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Unlock This CourseThe lesson Death and the Afterlife: Linear and Cyclical Views explained that some religions see life as a road and others as a wheel. Hinduism is the clearest example of the wheel. Hindus believe that human destiny is not one life followed by one judgement. It is a long journey through many lives.
The lesson Karma and Suffering in Hinduism introduced samsara, the cycle of birth, death and rebirth. When the body dies, the atman (the real self, which never dies, as Body, Atman and the Three Gunas explained) does not disappear. It is born again in a new body. This is reincarnation.
What decides the next birth? Karma, the law of cause and effect. Every thought, word and action leaves a result behind. Good actions lead to a better future birth and harmful actions lead to a harder one. Karma works like a law of nature, so there is no single God who judges once and for all.
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The Upanishads and the Bhagavad Gita teach it. The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad compares the atman to a caterpillar that reaches the end of one blade of grass and then moves on to the next. Hindus trust these texts because they were handed down from sages who had deep knowledge of the truth.
Babies are born into very different lives. Hindus say karma from earlier lives helps to explain this, and that nobody gets a result they did not earn. Many Hindus find this more just than one life with no second chance.
Some Hindus point to young children who show skills no one taught them, or who say they remember another life. They see these as hints of rebirth. Not everyone finds this convincing.
A mistake is not the end. Hindus believe a person can keep improving over many lives, so there is always another chance.
The Hindu texts describe what may happen between one body and the next. After death, many Hindus believe the atman may spend a time in svarga or naraka, according to the karma it carries. In the Katha Upanishad, a boy called Nachiketa visits Yama himself and asks him what happens after death.
The key point is that these places are not forever. The Bhagavad Gita (chapter 9) teaches that people who enjoy a heaven return to the world of mortals when their good karma is used up. A stay in hell is also a stage, not a final punishment. This is very different from the heaven and hell of religions that see one life as the only one.
Hindus do not all agree on the details:
The Bhagavad Gita (chapter 8) also says that a person's thoughts at the moment of death matter. This is one reason many Hindus want to hear the name of God at the end of life.
If actions have results, Hindus try to follow dharma (duty and right living) and ahimsa (not harming). Each good act is a seed for a better future.
Because every living thing has an atman, many Hindus show kindness to animals and to people in need, and some choose a vegetarian diet.
Death is a change of body, not the end of the self. Hindus still grieve, but many find comfort in believing the atman lives on.
(a) Identify three Hindu beliefs about what happens after death. [3 marks]
(b) Choose one religion. Outline two teachings about life after death in this religion. [4 marks]
(c) Choose one religion. Explain why there are different attitudes to life after death in this religion. [6 marks]
(d) ‘Samsara is a fairer view of human destiny than one life followed by a final judgement.’ Evaluate this statement, showing you have considered different points of view. In your answer you should refer to at least one religion. [12 marks]
(a) 1. The atman is born again in a new body (1). 2. Karma decides the next birth (1). 3. The cycle of birth, death and rebirth is called samsara (1).
(b) Hinduism: Karma is the law of cause and effect (1), so good actions lead to a better rebirth and harmful actions to a harder one (1). The atman never dies (1), so at death it leaves the body and takes another (1).
(c) Hindus do not all agree about what happens after death. Many Hindus take texts such as the Puranas literally, so they believe the atman spends time in svarga or naraka before rebirth. Others see heaven and hell as states of mind in this life, because they put the focus on how a person lives now. Some Hindus believe rebirth can be in animal forms, while others say that human life is especially precious because only humans can work to be free of samsara. These differences exist because the Hindu scriptures are many and can be read in different ways, and because Hinduism has no single leader who decides one view for all.
(d) Plan. For: karma means people get what their actions earn, so differences between lives have a cause; every person gets many chances to improve; no one is lost for ever after one mistake. Against: a child born into hardship did not choose it and may not remember the earlier life, so it can feel unfair; some people prefer a view where God forgives and judges once; some Hindus stress grace, where devotion to God can lighten karma, so the system is not only about earning. A possible conclusion: for believers, samsara is fair because it is based on each person's own actions, but its fairness depends on accepting rebirth, which others do not.
In a ‘Choose one religion’ question, name the religion and use its own terms, such as atman, karma and samsara. This turns a general answer into a top-level one.