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accidental participation in a seeming falsehood was enough to send a soul to behold though but for a
moment, the awful hell-fire. The incident of the great Yudhishthira s vision of Hell is referred to
here.
Fortunately or unfortunately, out of the numerous Puranas very few are studied by the vast
majority now-a-days. Those few devoted people that read the Puranas or listen to their recital rarely
go beyond the four or five classical Saivite and Vaishnavite Puranas that are currently popular
throughout the country. We may say that Purana perusal is generally confined to the Skanda,
Markandeya, Vishnu or the Srimad Bhagavata. It is not the scholar or the orthodox Brahmin section
that is meant here but the common man-in-the-street who goes to form a distinct and important part
of the population. Thus this whip-crack of the Karma and Karma-phala citation does not sound
nowadays to chasten the sensual beast in man. And as a result of this it is running amuck as never
heretofore. But laws, be they mundane or divine, are inexorable. The ignorance of the Penal Code
does not lay a premium on indulgence in crime nor does the offender go scot-free. He burgles and
he gets jailed. He murders and is hanged. Likewise he also sins and suffers. If this truth of the
inescapable order of the cosmic Law is placed before him in unvarnished and distinct outline it may
serve just a little bit to persuade him to give up vice and follow virtue, to renounce Adharma and
embrace Dharma. It has purposes confined mainly to the physical and mental forms that this
heavenly retribution takes, and also to the forms it takes upon this earth-plane. For modern man is
held by the motto  seeing is believing and he hardly requires to give a second glance to show the
terrible truth of the price man pays in hospitals and clinics for the crimes against Dharma.
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LOKAS OR PLANES
The diseases we suffer from the births we get here on earth are all products of actions done
by us in previous times. Every action has its reaction and no action goes unrewarded in suitable
manner. Evil actions do not go without their bitter effects upon the doer.
Hells are not imaginary fiction as ordinarily conceived of by the modern rationalistic mind.
The empiricist believes only in experience of sense-contact and feels himself unable to rise above
the dictates of the intellect. But it does not mean that man has reason to overlook facts beyond his
comprehension. We have no right to assert that this globe of earth is the most concrete reality and
that others are mere apparitions. The stars do not become mere spots with a twinkling light in the
sky merely for the reason that we perceive them to be so. If I have not seen America I have no right
to deny the existence of such a country. There are evidences, both intuitional and rational, for us to
accept the existence of worlds beyond, which are entirely different both in nature and size. The
Yogavasishtha says that our earth is only an atom among many other larger worlds existing beyond
our perception and is of one particular variety among many others which differ from it in every way.
We have no authority to discard the account given by Vasishtha that there exist worlds which are
made of different materials like, copper, iron, gold, etc., filled with water, milk and the like and
inhabited by serpents, animals, devils, and so on. It is not necessary that human beings alone should
inhabit all worlds and that the same earthly conditions should prevail in all planes of existence. The
universe is a gradual revelation of the Infinite Absolute in various degrees of Consciousness, which
is inclusive of every sort of life and experience. The Infinite is a great Wonder and we cannot say
what things are thriving in Its womb! We and our world are but one among the many in It! There are
many families in Infinity, and earth, hell, heaven, men, animals, gods, devils, are all Its children
with varying temperaments. The Absolute ranges from lowest matter to Pure Bliss or Ananda, and
between these exist the countless universes with their contents. They differ both in their individual
nature and in the nature of their contents. It is said that beings take birth in one or the other of these
worlds in accordance with their actions which bear fruits of a kind that can be reaped only in that
particular world. Only fire can give heat and only food can appease hunger. Even so only a
particular condition and environment enables us to reap the fruits of a specific action. Though
punishments need not necessarily be due to the wrath of any personal Divine Being, it can be
asserted that it is necessary, by the very law of nature, that the soul should manifest itself with a
body suited for its experience determined by its past actions. As such, it is not unreasonable that
variety in the nature of worlds should be real. We have to remember that the real is unseen.
Hells, therefore, are as much real worlds as the regions of Indra or this mortal earth of ours.
They are regions with difference only in the subtlety of the plane of their manifestation. They differ
in the degree of the state of Consciousness revealed through them. The sufferings inflicted on the
sinners may be taken to mean either an actual birth in such regions, or a life on earth with such
entanglements, where one will undergo such pains either directly or through the agency of others.
In the Vedas and Vedanta there is no mention of hell. The Puranas only speak of hell or
place of torture. From the absolute viewpoint, there is neither heaven nor hell. From the relative
viewpoint, hell is as much real as this world. For a man of discrimination, the world also is a hell.
Hell and heaven, though not absolutely real, are not unreal as long as individuality persists, and are
as much as any plane of existence.
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WHAT BECOMES OF THE SOUL AFTER DEATH
Christians and Mohammedans speak of eternal hell. There cannot be eternal damnation or
eternal punishment. The life of a wicked man here is nothing when compared with eternal life. If
there is an eternal damnation into the fire, it means that there is an infinite effect produced by a finite
cause. This cannot be.
The different torments of hell, the seven compartments into which it is said to be divided,
and the partition called Al Airat separating heaven from hell according to Mohammedanism, all
seem to be adapted from the Jews.
Hindu Puranas have been very clear on the question of heaven and hell. Writers of [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]