The Beliefs Of The Soul

Another teaching the “Bhagavad Gita” offers is stability of mind. Knowing our own mind can help us understand the world we are living in, react to problems, and make sure we can change them to ensure survival. This can help us with challenging decisions,

The Bhagavad Gita uses the conversation between Pandava Prince Arjuna and his guide Lord Krishna to portray Hinduism world view and Krishna’s view on the different fundamental questions. When he’s facing a war, Arjuna is guided by Krishna to be a selfless leader, and dedication to the cause.

The goal of the following paper is to convince that soul theory is directly linked to one’s personal identity. This paper will also point out an objection raised to the theory, and to finish will prove how that objection is incorrect, leaving soul theory as the only answer to what makes someone who they are.

In the Bhagavad Gita, the fourth discourse which is composed of forty-two verses, Lord Krishna, the narrator guides Arjuna- a warrior who is finding himself pondering about the simple principles of life while he is fighting the war. In the fourth discourse Arjuna learns from Lord Krishna about faith, wisdom sacrifice, ignorance, doubts of the soul, action and inaction, selfless service, and self-realization which ultimately leads to the ultimate truth, which is the path for the spiritual soul to reach its maximum potential here on earth and the afterlife.

After having read the chapter and the PowerPoints, one aspect of Native American Religion that interests me is the spirit world. I am curious as to how it connects to a vast majority of their religions practices, since the Native Americans were polytheistic or contained multiplicity of gods within their religious practices. I was interested in how they connect this world as “Earth Mother”, who provides bounty of the Earth (Hopfe et al. 2016). The position of High God is also connected, but separate from the concerns of the Earth. These different spirits have allowed the Native Americans to not consider a High God as a personality, but rather a divine or sacred power that is revealed in humans, nature and the spirit world (Hopfe et al. 2016).

One’s worldview is immensely influential in every aspect of a person’s life. In “The Bhagavad-Gita”, the importance of having a strong viewpoint is displayed through the actions of Arjuna and Krishna. This epic is a great example of how one’s worldview impacts one’s actions and decisions. Additionally, Arjuna discovers how trying it can be to keep hold of his outlook on life when faced with difficult situations. “The Gita” is an accurate illustration of how one’s worldview persuades the actions and decision making of a person because of Arjuna’s worldview, the theme of karma and dharma, and how one’s world view effects every aspect of a person’s life.

Both cultures believed something happened to your soul after your physical body ceases to exist as a living organism. It was jointly believed that your moral standing or goodness during your life was a determining factor in what happened to your soul in the afterlife. A negative judgement in the afterlife had consequences, such as being eaten by a monster in Egypt or a lower caste placement for one’s next incarnation in India. Living a morally acceptable life had positive benefits in the afterlife. Similar moral concepts they believed in were ma’at and karma. Ma’at is a belief that if a person’s soul weighs as light as a feather, it reflects many good deeds. Karma is a belief that behavior in life determines your caste in the next life, a natural goal is to reincarnate to a better caste than one is currently in. Importance was placed on sacred texts that explained the afterlife in both religions. The Egyptian Book of the Dead and the Upanishad texts guided people through the beliefs around the afterlife. Clearly, fear was used as a motivator in both cultures to encourage their people living moral

​This paper will analyze afterlife in Hinduism and in Catholicism. Afterlife will be considered in the Catechism of the Catholic Church 1020-1060 and in Romans 10. Afterlife will also be considered in Bhagavad Gita 2:27, Obayashi page 146 and in Rig Veda 10.14.8. This topic is intriguing because death is a part of life and it is interesting to see the different perspectives of their two religions and of what happens in the afterlife. Besides the perspectives, this topic studies the greatest mystery of life, death which is an uncommon topic since people usually shy away from talking about this because of the emotional implications that it brings to people.

Bhavagad-Gita, is the earliest known yoga scripture dated back to around 500 B.C. The Gita is dedicated entirely to yoga, its main aim is that -- "to be alive means to be active and in order to avoid difficulties in our lives and in others, our actions have to benign and have to exceed our egos." Its connection to the Upanishads is paralleled to the relationship between the Vedas and Upanishads, strengthening each other's meaning.

The idea of the soul varies widely in religious tradition. While these variations exist, its basic definition is unvarying. The soul can be described as the ultimate internal principle by which we think, feel, and will, and by which our bodies are animated. The soul is seen as the core principle of life or as the essence of a being 1. Views on the permanence of the soul vary throughout religious tradition as well. While some view it as a mortal entity in flux others believe the soul is an immortal and permanent unit. These interpretations vary from time period to time period and between religions. These characteristics of the soul are interpreted differently through an Eastern or

India gave birth to Hinduism which expanded quickly. This spiritual tradition focused on finding peace and eternal tranquility rather than temporary satisfaction from the worldly pleasures. In order to transmit the idea to other people and guide them through it, they came up with different writings to illustrate this. The Bhagavad Gita and the Upanishads are popular writings that exemplify the beliefs and thoughts of Hinduism. The Bhagavad Gita addresses the question about how a person can be one with Brahman, the universal soul or god, while living in this world. This document is set as a dialogue between the warrior Arjuna and his guide and charioteer Krishna. Arjuna is being encouraged by Krishna to fulfill his duty as a warrior and part of the Kshatriyas, one of the higher divisions in the caste system. Arjuna has to enter this battle and fight in order to live up to his duty and consequently live free from attachments and walk in the path of finding himself as one with Brahman. On the other hand, the Upanishads guided all kinds of people regardless of

that if X can be without Y then X and Y are distinct. This view that a

The dialogue of the Gita goes through a series of concepts such as the body/soul distinction, the principle of nonattached action, the virtues of discipline (yoga) and meditation. Jhana yoga is the first stage where a person acquires the knowledge of the inner self through study and contemplation and becomes aware of the importance of realizing his true self and achieving salvation. After acquiring knowledge, he turns to karma yoga to discharge his responsibilities towards himself. The

Plato has roused many readers with the work of a great philosopher by the name of Socrates. Through Plato, Socrates lived on generations after his time. A topic of Socrates that many will continue to discuss is the idea of “an immortal soul”. Although there are various works and dialogues about this topic it is found to be best explained in The Phaedo. It is fair to say that the mind may wonder when one dies what exactly happens to the beloved soul, the giver of life often thought of as the very essence of life does it live on beyond the body, or does it die with it? Does the soul have knowledge of the past if it really does live on?

Many different religions around the world see the importance in life after death but these beliefs do vary a lot and each religion will believe completely different things. Two core religions in this essay that will be looked into are Islamic and Catholic. What do they believe will happen when someone dies? Is there another life after they die? Heaven? Hell? Or Paradise? Through this you will the importance in the belief of life after death, and the practices, rituals, and prayers that provide evidence and physical proof of how they show this belief. Then to go onto to discuss the wider implications holding onto these beliefs can have.