http://www.hscsamskar.com en-us http://www.hscsamskar.com N/A hscsamskar@yahoo.com Wed, 23 Jul 2008 22:44:38 EDT 20 http://www.hscsamskar.com/blogs/3/Hindu-Concepts-of-Heaven-and-Hell I wrote this a while back in response to a friend who asked me about Hindu concepts of heaven and hell. An astrologer specializing in reincarnation had told him that he had been in hell in a past life, and this was why he was afraid of fire. The answer to your question is a bit complicated, but it should make sense in the end I think. Although in the Vedas and Upanishads I don’t believe you find any concept of Hell or Narka, you do in the Puranas. I have heard from people that this was an idea that crept into Hinduism from other cultures, though there’s nothing conclusive, in my opinion, that confirms this. In the Bhagvad Purana a number of descriptions of various activites, and the hells you will go to when they take place, are given. There is a long commentary on what kind of karmas will lead to what kind of births in Manu Dharma Shastra as well. There is also the concept of many svargas, and the actions that must be taken to get to them. However, none of these are heavens or hells *as such*. The words heaven and hell have connotations that have crept in as a result of exposure to western culture. Even a ‘rebirth specialist’ can be affected by this. Because of this, alot of people read scriptures word for word literally, as is popular in the Christian tradition. However, the whole reason we have a tradition of teaching is to prevent this. To understand it properly, you have to understand the various levels of conception of the individual. There is the gross physical level, the subtle mental level, and the pure level of awareness. The physical body cannot be said to travel anywhere but material creation. It would be foolish to say that the physical body goes to heaven and hell. Pure awareness, or Atman, is beyond the cycle of rebirth and death, as explained in all of the scriptures. It cannot be said to travel anywhere, for there is nowhere for it to go. Therefore, the scriptures talk about the ’subtle body’ travelling to heavens and hells after death, and then returning to the earth to be reborn after discharging its collected karma. But the subtle body is really just our collection of mental instruments (antakarana). It includes the mind (manas), the faculty of discrimination (buddhi), and the ego (ahankara). This body too does not travel to hell or heaven per se. This is what leads Swami Vivekananda to say that heaven and hell are states of mind. Popular imagination leads one to believe that heaven and hell are places one may go to, that may involve pleasure or pain. Really, according to our tradition, they are the states of the mind upon death and before rebirth. They are even the states of the mind during life. For someone to tell you you’ve been to heaven or hell in a past birth is not really saying very much. We’ve all been there! And we are often fluctuating between them in this life. For them to say that this is why you are afraid of certain things is similarly not enlightening. Mental baggage has many causes, some of them may be related to experiences in past lives, though it’s doubtful. For example fear of darkness is something most people have (though most learn to control it). This is actually because their nature is sat-chit-ananda. Your nature is existence-consciousness-bliss, so you hate/fear those things opposed to it, ie. death-ignorance-sorrow. These things only exist in our conception of them, not in regards to the Atman. However, we inherently reject these conceptions because they are opposed to our nature. When one is not clear about the truth, this opposition can manifest on the level of the subtle body as fear. Thus, most of us are afraid of the dark because it means they are ignorant of their surroundings. So… I guess that was a long winded answer, but I hope it clears some things up. Alot of people don’t understand these ideas, so they often mistakenly interpret these passages from the Puranas. I’m guessing the person you talked to was doing exactly that. People who tell others about their past lives would be much better served telling them the truth about their current ones. -D Dilip Goswami Fri, 07 Apr 2006 00:00:00 EDT http://www.hscsamskar.com/blogs/2/Interview-with-Swami-Dayananda-Saraswati An interview with Swami Dayananda Saraswati can be found here: http://www.wie.org/j14/dayananda.asp?page=2 The interviewer comes with a particular perspective and at times he seems to misunderstand Swamiji, but the interview brings up some important and interesting topics nonetheless. Selected excerpts: "But I don't think advaita is only in the Vedas; I think it's everywhere—wherever there is the idea, "You are the Whole." That is advaita, whether it is in Sanskrit, Latin or Hebrew. But the advantage in Vedanta is that it can be taught and it is taught. We have created a teaching tradition, and it has grown. Whereas in America, when suddenly people turn vegetarian, for example, all that they have is tofu and alfalfa and a few other things, because there's no tradition of vegetarian cooking. It takes time. You can't create a tradition overnight!" "Q: Why is it that you feel the study of the scriptures, rather than spiritual experience, is the most direct means to Self-realization? A: