According to Hinduism, what is it that reincarnates?

[arcanum]

So I've been doing a deep dive into Hinduism/Sanatana Dharma lately, which I'm finding pretty fascinating but I have a question that I can't seem to find an easy answer to. That is, what aspect of the self is that which takes on karmic imprints and transfers over to another life form? Some may say it's the Atman, but isn't that aspect of ourselves supposed to be pure and of the same nature as God and therefore immune from the contamination of an incarnation? Is there some other aspect of the self that is capable of surviving death which carries over these karmic imprints, debts, sins, etc? Also do we have the same Atman throughout our entire chain of reincarnated existences, or is it a sort of impersonal recyclable god matter, of the same substance which enlivens each and every creature and returns to it's source upon the death of the living being? Each new reincarnation receiving/drawing down another Atman energy from the source, like pure water poured from that source into a new cup? The pure water is the same, it's the vessel that is different. I ask this because I've read that the Atman is not the exact equivalent of the concept of soul in the western tradition, the soul being a very personal thing that is unique, like a fingerprint. My knowledge of these matters is a work in progress, being familiar with The Yoga Sutras, The Upanishads,The Gita....and presently grappling with Vedanta. I hope this long winded question isn't too confusing, I did the best I could to articulate it. Thanks is advance for any input to help clear this up for me.

 

[George-ananda]

Good thoughts and questions. Here's my understanding:

What you are thinking of as the reincarnating soul is often called the Causal Body. From Yogapedia:


Definition - What does Causal Body mean?


In yogic philosophy, the causal body is one of three bodies that contains each individual's soul, the others being the physical body and the astral body. The causal body is the most subtle of the three and is contained within the other two. It is the body that transports the essence of the individual from one life into the next reincarnation.

The causal body is also known by the Sanskrit term, karana sharira. It is composed of karma and samskara, which are, respectively, the record of the yogi's actions in all states of existence and the experiential impressions and imprints on the mind.


So, the physical and astral bodies last for one incarnation. The Causal Body exists for many, many incarnations. The astral body will be the vehicle for experiencing on the afterlife astral plane. The astral body like the physical body is not permanent and it too will have its end. The Causal Body (soul) exists until Liberation/Nirvana/Moksha. The indwelling atma that animates all the bodies is eternal.

The Causal and astral bodies are composed of their plane's/realm's subtle matter and are not directly detectable by the physical plane senses.

In other terminology for the diagram:

Subtle Body= Astral/Mental Body
Subtlest Body= Causal Body

 

[arcanum]

Thank for your reply my friend, I haven’t been able to find an answer from the literature I have on hand. That question has been in the back of my mind for a while now and today I finally felt an urgent to reach out for an answer.

 

[Vinayaka]

So I've been doing a deep dive into Hinduism/Sanatana Dharma lately, which I'm finding pretty fascinating but I have a question that I can't seem to find an easy answer to. That is, what aspect of the self is that which takes on karmic imprints and transfers over to another life form? Some may say it's the Atman, but isn't that aspect of ourselves supposed to be pure and of the same nature as God and therefore immune from the contamination of an incarnation? Is there some other aspect of the self that is capable of surviving death which carries over these karmic imprints, debts, sins, etc? Also do we have the same Atman throughout our entire chain of reincarnated existences, or is it a sort of impersonal recyclable god matter, of the same substance which enlivens each and every creature and returns to it's source upon the death of the living being? Each new reincarnation receiving/drawing down another Atman energy from the source, like pure water poured from that source into a new cup? The pure water is the same, it's the vessel that is different. I ask this because I've read that the Atman is not the exact equivalent of the concept of soul in the western tradition, the soul being a very personal thing that is unique, like a fingerprint. My knowledge of these matters is a work in progress, being familiar with The Yoga Sutras, The Upanishads,The Gita....and presently grappling with Vedanta. I hope this long winded question isn't too confusing, I did the best I could to articulate it. Thanks is advance for any input to help clear this up for me.

There are differing views.

In my sampradaya we distinguish between the soul, and its essence. The essence is atman, eternally the same essence as God. But the soul is also temporary, in that it's body (causal body) eventually wanes as it merges into Siva. So it is this part that reincarnates, taking on new astral, physical, and mental bodies, with each new incarnation. As a soul approaches self-realisation, which leads to moksha, the bodies are seen more as one. So an enlightened soul has a glowing aura about them.

In the end, at least in my sampradaya, this sort of information is rather trivial. The point is more to do your dharma, regardless of just how these things work.

 

[arcanum]

Thanks for the reply Vinayaka. So, in your tradition, which I take would be Shaivism, you do have a close western equivalent for the concept of a soul? I know you said such ideas are trivial, but personally I think a solid understanding of such matters is fairly important. I'm trying to understand your statement, you seem to be implying that the soul itself has a body, that it resides within the casual body, almost like the casual body is the shell of the soul.That is is quite an interesting concept! Please correct me if I'm wrong, but do I understand you correctly? And I do understand you correctly, what would be the Sanskrit term for this soul within the casual body, and what texts do these ideas come from? I haven't yet explored the Shaivism tradition yet, but I do plan on it.

 

[Vinayaka]

Thanks for the reply Vinayaka. So, in your tradition, which I take would be Shaivism, you do have a close western equivalent for the concept of a soul? I know you said such ideas are trivial, but personally I think a solid understanding of such matters is fairly important. I'm trying to understand your statement, you seem to be implying that the soul itself has a body, that it resides within the casual body, almost like the casual body is the shell of the soul.That is is quite an interesting concept! Please correct me if I'm wrong, but do I understand you correctly? And I do understand you correctly, what would be the Sanskrit term for this soul within the casual body, and what texts do these ideas come from? I haven't yet explored the Shaivism tradition yet, but I do plan on it.

It's called anandamaya kosha. Here's a link (not my sampradaya, but it's the same as mine, I think) that explains the 5 koshas and their relationship to atman. Yes, indeed it has form. It's of light, thinner, but still roughly humanoid. If you've ever seen Close Encounters, similar to the main alien.

As to western eqivalent, I'm not very familiar with the western paradigms, but in our translation, it's just referred to as the soul body.

The word you meant above isn't casual, but causal.

Kosha - What Is Kosha? - Definition of the Sanskrit Word

Edited to add ... In my sampradaya, from the lexicon at the back of Dancing with Siva, it's translated as 'bliss body'.

 

[arcanum]

It's called anandamaya kosha. Here's a link (not my sampradaya, but it's the same as mine, I think) that explains the 5 koshas and their relationship to atman. Yes, indeed it has form. It's of light, thinner, but still roughly humanoid. If you've ever seen Close Encounters, similar to the main alien.

As to western eqivalent, I'm not very familiar with the western paradigms, but in our translation, it's just referred to as the soul body.

The word you meant above isn't casual, but causal.

Kosha - What Is Kosha? - Definition of the Sanskrit Word

Edited to add ... In my sampradaya, from the lexicon at the back of Dancing with Siva, it's translated as 'bliss body'.

Yes I did mean to type causal, thanks for the correction, also thanks for the link.