HEAVEN AND HELL ARE NOT IMPORTANT

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Heven & Hell are NOT important
#1 07-16-2008, 09:17 AM
AM I A HINDU?
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Heven & Hell

" Heaven & Hell" concepts are very important in Islam and Christianity. Both religions use these concepts to make people fear and convert to their respective religions. But they are NOT important in eastern religions.

Once in NY Times square, a preacher told me

" Ed, being a Hindu, You will go to hell"

I answered:

" Dear Sir, why should I go to a Christian hell, when we Hindus have seven hells to go to."

Poor preacher was speechless. Poor preacher did not know the fact that Hindu Puranas talk about seven hells. Hindus have seven heavens , seven hells and seven earths.

Swami Vivekananda wrote : "In India, the idea of the goal (salvation) is this: There are heavens, there are hells, there are earths, but they are not permanent. If I am sent to hell, it is not permanent. The same struggle goes on and on whatever I am. How to go beyond all this struggle is the problem ........ The Indian idea is not to go to Heaven. Get out of this earth, get out of hell, and get out of heaven! What is the goal? It is freedom! You must be free" (Complete Works 6:57)

1 In Rig Veda, heaven is the place Devandra lives and Hell is the place where Yama lives.

2 Only thing I infer from reading Vedas & Upanishads, is that heaven [ SWARGA ] and hell [ NARAGA ] are NOT permanent places where the soul rests but “way stations” for short sojourn.

3 After that immortal soul comes back to earth to continue life. Immortal soul [Atman ] governed by GUNAS take birth in appropriate bodies. After exhausting karmas immortal soul [Atman] merges with God.

4 So at the end every one of us, even the worst among us will merge with God or attain Self-Realization.
That is the beauty of the Hindu salvation or Hindu Self-Realization.

By complete change of consciousness from material to spiritual, a man, irrespective one is Hindu or not will finally attain salvation.

Nobody is denied salvation in Hinduism.

5 Even Lord Krishna states in the Bhagavad Gita, that "heaven" and "hell" are not permanent places where soul stays, but only temporary stations where soul rests.


6 Man’s problem is his ignorance of his true nature that he is the immortal soul due to MAYA [illusion] and until and unless he realizes that he is the immortal soul – ATMAN within and not the perishable body, he will continuously undergo going to heaven & hell

7. Adi Sankara stated, even celestial beings care to have a human body since only being a human one can attain self realization. Taking care of one's karmic debt only can be done only through a human body and mind.
8. What is the conclusion? " A human being should not worry about heaven or hell. He or she should concentrate on maturing spiritually and attaining self-realzation."

9. One has to do everything in his own her power to elevate spiritually. It does not matter what religion or culture you follow. As long as you search after truth, you are on the right path and you will ultimately attain truth or self-realization that you are the immortal soul and not the perishable body.

10. To attain this truth, Hindu scriptures stated that it will be helpful to person to follow one of the four methods.
They are Jnana Yoga; Karma Yoga; Raja Yoga or Bhakti Yoga.



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#2 07-16-2008, 10:38 AM
Maya3
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I think hell and heaven are methaphors not real places.

There is enough hell on earth, we do not need a separate place for it.

Maya



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#3 07-16-2008, 09:52 PM
Agnes
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Thank you, Am I A Hindu. What a great post. I really appreciate your posts and those of others who take the time to teach students like me.

I did not know of the seven heavens and seven hells. Does the soul or Atman decide when to be reborn to earth? Is Heaven endless bliss as in the Christian concept and is Hell endless torture?

Hell is a very important concept to Christians, they not only use it to convert people but also to keep members from leaving the faith. I can think of nothing more frightening then the Christian concept of Hell.



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#4 07-17-2008, 01:09 AM
Chiyo
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Agnes
Thank you, Am I A Hindu. What a great post. I really appreciate your posts and those of others who take the time to teach students like me.

I did not know of the seven heavens and seven hells. Does the soul or Atman decide when to be reborn to earth? Is Heaven endless bliss as in the Christian concept and is Hell endless torture?

Hell is a very important concept to Christians, they not only use it to convert people but also to keep members from leaving the faith. I can think of nothing more frightening then the Christian concept of Hell.

Hey, Am I A Hindu, what Agnes said. Great post. A thousand thanks.
__________________
The sound of rain needs no translation. - Roshi Morimoto

Do not see the full realization in one teaching, one phenomena, one body, one land or one sentient being. You should see the full realization everywhere, in all places. - Sakyamuni Buddha



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#5 07-17-2008, 03:40 AM
Jm8
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> the fact that Hindu Puranas talk about seven hells. Hindus have seven heavens , seven hells and seven earths.

fact: Puranas don't contain the word 'hindu', they're Vedic sastras.

fact: They speak about sapta (7) loka, sapta tala, sapta dvipa and many narakas.

