Lesson video

Hi, I'm Mrs. Charalambous, and welcome to today's learning with me.

We're going to learn lots of interest things, so I hope that you are ready.

Today's lesson is Karma, Samsara, and Moksha from the unit Hindus: How Do Hindu See Brahman? Let's get started.

By the end of today, you'll be able to explain what samsara, moksha, and karma means to different Hindus.

Let's look at our keywords for today's learning.

I'm going to repeat the word twice.

Feel free to join in if you like.

Samsara.

Samsara.

, the cycle of life, death, and reincarnation.

Now, reincarnation, if we're not sure, sometimes it's often referred to as rebirth.

They mean exactly the same thing, but in Hindu Dharma, we like to use the word reincarnation for today's learning.

Moksha.

Moksha, achieving freedom from samsara and being one with Brahman.

Atman.

Atman, the spark of Brahman or soul within all living beings.

So that's humans and animals, for example, all living beings.

This is what our lesson outline looks like today for karma, samsara, and moksha.

We're going to start with cycle one, what are Hindu beliefs about life and death? This is Het, a British Hindu.

Lately, Het has been wondering what happens after someone dies according to his Hindu Dharmic worldview? Hmm, maybe share with me some ideas that you might have about this before I explain it to you.

This is Het's older sister Priya.

She explains that samsara is a cycle of life, death, and reincarnation.

Most Hindus believe all living beings are reborn after they die.

This is called samsara.

This diagram helps Het to understand samsara.

Let's take a close look at the cycle together.

As you can see, we've got birth, followed by life, followed by death, and it goes back up to birth, which is the reincarnation, being reborn, and this is the samsara cycle, okay? So off to the side there is moksha, but we'll come back to that later.

For now, our main focus is samsara, birth, life, death, back up to birth, which is the reincarnation.

Take a moment to think and gather your thoughts before moving on.

Let's check our understanding.

What is samsara according to Hindu beliefs? A, a festival celebrating the cycle of life and death, B, the cycle of life, death, and reincarnation, C, the cycle of childhood to adulthood.

Take a moment to think before sharing your answers with me.

Well done.

It's a cycle of life, death, and reincarnation.

Let's move on.

Priya says, "For most Hindus, the atman is the spark of Brahman, or soul present in all living beings that never dies.

Atman is the unchanging true essence of a person." Het says, "I like to imagine there's a tiny light inside everyone, their atman.

When your body dies, the atman moves to a new body, like a flame being passed from one candle to another.

A person's true essence stays the same no matter how many times they're reincarnated." This is how Het sees it.

Let's take a look.

So remember, Het spoke about how he imagines it as a flame being passed, okay? The soul, the atman being passed from body to body, he sees it as a flame, so let's have a look from birth to death to reincarnation, back to birth, death, reincarnation.

Take a close look, and if you'd like to discuss this slide with me, you can do now.

Let's check our understanding with true or false.

The atman is a soul that never dies and moves from body to body, staying the same each time.

True or false? It's true.

Why? If you'd like to share why, tell me now.

That's right, because the atman is the eternal soul that stays the same through reincarnation.

Well done if you've got that question correct.

Let's move on.

Moksha is the ultimate goal for Hindus.

It's the freedom from the cycle of life, death, and reincarnation, also known as samsara.

Here is the same diagram as earlier.

We're going to take a closer look now.

Moksha is important as this is when the atman soul reunites with Brahman.

This is considered the highest form of peace, and as you can see here in our cycle, birth, life, death, reincarnation, samsara, when the atman reunites with Brahman, moves into moksha, it goes off to the side in the diagram so that we know they've broken away from the cycle.

Let's check our understanding.

What is moksha in Hindu Dharma? A, a celebration of life and death, B, the cycle of life, death, and reincarnation, C, freedom from the cycle of reincarnation where the soul reunites with Brahman.

That's right, it's freedom from the cycle of reincarnation where the soul reunites with Brahman.

Well done if you've got that question correct.

Let's carry on.

Task A, fill in the missing keywords and descriptions in the table below.

Here are the keywords, samsara and atman, but they've got no description, so you'll need to fill those in.

And then we have the description, achieving freedom from samsara and being one with Brahman, but we haven't got the keyword for it, so you'll need to let us know that as well.

Write down your answers and when you are ready to share, press play.

Task A feedback, fill in the missing keywords and descriptions in the table below.

Your answers should include samsara, and the description there was the cycle of life, death and reincarnation, atman, and the description was the spark of Brahman or soul within all living beings, and then we had the description, achieving freedom from samsara and being one with Brahman, and that, of course, was the keyword moksha.

Well done so far.

Let's continue.

Cycle two, how are karma, samsara, and moksha connected? Most Hindus believe that karma influences samsara.

Good karma leads to a better next life.

Bad karma leads to a harder next life.

So karma is all about what goes around, okay? You put in what you get out, so if you put in good karma, it leads to having a better next life as your outcome.

If you're putting bad karma, it leads to a harder next life.

