Life Beyond Death - Hinduism

Death and Beyond - Hinduism's take

So after reading about the Yogi philosophy’s take on the life beyond, I decided to read on what some of the religions and it great saints. sage etc have to say about the same.
My first stop was Hinduism cause for one I do know something about this already being a Hindu myself and I didn’t want to feel stupid when someone asks me about my own religion and I don’t know the answer.

Basically it’s real simple. Hinduism believes are almost similar to the Yogi philosophy, and I would guess most religions would have similar beliefs as well except for a few differences which I intend to find out. So we Hindus believe greatly in achieving Moksha, the central theme of the Hindu religion is this word "Moksha" - in other words it means liberation from samsara, i.e. freeing oneself from the cycle of life and death and reincarnation. Liberation is achieved by the giving up or freeing oneself from all desires - also known as Nirvana. Hindus believe that on achieving Moksha one truly becomes a Brahman and that is goal that a Hindu should strive for.

And the way to achieve this is only through Karma, i.e. deeds. and this is where Hindu philosophy is so different. Hindus give more importance to life before death since that is when we can shape our Karma. Every person is responsible for his only Karma. and only the Karma decides on your afterlife state. Only through your Karma can you achieve Moksha.
The yogi philosophy on the other hand gives more importance to life after death where the soul is given a chance to get rid of the sheaths of desires and more far away from the earthly desires.

But there are also similarities between the two beliefs. Like the yogi philosophy believes in the astral plane where a soul resides, so does Hinduism. In Hinduism there are 7 such "loks" or states where a soul resides... again based on it Karma. Some of these are the Patallok, the Bramhan ... Unfortuinalt i do not recollect the names of the all the states, but the central idea is the same. Based on your Karma you move up the ladder until to become a true Brahman and achieve Moksha.

Hinduism teaches a person to face the question of death with courage, death after all is inevitable. One can face death only by being grounded on the deathless self. Self knowledge alone can conquer the fear of death. I have to quote here the line from the Upanishad
"I know the great Purusha (Brahman, the supreme person), who is luminous like the sun, and beyond darkness. only by knowing him does one pass over death, there is no other way to the supreme goal."