"Just as a man discards worn out clothes and puts on new clothes, the soul discards worn out bodies and wears new ones."

"Just as a man discards worn out clothes and puts on new clothes, the soul discards worn out bodies and wears new ones." Bhagawat Geeta. It's mentioned in scriptures that the soul reincarnated again and again until it becomes perfect and reunites with the divine. During this process the soul enters into many bodies, assumes many forms and passes through many births and deaths. During the process of creation and evolution, some souls manage to return to God, their source. The remaining souls continue their existence and return to Him in the end, not through transformation but through the great destruction that happens at the end of each time cycle. Each individual is actually a false personality with an inner subtle body and an outer gross body. The soul remains encased within the subtle body. Because of the ego, one remains ignorant about its true identity and experiences delusion (moha), duality (dvanda) and attraction (raga) and aversion (dvesa) to the pairs of opposites such as heat and cold, or pain and pleasure. As a result of attachments (pasas) and delusion, the jivas acts selfishly as if they are different from the rest of creation. Due to egoism, desire ridden actions and selfishness, they end up suffering, caught hopelessly in the phenomenal world. ‪Technically, the body is the prison and the soul is held in it as the prisoner for the sins of the physical self. At the time of death, the physical body and the gross mind return to the elements of the earth. But part of the subtle body survives and accompanies the soul to the next world. Depending upon the nature of their past deeds, and the extent of subtle bodies they develop, the jivas either ascend to the ancestral heaven (pitr lok) or descend into the hell. Hiding the indwelling spirit in its core, the subtle being stays in these worlds until the fruits of its good or bad actions are fully exhausted. Having squared off the karma and learned new lessons, it then returns to the earth to take another birth and repeat the process. Thus living beings undergo innumerable births and deaths in the mortal world. They remain bound to the mortal world and the laws of nature due to desires and attachments. Death gives them temporary relief from the earthly suffering, but exposes them to the risk of falling into greater depths of sorrow and suffering since each birth bring them newer challenges and opens them to innumerable possibilities and opportunities, both good and bad. This goes on until they achieve liberation.
Hari Om Tat Sat Namah Shivaya !