The significance of the process of birth, death and rebirth in Hinduism
Reincarnation is also known as rebirth or punarjanma in Hinduism. The ideology of Reincarnation is such that death is not the ultimate destination or end. The human body is believed to have a soul which is its own identity. Through the course of a lifetime, the soul resides in one physical living body. After the death of the person, the soul exits the body and enters another entity. The soul is not bound by the realms of the physical or biological world. This defines the process of rebirth. The soul is eternal, immortal and does not perish like the body. The cycle of birth, death and rebirth collectively is the Reincarnation or Samsara in Hinduism.
Religions like Jainism and Sikhism put their faith in Reincarnation too.
Karma and Reincarnation
But what tags along is Karma. Karma literally translates to deeds. Reincarnation and Karma are closely related as it is Karma which dictates the process of rebirth. The deeds one does knowing or unknowingly during his stay in the world, decide what he deserves in the next life. Good actions result in prosperous occurrences where one is born in positive surroundings destined to achieve great things in life. On the other hand, bad deeds can make one land in a constant state of suffering in the next birth.
Rebirths and Avatars
In Hinduism, it is common for deities to take birth as mortals multiple times resulting in various Avatars. Lord Vishnu is famously known for his Dashavtar, ten Reincarnations, each personified to save the world from evil powers. Krishna is a widely known and celebrated Reincarnation of his.
There are endless examples of how the purpose of rebirths is pure revenge or it is a result of a curse. In the great epic of Mahabharat too, many men and women take rebirths to either avenge their sufferings from the previous births or suffer because of their bad deeds or karma.
Gandhari, the mother of 100 Kauravas, cousins of Yudhishtir, the eldest Pandava and his brothers, had accidentally poured boiling water over 100 eggs of an insect, killing them all. The creature had cursed Gandhari to suffer the same fate as her.
Bhishma, the great warrior and commander of Kaurava forces had abducted a princess named Amba who cursed to become the cause of his death. She is then reborn as Shikhandi, an androgynous entity who helps in killing the legend.
