The turning wheel of birth, death, and rebirth, driven by desire and action — the round that moksha ends.
Common misconception
Samsara is not only future lives; it is the moment-to-moment cycle of craving and becoming you live now.
The question it leaves you holding
If nothing in the world stays, why do we keep expecting it to satisfy us?
Schools that center this concept
Samkhya — The oldest analysis: countless conscious selves (purusha) entangled in one unconscious nature (prakriti).
Advaita Vedanta — Shankara's non-dualism: only Brahman is real; the individual self is that one Self, mistaking itself as many.
Dvaita Vedanta — Madhva's dualism: God, souls, and matter are eternally distinct; liberation is loving nearness, not merger.
Debates this concept decides
If Karma Shapes My Life, Am I Free? — Every act ripens into a result that conditions the next — so is your choice truly free, or just karma wearing your face?
Freedom Now, or Only After Death? — Can you be liberated while still alive and walking around — jivanmukti — or does release come only when the body falls?
