Where do people of other religions go when they die?

[nekozuki 0]

Sounds political to me. I think a pope banned reincarnation. A man banned reincarnation, not God so I can't take the Pope's word for it. Maybe something like love for Christ would release you from the cycle of reincarnation, much like bhakti yoga. But obviously, they didn't understand this.

[Sephiroth 0]

 

Sounds political to me. I think a pope banned reincarnation. A man banned reincarnation, not God so I can't take the Pope's word for it. Maybe something like love for Christ would release you from the cycle of reincarnation, much like bhakti yoga. But obviously, they didn't understand this.

 

The Pop doesn't represent God. That's Christian belief.

The Religion doesn't represent God either.

 

God isn't represented by ANYONE or ANYTHING. If He choose to approach you, that's His choice.

 

Unfortunately, I just have to agree with your statement about Bhakti Yoga and Love for Christ.

[Guest guest]

 

Sounds political to me. I think a pope banned reincarnation. A man banned reincarnation, not God so I can't take the Pope's word for it.

 

This is the position of the critics. Christianity does not endorse this story of reincarnation banned by a pope. As far as christianity is concerned, there is no reincarnation now and there was no reincarnation before the time of that alleged pope.

 

To me, it does not make sense to say people of all religions will be subject to the rules (karma, reincarnation, vegetarianism) laid down by *my* religion thus overriding rules of the other religions, although they never even heard of my religion.

 

But clearly, that is how people think. I follow religion Rx, so all people in the world of all religions are subject to the rules of Rx.

 

Cheers

[Jahnava Nitai Das 2]

 

To me, it does not make sense to say people of all religions will be subject to the rules (karma, reincarnation, vegetarianism) laid down by *my* religion thus overriding rules of the other religions, although they never even heard of my religion.

The universe works according to certain laws. For a Hindu, one of those laws is the law of karma. Regardless of what you believe, everyone is subjected to reactions for every action they do. Some reactions are instant, and others more distant. These laws have nothing to do with someone's religion. Hindus will also be held accountable for their actions, even if they didn't believe that those actions were right or wrong.

 

Furthermore, other religions are mostly man made. Whatever things they think will occur to them after they die are mostly figments of their imagination. No one will be waiting in their graves for a second coming, and none of the people who blew up nonbelievers will be floating in heaven.

[Jahnava Nitai Das 2]

 

To me, it does not make sense to say people of all religions will be subject to the rules (karma, reincarnation, vegetarianism) laid down by *my* religion thus overriding rules of the other religions, although they never even heard of my religion.

 

Further, I would like to add that your stance is really illogical. Odd that you would find more sense in someone believing that each seperate religion will process their own believers at the time of death, and that only hindus would be subjected to their belief of karma, and only Christians would be subjected to their belief in ten commandments. Why is it illogical? Because each religion says what will happen to the other nonbelievers and they all say different things, so it is impossible for all to be compatible. The Christians say the nonbelievers go to hell, and the Hindus say the pious Hindu goes to svarga. Both can't be correct. So it is obviously more logical that one system (or no system) is correct, rather than all systems being correct.

 

Thus where you say "it does not make sense...", I would say it is the only thing that makes sense. To believe the opposite would be a sign of insanity.

[Guest guest]

Again this is about perspective.

 

The christian will not accept that his religion is man made. Every word of the T according to them is divinely empowered and thus is the word of God.

 

Similar claims are found both in Islam and Hinduism. Mohammad received divine instructions which forms the Quran; it is not something he made up himself. Yajnavalkya received the Shukla Yajur Veda from Surya; he did not make it up himself, although he is the prominent personality behind this Veda.

 

So when all religions are divinely empowered and yet are in conflict over certain issues - as for instance, the question raised on this thread - where do people of other religions go after death? They did believe 100% in their religion of choice and follow it whole mindedly. Yet they are to be subject to the rules of *another* religion which condemns practises which were not banned in their own religion. This is the problem I am talking about.

 

Cheers

[nekozuki 0]

There's a universal law called karma, what goes around comes around and I have never seen it fail. It's pretty obvious and it happens regardless of your beliefs.

[Guest guest]

 

Again this is about perspective.

 

The christian will not accept that his religion is man made. Every word of the T according to them is divinely empowered and thus is the word of God.

 

Similar claims are found both in Islam and Hinduism. Mohammad received divine instructions which forms the Quran; it is not something he made up himself. Yajnavalkya received the Shukla Yajur Veda from Surya; he did not make it up himself, although he is the prominent personality behind this Veda.

