Editing Reincarnation (section)

===Hinduism===
{{Further|Punarjanman|Saṃsāra|Karma|Moksha}}
[[Image:Reincarnation2.jpg|thumb|right|Hindus believe the self or soul ([[Atman (Hinduism)|atman]]) repeatedly takes on a physical body, until [[moksha]].]]
{{Hinduism|collapsed=1}}
Hindu traditions assert that the body dies, but not the soul, which they believe to be eternal, indestructible, and blissful.{{Sfn|Juergensmeyer|Roof|2011|p=272}} Everything and all existence is believed to be connected and cyclical in many Hinduism-sects, all living beings composed of two things, the soul and the body or matter.<ref>{{cite book |first=Jeaneane D. |last=Fowler |title=Hinduism: Practices and Beliefs |date=1997 |publisher=Sussex Academic Press |isbn= |page=10}}</ref> In Hindu belief, [[Ātman (Hinduism)|Ātman]] does not change and cannot change by its innate nature.{{Sfn|Fowler|1997|p=10}} Current [[Karma]] impacts the future circumstances in this life, as well as the future forms and realms of lives.<ref>Christopher Chapple (1986), ''Karma and creativity'', State University of New York Press, {{ISBN|0-88706-251-2}}, pp. 60–64</ref> Good intent and actions lead to good future, bad intent and actions lead to bad future, impacting how one reincarnates.{{Sfn|Fowler|1997|p=11}}

There is no permanent heaven or hell in most Hinduism-sects.<ref name="JuliusLipner263">{{cite book|author=Julius Lipner|author-link=Julius Lipner|title=Hindus: Their Religious Beliefs and Practices|year=2012|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-135-24061-5|pages=263–265}}</ref> In the afterlife, based on one's karma, the soul is reborn as another being in heaven, hell, or a living being on earth (human, animal).<ref name="JuliusLipner263"/> Gods, too, die once their past karmic merit runs out, as do those in hell, and they return getting another chance on earth. This reincarnation continues, endlessly in cycles, until one embarks on a spiritual pursuit, realizes self-knowledge, and thereby gains ''[[Moksha|mokṣa]]'', the final release out of the reincarnation cycles.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Jacobsen |first1=Knut |title=Three Functions of Hell in the Hindu Traditions |journal=Numen |date=2009 |volume=56 |issue=2–3 |pages=385–400 |doi=10.1163/156852709X405071 |jstor=27793797 }}</ref> This release is believed to be a state of utter bliss, which Hindu traditions believe is either related or identical to [[Brahman]], the unchanging reality that existed before the creation of universe, continues to exist, and shall exist after the universe ends (in simpler terms, the Hindu concept of an all-powerful God).<ref>{{cite book|author=Julius Lipner|author-link=Julius Lipner|title=Hindus: Their Religious Beliefs and Practices|year=2012|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-135-24061-5|pages=251–252, 283, 366–369}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Roy W. Perrett |title=Hindu Ethics: A Philosophical Study |year=1998|publisher=University of Hawaii Press |isbn=978-0-8248-2085-5 |pages=53–54}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Bruce M. Sullivan |title=The A to Z of Hinduism  |year=2001|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=978-0-8108-4070-6 |page=137 }}</ref>

