Moksha And Nirvana In Religion

If someone were to bring up the terms karma, moksha, and nirvana in western society, one might explain karma as “what goes around comes around,” nirvana as a ‘90s alternative rock band, and give a questionable look for moksha. But if they also understood that these were religious terms, they might say how they are the same ideas that are expressed differently in different religions. Overall they are correct, but looking deeper into the concepts one would find that they hold significant differences within religions such as Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism. It is also important to understand why they hold the power they do within these religions. In western society, karma comes up in conversation when something bad happens to someone else, and then another bad thing happens to you. They same thing goes for if something good happens. But in Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism it is an

But in reality, they have nothing to do with an alternate universe, but actually an alternate way of life, or more appropriately, understanding. Moksha is the ultimate human goal in Hinduism. It is the liberation of the soul from its egotistical and selfish nature and transformation into connectedness and compassion for all things. When an individual obtains moksha, they also leave the cycle of reincarnation (samsara,) including karma, and only Brahman remains. The goal is to unite the soul (atman) with Brahman. In Buddhism, nirvana is seen as ultimate enlightenment, existence beyond limitation. Nirvana has a different complexity to it than moksha. Although reincarnation and karma end here as well, one also is liberated from the suffering of the world and total self-control of the mind. An important distinction between moksha and nirvana is the incorporation of the soul. In Jainism, both concepts exist and sometimes are used interchangeably and sometimes nirvana is a part of