by Jayaram V
At the most basic and fundamental level, where a common man is
concerned, Hindu scriptures describe heaven as "svargam" and hell
as "narakam". The heaven is inhabited by devas, sages, and many
great and noble souls who performed good deeds upon earth. It is
a pleasure oriented world in which the beings experience unlimited
pleasure, but no pain and no death. Without the discomforts of earthly
existence, such as aging, worry, hunger, disease and death, they
lead pleasant lives, surrounded by heavenly music, auspicious objects
and sceneries, celestial dancers, chanting of divine words and incredible
joy. Indra is the ruler of the heaven with Rati as his wife, lightening
as his weapon and Aairavat, the white elephant as his vehicle. Interestingly
the seat of Indra is not permanent. So like the politicians of today,
he is always concerned about protecting his throne from possible
contenders and the demons of the nether worlds.
The hell is a dark world, filled with evil doers and their relentless
cries of pain and agony, undergoing different kinds of torture and
punishment as a consequence of their bad deeds in their previous
lives. Unlike in other religions, the hell of Hindu religion is
not ruled by an evil persona, but by Yama, a god of highest virtue,
endowed with self-discipline and unmatched judging power. Aided
by his court minister Chitragupta, who keeps an account of all the
deeds done all the people upon earth, he administers justices and
accords punishments to the beings who arrive at the doors of hell
after completing their lives upon earth.
For many Hindus these two worlds are as real as their own. The
possibility of going to heaven or hell through performing good or
bad deeds in this world, coupled with a strong belief in the theory
of karma, is what regulates the behavior of an average Hindu and
influences his or her code of conduct upon earth.
At a much deeper level of understanding, Hindu scriptures do not
conclude with the description of just one heaven and one hell. Frankly,
Hindus well versed in scriptures, do not believe in just one heaven
or one hell. They believe in multiple heavens or worlds of light
and multiple hells or world of darkness stretching across the vast
spaces of the manifest universe. According to Hindu cosmology, creation
is an endless phenomenon and as mysterious as the mystery of the
Divinity itself. Creation is God's play (leela) and measuring its
dimensions is not possible even for the gods. The universe consists
of multiple worlds, layers and planes of existence, some known and
some unknown, some within the field of awareness and sensory knowledge
and some much beyond. These worlds are inhabited and controlled
by different powers, beings, objects, energies, deities and mysterious
events. It is difficult to specify how many such worlds are identified
by the scriptures. They are indeed many. Just as the mind can envision
many worlds and objects in its infinite inner space, the Hindu cosmology
comes up with a universe of infinite dimensions and innumerable
possibilities. In the Paingala Upanishad we come across a description
of the many worlds created by Brahman:
"Out of the elements thus quadruplicated, He
created many millions of Brahmandas (macrocosms), fourteen worlds
appropriate to each (of these macrocosms) and globular gross
bodies appropriate (to each of these worlds)."
It is interesting that today's scientists are also talking about
the same concepts in a more scientific and organized way trying
to explain the possibilities of parallel universes and coexistence
of multiple realities in the same space and time dimensions. This
is akin to the vision of a spectacular scale which the ancient seer
saw, that does not preclude the possibility of either evolution
or theories of quantum physics, mathematical or particle basis of
the origin of the universe or relativity. Thousands of years ago
Hindu seers spoke about atoms and finer particles forming the basic
building blocks of the object matter of the universe.
In some of the Upanishads we come across mainly three planes
of existence, Bhur (the earth), Bhuva (heavenly worlds), Suvah (Solar
worlds) and Maha (The highest worlds). The famous Gayatri mantra
refers to these three worlds.
The Bhagavad-Gita mentions two paths which a soul may follow
after leaving the body depending upon the time of death and the
nature of deeds performed. They are the path of light, aslo called
the path of devas and the path of the night, also called the path
of the pitra devas or ancestors. The first one leads to the world
of the sun and the second one to the world of the moon. The scripture
also mentions that those who indulge in heinous deeds and accumulate
very bad karma, do not qualify to follow either of these two paths,
but go down and descend into fiendish hells where they suffer for
a long time till they are cleansed and purified.
According to the Bhagavad-Gita going to either hell or heaven
has its own limitations. Beings who go to these worlds are bound
to return to earth once the merits or demerits of their previous
karma are exhausted. Life in these worlds is also not permanent
and secure as they are also subject to change and flux and attacks
from beings of darker worlds. So the scripture suggests that human
beings should look for a permanent solution by aiming for union
with the Divine through control of the senses, devotion to God and
by performing deeds as an offering to God. Complete liberation is
possible only when men transcend their lower and higher desires
and withdraw into themselves to attain the highest world of Supreme
Brahman. However, there is no unanimity among the diferent sects
of Hinduism, as to what constitutes the Supreme Abode of God. For
the Vaishanavites it is Vaikunth, for the Shivites it is Kailash
and for the jnana margis it is Brahmalok.
In Hinduism we also encounter another argument concerning the
possibilities of life after death. According to this the body is
made up of five elements, known as mahabhutas. These are earth,
fire, water, air and ether. After the death of a person, elements
of the gross body merges into the gross elements of the earth, which
are basically the earth, fire, water and air, while the subtle bodies
(Jiva constituting prana, manas and vignana ) go to the subtle or
ethereal worlds along with the soul. After exhausting karma in each
of these planes and shedding the respective bodies there, the soul
returns again to earth with a few memories and samskaras of the
Jiva to undergo further evolution.
On the individual plane, Hindu scriptures identify the heaven
and hell in the human body also. The heaven is the pleasure principle
in our consciousness and it is created by the movements of the senses
whose ruler is Indra, the sixth sense, the mind itself. The hell
is the pain principle, which is created by evil thoughts and desires
and the suffering we undergo because of our wrong deeds. Beyond
these two are the world of dreams (corresponding to Bhuva) , the
world of deep sleep (Suvah) and the transcendental world of bliss
(corresponding to Maha).
Thus we can see Hindu cosmology offers a very complex structure
of the universe, in which heaven and hell are just two worlds, which
are not necessarily the only places to which human beings go after
death. Heavenly existence is not permanent. So also the existence
in hell. It is the karma which is the ultimate deciding factor.
And it is through karma a person moves in the labyrinth of worlds,
till he or she is permanent released into the highest abode of God.
Suggested Further Reading
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