Bhava (Sanskrit) [from the verbal root
bhu to be, become] Being; coming into existence, birth, production, origin; worldly existence, the world. As used in Buddhist literature, the continuity of becoming, one of the links in the twelvefold chain of causation (nidanas), therefore also birth. As the third nidana, bhava is the karmic agent which leads every new sentient being to be born in this or another mode of existence in the trailokya and gatis.
As a proper noun, the name of a deity, also applied as a title to the gods Agni, Siva, and Rudra.
See also ABHAVA