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Religions of the World I: Hinduism

Brahman: The impersonal singular, infinite, eternal, unchanging, all pervading, underlying Ultimate Reality which can only be described in the negative (Neti Neti - "not this, not that") (Monism)

Atman: That reality in or as the soul, the true essence of our nature is one with Brahman ("That art Thou" "we are spiritual beings having human experiences" "like rays of the sun")

Samsara: the realm of time and space wherein we reside; even the gods reside in Samsara. Nothing in Samsara is permanent, not even the long-lived gods. So long as we remain attached to life in this world we will get our wish - we are doomed to return to life in this world. Samsara is a prison for the Atman where Atman is trapped in matter.

Reincarnation: everything in Samsara is destined to the repeating cycle of birth-life-death-rebirth. Sounds nice but it is not because, ultimately, Samsara is a lie, it is not our true existence. It separates Atman from its true reality as Brahman.

Moksha: liberation, salvation - the only way out of the illusory "hell" of Samsara, to return to where pure Brahman resides in stillness and rest outside of this space-time realm. The ultimate goal of achieving union (yoga) with Brahman

Karma: ("action") Spiritual results of physical actions, results which affect the soul; the law of cause and effect ("as we sow, so shall we reap"). Any action, good or bad, will result in a next life. We achieve Moksha by eliminating karma. To eliminate all karma and not build up more (zero balance) is to achieve Moksha.

• Experiences are like impressions made in soft clay. We want to be like hardened clay so that those impressions are not left behind.

• We want to be like rubber and have karma "bounce off" us rather than stick to us as if we were glue or a "karma magnet".

• The relationship between karma and the soul should be like "water off a duck’s back" - it shouldn’t touch the soul.

• Karma is like a lead weight, a ball and chain, binding the soul to samsara.

We have a next life if we have any karma, good or bad, remaining when we die. The next life is where we work out the results of this karma. But in so living we do more actions which build up more karma. We can’t use it up fast enough.

Summary: The ultimate reality is Brahman. Our true essence is Atman - Brahman in Samsara (this universe, the realm of space-time). Samsara is a prison for Atman. It is karma which keeps Atman imprisoned in Samsara. The ultimate goal is release from Samsara - Moksha, liberation.

For a more indepth presentation see Eastern Philosophy for Westerners