@shankara reincarnation, in the manner hinduism offers it, doesn't really make a great deal of sense. We have no recollection of any past life, therefore it makes no sense to make us 'suffer' for actions done in a past life.
Reincarnation, as it's explained in both the Bible and the Quran makes perfect sense.
If it's understood that we are spiritual-Beings that are only temporarily "locked" inside of these human animal bodies, then everything we feel and experience through the body is a lesson or test, or a reward or punishment based on whether we learned our lessons and passed our tests.
Each time that a human-animal-body, that you have been using, dies, you are unlocked from it and taken onto
the Astral Plain (Paradise) (which is here, but in another dimension, that cannot be seen with
human-eyes), where you are asked, what you have learned, and you have your now past human-lifetime, that you have just lived, shown to you, and you are told (paradise - “para dice” – in order to be told) what you have done right, and what you have done wrong. That life is then summarized, and the evil; that you have learned in that lifetime; is erased from your memory, along with which human you were, but the good you have learned is
retained. You are then sent back, onto this material plain, and locked-inside another body, to learn some more. The kind of body and surroundings will vary, depending on whether you are to be punished and taught humility, or whether you are to be rewarded. Perfect Divine Justice.
We can not remember what human we were previously, because that would cause us, and everyone else, a lot of pain, e.g. if an old man died and came back as a baby, remembering who he had been, and went to see his wife (now his widow), from his previous-lifetime, it would cause her; himself and his new parents, a lot of pain and would serve no useful purpose. Another reason, that we are not allowed to remember what human we were, is because; being the materialistic, selfish people that we are; if we could remember who we had been, we would go and try to claim what
were our possessions. Wouldn’t we?
As the object of being here, is to learn to be unselfish; good and un-materialistic; allowing us to remember would be counterproductive. Also, we wouldn’t
want to be able to remember being a murderer, or a rapist, or being murdered, would we?
What we
do remember is all the
good that we have learned. All those things that we
KNOW are right; and that
no-one, in our present-lifetime, has taught us; those are the things we have learned in our previous lifetimes.
If we live a good-life, we advance and shorten our sentence. If we live a bad-life, we go backwards and are punished. If we live a half-and-half type of life, we stay at the same place (same spiritual level), and just get a new body to use.
The trouble with staying at the same place, or going backwards, is that we are running-out of time to earn our pardon.
The higher one climbs, the harder it gets, and the more chance we have of making a mess of things, and going backwards, so the more we
need God’s help.
THAT is the reality of our situation and why, after 6000 years, we will all be judged according to our works, both in this lifetime and in every other, for the cumulative good we've done.
Those who deserve to be redeemed will be redeemed. Those who don't deserve to be redeemed will go into
The Fire, exactly as we've been warned about for thousands of years throughout the Bible and the Quran. There has to be personal responsibility for our actions. Perfect karma/just desserts.
It will be Perfect, Just, Fair and Merciful for all concerned, because Father (God) is all of those things and more. And the Judgement
will be for eternity, which is why each of us should be focused on doing everything possible to good, like God, rather than wondering what it will be like if we don't.
