Saṃsāra
Saṃsāra (संसार) — From saṃ + sṛ — "to flow together, to wander." The continuous stream of birth, life, death, and rebirth driven by karma and attachment. Saṃsāra is not a punishment but a consequence: the soul, mistaking the finite for the infinite, is drawn back by desire and unfulfilled action into repeated embodiment. The first systematic presentations of karma-saṃsāra doctrine appear in the Bṛhadāraṇyaka and Chāndogya Upaniṣads. Liberation from saṃsāra — mokṣa — is the central soteriological goal across virtually all Hindu darśanas.
In Brief
- From saṃ + sṛ — "to flow together, to wander." The continuous stream of birth, life, death, and rebirth driven by karma and attachment. Saṃsāra is not a punishment but a consequence: the soul, mistaking the finite for the infinite, is drawn back by desire and unfulfilled action into repeated embodiment. The first systematic presentations of karma-saṃsāra doctrine appear in the Bṛhadāraṇyaka and Chāndogya Upaniṣads. Liberation from saṃsāra — mokṣa — is the central soteriological goal across virtually all Hindu darśanas.
From saṃ + sṛ — "to flow together, to wander." The continuous stream of birth, life, death, and rebirth driven by karma and attachment. Saṃsāra is not a punishment but a consequence: the soul, mistaking the finite for the infinite, is drawn back by desire and unfulfilled action into repeated embodiment. The first systematic presentations of karma-saṃsāra doctrine appear in the Bṛhadāraṇyaka and Chāndogya Upaniṣads. Liberation from saṃsāra — mokṣa — is the central soteriological goal across virtually all Hindu darśanas.