actually pronounced as "Kar-Ma" (in Sanskrit) instead of "Kaar-Maa", is a more widespread belief, in most societies, than Rebirth or Moksha. Its because it is seen in our day to day lives.
When we do something, we pay for it in similar terms. Our stories, our movies and our tales and superhero comics are mostly based on these lines. When we do good, eventually we will recieve good and vice versa. Our advice to others, our solving of other's problems, and our kindness in general or lending a helping hand, is based on the same motive. We do it sub consciously all the time and thus its easy to see examples from everyday life.
For example : If a customer has a bad experience at a shop and is angry, but the shopkeeper smiles and takes care of his customer's requirements, 99% of the time, the customer will be happy & impressed, and will keep coming back in-spite of the initial bad experience. Good emotions and care shown by the shopkeeper, gets him loyal customers. Karma at work.
Vedic scriptures establishes it as the only rule by which the cosmos works :
ACTION - REACTION - ACTION - REACTION - ACTION - REACTION - and so on...
We should not think of ourselves as separate from this universe, we are actively a part of it right now. Infact if we did not have this consciousness, we would not even think of ourselves as separate from the rest of existence. Truth is, that we are the universe itself, and all separations within this universe is deeply connected. We are ONE. A change in one part of the universe, will definitely lead to a change in the other part. That's how Karma works.
Another example :
Imagine that we buy tomatoes from a grocer, the grocer earns from the sale, the truckers who delivered the tomatoes earn, the farmer, the stockist, the packing guys, fertilizer makers and all the employees who work in these various ancilliary companies earn from it. Our one action has affected so many people in tiny bits and pieces.
Now see the reverse reaction to our action : These companies pay heavy taxes(which are levied because they earned from people like us when we bought the tomatoes) and society uses those taxes to build the roads and generate electricity, which are benefits for us.
Existence itself, means to give and take continuously, to be bound by Karma, and thus no one escapes from it, not the humans, not the animals, not the plants, not even the Gods.
One should understand, that they cannot escape Karma at all. If I think that - Let me cheat this once, and no one will notice because nobody's around; I would be terribly wrong. Why ?
I'm noticing myself. Who Am I ? I'm the soul connected to this universe thinking that I'm separate and smart enough to cheat. The universe, how complex it is, how it works, we would never understand, but we should definitely know, that if we try to cheat, for example, steal from the grocer mentioned above, the electricity and roads will never get made.
When we believe in the philosophy, we see it unfold in our lives. This gives us the strength to understand that when we go through a bad patch in our lives, or just have a rough day, it is our Karma that is balancing. We might have, stolen a buck / kicked a dog / coveted / been disrespectful / driven rashly / or some or the other way we must have been a pain / trouble for other humans, animals or nature, even if we didn't realize it then. We surely must be paying for it. Thinking this way, our life will become much more stress free and devoid of complaints.
Some powerful / rich people who do all the bad things, but still get away, also pay for it; if not now, then in their next lives.
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Some believe that we are here as a result of organic mutation and there is no such thing as our purpose in life; we just are. We live then we die. Some believe that we go to heaven or hell for eternity, according to our deeds we ought to do according to some texts.
Vedic/ Hindu teachings guide that if we weren't here for a purpose why would we even strive to understand what our purpose is?
We could just be like insects who work all day, not knowing that one day they'll die. They just live, and then they die. But we humans prepare for middle age & old age, we prepare for building a career, we also created a measurement & calculation of time so that we can plan things accordingly, because we know that one day we would die. Why would we do that?
People want to become scientists, aspire to become lawyers, train hard to become teachers, experience struggle to become good businessmen, etc., but fail to explain; What is the need to struggle to achieve and prove this or that ? One day we will anyways die, so why not just be?
It doesn't make a difference in the natural world, what we become, but still we struggle.
It seems like we're constantly searching for something that will end our search, fill us with satisfaction to the brim, but maybe we're looking at all the wrong places.
We are most definitely conscious beings and since we have the ability to be aware of ourselves and also feel the pain and happiness of others within ourselves, we can say that we're born to understand the reasons for our existence. Till we understand that, we keep on searching for the next best thing. How many people have you seen who are content and blissful with the current state of affairs in their lives. Actually when someone is, we usually term that person as lazy and one who's lacking ambition.
Since our birth, we try searching for meaning in family, friends, in jobs, in relationships, in situations, in dream houses, in amazing cars, in wealth and property. But if we get old doing so and are still not able to find satisfaction, get rid of worrying and attachments, still wishing and regretting, then our consciousness has to continue after leaving this unstable state of affairs(our body) and thus starts forming a new body in a new womb. Remember, that we are all one and connected, so the part of the consciousness that was bound within us, our mind and body, builds a new one to continue the search for meaning.
But unfortunately, in this process a lot of information is lost. Children still remember past experiences till a few years after birth but as soon as the ego of identity develops (at the age 4-5), we forget all that and become a part of our new reality. Ever wondered why new born babies smile in their sleep, and dream so rapidly, when they haven't even experienced the world? Ever noticed how our body resembles that of our parents but our characteristics and souls are independent of their ways of thinking. We are usually not in tune with our parents, we feel like a separate soul, even when our body, height, features and complexion or race matches.
Rebirth has been proven several times but here are a few examples :
Psychiatrist Ian Stevenson, from the University of Virginia School of Medicine, investigated many reports of young children who claimed to remember a past life. He conducted more than 2,500 case studies over a period of 40 years and published twelve books, including "Twenty Cases Suggestive of Reincarnation" and "Where Reincarnation and Biology Intersect".
