saMsAra = Reincarnation?
J.K. Brzezinski
brzezins at epas.utoronto.ca
Tue Feb 14 20:49:58 UTC 1995
saMsAra certainly does not exclusively refer to reincarnation, but the
implication of rebirth is included in that of worldly life. In modern
languages of India (particularly Bengali and Hindi, with which I am more
familiar), saMsAra has a much more pleasant familial sense, just as mAyA
sas the sense of affection and love, both quite different from the slant
on these terms found in the Vedantists.
But you are quite right, there does not seem to be a simple word in the
modern vernaculars which carries quite the scholarly tone of
*metempsychosis* or even *reincarnation*. The Gita has dehAntaraprApti
and AvRtti (8.23) or puranAvRtti. By implication also from apunarbhava is
punarbhava.
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Jan Brzezinski
Asian Studies Centre
University of Manitoba
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