Eastern And Western Views On Afterlife

Lauren Bagdasarian

Mrs, Moore

Period 5

13 December 2015

Hindu and Christian Beliefs on Afterlife

Eastern and western perspectives have different views on several issues. One of these controversial topics is the religious outlook on the afterlife. There are an abundance of factors that come into play in an afterlife. For example,there are different views of what afterlife consists of and how one can achieve that afterlife. Eastern and Western religions also have opposing views on one’s purpose in the world and how they use that purpose to reach their ultimate goal of existence. Hinduism and Christianity are examples of religions that incorporate all of these concepts. Both of these religions have different views on the afterlife, their purpose

Once being aware of their dharma, their purpose then is to accomplish their duty.Typically, no one person has the same dharma. According to BBC Religion, everyone’s dharma has different obligations depending on their age, gender, and social position. Good behavior might not necessarily be the answer to achieving one dharma. For example, a warrior 's purpose is to fight for his leader; this may lead to them carrying out murderous acts. Though this may be interpreted as morally incorrect, their dharma requires them to complete these atrocious acts, and therefore, this will lead to good dharma. In contrast, someone born into the merchant’s sect of the caste system, may have the dharma revolving around selling items, entirely unrelated to the dharma of one involved in warfare. Reincarnation is also another key factor in the Hindu faith. It is said that, “...each being is predestined to innumerable rebirths, and one’s aggregate moral balance sheet determines both the length of each life and the specific form of each rebirth. Moral attributes are minutely quantifiable causal agents: every grain sown in this existence is reaped in the next. The prospect of innumerable lives is therefore envisaged with dismay. To escape the dreaded rebirths is to achieve final emancipation” (Christopher Pallis). Here, it is describing the primary beliefs of the Hindu people. The mistakes that one makes in one life is transferred into the next; in a sense, every action is met with a consequence. If one were to live an immoral life, they will experience a substantially more difficult lifestyle in the next, as a result of their unspeakable actions. Ultimately, a Hindu’s primary goal in life is to obtain a state of being, called moksha. The