The [[Upanishads]], part of the scriptures of the Hindu traditions, primarily focus on the liberation from reincarnation.{{Sfn|Fowler|1997|pp=111-112}}<ref>{{cite book|author1=Yong Choon Kim|author2=David H. Freeman|title=Oriental Thought: An Introduction to the Philosophical and Religious Thought of Asia|year=1981|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|isbn=978-0-8226-0365-8|pages=15–17}}</ref> The [[Bhagavad Gita]] discusses various paths to liberation.{{Sfn|Juergensmeyer|Roof|2011|p=272}} The Upanishads, states Harold Coward, offer a "very optimistic view regarding the perfectibility of human nature", and the goal of human effort in these texts is a continuous journey to self-perfection and self-knowledge so as to end ''Saṃsāra''—the endless cycle of rebirth and redeath.<ref>{{cite book |first=Harold |last=Coward |year=2008 |title=The Perfectibility of Human Nature in Eastern and Western Thought: The Central Story|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LkE_8uch5P0C |publisher=State University of New York Press |isbn=978-0-7914-7336-8 |page=129}}</ref> The aim of spiritual quest in the Upanishadic traditions is find the true self within and to know one's soul, a state that they assert leads to blissful state of freedom, moksha.{{Sfn|Coward|2008|p=129, also see pages 130–155}}

The [[Bhagavad Gita]] states:
{{blockquote|
Just as in the body childhood, adulthood and old age happen to an embodied being. So also he (the embodied being) acquires another body. The wise one is not deluded about this. (2:13)<ref>{{cite book |first=Christopher Key |last=Chapple |date=2010 |title=The Bhagavad Gita: Twenty-fifth–Anniversary Edition |publisher=State University of New York Press |isbn=978-1-4384-2842-0 |page=98}}</ref>

As, after casting away worn out garments, a man later takes new ones. So after casting away worn out bodies, the embodied Self encounters other new ones. (2:22){{Sfn|Chapple|2010|p=107}}

When an embodied being transcends, these three qualities which are the source of the body, Released from birth, death, old age and pain, he attains immortality. (14:20){{Sfn|Chapple|2010|p=582}}
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There are internal differences within Hindu traditions on reincarnation and the state of [[moksha]]. For example, the dualistic devotional traditions such as [[Madhvacharya]]'s Dvaita Vedanta tradition of Hinduism champion a theistic premise, assert that human soul and Brahman are different, loving devotion to Brahman (god Vishnu in Madhvacharya's theology) is the means to release from Samsara, it is the grace of God which leads to moksha, and spiritual liberation is achievable only in after-life (''[[videhamukti]]'').<ref>{{cite book|first=Jeaneane D. |last=Fowler |title=Perspectives of Reality: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Hinduism|year=2002|publisher=Sussex Academic Press|isbn=978-1-898723-93-6|pages=340–347, 373–375}}</ref> The non-dualistic traditions such as [[Adi Shankara]]'s [[Advaita Vedanta]] tradition of Hinduism champion a monistic premise, asserting that the individual human soul and Brahman are identical, only ignorance, impulsiveness and inertia leads to suffering through Saṃsāra, in reality there are no dualities, meditation and self-knowledge is the path to liberation, the realization that one's soul is identical to Brahman is moksha, and spiritual liberation is achievable in this life (''[[Jivanmukta|jivanmukti]]'').<ref name=Loy1982>{{cite journal |last1=Loy |first1=David |title=Enlightenment in Buddhism and Advaita Vedanta: Are Nirvana and Moksha the Same? |journal=International Philosophical Quarterly |date=1982 |volume=22 |issue=1 |pages=65–74 |doi=10.5840/ipq19822217 }}</ref>{{sfn|Fowler|2002|pp=238–240, 243–245, 249–250, 261–263, 279–284}}

Twentieth-century Indian philosopher Sri Aurobindo said that rebirth was the mechanism of [[evolution]] – plants are reborn as animals, which are reborn as humans, gaining intelligence each time.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Aurobindo |first=Sri |title=The Problem of Rebirth |date=1915–1921 |publisher=Sri Aurobindo Ashram |location=Pondicherry, India |publication-date=1952 |pages=3–119, 178–9}}</ref> He said that this progression was irreversible, and that a human cannot be reborn as an animal.<ref name=":4">{{Cite book |last=Aurobindo |first=Sri |title=The Life Divine |date=1914–1919 |publisher=Sri Aurobindo Ashram |edition=5th |location=Pondicherry, India |publication-date=1970 |pages=742–823}}</ref>