Karma And Reincarnation In Hindu Religion And Philosophy Thesis Etc

This is a new release of the original 1927 edition.

An examination of the law of karma approached as a philosophical thesis important in its own right and as a unifying concept within certain religious-philosophical systems. The author includes ideas expressed in the 20th century as well as those found in classical Buddhism, Hinduism and Jainism.

Karma is perhaps the most famous concept in Indian philosophy, but this is the first comprehensive study of its various meanings and philosophical implications. Karma and Rebirth in Classical Indian Traditions offers a harmony of approach and an underlying set of methodological assumptions: a corpus of definitions of karma, a dialectic between abstract theory and historical explanation, and an awareness of logical oppositions in theories of karma. No “solution” to the paradox of karma is offered, but the volume as a whole presents a consistent and encompassing approach to the many different, often conflicting, Indian statements of the problem. Broad in scope and richly detailed, this book demonstrates the impossibility of speaking of “the theory of karma” and supplies the basis for further study. Exploring methodological issues arising in the study of a non-Western system of soteriology and rebirth, the contributors question the interaction of medical and philosophical models of the human body, the incorporation of philosophical theories into practical religions with which they are logically incompatible, and the problem of historical reconstruction of a complex theory of human life. This title is part of UC Press’s Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1980.

Seminar paper from the year 2013 in the subject Theology - Hinduism, grade: 2,1, University of Hildesheim, language: English, abstract: The following paper will deal with the concept of the cycle of birth, death and rebirth in the Hindu religion, as Hindus, in contrary to the Western cultures and monotheistic religions, believe that there is life after death, and before the present life, there was a beforelife because they believe that it does not make sense that people suddenly appear from nowhere, meaning not the biological body, but the “soul” or the “spirit”. First, a definition of the different concepts of afterlife in different metaphysical models and of the term reincarnation from its semantic point of view and, how it is defined in other religions, will be given. Furthermore, Hinduism, itself, will be introduced, as it is important to understand the essence of this religion to be able to understand the concept of reincarnation. Additionally, the concept of reincarnation will be described. That includes the processes of birth, death and rebirth. Finally, the arguments in favor and against the theory of reincarnation will be discussed. The question, about what happens after death, is a philosophical one, which has been worrying humanity for centuries. By trying to categorize the different concepts, regarding what happens after death, three concepts, varying among cultures and religions, can be differentiated. First, there is the concept of denial which states that the existence of the individual ends with their death, as it is widely believed in the Western world. The second one is the concept of completion - in many religions, as, for example, in Christianity, the human life is seen as a preparation for a life after, somewhere else, in a different state of existence, like Heaven, Hell, Purgatory, Limbus, etc. And the third concept is the concept of rebirth, meaning that the mental part of the person, may it be called the “soul” or the “spirit”, is reborn many times in new bodies on earth.

By "Reincarnation" we mean the repeated incarnation, or embodiment in flesh, of the soul or immaterial part of man's nature. The term "Metempsychosis" is frequently employed in the same sense, the definition of the latter term being: "The passage of the soul, as an immortal essence, at the death of the body, into another living body." The term "Transmigration of Souls" is sometimes employed, the term being used in the sense of "passing from one body into another." But the term "Transmigration" is often used in connection with the belief of certain undeveloped races who held that the soul of men sometimes passed into the bodies of the lower animals, as a punishment for their sins committed during the human life. But this belief is held in disrepute by the adherents of Reincarnation or Metempsychosis, and has no connection with their philosophy or beliefs, the ideas having sprung from an entirely different source, and having nothing in common. There are many forms of belief--many degrees of doctrine--regarding Reincarnation, as we shall see as we proceed, but there is a fundamental and basic principle underlying all of the various shades of opinion, and divisions of the schools. This fundamental belief may be expressed as the doctrine that there is in man an immaterial Something (called the soul, spirit, inner self, or many other names) which does not perish at the death or disintegration of the body, but which persists as an entity, and after a shorter or longer interval of rest reincarnates, or is re-born, into a new body--that of an unborn infant--from whence it proceeds to live a new life in the body, more or less unconscious of its past existences, but containing within itself the "essence" or results of its past lives, which experiences go to make up its new "character," or "personality." It is usually held that the rebirth is governed by the law of attraction, under one name or another, and which law operates in accordance with strict justice, in the direction of attracting the reincarnating soul to a body, and conditions, in accordance with the tendencies of the past life, the parents also attracting to them a soul bound to them by some ties in the past, the law being universal, uniform, and equitable to all concerned in the matter. This is a general statement of the doctrine as it is generally held by the most intelligent of its adherents.