Stevenson retired in 2002, and psychiatrist Jim B. Tucker took over his work and wrote "Life Before Life". Other people who have undertaken research on reincarnation include Satwant Pasricha, Godwin Samararatne, Antonia Mills, and Erlendur Haraldsson. Research methods have involved analysis of childhood memories, corresponding birthmarks, and psychological/cultural characteristics. Skeptics and the scientific community in general consider reincarnation research to be pseudoscientific. Some parapsychologists advocate developing protocols to guide, sort, compare, and evaluate cases studies. But then everyone has their methods and beliefs.
There is a portion of Islam that believes in reincarnation too. The idea of reincarnation is accepted by a few Muslim sects, particularly of the Ghulat, and by other sects in the Muslim world such as Druzes. Historically, South Asian Isma'ilis performed chantas yearly, one of which is for sins committed in past lives. (Aga Khan IV) Sinan ibn Salman ibn Muhammad, also known as Rashid al-Din Sinan, (r. 1162-92) subscribed to the transmigration of souls as a tenet of the Alawi, who are thought to have been influenced by Isma'ilism. Modern Sufis who embrace the idea of reincarnation include Bawa Muhaiyadeen.
Why can't we go to heaven or hell for eternity?
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In some faiths, the punishment for stealing to fill an empty stomach and that for murdering someone for greed is the same; ie. burning in hell for eternity.
If so... then how is God just?
Hindu scriptures indicate that only Supreme consciousness is beyond time / eternal and other than it, nothing is constant, no beings and no worlds(heaven / hell). God is basically the state of everything (including us 7 nature) and every consciousness in unison, without the feeling of separateness. That is why only God in that form (ie. collective Us / souls) is eternal. None of its forms (individual separate identities) are eternal - whether its Shri Krishna, Christ or any of us humans searching for answers.
Hinduism / Vedic Culture indicates that God is the law of Karma itself. You pay only for what you've done and then you get another chance. So heaven and hell (these are planets in different realms) aren't permanent but only are there to balance our Karma if we cannot do the same in our lifetime, and once our Karma is almost balanced out, we transcend again into a womb with a little backlog of our deeds. This backlog defines our birth situations, families, abilities, etc.
We go to heaven and hell to clear our Karmic baggage only because we cannot manifest into a pure baby (animal or human) if we already have a lot of karmic backlog, because then our whole lives will be shaped up and would not seem justified.
For example : Suppose I do a lot of good work inspite of being really poor in this life, and immediately after death I take birth in a rich family to enjoy that life as a result of my good Karma. But suppose I turn out to be a young brat in the new rich family, but because my good deeds in previous life, I have so much positive Karmic baggage, that I won't fall into trouble inspite of the brat I've become. This certainly would not be fair to other lifeforms. So, instead of taking birth again, I shall enjoy in heaven and when my Karma gets balanced, I shall be given another chance in this world.
BUT another chance at what ? Well another chance at achieving enlightenment, knowing my true nature and trying to realize the truth that other than the One Consciousness in its blissfull state, there is nothing else, and we are also it, lost in illusion that God and Us are separate.
If we achieve this enlightenment, we could achieve Moksha.
 
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What is Moksha ?
Moksha is the state of bliss in which pure consciousness stays.
Our bodies are made up of so many tiny organisms. There are so many organisms in our bloodstream, in our intestines, in our stomach, lungs etc. These are living organisms which constantly take birth and keep dying. Our body as we know it is changing every moment. Old cells fall, new cells form. In a year, about 98% of our body gets regenerated. Our bodies are not things but are processes.
But we are not called processes but are called beings, because we "BE" in a particular space and time, but our body changes constantly. In every different space and time, our bodies have changed as explained above, but do we feel the change in ourselves - Our Beings.
It feels the same way when I was 12, when I was 20, 40 or 80. The being / " Me " knew that my body has changed, my mind has changed, but the feeling " Me ", has that changed. Me - the observer - has the observer changed ever ? If not, then why would death stop it?
The mind is also just a reflection of learnings, a database of images and videos, and soundfiles and experience of touch. But the " Me ", or the soul is the experiencer which uses the brain and its database to make decisions and to exercise choice.
What does "Me" experience ? The other, always the other.
I experience through my senses - the music, the food, the beauty, the softness, the fragrances. To an organic machinery (our bodies and minds) it would be just sound waves, fuel, rays of colored light, texture, particles hanging in air, respectively.
Our soul derives the meanings, which is why it changes over time. I used to like rock music when I was young, but now, its too harsh for me, but my friends still find it cool. Our bodies and minds would react in a set pattern, but it is our will / choice /soul that experiences emotions; and it does through the other.
When a soul through observation in meditation learns that the reason why my soul feels connected to anything else and experiences bliss or hate, is because it is the same soul everywhere, that is trapped in an illusion of a separate body and mind, it achieves Moksha. It doesn't need to form another body (take rebirth) because now it has found what it was looking for- the meaning of existence. It has found itself finally so it is emotion free and is in a blissful state. It merges into the unending consciousness and does not get formed into a definite body again, yet remaining conscious forever. This is the way of enlightenment and meditation.
In Hindu scriptures it is mentioned that Moksha can also be achieved through selfless love and devotion, and few other practices as well, also depending on our Karmic baggage.
Aim of every soul is to attain Moksha, and every soul reaches there some way or the other.
So lets clean up our Karma, and pray that we become enlightened in our next birth and achieve Moksha.
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