Even though Life After Death is undefined but,different religious had their own opinion about this general issue.
HINDUISMDeath, according to Hinduism, is a series of changes through which an individual passes. Hinduism speaks of the four courses that men follow after death. The first, called devayana, way of the gods, is followed by spiritually advanced souls who lead an extremely pure life, devoting themselves to wholehearted meditation on Brahman, but who have not succeeded in attaining complete Self-knowledge before death. They repair to Brahmaloka, the highest heaven, and from there in due course attain liberation. The second course, known as pitriyana, way of the fathers, is followed by ritualists and philanthropists who have cherished a desire for the results of their charity, austerity, vows, and worship. Following this path, they repair to Chandraloka, the lunar sphere, and after enjoying immense happiness there as a reward for their good actions, they return again to earth since they still have earthly desires. The third course, which leads to hell, is followed by those who led an impure life, performing actions forbidden by the scriptures. They are born in sub-human species. After expiating their evil actions, they are again reborn on earth in human bodies. The fourth course is for those who are extremely vile in their thoughts and actions. They are reborn again and again as insignificant creatures such as mosquitoes and fleas. Eventually, after the expiation of their evil actions, they too return to human bodies on earth. When a soul assumes a human body, it takes up the thread of spiritual evolution of its previous human birth and continues to evolve toward Self-knowledge. According to Hinduism, all souls will ultimately attain Self-knowledge.
The concept of karma or "law of karma" is the broader principle that all of life is governed by a system of cause and effect, action and reaction, in which one's deeds have corresponding effects on the future. Karma is thus a way of explaining evil and misfortune in the world, even for those who do not appear to deserve it - their misfortune must be due to wrong actions in their previous life. Karma is regarded as a fundamental law of nature that is automatic and mechanical. It is not something that is imposed by God or a god as a system of punishment or reward, nor something that the gods can interfere with. The word karma refers primarily to "bad karma" - that which is accumulated as a result of wrong actions. Bad karma binds a person's soul (atman) to the cycle of rebirth (samsara) and leads to misfortune in this life and poor conditions in the next. The moral energy of a particular moral act bears fruit automatically in the next life, manifested in one's class, disposition, and character. Hindu texts also prescribe a number of activities, such as pilgrimages to holy places and acts of devotion that can wipe out the effects of bad karma. Such positive actions are sometimes referred to as "good karma." Some versions of the theory of karma also say that morally good acts have positive consequences. According to Hinduism, the traditions and the elders used to say that a person with perfect humanity and divinity will not have more than one birth. The people who have not been in perfection towards his life habits usually have another birth. This was said to happen 7 times. The person's life was fixed by god as per his behaviour in his previous birth. The philosophy according to Hinduism about rebirth was the mistakes you have done in previous birth can be covered in rebirth and get a perfect human life.
Moksha means "liberation." In certain forms of Hinduism, the idea is to live a good life so that your next life will be a better one. Ultimately, though, the goal of life in Hinduism is to get off the "wheel of karma,” meaning the wheel of activity of life, which is full of pleasure and pain, gain and loss, and constant change, and return to the source of being in a fully evolved and realized way. The analogy is that life is like a dream that one must eventually awaken from.Moksha as the ultimate goal of all life inherently and spiritually our Soul Atman is bound to pursue this one and only goal in the life of every Soul Atman in the Cosmos. If gaining liberation from cycle of birth and death is the only goal of every soul our atman within... and knowing the fact that our body is but clothing for our Soul Atman, plays the governing role! Whatever be our present goal in life, the ultimate goal of our cosmic life remains the same, gaining Moksha.Attaining the state of Moksha Salvation is reaching the Mount Everest of physical manifested life. There is nothing beyond Moksha that is required to be achieved in this life. Moksha is that stage in the life of a human being when one cuts across all the shackles of senses and the mind. Unless we gain absolute control over the five senses and the mind... we cannot achieve Moksha in this life. Gaining absolute control over the senses and the mind is a complex process. One has to diligently take control of all the senses one by one and the moment we establish absolute control over all the five senses... controlling mind is easy to achieve! Our five senses help us live the physical manifest form of us. They have got nothing to do with our true inner self... our soul atman within us.