Self-realization, as I said, is the discovery that "the Self is the whole"—that you are the Lord; in fact, you are God, the cause of everything. Now nobody lacks the experience of advaita, of that which is nondual—there's always advaita. But any experience is only as good as one's ability to interpret it. A doctor examining you interprets your condition in one way, a layperson in another. Therefore, you need interpretation, and your knowledge is only as valid as the means of knowledge you are using for that purpose. As the small self, we have no means of knowledge for the direct understanding of Self-realization, and therefore Vedanta is the means of knowledge that has to be employed for that purpose. No other means of knowledge will work because, for this kind of knowledge, our powers of perception and inference alone are not sufficient. So I find that by itself there is nothing more dumb than experience in this world. In fact, it is experience that has destroyed us." " First, you have an insight that is knowing, and then, as difficulties arise, we take care of them. I don't say it is not a matter of experience, but I say that experience is always the very nature of yourself. Consciousness is experience, and every experience reveals the fact of your being Self-evident. And what is Self-evident is, by definition, nondual. So subject and object are already the same. Here is a wave, for instance, that has a human mind. It thinks, "I am a small wave." Then it becomes a big wave, swallowing in the process many other waves, and begins boasting, "I am a big wave." Then it loses its form, and again becomes small—files a "Chapter Thirteen," as you say in America, you know, bankruptcy—and now it wants to somehow get to the shore. But from the shore, other waves are pushing into the ocean, and from the ocean, waves are pushing to the shore, and this poor little wave is caught in between, sandwiched, and begins crying, "What shall I do?" There is another wave around, a wave that seems to be very happy, and so the first wave asks him, "How come you are so happy? You also are small—in fact, you are smaller than me! How come you are so happy?" Then another wave says, "He's an enlightened wave." Now the first wave wants to know, "What is enlightenment? What is this enlightenment?" The happy wave says, "Hey, come on! You should know who you are!" "All right. Who am I?" And the enlightened wave says, "You are the ocean." "What?! Ocean? Did you say that I am the ocean, because of all the water by which I am sustained and to which I will go back? That ocean I am?" "Yes, you are the ocean." And he laughs. "How can I be the ocean? That's like saying I am God. The ocean is almighty, it's all-pervasive, it's everything. How can I be the ocean?" So we can dismiss Vedanta's statement of the non dual reality, or we can ask, "How come? How come I am That?" The nondual teaching is not necessary if our identity is obvious, if what is apparent to us is not a difference but an essential nondifference. Here, there is nondifference. There is no wave without water, and there is no ocean without water. Every other wave, and the whole ocean too, is one water alone." "Q:In fact, if people would say that they wanted to leave their family and take sannyas, he would discourage that. A: Every sannyasi will say the same thing, because otherwise all those people would end up in the ashram! Certainly I would say the same thing in this case, because anybody who says, "I want to give up everything," has got a problem. Q: Why? A: Because he's doubtful! If he were not doubtful he would have left already; he wouldn't have come and asked me. Because the mango fruit, when it is ripe, falls down; it doesn't ask, "Shall I fall down?" Ramana was not dumb; he knew exactly what he had to say. If I were he, do you know what I would have said? I would advise the person, "Hey, come on, you need not change anything. Be where you are; it's a change of vision." Even Shankara would say the same thing. Shankara had only four disciples. He traveled up and down this country on foot, which means he met thousands of people, yet he had only four disciples! That means he was advising everybody, "Stay where you are." Dilip Goswami Thu, 06 Apr 2006 00:00:00 EDT http://www.hscsamskar.com/blogs/1/The-Many-Wines The Many Wines by Jelaluddin Rumi, deals with the different forms of happiness, but recommends only the limitless, the bliss of God. How do we get it? Satsang - by drinking from the prescence of the realized masters. The Many Wines by Jelaluddin Rumi God has given us a dark wine so potent that, drinking it, we leave the two worlds. God has put into the form of hashish a power to seize the taster from self consciousness. God has made sleep so that it erases all thought. God made Majnun love Laila so much that just her dog would cause confusion in him. There are thousands of wines that can take over our minds. Don’t think all ecstasies are the same! Jesus was lost in his love for God. His donkey was drunk with barley. Drink from the prescence of saints, not from those other jars. Every object, every being, is a jar full of delight. Be a connoiseur, and taste with caution. Any wine will get you high, judge like a king, and choose the purest. the ones unadulterated with fear, or some urgency about “what’s needed.” Dilip Goswami Thu, 06 Apr 2006 00:00:00 EDT