Vedic Insights: Heaven, hell and beyond

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Vedic Insights: Heaven, hell and beyond

By: RK Lakhi Kant

 

 

The concept of heaven and hell and our promotion or demotion to the

higher or lower planets within this universe is not clear in the

minds of the people at large. There has been very less information

available on this matter either, from any source, though many have

professed that they have knowledge of this. This has all the more

befuddled our minds and we are being led away by many false

interpretations of the scriptures. Especially in India which is home

to the most ancient and the most profound of any religious literature

in the world, this knowledge of the good and the bad has become lost

to a large extent. We can only imagine how the other places in the

world fare which are largely immersed in a materialistic way of life.

 

According to the Vedic concept of good and bad and retribution for

our acts in this life and the next, heaven or the seven of the higher

planets in this universe, and hell, the seven lower planets are

available to us in our next lives. The conditions however are created

by our own choice of actions in this life and also what we have done

in past lives. Karma or the results of our actions are the cause for

our rise and fall through the different planetary systems inside this

universe. Karma is also closely related with birth and death and our

constant travel through the different spieces of life within the

universe as a consequence of it.

 

The Vedic idea of heaven and hell however does not end here but goes

further than this. And it is in this context that our life here in

Manipur as also in a larger context in India and the world comes into

the picture. The worship of Vishnu or Krishna which has been the

mainstay of the people here and the decadence of a spiritually

elevated culture now in the present day, has many practical lessons

for us on how to live our lives in this age which is the age of Kali,

or the age where people are hypocrites and quarrelsome. This age is

one of the four ages according to which the concept of time is

divided, the other being Satya yuga, Treta yuga and Dvapara yuga. Our

birth in a particular age and in a particular situation is according

to our own past Karma.

 

All this is quite clear in the minds of the people of India where

everybody has heard of terms like Karma and how it is related to

heaven and hell. in other places and religions too everybody does

understand this to a certain level. However degradation of moral and

spiritual values has covered the minds of the people in these places

so much that these socities have no more discrimination and clarity

in their basic concepts of right and wrong.

 

In Manipur everything happened quite naturally as the place was close

to nature and the highest ideals of Vedic society could be practised

here easily. Even if the region may have practiced other forms of

religions, at least the influence, if not the complete practise, of

the Vedic system of life came to this place from the time the hero of

the Mahabharat war, Arjun, married the daughter of the Manipuri king.

The betrothed princess Chitrangada bore a son named Babruvahan to

Arjun. This was around 5000 years ago. The Manipuri king adopted this

child who later became the king of Manipur. The kings of Manipur and

Tripura are confirmed to be the direct descendants of Babruvahan.

 

Things have degenerated in Manipur too and the signs are palpable in

our daily lives. Events like the coming to the throne of the Vaishnav

king Bhagyachandra and his designing of a lifestyle so close to a

utopic social system and the benefits it gave us since that time have

seemingly lost their relevance now. We may not get the time to think

about these matters nor may have the inclination to do so as we

remain tied up with our daily lives but all these past events and

present day travails are outer manifestations of our thinking, good

earlier and bad now. From the level of a near perfection in social

living as far as humanly possible in those times, people have more or

less fallen to the condition of common louts who have no desire or

pursuit of higher values in life.

 

Why all this needs to be recalled is that we need a clear conception

of Karma or action, its effects and how we get transferred to the

lower and the higher regions of the universe and most importantly how

god, the most supreme being who is Krishna according to the Vedas,

manipulates this whole machinery.

 

Our existence is in three states of conciousness which are goodness,

passion and ignorance corresponding to Sattvic, Rajasic and Tamasic

respectively. All our actions, words and thinking are a direct

manifestation of these three states of existence and according to our

state of consciousness in these three levels we get the resultant

reactions in this life and in the next. Conciousness at the level of

goodness takes us to the heavenly planets, passion keeps us in the

earthly planets and ignorance takes us to the lower hellish planets

and to the animal species.

 

However, there is another state of existence which is known as Shudha

Sattva or purified goodness in which state a person transcends the

three states of existence and lives at the level of constant god

consciousness. The pure Vaishnavs live in this state and are not

affected by goodness, passion or ignorance. They do not concern

themselves with pious deeds or impious deeds, both of which have

their karmic reactions and put us in various kinds of life in out

next life. This is the ideal state of mind that a person can have.

 

A person may sometimes wonder why after doing so many good deeds on

his part he is still suffering endlessly while other corrupt and

debase people are enjoying life at others expense. This may be

explained by the example of a container for grains which is kept in

village homes. A person may have put B grade grains in the previous

year in this vertical container with a vent at the lower part for the

grains to come out of. The person may again put in A grade grains in

the top of this container in the current year. However, he is

disappointed to find that when he opens the lower vent of the

container he is still getting only the B grade grains although he has

put in A grade grains.

 

Our karmic reactions work in the same way. Due to our past deeds we

may be suffering in our present life and other people who are in a

moral state lower than us may be enjoying life due to their past good

deeds in a previous life. But this does not mean we get upset and

stop doing good deeds as in future we will certainly get the results

of our good actions.

 

The Vedas also state that the rulers of a country or state are in a

very responsible position and should not shirk from their duties as

whatever the leaders in a society do it is followed by the common

men. It may also be relevant here to mention here that the reactions

for 1/6th of the sins committed by any person in a state are borne by

the ruler of the state. So we can very well imagine how precarious a

situation the leaders in a society are in.

 

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