Does anyone believe in Karma and Reincarnation and if so can you convince me of life after this one?

Answer 1

Yes. You have asked an extremely intelligent question. Have you ever wondered why some people are born rich, and some are born poor? Why is one man born blind, or without a limb? How does one explain why some people live to a ripe old age, while others die in infancy, for no apparent reason? We can see that there is life everywhere. Plants, aquatics, animals, and humans. What determines the body of the living entity? Is it just chance, that I was born a human, and not a cat?

Reincarnation is a principal which follows the law of Karma. In the Bhagavad-Gita, God Himself explains the nature of the soul:

"As the embodied soul continuously passes, in this body, from boyhood to youth to old age, the soul similarly passes into another body at death. A sober person is not bewildered by such a change."

"That which pervades the entire body you should know to be indestructible. No one is able to destroy that imperishable soul".

"For the soul there is neither birth nor death at any time. He has not come into being, does not come into being, and will not come into being. He is unborn, eternal, ever-existing and primeval. He is not slain when the body is slain".

"As a person puts on new garments, giving up old ones, the soul similarly accepts new material bodies, giving up the old and useless ones". (Bhagavad-Gita Chapter 2, verses 13,17,20,22)

We can see from the above verses that we are not our bodies, but that our real identity, the " I " to whom we refer, is an individual spirit soul, and that the soul is eternally existing. This life, then, is not the only life we have ever had, nor is it the last, because we know that any material body is temporary, and immediately begins to decompose when the soul leaves the body. What determines the body we take? In chapter 15 of the Bhagavad-Gita, God explains:

"The living entities in this conditioned world are my eternal fragmental parts. Due to conditioned life, they are struggling very hard with the six senses, which include the mind. The living entity in the material world carries his different conceptions of life from one body to another as the air carries aromas. Thus he takes one kind of body and again quits it to take another. The living entity, thus taking another gross body, obtains a certain type of ear, eye, tongue, nose and sense of touch, which are grouped about the mind. He thus enjoys a particular set of sense objects".
(BG 15.7,8,9)

The living entity is described as "isvara", the controller of his own body. If he likes he can change his body to a higher grade, or if he wants he can change to a lower class. The change his body undergoes depends on him. At the time of death, the consciousness he has created will carry him on to the next kind of body. If he develops the consciousness of a dog, he can take the dog body, and if he develops godly qualities, he can take a spiritual body. If he has developed some good qualities, but has not advanced sufficiently to obtain a spiritual body, he may again take a human body. In the human body, whatever activities he enjoyed in his last life, he will continue to enjoy the results of in this life. So, if a man was wealthy in his last life, but misused his money, perhaps in this life he can be born without money. Since we cannot remember our past lives, there is no way to know for what activities we are suffering or enjoying, so we cannot judge others, and neither can we feel sorrow for our own condition. And, there is no garauntee that we will again take a human birth. The results of some activities carry the consequences of an animal birth. Therefore, the goal is to attain a spiritual body, so that we do not have to enter the cycle of birth, death, disease, and old age.

Answer 2

I Believe in reincarnation, simply because I see many young people who are very wise and many older people who seem to have the spiritual/emotional intelligence of children.

People can be 'Born young' or 'Born old' in my view and we all have a certain amount of nautural (i.e somthing you can't just learn) 'wiseness' which only impoves with experience and therefore I believe that this wiseness may come from living prevoius lives.

I think this is some kind of evidence for reincarnation, although I couldn't tell you the details of how it may work, as it is simply a theory and a 'gut feeling'.

I'm not religeious as I don't believe that anyone on this earth can know the answers to the big quesions - especially in as much detail as religion provides - but I do believe there is more to life that we don't know about.....

I certainly believe in a kind of karma - It's definately a good rule to live your life by. If you do good things, worse case scenario: you will feel good for being nice to people....

I'm not sure if Karma and reincarnation really link up, as with the Hindu caste system, but being good to others and developing yourself as a person can only be a good thing.