 

So when all religions are divinely empowered and yet are in conflict over certain issues - as for instance, the question raised on this thread - where do people of other religions go after death? They did believe 100% in their religion of choice and follow it whole mindedly. Yet they are to be subject to the rules of *another* religion which condemns practises which were not banned in their own religion. This is the problem I am talking about.

 

Cheers

[Jahnava Nitai Das 2]

 

So when all religions are divinely empowered and yet are in conflict over certain issues - as for instance, the question raised on this thread - where do people of other religions go after death? They did believe 100% in their religion of choice and follow it whole mindedly. Yet they are to be subject to the rules of *another* religion which condemns practises which were not banned in their own religion. This is the problem I am talking about.

Obviously not all religions are correct or lead to the same destination. Someone may firmly believe that the moon is made from blue cheese and that by worshipping it he will go to the moon. His belief has no effect on what will actually happen to him at the time of death.

 

The Vedas, Puranas and Gita present a very consistent and logical system. Those who act within the mode of ignorance go down, those who act within the mode of passion remain in their same level, and those who act within the mode of goodness move up. It has nothing to do with their religious belief.

 

Thus someone may be a Hindu who "worships all the Gods", but if he is engaging in activities of the lower modes, he is going to go down at the time of death (adho gachanti tamasah). It depends on one's consciousness (yam yam vapi smaran bhavan...), not solely on which faith one claimed to follow or which deity one claimed to worship. Consciousness of course is built up over time by our actions, association, etc.

 

Again we should note that you stated it "didn't make any sense" why a Hindu would believe others will be judged by his belief system at the time of death. Actually it makes perfect sense for a Hindu, who believes the universe functions according to scientific divine laws, to believe all people will be subjected to the same laws regardless of their personal opinions and beliefs. I really see no logic in your statement. It is irrelevant who considers their belief system to be divine and from God. The point is, it is completely logical for each of them (having accepted their teachings to be true) to assume all people will be subjected to the statements of their scriptures.

[Yegan 0]

 

Again this is about perspective.

 

The christian will not accept that his religion is man made. Every word of the T according to them is divinely empowered and thus is the word of God.

 

Similar claims are found both in Islam and Hinduism. Mohammad received divine instructions which forms the Quran; it is not something he made up himself. Yajnavalkya received the Shukla Yajur Veda from Surya; he did not make it up himself, although he is the prominent personality behind this Veda.

 

So when all religions are divinely empowered and yet are in conflict over certain issues - as for instance, the question raised on this thread - where do people of other religions go after death? They did believe 100% in their religion of choice and follow it whole mindedly. Yet they are to be subject to the rules of *another* religion which condemns practises which were not banned in their own religion. This is the problem I am talking about.

 

Cheers

 

This is the position of the critics. Christianity does not endorse this story of reincarnation banned by a pope. As far as christianity is concerned, there is no reincarnation now and there was no reincarnation before the time of that alleged pope.

 

To me, it does not make sense to say people of all religions will be subject to the rules (karma, reincarnation, vegetarianism) laid down by *my* religion thus overriding rules of the other religions, although they never even heard of my religion.

 

But clearly, that is how people think. I follow religion Rx, so all people in the world of all religions are subject to the rules of Rx.

Cheers

 

Dear Shiv,

I think you have raised a very interesting issue here in the sense that almost every individual strongly believe that it is their religion which is divinely empowered and is the ultimate truth, thereof at the times of death everyone will be judged according to that universal law.

(For example I think in Christianity if one does not follow the path of Jesus, eternal burning Hell is waiting for him at death and that is their universal law which everyone would be judged against. The Hindu universal law is based on karma).

Obviously not all three(Hinduism, Christianity and Islam) religions can be true simultaneously, unless GOD really works in a complex fashion that all three are true and as mere mortals we cannot comprehend let alone realize that fact. For argument sake, lets say only one is true and in this connection I have a story to narrate.

It was last year, I was walking down the street to buy some food. On my way, I was stopped by two guys. They were Christians missionaries and we immediately got into sort of discussion as far as religion is concerned. They told me that Jesus is the only way to heaven and even show me a scripture in the bible which states so.( I wish i had a Gita with me to show them ,hey we got the same thing as well:P)

The discussions went on, and at one point one of them told me just suppose that I(the hindu) is right and that he(the christian) is wrong, then what would happen to him(the christian) when he dies. Well I start to throw at him the law of karma, reincarnation , conciousness at the time of death (I told him if he has Jesus in his mind at the time of death well, he will go to Jesus{Just telling him what Gita says} )and so forth.

