KARMA
The law of karma underpins the process of transmigration of the soul. Karma literally means “action,” but more often refers to the accumulated reactions to activities. Thus we talk of “good karma” and “bad karma,” which are stored reactions that gradually unfold to determine our unique destiny. The self-determination and accountability of the individual soul rests on its capacity for free choice. This is exercised only in the human form. Whilst in lower species, the atman takes no moral decisions but is instead bound by instinct. Therefore, although all species of life are subject to the reactions of past activities, such karma is generated only while in the human form. Human life alone is a life of responsibility. The Bhagavad-gita categorises karma, listing three kinds of human actions: (1) Karma: those which elevate, (2) Vikarma: those which degrade and (3) Akarma: those which create neither good nor bad reactions and thus lead to liberation.
Brihadaranyaka-Upanishad: Fourth Adhyâya, Fourth Brahmana: v5
Now as a man is like this or like that, according as he acts and according as he behaves, so will he be:--a man of good acts will become good, a man of bad acts, bad. He becomes pure by pure deeds, bad by bad deeds. 'And here they say that a person consists of desires. And as is his desire, so is his will; and as is his will, so is his deed; and whatever deed he does, that he will reap.
Isha Upanishad: v2
If one should desire to live in this world a hundred years, one should live performing Karma (righteous deeds). Thus thou mayest live; there is no other way.
REINCARNATION
As the Atman (Soul, Brahman) stays unaltered in life, it continues unchanged after death. The soul is carried within the subtle (astral, heavenly) body to its next variation. The nature of the new incarnation is in determination with state of mind at death and is determined by (1) the person’s desires, and (2) his karma. &
SAMSARA
(Sanskrit "World") refers to the process of passing on to another body inclusive of all walks of life. According to Hindu belief consciousness exists in all life forms. The soul being present to species, the potential is exhibited to different levels. In some species, mostly animals it is practically asleep, but in humans it is well aware. This progression of consciousness is manifest throughout six broad “classes of life, “namely (1) aquatics, (2) plants, (3) reptiles and insects, (4) birds, (5) animals and (6) humans, including the residents of heaven. Samsara in essence is painful, throughout a cycle of four recurring problems: birth, disease, old-age, and death.
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Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 2.3.1 - “Brahman has but two forms—gross and subtle, mortal and immortal, limited and unlimited, defined and undefined.”
Chandogya Upanishad 3.13.7. - “Then, higher than this heaven, above the world, higher than everything, in the highest world, higher than which nothing exists—the light that shines there is the same light that is in a human being.”
1 Corinthians 15:44 - It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.
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Image: Bhavachakra describing the cycle of saṃsāra: illustrated in the wheel are six realms of existence in which a sentient being can reincarnate, according to the rebirth doctrine of Buddhism. Yama, the god of death, is at the top of the outer rim. The outer rim shows the Twelve Nidānas doctrine.
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