The Common word used for the doctrine of rebirth is ‘Punarjanam’. In Sanskrit ‘Punar’ or ‘Puna’, means, ’next time'or ‘again’ and ‘Janam’ means ‘life’. Therefore ‘Punarjanam’ means ‘next life’ or ‘the life hereafter’. It does not mean coming to life on earth again and again as a living creature. If one reads many of the references to Punarjanam in Hindu Scriptures besides the Vedas, keeping the life in the hereafter in mind, one gets the concept of the next life but not of rebirths or of life again and again. This is true for several quotations of the Bhagvad Gita and Upanishad which speak of Punarjanam.This concept of repeated births or of cycle of rebirth was developed after the Vedic period. This doctrine was included by humans in subsequent Hindu scriptures including the Upanishad, Bhagvad Gita and the Puranas in a conscious attempt to rationalize and explain the differences between different individuals at birth and the different circumstances in which people find themselves in, with the concept that Almighty God is not unjust. So to say that since God is not unjust the inequalities and differences between people are due to their deeds in their past lives.
Death is the one thing in life we can be sure about and that is why religions have beliefs about what it means! Everything else ‘might’ happen to us: we might get married, be rich, be happy, have children, open our own business or travel the world, but the only real certainty is that we will die. The major western religion Christianity has borrowed heavily from the Egyptian model of what happens after death. The idea of final judgment, physical resurrection and heaven being a garden with a river running through it, are all ideas borrowed from the Egyptians. We must also remember that man’s life is in God's Hands. Only He determines the moment of death and the destiny of every soul on separation from the flesh. For this reason, attempts to produce experiments in this field are in conflict with the Will of God and bring the experimenter into contact with the fallen spirits of that world. Christians believe fervently that there is a life after death on earth. While the actual nature of this life is not known, Christians believe that many spiritual experiences in this life help to give them some idea of what "eternal life" will be like.
Christianity has historically taught that everyone has only a single life on earth. After death, an eternal life awaits everyone either in Heaven or Hell. There is no suffering in Heaven; only joy. Torture is eternal without any hope of cessation for the inhabitants of Hell. The overwhelming majority of mainstream Christian denominations rejects the notion of reincarnation and considers the theory to challenge basic tenets of their beliefs. In standard Christian theology, the soul is an individual entity which is totally separate from other souls and (can become) totally separate from God. There is thus one God (or maybe three depending on how you interpret the Trinity) and a plurality of souls. Every person has exactly one soul. In the Genesis version, as believed by 'young earth' creationist theologians, humans were created on the Saturday of the first week, after God had created land, sea, stars, planets, birds, beasts fishes etc during the previous Monday to Friday. Since only humans have souls, all these features existed quite concretely in the absence of observers. In contrast, theologians who believe in evolution subscribe to the 'soul-injection theory’, which states that "There came a moment in the evolution of hominids when God intervened and injected a human soul into a previously animal lineage. All the features of the world existed in the absence of souls, in this case for many hundreds of millions of years rather than one working week. So, to the Christian, reality is totally objective and souls have no part in determining the existence of the real world. If Jesus is the only way to God, it is because the salvation of the person, body and spirit, is a hope profoundly different from all other religious hope. It gives a new dimension to salvation not found anywhere else. Spiritual life is walking after the spirit by the Spirit, focused on the spirit, exercising and strengthening our spirit, substantiating things unseen. Such is the life, in Christ Jesus, the only help that could ever work, authentically, for us helpless sinners in achieving victorious life: with Christ, Christ in me, and for Christ.
Resurrection means to return back in the same physical body with the same face. Hence the practice of burial, preserving the body and burying it to be resurrected at the end of times. Rebirth is when a soul which resides in a human body returns back to another human body after the previous body's death. Now to begin with no one knows what happens to the soul after it leaves the body, so for argument's sake, for a soul to return, it requires a body which can sustain it, which evidently is not a rotten corpse which is nothing but decayed bones, whereas a newborn or a foetus is much more apt for a soul to make it its dwelling. So from a rational point of view isn’t it more appropriate for a soul to take rebirth rather than claim the old rotten body it once used to reside in. Belief in the resurrection of the dead, and Jesus Christ's role as judge of the dead, is codified in the Apostles' Creed, which is the fundamental creed of Christian baptismal faith. The Book of Revelation also makes many references about the Day of Judgment when the dead will be raised up. However, there are also many Christians who do not believe that individual consciousness continues after death, and a higher number who do not believe in a place or condition of eternal punishment for sins.
