Nirvana In Hindu Religion

One of the greatest questions that humans seek the answer to is “What happens to a person when they die?”. There are many different ideas about what happens to a person’s body and soul and many religions have a place of continued existence for both bodies and souls. Christians believe in the concept of heaven and Hindus believe in nirvana. In the Hindu religion, nirvana is the final place where a soul goes after its journey through different lifetimes. The word nirvana means “going out” or “to extinguish” (Borkataky-Varma, 2015). Hindus illustrate nirvana, or moksha, as a series of lamps, each being lit by another until the final lamp goes out (Borkataky-Varma, 2015). In order to reach nirvana, a soul must reach upper castes and eliminate

Heaven is place of happiness and joy and Nirvana is a place of nothingness, which is the most desirable state for Hindus (Borkataky-Varma, 2015). Christians believe that each soul has one lifetime and after it is lived and the person dies, they will be welcomed into heaven if they lived their life according to God’s instructions (Charlton, 2016). Unlike heaven, Nirvana is considered a state of mind, rather than a place. Hindu people believe every soul lives multiple lifetimes. Finally, once nirvana is reached, it is believed that not only is the body lost, but so is the identity of the individual whereas in Christianity, both the soul and the body are eternally kept. Similarities between heaven and nirvana are that they both occur after death and are the ultimate, most desirable resting place for one’s soul. Both heaven and nirvana are places where pain no longer exists and you are reunited, in some way, with the higher power. They are reached through good behavior and abiding by the religion’s rules and standards. Ultimately, no one truly knows what happens to a person after they die. Whether or not their body or soul ceases to exist or continues to exist in another realm will always be a concept which humans attempt to