Then he said to reverse role, and now suppose that I(the Hindu) is wrong and he(the Christian) is right, then what would happen to me at death. He said that I would be burn in eternity in hell as per the scriptures.

Now his argument is simple. In both scenarios, it is preferable to be Christian. Simply because if Christianity is wrong, even then christians would be judged according to karma and would come back to earth again. On the other hand, if Christianity is right then he would be in heaven with GOD.

Whereas for the Hindu, well we are playing with fire, because if we are wrong, hell awaits us. So his argument is Christianity is better because there is no risk at all (Cunning isnt it?).

Well, I told him that in case Hindus are wrong, then before being sent to burn for eternity in hell, we, Hindus would say something to GOD just before. We would tell GOD to think twice before He labelled himself as compassionate in the scriptures.

They both smiled at invited me to join them for dinner. We were since then good friends. Whenever we meet now, we would rather discuss about whats going on around the world instead of religions.

Anyway the bottom line I think is to use our common sense. I respect my fellow christian friends a lot, but I strongly disagree when a man like Mahatma Gandhi being send to eternal flames of hell just because he has not been following the path of Christ. Whose parents would send their own children to roast in oven just because they are on the "wrong" path and yet lived an almost perfect life? Doesnt make sense(at least not to me)

So what really happens when we died, no one will know for sure until death comes. However as far as I am concerned, I think that GOD the almight, the compassionate, will give us the opportunity to atone for our sins, to learn from our sins, and be given the opportunity to purify our heart from hate to love and finally come to him. In which ways GOD will give us these opportunities to come to him even though we have been a sinner, well each of us may have our own views. From my perspective,I think this is compassion, this is love of the Father giving seed and this is common sense (at least to me).

[Jahnava Nitai Das 2]

 

I told him if he has Jesus in his mind at the time of death well, he will go to Jesus{Just telling him what Gita says} )and so forth.

 

Actually if Hinduism is correct, they will have many births to suffer for killing of cows and other living entities. The scriptures say they have to suffer one birth for every hair on the body of the cow.

 

It's not so simple that you can engage in sinful activities (papa karma) and then think of Jesus at the time of death and suddenly your in heaven.

[nekozuki 0]

If I go to hell because I didn't believe a certain way, then the God the Christians worship and the heaven they believe in is not worth it, sorry. If God was like that forget it, but I worship Vishnu and if he is the wrong God so be it, I'm not conforming to someone else's beliefs because the devil is going to poke me with a pitchfork for worshipping God, period.

[Guest guest]

 

Actually if Hinduism is correct, they will have many births to suffer for killing of cows and other living entities. The scriptures say they have to suffer one birth for every hair on the body of the cow.

 

I do not understand this? There must be thousands of hairs on just one cow. And consider that most around the world eat meat and do not know it is wrong. Therefore if one had to come back as a cow, for each hair of a cow they have eaten (and will continue to eat in future lives) - that would equal literally billions of rebirths as a cow? and could actually go into trillions of hairs.

 

did Mother Theresa come back as a cow?

[Jahnava Nitai Das 2]

That's why its called samsara. But there are plenty of ways for the nature to purify us. We don't always have to become cows. Yama can burn off your karma in naraka.

 

There is a nice verse from Ramcharitmanas about this, but it's just escaping me right now. Tulasidas says it is better to stay in naraka rather than a place where... because at least in Naraka our sins are being removed. I just can't remember it though.

[Guest guest]

 

Sounds political to me. I think a pope banned reincarnation. A man banned reincarnation, not God so I can't take the Pope's word for it. Maybe something like love for Christ would release you from the cycle of reincarnation, much like bhakti yoga. But obviously, they didn't understand this.

 

It was the Emperor Constantine who banned reincarnation from Christianity and the apostle Paul who forulated much of the Christian beliefs in the church today, also went against it. The early Christians had many gospels that different from the ones we have now. The Church today only follows four, when there are thirty - these are ignored and termed heretical by the church. The Gnostic Christians who followed these other gospels did believe in reincarnation. Alot of their teaching are similar to Vedanta.

[Guest guest]

 

That's why its called samsara. But there are plenty of ways for the nature to purify us. We don't always have to become cows. Yama can burn off your karma in naraka.

 

There is a nice verse from Ramcharitmanas about this, but it's just escaping me right now. Tulasidas says it is better to stay in naraka rather than a place where... because at least in Naraka our sins are being removed. I just can't remember it though.

 

Dear jndas, thanks for clarifying this. I have heard this statement a few times before, and couldn't imagine a fixed fate of a million cow rebirths. You can see the hopelessness in such a thought. And I do not see such hopelessness in Krsna's words in the Bhagavad Gita.

