Whitney Baker

For my outside article for our writing project 2, I chose the article “A Place for the Dead and the Living” by Jim Lo Scalzo. This article talks about the cycle of death and rebirth in Hinduism. This cycle is called Samsara. Moksha is the ending of the continuous reincarnation cycle. Perhaps one of the holiest places in the religion of Hinduism is the city of Varanasi. People come to Varanasi to spend their last moments in life. In this city, lies the Ganges River, where people come to “pray, wash away their sins,… die” (Lo Scalzo). Achieving Moksha is the Hindu’s goal, they do not want to be reborn. Death and rebirth are very sacred events in life. For some, rebirth could be a positive, but to others, like the Hindu, it is not. With so many different religions, some people believe in reincarnation, and others do not. Some think that life is a one time thing; you only get one shot. These people live their lives to the extreme and have very little regrets. Others do believe that you are born again to a different life after death. To me, it seems that those who do believe in reincarnation, are not satisfied with the way they are/have lived their lives.