According to Hinduism, after death, an individual can either be reborn (punar-janma) to experience life again or attain liberation (moksha) from the cycle of rebirth (samsara). Globally, beliefs about what happens after death can be categorized into two main schools: those who believe in a single life and those who believe in multiple lives. For those who think life is singular, there are three main views: some believe death is final, others think one goes to an eternal afterlife in the land of the dead, and some believe in either heaven (eternal enjoyment) or hell (eternal suffering or temporary punishment before reaching heaven). Conversely, those who believe in rebirth see it as a continuous cycle where souls return from the land of the dead (pitr-loka) to the living (bhu-loka) until they learn necessary life lessons. This cycle may involve experiences in hell (naraka-loka) or heaven (swarga-loka) before reincarnation. Historically, cultures such as the Ancient Egyptians, who constructed pyramids for an eternal afterlife, and the Ancient Chinese, who had ancestral beliefs before Buddhism introduced rebirth, reflect various views on the afterlife. Even today, rituals like offering paper money to ancestors indicate ongoing beliefs in an afterlife from which there is no return.

by Devdutt Pattanaik in English Mythological Stories

Writen by Devdutt Pattanaik

Category Mythological Stories