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