Christians believe there is an afterlife. Christian views of the afterlife generally involve heaven and (somewhat less frequently) hell, with Catholicism adding an intermediate realm of purgatory. Except for purgatory (whose denizens will ultimately enter heaven, after "purification"), these realms are usually assumed to be eternal. Although the body dies and is buried or cremated, they believe that their unique soul lives on and is raised to new life by God. Christians believe that God is just and fair, and so cannot let evil go unpunished. Most believe in the idea of judgement after death, and that God will treat people in the afterlife according to how they lived their life on earth. Historically, Christianity has taught "Heaven" as a place of eternal life, in that it is a shared plane to be attained by all the elect. Roman Catholics believe that entering Purgatory after death cleanses one of sin period of suffering until one's nature is perfected, which makes one acceptable to enter heaven. This is valid for venial sin only, as mortal sins can be forgiven only through the act of reconciliation and repentance while on earth. In Protestant Christian sects, eternal life depends upon the sinner receiving God's grace through faith in Jesus' death for their sins, see atonement, his resurrection as the Christ, and accepting his Lordship authority and guidance over their lives. If the soul could satisfy the gods, "the soul was straightway gathered into the fold of Osiris. But if it could not, if it was found wanting when weighed in the heavenly balances, then it was cast into a hell, to be rent to shreds of the 'Devouress.' For only the righteous souls, only the guiltless, were thought to be deserving of life everlasting. The concept of heaven and hell in traditional Christianity heavily depends on the doctrine of the immortality of the soul. The Bible is even less specific about hell, and Christians have very different ideas about this too. Some Christians believe that hell is a place of suffering, and of separation from God. Others (perhaps most) believe that hell is a spiritual state of being separated from God for eternity.
BUDDHISM
Buddha accepted the basic Hindu doctrines of reincarnation and karma, as well as the notion, common to most south Asian religions, that the ultimate goal of the religious life was to escape the cycle of death and rebirth (samsara). Buddha asserted that what kept us bound to the death/rebirth process was desire, in the generic sense of wanting or craving anything in the world of samsara. Hence the goal of getting off the ferris wheel of reincarnation necessarily involves freeing oneself from desire. Nibbana-- or, in later Buddhism, nirvana--is the Buddhist equivalent of moksha.None of us can avoid death and if we are not free from the vicious cycle of death and rebirth, we are doomed to the endless cycles of life and death and its paradoxical nature of suffering, of happiness and sadness, youth and ageing, healthiness and sickness, pain and death, all because we are so attached to the existence in the first place.
Buddhists understand life as samsara, meaning perpetual wandering, and describe the transition like a billiard ball hitting another billiard ball. While nothing physical transfers, the speed and direction of the second ball relate directly to the first. So the term most often used is rebirth, rather than reincarnation. Reincarnation implies the transfer of an essence, or a soul, while rebirth follows the law of causality, or dependant origination, where this arises because of circumstances which happened before. Denying the existing of rebirth does not obstruct others, it only limits our own life. Without rebirth, there is no past and there is no future. A life without future, existence is so short and vain. The future is so hopeless. When we face a great obstacle, we can encourage ourselves, 'It is okay, another ten years then it will be my turn.' Even when criminal steps on the execution chair, they can still say, 'Another twenty years, there will be another tough man'. With rebirth, human existence has maneuvering rooms. With rebirth, pledge and wish can eventually be fulfilled. With rebirth, life has the next train available.
Life is suffering. You can never really achieve peace. Happiness is just the flip side of sadness and no material or emotional pleasure will sustain the longing in your soul to understand itself. Reincarnation" normally is understood to be the transmigration of a soul to another body after death. Based on his no-soul (annatto) doctrine, the Buddha described reincarnation or the taking on of a new body in the next life, in a different way than the traditional Indian understanding. He compared it to lighting successive candles using the flame of the preceding candle. Although each flame is causally connected to the one that came before it, is it not the same flame. Thus, in Buddhism, reincarnation is usually referred to as "transmigration."