And remember, good karma is all about doing the right thing.

Bad karma is not choosing the right thing to do.

Can you think of any examples of how you might get good karma? You can share your thoughts with me if you like.

Het says, "In my worldview, karma, moksha, and samsara are all linked.

Samsara is a cycle of reincarnation, and my karma, the good and bad things I do, affect what happens in my next life.

My goal is to achieve moksha, freedom from samsara, and for my soul to join Brahman.

Thinking about these ideas helps me in my daily life.

It reminds me to make good choices and treat others kindly because my actions don't just affect me now, they shape my future lives too." I wonder what good choices Het might make from day to day.

Think of the good choices you make every day.

Would you like to share some of those with me now? Yes, that's right, we make good choices all the time, from helping others in need, maybe at school or at home, helping parents or carers or family members and friends.

We make good choices when we choose to put our litter in the bin instead of on the street.

We make conscious efforts every day to treat others kindly, and I think that's what Het does too.

Let's check our understanding.

How are karma and samsara connected? A, karma affects your next life in the samsara cycle, B, samsara causes karma to happen in this life, C, karma and samsara are not connected.

That's right, it's A, karma affects your next life in samsara cycle.

Let's carry on.

Let's take a look at what Priya thinks.

"For me, karma, samsara, and moksha remind me that everything I do matters.

Samsara is a cycle of reincarnation.

My actions, my karma, decides what my next life will be like.

I want to reach moksha one day, where my soul is free and joins Brahman.

Thinking about karma, samsara, and moksha helps me stay focused on being kind, working hard, and looking after the environment and living a good, honest life." Take a moment here to think about how you live a good, honest life and how you can keep on living a good, honest life.

If you'd like to share these thoughts with me, you can do that now.

Let's check our understanding with true or false.

Good karma helps a person get closer to achieving moksha, freedom from the cycle of Samsara.

True or false? That's right, it's true.

Does anyone want to tell me why? That's right, because good actions create positive karma, which helps Hindus move closer to freedom from samsara and unity with Brahman.

Well done if you got that question correct.

Let's move on.

This is Asher.

Asher has a Christian worldview and he believes in the soul.

He does not believe in reincarnation.

Asher believes that when he dies, he will be with God in heaven, but he won't become a part of God.

So let's just remind ourselves, Priya and Het believe that they will become a part of Brahman, God, but Asher is a Christian and he doesn't believe that, but they both do believe in the soul.

Asher believes he will go to be with God in heaven.

Let's see what Asher says.

"When someone dies, I believe they are a friend of God, they go to be with him in heaven.

Being a friend of God means trying to follow Jesus's example and treating people with love and kindness.

Living a good life and looking after the world are important too." So think about some of the ways that you can live a good life that we've spoken about before and how you can look after the world as well.

How might you look after the world? Would you like to share some ideas with me? Yes, that's right, we can take care of the world in many different ways, from making sure that we don't litter to making sure that we recycle where we can, but also about taking care of the animals and the people that live in this world as well.

Let's look at task B, part one.

Sofia is wondering what is similar between a Hindu and a Christian understanding of life.

Jacob tells her it's about living your life as a kind person.

Can you tell Sofia about another similarity? To answer this question, really think about all the things that Het, Priya, and Asher have taught you in this lesson, and that will help you with your answers.

Once you're finished writing your answers, press play so we can carry on.

Let's look at task B feedback.

Of our possible similarities between a Hindu and a Christian understanding of life could include people's lives will be judged by God, it is important to look after the planet, it is about living a good, honest life.

Did you think of any more possible similarities? Would you like to share them with me now? Well done for completing task B, part one.

Let's move on.

Task B, 2A, add the missing words to the diagram below.

So if you take a close look, you've got blank leads to a better life.

Bad karma leads to a, blank.

Once you fill that in, then you need to complete task B, which is explaining how karma, samsara, and moksha are connected in Hindu Dharma.

Pause the video here and when you're ready for feedback, press play.

Task B, 2A feedback.

Your completed diagram should look like this: good karma, a better next life, bad karma, a harder next life.

Part B, explain how karma, samsara, and moksha are connected in Hindu Dharma.

You may have included, "Your actions in this life either take you closer or further away from reaching moksha, the freedom of your soul from the cycle of reincarnation.

Karma is the word Hindus used to describe the build-up of good or bad actions that affect the cycle of samsara and reincarnation.

Well done for working hard on today's lesson.

Let's take a look at our summary.

Here is our summary for karma, samsara, and moksha.

In the cycle of samsara, every living being is reincarnated into a new form after death.

And remember that word reincarnation.

Reincarnated is the reborn part.

They're reborn into a new form after death, reincarnated.

Every living being's future destiny will depend on karma from their previous life.

And remember, karma is good karma and bad karma, and your actions have consequences for your new life.

The ultimate goal is to reach moksha, unity with Brahman.

And remember, unity with Brahman is being one with Brahman.

I hope you've learned a lot today.

I've really enjoyed teaching you, and I hope to see you soon.