DrGonzo.

Answer 3

No one can make you believe anything. I could no more make you a buddhist than you could make me a monotheist be it christianity or judiasm unless I really want to believe it. You need to read up on what each belief system has to offer and then pick what rings true to you and follow that path.
Here is a def. of Karma:
Karma is a sum of all that an individual has done, is currently doing and will do. The results or "fruits" of actions are called karma-phala. Karma is not about retribution, vengeance, punishment or reward. Karma simply deals with what is. The effects of all deeds actively create past, present and future experiences, thus making one responsible for one's own life, and the pain and joy it brings to others. In religions that incorporate reincarnation, karma extends through one's present life and all past and future lives as well.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karma
Reincarnation, literally "to be made flesh again", as a doctrine or mystical belief, holds the notion that some essential part of a living being (or in some variations, only human beings) can survive death in some form, with its integrity partly or wholly retained, to be reborn in a new body. This part is often referred to as the Spirit or Soul, the 'Higher or True Self', 'Divine Spark', 'I' or the 'Ego' (not to be confused with the ego as defined by psychology).

In such beliefs, a new personality is developed during each life in the physical world, based upon past integrated experience and new acquired experiences, but some part of the being remains constantly present throughout these successive lives as well. It is usually believed that there is interaction between predeterminism of certain experiences, or lessons intended to happen during the physical life, and the free-will action of the individual as they live that life.

wiki again.Blessings- dd

Answer 4

I think its a very fair question, but one that you cannot expect an answer. Karma and reincarnation are usually used in the context of religion. To have a religion requires faith, and faith requires no proof, so to prove it would loose the element of faith! And without faith, the subject of karma and reincarnation would not exist.

As many have said, this is a decision to be made by yourself, and weather you want to take that leap to believe (or an equally big leap to simply not believe) is you r choice.

Although heavy reading, Albert Camus, an existentialist (although he didn't want to be known as one!) looks deeply into these subjects from a generally non-believers point of view. Sogyal Rinpoche also provides an interesting point of view in the book of living and dying - with him being a Tibetan brought up in western society, it really is applicable and enjoyable to explore.

Put simply, it's one of those questions that cannot produce a proven answer, though its nice to believe :-) and a fun journey to decide for yourself.

Answer 5

No, absolutely not. Karma, no. Now, I do believe in fate or horoscopes, but Reincarnation? The Idea that someone can die and return to earth as an animal is totally false. How would you like to be scared 2 step on an ant because it could be your cousin that had been dead for 5 years? Stupid! That is a problem in India today. They cannot use their natural resources to their fullest extent because cattle and other animals are allowed to roam the streets freely.

Answer 6

OK here is your proof? reincarnation is the reloading of the soul into a new body after the old one has passed on. that kinda limits the amount of people we have on the earth at all times, does it not? and if not, where did or do the extra souls come from? one thing is for sure, there are a lot more bodies out there today! to me reincarnation is another story that was not well thought out before the telling of it started.

Answer 7

Yep I do, Karma is simply newtons third law described in a hidu phillosophical way. If you harm, you will be harmed and not necessarily in the way you might expect. If you do good you will definitely be rewarded for that, in other words every action has its equal and opposite (in vector sense) reaction. There is a life after this one almost every religion in the world believe that there is heaven and hell, but if you tend to be an atheist (like me) then please consider the paranormal phenomenon of ghosts and spirits that have been scientifically proved. You might be re born if you have some unfinished business in this life.

Answer 8

I dont think that anyone can really convince you. It is somthing that you will have to figure out for yourself. I do believe in karma. What goes around comes around is one of the truest phrases in life.

Answer 9

No, I can't convince you. I think that the convincing is choice. However, there are pleanty of books and videos with 'proof' of reincarnation, I would look into them.

Answer 10

there's life after death in Islam, but with a different concept than reincarnation. life continues on a different plane, until judgment day when people go to heaven or hell depending on there deeds.