Loka and tala is kind of dimension, an environment. Lokas are above earth, talas under earth. One of the lokas is called Svarga, material heaven. Talas have a common name Bila-Svarga.

Dvipa (lit. island) is one of concentric circular lands/continents.
Puranas give their measurements. Dvipas have a common name Bhu(r)loka or Bhu mandala and by size roughly correspond to orbits of solar system.

Naraka/s (hell/s) are many, Bhagavata Purana (5.26.7) describes 28. They're below the seven talas and above Garbhodaka ocean.

Scheme (taken from our VEDA site):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindu_cosmology

Puranic universe:

http://veda.harekrsna.cz/planetarium/index.htm

We can go to any of these places by our karma but they'are not permanent abodes since the whole material universe has its end. So the 'eternal hell' idea is not supported. More under 4.2 here:

http://www.veda.harekrsna.cz/encyclo...arnation.htm#4


Hope this helps. Hare Krishna

"This Krishna Consciousness is a science to understand what is the difference between a dead body and a living body". (A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada)

Your servant, bh. Jan

http://www.vrindavan-dham.com
http://www.veda.harekrsna.cz



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#6 07-18-2008, 11:29 PM
HinduGuy
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I do not support the concept of Hell at all! The Gita talks about Triloka, Heaven is mentioned but not Hell.

God is not a torturer, God is no Saddam husain. Our view of God is that she is our Parent and teacher. A parent does not hurt her own child. Besides if we are going to hell, even if temporarily, why then have Karma? If we pay for our bad doings in hell, how do we pay for it again in another life? This is absolutely the wrong thing to teach.

In the present day, no convict going to jail, has come out a better man or woman. You get worse not better, by being tortured and punished! I am confident that God has a better plan. Let Primitive faiths have their hell where people are tortured, Hinduism must do better.

Does God need physical punishment to teach you a lesson? With one little thought, she can blank out your entire mind! she can make you forget everything that you ever knew! She can turn a mass murderer into a gentle soul that wouldn't hurt a fly and vice-versa! How little do we understand God's power when we talk about Hell.

Please realize that those faiths that talk about Hell and punishment are not talking about God, they are talking about a King, a master. A king who will keep them in line by punishing them if they step out of line. This is not Hinduism!



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#7 07-19-2008, 04:09 AM
Jm8
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HinduGuy,

not knowing/accepting the sastra, you're stuck in a big denial. Don't talk for others, talk for yourself only please.
Karma is ours, not imposed by God. Your misconceptions are answered in Bh.P. 5.26:

http://vedabase.net/sb/5/26/en

One more link with refs (incl. BG):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naraka


Hope this helps. Hare Krishna

"This Krishna Consciousness is a science to understand what is the difference between a dead body and a living body". (A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada)

Your servant, bh. Jan

http://www.vrindavan-dham.com
http://www.veda.harekrsna.cz



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#8 07-19-2008, 11:11 AM
Maya3
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I completely agree with Hinduguy.

The only "hellish" existence between life's COULD be when the mind remembers the bad things a person did in his/her previous life.
For example I think it is possible that the terrorists on Sept 11 might have relived the events over and over again in their "minds" before they were reborn. That would certainly be hell.

But a place with fire, no that does not exist, I'm sure of it.
The scriptures were written a long time ago and they were written with the context of their time and trough myth. It does not mean that there are physical places of hell.

Like Hinduguy said, we have karma thats what keeps us from being Self Realized not hell.

Maya



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#9 07-23-2008, 12:01 AM
kimberley1983
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Wow - so interesting. This correlates with string theory - we could be living in one of these 7 earths and have the rest of them surrounding in existence right now...

I think as humans we just don't have the capacity to even imagine what the true concept of Heaven or Hell...

However i believe in hell as being the state of perpetual rebirth - our souls being sent back to learn the lessons we did not learn in our previous lives or receiving karma for what sins we may have done previously... Once we have learned our lessons maybe we are allowed into the next state of being...



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#10 07-27-2008, 03:36 PM
HinduGuy
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"our souls being sent back to learn the lessons we did not learn in our previous lives or receiving karma for what sins we may have done previously... Once we have learned our lessons maybe we are allowed into the next state of being..."

That's exactly correct. But we need to understand that the next life is not some sort of a punishment, there is no such thing. A parent does not punish her child, she is always teaching, trying to point us to the right path.



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