 

Also thanks for reminding us that Naraka is a purgatory (meaning place of purging), unlike many religions' where such places are thought of as a place of eternal punishment without any hope of purging or being reformed.

 

Truly God is merciful, always ready to help those who surrender to Him and give up material desires.

[Guest guest]

Why did God create so many different religions??? I do believe it is because of the many levels of mentalities as well as karma reaped. I wonder why he just did'nt create one to make it easier for all !!!! It would eliminate so much of the chaos ( I believe)

[Guest guest]

 

Why did God create so many different religions??? I do believe it is because of the many levels of mentalities as well as karma reaped. I wonder why he just did'nt create one to make it easier for all !!!! It would eliminate so much of the chaos ( I believe)

 

I think he did just create one. The vedic religion, also called the Sanatana Dharma (eternal religion).

 

It is said that the vedic religion at one time was the only religion on the earth. But now in this Kali Yuga men have spread out all over the world and the dharma has been forgotten or altered with so many different religions. And therefore there is so much confusion as to what is the true religion.

 

I have never found a religion that answered all my questions or had such depth and spiritual knowledge as the vedic religion.

[nekozuki 0]

 

It was the Emperor Constantine who banned reincarnation from Christianity and the apostle Paul who forulated much of the Christian beliefs in the church today, also went against it. The early Christians had many gospels that different from the ones we have now. The Church today only follows four, when there are thirty - these are ignored and termed heretical by the church. The Gnostic Christians who followed these other gospels did believe in reincarnation. Alot of their teaching are similar to Vedanta.

 

 

yeah, Gnostic Christianity is actually what Christianity is supposed to be. So much for listening to Jesus.

[Sephiroth 0]

 

Why did God create so many different religions??? I do believe it is because of the many levels of mentalities as well as karma reaped. I wonder why he just did'nt create one to make it easier for all !!!! It would eliminate so much of the chaos ( I believe)

 

God is One ... no chance in that fact. Religion however is not One. One can reach God if he or she put faith in God but following a religion blindly WILL not gurantee you will reach God.

 

Religion is just another examination which we must study for, put in practical and strive to get the best mark as possible.

 

Unfortunately, nowadays, most people failed the study part, much less putting it in practise.

[narayanadasa 0]

 

Obviously it will depend on the tenets of that religion.

 

Jai Sriman Narayana:

What was God doing after creating the earth, the people, etc? Without a religion what were the people following? Islam/Christianity have a start date that was very much later than creation. So, these religions may represent truth only to a certain level (accoring to the understanding of its followers). That is why they dont represent eternal truth. It is a pity that they dont want to accept this! Apprently, start date also mean an end date.

 

Vedas is not like that. It has no start date and no end date. It has been there in previous creations, is there in the current creation, will be there in future creations. So, it is the universal law according to which Karma, rebith are applicable to all irrespective of what they follow.

[Jahnava Nitai Das 2]

Regarding religions, we see in India in just 50 years how many "new" religions have been manufactured. You have the Kalki Bhagavan people, you have the Sai Baba people, you have the Arya Samaj people, you have the Gayatri Parivar people... actually every day there is a new religion coming up. Over thousands of years some of these man-made religions became popular, and that's what we have in the world. This doesn't mean there aren't good things in these religions. Anything that takes you towards sattva and knowledge is helping you towards God.

[preetesh 0]

You know what, religion is set of rules established by various group of people on the planet. It is a way to guide a person to do good things & make the world a better place.

But sadly human mind also has a monster in it, which has totally changed the meaning & cause of religion. Jihad, Crusade etc are the results of it.

I believe there are two destination's where people can go & its in their hands to choose the one, hell or heaven.

Even if it is as simple as the matter of choice, people often slide down to hell, well ofcourse that's the reason why heaven has become so spacious.

 

Where do u wanna go pal?

[Guest guest]

 

I believe there are two destination's where people can go & its in their hands to choose the one, hell or heaven.

Even if it is as simple as the matter of choice, people often slide down to hell, well ofcourse that's the reason why heaven has become so spacious.

 

Where do u wanna go pal?

 

are you a Christian or Muslim? according to the Sanatana Dharma there are innumerable heavens and hells, all temporary places, and beyond that the pure spiritual world. So things are that simple.

[Guest guest]

 

are you a Christian or Muslim? according to the Sanatana Dharma there are innumerable heavens and hells, all temporary places, and beyond that the pure spiritual world. So things are that simple.

 

correction: I meant to say things aren't that simple.