us. Hinduism believes that the soul is immortal, that it never dies, but inhabits one body after another on the Earth during its journey. Like the caterpillar's transformation into a butterfly, physical death is a natural transition for the soul, which survives and, guided by karma, continues its long pilgrimage until it is one with God. After many lifetimes of following karma, the soul is fully matured in love, wisdom and knowledge of God. There is no longer a need for physical birth, for all lessons have been learned, all karmas fulfilled. That soul is then liberated, freed from the cycle of birth, death and rebirth. Evolution then continues in the more refined spiritual worlds. Similarly, after we graduate from elementary school we never have to go back to the fifth grade. We have gone beyond that level in understanding. Karma plays an important role in this evolution by determining how a person’s soul is transferred to another being. If a person does good deeds and has a good conscious their soul enters the next higher stage of its journey. For example: if it is already human than the next stage would be a human in a higher caste, or if they do bad deeds and have corrupt conscious their soul is “downgraded) to a lower stage in its journey. This Hindu view of the soul's evolution answers many otherwise bewildering...
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...Hiduism recognizes the necessity and significance of material needs and the enjoyment of them it does not acknowledge the fact that it fulfills ones existence. Wealth and pleasure are the first two teachings in Hinduism and they must be pursued with the dharma; the goal of Dharma is that they keep the welfare and of all others in mind as they attain their own personal goals. The highest goal or teaching in Hinduism is moksha which means liberation. Liberation is usually taught to a Hindu by a teacher, guru. In this religious belief the cause of human suffering is ignorance. Ignorance comes from desires and actions; such actions and desires create a multitude of consequences either later in life or in another life. This is where karma comes in to play, they believe if you do something wrong in this life you will be punished wither later in this life or in another life. They believe that one will have multiple births in order to achieve true liberation. Also, in order to attain liberation one must fully understand that the self is eternal and uncreated. (Rambachan, 2000). Hindus experience a vast amount of criticism, mostly because they worship what one can say as false gods. They worship values where other religions worship actual figures or persons. Their beliefs are not based on what a book says they are based on virtues, being able to attain true freedom from worldly desires and actions. Hindus have provided other groups with the sense of attaining true liberation...
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...For this paper will use the framework of understanding and show the many similarities and differences between Hinduism and Buddhism. Although these two religions have a lot in common, they also have many differences as well. There are many different branches or deviations of each religion. I will be talking them both overall and as a general whole, unless otherwise stated. I will show the differences based on the foundational difference of the beliefs in having a soul vs. not having a soul. There is a big difference between Hinduism and Buddhism in terms of being a human. In the Hindu religion they believe that we have an eternal, unchanging soul. This is referred to as the atman, which simply means “soul”. Whereas Buddhism believes that there is no permanence, which is referred to anatman meaning no eternal self or “no soul”. Although both religions believe in the cycle of rebirth, it is hard to understand who is being reborn if you have no soul. It is explained as if a flame is being passed from candle to candle and is eventually blown out, which is different from Hinduism because you have a soul so you are actually completing the cycle of rebirth. Like in most religions, there is a basic problem in life. They both have very similar problems. In Hinduism karma is the problem. You will be trapped in the cycle of rebirth if you do not have good karma. Being stuck is called samsara. You must live each life and past life until you no longer have karma holding you back, then...
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