Buddhists believe people are continually reborn into this world, unless they have achieved liberation (freedom) from samsara (the continual process of birth, death and rebirth). The Buddha experienced samsara when he saw the effects of old age and sickness, leading to death. Freedom from samsara occurs when a person has reached nirvana (or nibbana).Nirvana literally means extinguishing or unbinding. The implication is that it is freedom from what ever binds you, from the burning passion of desire, jealousy, and ignorance. Once these are totally overcome, a state of bliss is achieved, and there is no longer the need the cycle of birth and death. All karmic debts are settled. The Buddhist religion lays emphasis on individual effort as means to achieve Moksha. The main point of focus in the Buddhism philosophy is Moksha. It says that the main cause of human sufferings is nothing else but the human beings themselves. It attributes the increasing and never ending human desire as the main factor that leads to pain and miseries. Thus, Buddhist philosophy preaches its people to detach themselves from the worldly pleasures and seek Nirvana that will ultimately pave way for salvation.
According to Buddhism, our lives and all that occurs in our lives is a result of Karma. Every action creates a new karma, this karma or action is created with our body, our speech or our mind and this action leaves a subtle imprint on our mind which has the potential to ripen as future happiness or future suffering, depending on whether the action was positive or negative. If we bring happiness to people, we will be happy. If we create suffering, we will experience suffering either in this life or in a future one. This is called the Law of Karma, or the Law of Cause and Effect. Karmic law will lead the spirit of the dead to be reborn, in realms which are suitable appropriate to their karmic accumulations. The way we pass reflects the way we lived our lives, a good death putting a good stamp on a good life. As Leonardo Da Vinci once wrote in his notebook; Just as a well spent day brings happy sleep, so a life well spent brings a happy death. If we have lived a life of emotional turmoil, of conflict selfish desire unconcerned for others, our dying will be full of regrets, troubles and pain. It is far better to care for the lives for all around us rather than spending a fortune in prolonging life or seeking ways to extend it for those who can afford it, at the expense of relieving suffering in more practical ways. Improving the moral and spiritual quality of life improves its quality for us all rather than the selfish individualism that benefits the elite few who draw most resources.
According to Buddhism if a human does not obtain nirvana or enlightenment, as it is known, the person cannot escape the cycle of death and rebirth. In Buddhist literature, it is stated that persons who have reached the Devalokas would develop an aloofness from wordly attachments. However, liberated souls living in the higher heavens could come down to earth and communicate with spiritually advanced people. The plane immediately below the human is that of animals and below it is other planes Niraya, Asura and Peta which are described as unhappy states of existence. Beings are born Petas as a result of greed and attachment to their worldly belongings and are drawn to the place of attachment. Buddhism tells of many hells, of which Avîci is the most terrible. They are of course all temporary and therefore purgatories rather than places of eternal punishment and the beings that inhabit them have the power of struggling upwards and acquiring merit, but the task is difficult and one may be born repeatedly in hell. The phraseology of Buddhism calls existences in heavens and hells new births. In Buddhism there are 37 different levels of heaven where beings experience peace and long lasting happiness without suffering in the heavenly environment.
MUSLIMS
Death is a natural phenomenon. It is a physical change, which overtakes the human body. The body had its origin in the union of parental life-cells. For a number of years it continues to develop through the processes of maturation and exercise. After reaching its peak, it begins to decline and decay. The process of disintegration culminates in death. The crucial question is whether there is anything in human, which survives the dissolution of the body. The answer is that the self, the personality, the I-am-ness, the ego in the terminology of Allama Iqbal, which grew and developed in the matrix of the body, may survive it and may, on the break-up of the body, launch out on a fresh career. This is true of all selves, all personalities.
