The concept of “soul” as an eternal, indestructible, pure and imperishable entity residing within the human body is deeply ingrained in the philosophy of many religions. Hindus have always believed in Karma and reincarnation. Krishna in Bhagavad Gita says, “Just as a man discards worn out clothes and puts on new clothes, the soul discards worn out bodies and wears new ones.” (Chapter 2). Soul, or “Aatma” in Hindi, has thus given rise to the concepts of “Dev-aaatma”, the divine soul or demi-god and “Param-aatma”, the supreme soul, considered to be the God almighty. Fascinatingly, Hindus also believe that since all the aatmas are manifestation of one Supreme Being, worshipping to any of the forms is the same thing. As a result, the Hindu society is inundated with various Gods and demi-gods under different names and forms. However, the underlying principle of oneness is intact – at least in principle. That is because the God, or the Param-aatma, is seen as a manifestation of three entities, Brahma (the creator), Vishnu (the preserver or the protector) and Shiva (the destructor or the esoteric). Mythological figures, Parashurama, Ram, Krishna and even Gautam Buddha are considered to be the “reincarnations” of Vishnu. So, in their belief, even by worshipping to different reincarnations, they are effectively worshipping the same entity. In the same sense, worshipping any of the three manifestations, and their reincarnations, is essentially worshipping to just one Supreme Being. It is a broad and blunt philosophy but with a subtle connotation

The Hindu concept of trinity is not far from the Christian belief of Divine Trinity of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost. The Catholics believe in resurrection of Christ, in the similar way as Hindu reincarnation but with a difference that in case of Christ, it was through the same body. However, most of the Christian institutions do not believe in reincarnation of ordinary human souls Some people, however, believe that the notion and the references to reincarnation were expunged from the Bible by the Church with an objective to keep focus on one single entity – Christ – as the only divine figure capable of such miracle. . . . . Read Full Text