The notions of Karma, reincarnation, and Varna work together to create the revolving system of life and death (Robinson). According to Hindu tradition the earthly life of “ordinary” people (pravritti) is a meaningless (samsara). Earthly life of the pravitti can have four goals: righteousness in their religious life (dharma); material prosperity (artha); and indulgence of the senses: sensual, sexual, and mental enjoyment (kama). These goals of the pravitti are looked down upon by the Hindu tradition. The ultimate goal of the person is to achieve a state of liberation from the burden of earthly needs and desires (moksha). Moksha can be achieved through successive stages of reincarnation. Each stage is closer to the moksha than the previous one. How the person moves about those stages is determined by karma: a sum of the bad and good deeds of the person (Hinduism). Good deeds will result in a rebirth to the higher, more spiritual level, and bad deeds can cause a person’s soul to step down the ladder and may be even go as low to dwell in the body of an animal. The differences in wealth, health, social status are explained to be the natural outcomes of the one’s previous lives (Robinson).
The concept of the Varna represents the stages that one has to go through to achieve liberation. Varna is synonymous to the caste, a Hindu only phenomenon . There are four varnas which are differentiated based on their religion and occupations. The highest class in the hierarchy are the Brahmans, the priests and academics, who are practice the highest spirituality and are closest to Brahman. The second caste are Kshatriya that is made up of the rulers and the military. The third caste is Vaishya and it includes farmers, landlords, and merchants. The lowest class is Sudra which consists of the servants to the other three classes and workers. The Sudra caste is inferior to the other three classes because it does not have the religious initiation like the other castes have, which distances them from the Brahman and explains their lowest position. The fifth class outside the four varnas are the “untouchables”, the ones that are to low in their standings to be classified (India's Social Customs and Systems).
The Hindu system of reincarnation works in the following way: a person realizes that life on earth is a burden of chaotic cycle of life and death. Life on earth is a suffering and is temporary. A person understands that he is confined to a certain caste in this life because of his actions in the previous lives. He or she than realizes that the goal of existence is liberation from this chaotic cycle of suffering. Knowing that the ultimate goal of his soul is to achieve total liberation, he or she will strive to lead a righteous life to achieve it. The achievement of the liberation is possible through moving up in the caste system. After physical death, the karma determines one’s next position in the caste system on the way to moksha.
Works Cited
Robinson, B. A. Hinduism. The world's third largest religion. May 16, 2002 <>
Hinduism: An overview. May 16, 2002. <>
India's Social Customs and Systems. The Caste System. May 16, 2002 <>