It is here that the Quran emphatically asserts that death is not the final end but a gateway to a different kind of life: We mete out death among you that We may transfigure you and make you what you know not. And verily you know the first creation. Why then do you not reflect
The real self, the human personality, not being a part of the body, is not subject to physical laws. It is dependent on the body for functioning in the physical world, but it may continue to exist after the destruction of the body, which operates as its instrument:
And they say, what! When we have become bones and dust shall we indeed be raised up a new creation. Say thou: Be ye stones or iron or a substance still more improbable in your hearts (to be restored to life). But they will say; Who shall bring us back? Say thou: He who brought you into being for the first time
We interpret this verse as meaning that the self, the human personality, is not the product of physical forces, the physical laws, and is not subject to natural laws. It owes its existence to and is directed by the Divine Amr, the Divine Laws formulated in the Unseen World, and are beyond the scope of human reason. In the Hereafter, as in this life, this self, this human personality is sustained and guided by Amr, as it guides the evolutionary process. It may, therefore, be fit or unfit to exist and function on the plane to which it has been carried by evolution.
In its evolution two things play the real role: Will and Action . These two, Will and Action, are of paramount importance for the development of the self, the human personality and therefore, for its survival too. Will and Action are really the two aspects of the same process. Action is " will actualized " and Will is " latent action " as says Allama G.A. Parwez. It has been truly said " no will, no action ," but the reverse is also true " no action, no will ." Only a free self, a free human personality possesses " will " in this sense and only such a self, human personality can perform actions , which have relevance to survival.
In the context of self, human personality, an action is that entity which has been deliberately chosen by a free self, a free human personality and has been voluntarily performed by it. The free self/personality expresses itself in action and holds itself responsible for it. Without freedom and responsibility , action, in this restricted sense, is not possible. These facts about " Will and Action " have a direct bearing on the question of survival. The human is the product of a long evolutionary process. This process does not stop at any point, but continues indefinitely. At a certain stage, the human becomes an active participant in it and through his/her free will and purposeful activity determines, within certain limits, both the speed and the direction of evolutionary process. This process which has been at work in the world for untold aeons is now transformed into some thing far rational and meaningful. It also becomes more dependent on its material, i. e. is human body, through which it is working. The primitive organisms were moulded and shaped by natural forces, so as to be fit for the next stage in evolution. It was a long and painful process in which the unfit were ruthlessly weeded out and the fit were permitted to flourish. The human cannot now depend on natural forces to mould him/her and make him/her fit for the next stage. He/she must do the moulding himself/herself. He/she alone can make himself/herself fit for the higher stage on which he/she is to enter. His/her self, personality is not changed by natural forces, nor even by random activity.
Heaven (Jannah) stands for fruition coupled with glowing hope for the future. Hell (Jahannam) is the experience of frustration tinged with remorse and regret. The person, who permits his/her self, personality, to weaken, stagnates and becomes perverted. He/she languishes in a state between life and death. He/she does not live because life consists of upward movement of which he/she is incapable: he/she cannot die because remorse and frustrated desire prevent him/her from relinquishing his/her hold on life. Both the pleasure of existence and the insensibility of non-existence are denied him/her. The Quran says about him/her,
They have successfully stood the test of death and they know that they will not be subjected to the same test again. Their eyes dwell on new vistas of self-development and the path, which leads to them is illumined by the Divine light:
But the Quran tells us in clear words that we can rise much higher above the plane of earth-rootedness and "pass out of the confines of the heavens and earth" (55: 33), provided we develop the powers that are latent in us. These
That is why it is said for Mu’min that death for him/her is not the end of life but the threshold of a far more glorious life. This is the recognition of Mu’min. The poet Iqbal says: Let me tell you by what sign you may recognize the true Mu’min. When the grim spectre of Death approaches, he/she greets it with a smile.
Now the question is what about the nature of its immortality! The Quranic view is that immortality cannot be taken for granted. It is the prize, which the self, the human personality can win by right conduct and by its efforts to realize its potentialities. The self, the personality may win the prize or it may lose it. The issue depends on the quality and intensity of its effort and on no other factor. For the self, the human personality, which has lived the right kind of life, death has no terror.The self, the human personality, wins immortality by the proper orientation of will and the performance of right action. In this way, the self, the human personality which, through the acquisition of absolute values, the permanent values enshrined in the Quran, has vitally related to the meaning and purpose of the universe, will find Death a transition to a higher place.
