Our Hindu philosophy rests on this very theory of life and rebirth . The soul is supposed to attain it's final destination after going through  seven lives . Of course none of it has been proven. My own feeling is that this theory evolved out of fear of death . People want to take comfort from the fact that death is not final ..

Not only Hinduism but other religions too have such beliefs. For me I strongly believe that soul is immortal. So I believe in this. It can add to fear but I feel that it can make you really fearless if you think that only body dies

Yes of course all religions have some similar theories ....Egyptians in fact made preparations for life after and collected things and stored them to be buried along with them when they were cremated. I remember a book written by Agatha Christie - " Death comes as the end " which is a historical crime novel based in ancient Egypt. There is a part where a husband is asking the Ka priest to send off a message to his dead wife requesting her to try her influence with those in her world so that they help out him in this world ! So firm is the belief !

usha manohar wrote:

Yes of course all religions have some similar theories ....Egyptians in fact made preparations for life after and collected things and stored them to be buried along with them when they were cremated. I remember a book written by Agatha Christie - " Death comes as the end " which is a historical crime novel based in ancient Egypt. There is a part where a husband is asking the Ka priest to send off a message to his dead wife requesting her to try her influence with those in her world so that they help out him in this world ! So firm is the belief !

In fact in today's modern world also people have strong belief in life after death. There are studies about supra natural power and existence of mysterious things like ghosts etc. I had seen one such program on a news channel where they showed people who are studying about it and who developed instruments to talk to people who have died.

There is life after death. For much better clarity, the Book titled Life after death by Swami Abhedananda based on science can be referred. It can be much better understood by spiritual people where they say body & soul both are different & soul is the real self.

There are many films made in this theme because it is an interesting subject . The two that come to my mind are Reincarnation of Peter Proud made in the seventies and Karz a copy of that that had some memorable songs.

Actually there are some proof available in India of punarjanm so after death life take another body that may be truth or may not be but if believe it 70 % .

There are many instances where people have claimed to have remembered their previous life. But in none of these cases the proof provided is conclusive . There is a novel written on the subject by SL Bairappa a great literary figure in Kannada. He has tried to be rational about one such real life incident on which he has based his story. But it leaves many doubts in the readers minds. .

There is no life after death. it is all a figment of imagination. There is nothing like a soul which is eternal. Ones value do get carried forward in children and this lends a sort of continuity to families. Death is the final station of life. No further journey.

usha manohar wrote:

There are many instances where people have claimed to have remembered their previous life. But in none of these cases the proof provided is conclusive . There is a novel written on the subject by SL Bairappa a great literary figure in Kannada. He has tried to be rational about one such real life incident on which he has based his story. But it leaves many doubts in the readers minds. .

What is the name of that novel?