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The belief in Karma And Samsara and Samsara form the basis for the Hindu’s religious
worldview. It has been central to Hinduism for thousands of years, and as a
result forms a major part in the philosophical thinking of many Hindu’s today.
The ideas of Karma And Samsara and Samsara are evident in almost all of the great Hindu
scriptures, being touched on in the Veda’s, but first properly introduced in the
Upanishads. When the idea of Samsara was first introduced it led to a quest for
liberation through the practice of austerity or meditation or both.
To be released form this life the Hindu’s needed to wipe out the effects of
their past actions or Karma And Samsara. It is this set of beliefs that formed the
background of many of Hindu’s religious movements and beliefs. Karma And Samsara is the
belief according to which a person’s future life is determined by past and
present actions. Every action, bodily, intellectual or ethical, good or bad, big
or small will have its effect. Nothing other than the effects of earlier actions
has determined the present state of affairs and nothing other than the present
actions will determine the future circumstances. The law of Karma And Samsara allows no room
for chance or divine intervention as everything is inevitably determined by it.
The Brhardaranyaka Upanisad simply sates “By good actions one becomes good,
by bad actions one becomes bad”(4.4.5) (Koller 1982: 59). Intertwined with
belief in Karma And Samsara is the idea of Samsara, which is the cycle of repeated births
and deaths that subjects an individual not merely to one death but to
innumerable deaths (Koller 1982:9). Hindu’s believe that as a person dies the
Atman (the unconscious, immaterial part of a human) carries the results of their
good and bad actions (Karma And Samsara) into their next existence. This previous Karma And Samsara will
determine what sort of position a Hindu will occupy in their new existence, for
example, if a person in a low caste has been very good in their past existence
they will be born into a higher caste in their next life. The ideas of Karma And Samsara and
Samsara have justified the unequal Caste system, which has been an integral part
of Indian society for hundreds of years. At the time of the Rig Veda (the
earliest Hindu scriptures around 1000 B.C.E) (Smart 1989: 60) the key concepts
of Karma And Samsara and Samsara had not actually been stated.
However, it does mention that a person’s conduct in this world determines his
life after death. The brahmins (the religious leaders) stressed the importance
of the sacred act of sacrificing which was supposed to have a bearing on man’s
fate in the next world, and consequently the Satapatha Brahmana 11.1.8,6, states
that “the Sacrifice becomes the self of the sacrificer in the next
world”(Stutley 1985: 23). So, even at this early stage of Hinduism, the idea of
Karma And Samsara played an important role in the Hindu’s worldview. It was not until the
Upanishads (the principal ones dating from 800-400B.C.E) (Smart 1989:49) that we
first meet with the doctrines of Karma And Samsara and Samsara. The Upanishads are concerned
essentially with the meaning of the sacrificial rites, and come to the
conclusion that knowledge in the ‘true reality’ is the key rather than expertise
in rituals like the Rig Veda’s were.
In the process they introduce profound metaphysical and religious ideas, such
as Karma And Samsara and Samsara. The Chandogya Upanisad sums up the ideas of Karma And Samsara and
Samsara “those who are of pleasant conduct here the prospect is indeed that they
will enter a pleasant womb, either the womb of a Kshatriya or the womb of a
Vaisya (high Indian Castes). But those who are of a striking conduct here the
prospect is indeed, that, they will enter the womb of a dog, or the womb of a
swine, or the womb of an outcast”(Lipner 1994: 45). The central concept in the
Upanishads is that of Brahman. Brahman is the highest truth, the eternal being
on which all other beings depend on. Brahman is the same as the atman, in other
words, that ultimate being out there, is the same as that eternal something
within you. The goal for many Hindus became at this time to gain Moksha (release
from Samsara) which meant a person’s atman would be released from the cycle of
rebirth and therefore become one with the ultimate reality, Brahman, like a drop
of water into an ocean.
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