SIKHISM
death one merges back into the universal nature, just as a drop of rain merges back into the ocean. Individuality is lost. Sikhs do not believe in heaven or hell. Heaven can be experienced by being in tune with God while still alive. Conversely, the suffering and pain caused by ego is seen as hell on earth. Sikhism views spiritual pursuits as positive experiences in and of themselves that transcend death, not as sacrifices made in order to collect a reward that is waiting until after death. At birth the soul emerges into earth consciousness, veiled of all memory of past lives and the inner worlds. The cycle of reincarnation ends when karma has been resolved and the Self God (Parasiva) has been realized. This condition of release is called moksha. Then the soul continues to evolve and mature, but without the need to return to physical existence. Sikhism teaches that the soul reincarnates when the body dies. Sikhs believe that good, or bad actions, determine the life form into which a soul takes rebirth. At the time of death, demonic, ego centered souls may be destined to suffer great agonies, and pain, in the dark underworld of Narak.A soul, fortunate enough to achieve grace, overcomes ego by meditating on God. Such a soul may attain liberation from the cycle of reincarnation. The soul then experiences salvation in Sachkhand, the realm of truth, where it exists eternally, as an entity of radiant light.
Sikhism believes in the immortality of the soul. The devotee has no fear of the pangs of death. In fact he welcomes death, because it gives him a chance for the merger into Divinity. The evil person, however, dreads death. For him, it will lead to the unending cycle of birth and death. After death, man comes to the next birth according to what he deserves. If he has been wicked and evil, he takes birth in the lower species. If he has done good deeds, he takes birth in a good family. The cycle of birth and death keeps the soul away from Divinity. It can merge with God, only if the individual, by spiritual effort, has amassed the capital of the Name (the Holy Spirit as understood by Christians) and thus lives with the Holy Spirit. The Sikh religion teaches that salvation consists in knowing God, or in obtaining God, or being absorbed into God. The general method of salvation is fairly consistent with the supremacy of an inscrutable God, and with the accompanying doctrines of the worthlessness of the world and the helplessness of man... This method of obtaining salvation by a pantheistic merging of the individual self with the mystical world soul is identical with the method of salvation.
Karma belief says that actions and the consequences of these actions decide whether a soul can be set loose from the cycle. Freedom from the cycle of rebirth is called mukti.Sikhs believe in reincarnation. This means that a person’s soul may be reborn many times as a human or an animal. Sikhs believe that upon death one merges back into the universal nature, just as a drop of rain merges back into the ocean. Individuality is lost. Sikhs do not believe in heaven or hell. Heaven can be experienced by being in tune with God while still alive. Conversely, the suffering and pain caused by ego is seen as hell on earth. Sikhism views spiritual pursuits as positive experiences in and of themselves that transcend death, not as sacrifices made in order to collect a reward that is waiting until after death.
The Sikh concept of mukti is essentially that of jivan mukti, the one attainable in one’s lifetime itself. Further, Sikhism rejects the idea of considering renunciation as the vesture of a jivan mukta. Contrast with it, for example, the Jain view according to which the liberated persons have to lead a mendicant’s life, for; otherwise, they cannot keep themselves free from karma. Sikhs do not believe in heaven or hell. Heaven can be experienced by being in tune with God still alive. Conversely, the suffering and pain caused by ego is seen as hell on earth. Sikhism views spiritual pursuits as positive experiences in and of themselves that transcend death, not as sacrifices made in order to collect a reward that is waiting until after death. Similarly there is no actual place called heaven. Sikhism does not regard the winning of a place in heaven as a worthy object.
The old Indian concept of heaven is of a beautiful place providing all sorts of comforts and luxuries. The concept of hell and heaven is just a rough illustration for clarifying the doctrine of Karma. Hell and heaven refer to evil or good stages of life respectively and they can be lived here and now in our earthly existence. According to Guru Arjan, "Wherever the praises of God are sung, there verily is heaven. The devotee is neither afraid of hell nor anxious to go to heaven. In a way, hell and heaven are conditions of mind. So the soul of man wanders and suffers on earth." The worldly man eats, enjoys and sleeps, unmindful of the higher things of life.
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