The Katha Upanashads of the Vedas Essay

Death, as some may say is a must. Every human being on this planet is going to experience death and afterlife once their soul leaves their body. But this concept of death differs from one religion to the next. Some believe it is the permanent ending of soul while others believe it gives us a new beginning. As per to our class discussion, many different cultures hold different beliefs regarding life after death, burial, rebirth and incarnation of soul. In this paper, I will first describe what Hinduism and Islamic rhetoric say about death and after life, and secondly, compare and contrast how their practices differ from one another.

What I found in the literature was that, so-called spiritual experiences are part of every culture and have shaped spiritual and religious traditions. It is clear to me that “I” am not the physical body, but “I/God” is a consciousness in eternity,

Stephen Prothero explains how Buddhists observe the fact that we have no souls. They also accept that we have no self because the self is just a figment of our imagination. Prothero further describes how words associated with the self like, “I”, “me”, and “mine”, give rise to ego and as a result, contribute to the world’s suffering. He also explains the essence of Buddhist teachings with Four Noble Truths. These truths are not meant, as Prothero mentions, not to be worshipped but rather practiced and experienced, to see whether or not they actually hold some accuracy.

In life, one will undertake a spiritual journey in which you will uncover the meaning of the self. Many religions, including Hinduism, Confucianism and monotheistic religions, have developed philosophies placing importance of the “self.” Emphasis on morality, virtues, honest contribute to the development of the inner self. In religions such as, Islam and Judaism the importance of conducts and worship will lead you to paradise in the after as promised by Allah or Yahweh. The teachings of proper behavior, edict, ethics and conduct are also part of the teachings of Confucius, an ancient Chinese philosopher. Redeveloping the self, according to the founders of Buddhism and Christianity, will lead to your spiritual enlightenment and Salvation.

Through discrimination and a pure heart, man gains wisdom. Shankara says, “But the wise man, in the greatness of his knowledge and spiritual discrimination, sees the Atman as reality and thinks, “I am Brahman” (Shankara 58). Just like Shankara illustrated, our body and flesh mean nothing. They mean nothing to our identity. When one truly realizes Atman, they rid themselves of living with this body and they identify themselves with Brahman completely. By realizing that Atman is Brahman, man realizes that Brahman lives within us, and is self-existent (Shankara 69). This shows us that there is nothing else but Brahman and that Brahman is the universe (Shankara

Huston Smith, explores, the various processes in which man could transcend the austere and lucid form of being to a more enlightened one. Smith, explores this notion, in the context of religion, and mainly the various religious traditions and practices that attempt to enlighten and save one's soul from the allencompasing, worldly, goods and desires. Smith’s arguments, tremendously, revolve around the notion of ‘transcendence’ and the important role of religion in facilitating the enlightenment of the mind and soul. This notion of transcendence is evident in almost all religions (however, mainly South Asian) i.e. Hinduism (Moksha) and Buddhism (Nirvana) these form of transcendence do not only differ in terms of the linguistically, but most importantly, in the ways at which they can be achieved. I believe that Hinduism does in fact facilitated the move from imperfection to perfection, however I would like to emphasises the notion that various other forms religion may play a similar role in transforming one's soul for the better. Therefore, in this paper I will explore the inevitable and vital role of religion (hinduism) in transforming one's soul, whilst simultaneously providing that basis to other

Meditations six concerns the existence of material things and describes the separation of the mind and the body. In this, he talks about how the soul is the separation of the mind from the body. Together, they form one being, but separate, the soul can live on forever, it is immortal and can also form with other bodies at different times.

Religion can be characterized by the existence of belief and faith that something is acceptable and should be practiced without questioning or confirmation. In the Hindu religion, it can be confirmed that the way many things are characterized and the belief in the consequences of a person’s conduct can be categorically defined as faith. For instance, in Hindu, there is a belief that the individual soul is not created, but it has been in existence and will continue to exist. Just like in other religions whereby the actions of a person reaps the consequences in the next phase of life, Hindus, however, believe that the souls will one-day comeback to life in a different form, which utterly depends on the consequences of its actions before the rebirth. The kind of body that the soul will inhabit after that is determined by Karma, which is a term used to refer to actions

The story argues that the first step to obtaining rebirth is to achieve self-belonging. We all try to find an environment that we can fit in and identify ourselves with. The beginning of the story the narrator finds comfort in Abuelita`s house while she is helping her garden. Therefore, the unnamed narrator is now starting to get used to the hard work in Abuelita`s house which makes her feel “safe and guarded and not alone” (Viramontes 1). In addition, the narrator feels so safe that it makes her feel “[l]ike God [is] supposed to make you feel” (1). The narrator is no longer in an environment in which she feels alone or mistreated but now feels safe and protected. As a result, the narrator is experiencing a strong feeling she hasn’t felt before.

There are 5 bodies in Hinduism that are relatively different than both Buddhist and Hindu realms. The bodies of our spirit are called kosa, which means “sheath, vessel, or container”. The first body is the tannamaya kosa which is the sheath composed of food. The second body is pranamaya kosa, sheath composed of vital force or also known as the etheric or health body that exists within the physical body as its source of life, breath, and vitality. Manomaya kosa is the third body which is the mind-formed sheath that controls ordinary thought, desire, and emotion. Vijananamaya kosa is the fourth body which is the sheath of cognition and is the vehicle of critical thought, understanding, wisdom, intuition, and creativity. Lastly, the fifth body

Vedas are considered to be the oldest sacred texts which have been passed from generations to

After seeing this, he then attempts to see if the body truly does exist. He explains the beliefs he has about the outside world. He understands his body and such experiences it goes though, and through that he realizes that they must be present, and if they were not it would be impossible for him to feel them. He distinguishes the body from other things because the body must always be present, while other things could be merely different feelings. He here uses premises that he developed in Meditations three and four to help state that mind and body both exist, but separately. He says that his mind is different from his body, so therefore it must be separate from it. He then comes back to his Truth Rule from Meditation Four. “Every judgment that I make concerning matters that are “clear and distinct” to me is most assuredly true.” He says that god has made him think that his mind and body at distinctly separate, so they must be. He argues that his body and mind are

Eastern enlightenment religions have been gaining popularity throughout the western world for the past few decades, with many people attracted to a "different" way of experiencing religion. As with many other enlightenment religions, Buddhism requires disciples to understand concepts that are not readily explainable: one such concept is that of no-self. In this essay I shall discuss the no-self from a number of modern perspectives; however, as no-self is difficult to describe I shall focus on both the self and no-self. Beginning with psychological aspects, and neurophysiological research on transcendental meditation, I shall discuss the impact of modern brain science on our understanding of the self and transcendence. Next I will outline

Some would choose to declare that every human being is both a body and a mind. Both being gelled together until death, than having the mind go on to exist and the body being lifeless. A person lives throughout two collateral histories, one having to do with what happens to the body and in it, and the other being what happens in and to the mind. What happens to the body is public and what happens to the mind is private. The events which reply to the body consist of the physical world, and the events of the mind consist of the mental world.

The modern view of self is articulated in the works of 17th century philosopher Rene Descartes. He pioneered the dualistic understanding of the human being, which is made up of the "mental substance (mind) and the physical substance (body)" (Warburton, N., 1992). Here, the body has physical properties like having weight and using space, whereas the mind is a non-material substance, responsible for thought and experience and hence is the abode of consciousness. In his view, the self is a spiritual "subject of experience" which is fundamentally different from the body and nature, where the body inessential and the mind can exist independently. His radical scepticism led to the formation of the "Illusion argument", where the bodily senses are deemed unreliable and thus the existence of the external world and body is uncertain. The only thing one can be