A number of contributors to this column (Kumudiniben, Upendrabhai and Rudy Otter) have been discussing the mysterious and yet pertinent question of what happens to us (our soul) after we die?
I would like to enter the fray and try to explain it from Jainism’s point of view. Our body is only a container for the essential part of us, our soul. After death, it passes into another container and thus the cycle of birth and death goes on. The ultimate aim of Jain path in life is to liberate the soul from the eternal cycle of birth, misery, death and re-birth.
Deeply rooted in India is the belief in reincarnation, the belief that the essential part of the individual, the soul, passes after birth into a new body which is reborn as another living being, perhaps human, perhaps not. The nature of our rebirth (including whether it is favourable or unfavourable) is determined by the accumulated effects of our actions, our attitudes, mode of life in this and in previous lifetimes.
The accumulated effect of previous lives is called karma (the result of bad deeds in the present and previous lives). The fundamental objective of Jain teaching is how to purify the soul of its karma and manifest its natural virtues, like complete bliss and happiness: how one can attain total liberation (moksha/nirvana) from the eternal cycle of birth, pain, misery, death and re-birth – and achieve a state of permanent bliss and peace.
Dinesh Sheth
Newbury Park, Ilford
