Time spent laughing is time spent with the Gods. - Japanese Proverb

The Hindu Concept of Heaven and Hell

Gyan Rajhans P. Eng.

Basically there are two views of heaven and hell according to the Hindu scholars. One point of view suggests that there is no such place as hell or heaven, where you go after you die. Both heaven and hell are on this earth while you are living. Based on your past karmas you create your own hell and heaven in this life. If you are leading a miserable life, you are in hell. If you have all the amenities of life and have achieved inner peace, you are in heaven.

Another point of view refers to the Vedas, Upanishads, the Bhagvad Gita and the Puranas (see my article on the Immensity of Hindu Scriptures in October and November issues ) and suggests that heaven or hell is situated somewhere up there. The king of gods, Indra reigns in heaven and the Lord of death, Yama rules hell.

What’s heaven like?

Swami Shivananda of Rishikesh, India described heaven based on the Puranas:

“The heaven of the Hindus is a place where the departed souls go to reap the fruits of their virtuous deeds. They remain there for some time till the fruits of their virtuous actions are exhausted. Then they come back to this world. They eat in heaven the divine feasts of the Shining Ones or the Devas. They move in celestial cars. Indra is the Lord of heaven or Svarga. Various kinds of Devas (gods) dwell here. Celestial damsels like Urvasi, Rambha dance here. The Gandharvas sing. There is no disease here. There is no trouble of hunger and thirst. The inhabitants are endowed with a brilliant subtle body. They are adorned with shining garments. Heaven is a thought-world, a realm of intense ideations. Whatever one wishes, he gets it at once, by immediate materialization. So it is a happier world than the earth-plane.”

What’s hell like?

Again based on the Puranas and other Hindu Scriptures, Swami Shivananda wrote:

“Hindu Puranas have been very clear on the question of heaven and hell. Writers of law-books or Smritis (see my article on the Immensity of Hindu Scriptures in October and November issues ), like Yajnavalkya and Vishnu, have given serious description of the various hells and the various pleasures of heaven. Yogi Yajnavalkya mentions 21 hells in his law book, viz., Raurava, Kumbhipaka, Maharaurava, Tamisra, Andha Tamisra, etc. The author of Vishnu Smriti also has written the same thing. A hell is a region of sharp, severe, intense pain. The evil-doers suffer for a period. Bad action is worked out in that state and then the evil-doers come back to earth-plane. They get another chance. 

The Ruler of Hell is Lord Yama. He is assisted by Chitragupta. Hell is a particular locality which is walled off from the surrounding regions of space by the messengers of Yama. Sinners get a thick body called ‘Yatana-Deha’ when they are punished. The punishment in hell is not remembered by the soul when it is reborn. The punishment in hell is reformatory and educative. The permanent educative effect remains in conscience. The innate fear which some souls feel at the sight of temptation of sin is due to the finer development of conscience in the furnace of hell-fire. This is the permanent gain acquired by the soul. The soul is reborn with keener conscience after being purified by hell-fire. He can make better use of his faculties in the next birth.” 

Fundamental Difference

Although the above descriptions of heaven and hell very much resemble like their descriptions in the western religions, there is one fundamental difference. Hindu heaven or hell is not a final dwelling place for an individual soul as stated in the western religions. After the term of good or bad deeds are over, even the most pious or the most evil person is turned out of heaven or hell as the case may be to once again participate in the cycle of reincarnation until he or she reaches moksha or liberation from the endless chain of deaths and rebirths.

Attainment of Heaven and Hell

Although several Hindu scriptures refer to the gateways to heaven and hell by good and bad deeds, I will quote here only the Bhagvad Gita that I have studied for the last 26 years while presenting my Gita discourses in Bhajanawali (www.bhajanawali.com).  

Gita, 6:41 says:

“The unsuccessful yogi, after many, many years of enjoyment on the planets of the pious living entities, is born into a family of righteous people, or into a family of rich aristocracy.”

In the above shloka “the planets of the pious living entities” means heaven where doers of meritorious deeds go. But that heaven is not eternal. When the merit capital which took that person there is exhausted, the person comes back to the human world, and is reborn in a pure and prosperous family. Thus, he or she starts the life’s journey once again, where he or she had left off. Nothing of what he or she has done is lost.

Gita, 14:14 says:

“When one dies in the mode of goodness, he attains to the pure higher planets of the great sages.”

What the above shloka implies is that there are different kinds of planets for different kinds of living entities. Those who die in the mode of goodness are elevated to the planets where great sages and great devotees live.

Gita, 16:16 says:

“Thus perplexed by various anxieties and bound by a network of illusions, they become too strongly attached to sense enjoyment and fall down into hell.” and

Gita, 16:21 says:

“There are three gates leading to this hell—lust, anger and greed. Every sane man should give these up, for they lead to the degradation of the soul.”

What the above shlokas are saying is that if a man or woman wants to avoid hell, he or she must try to give up lust, anger and greed, which can kill the self to such an extent that there will be no possibility of liberation from this material entanglement.

[Gyan Rajhans, an internationally recognized health & safety professional has been broadcasting the only non-commercial Vedic religion radio program in North America since 1981 & worldwide web cast on www.bhajanawali.com since 1999. Mr. Rajhans has published extensively on religious and spiritual matters. Some articles are available on the Bhajanawali web site. He has translated Sri Mad Bhagvad Gita in English for the younger generation. Mr. Rajhans has been conferred various titles, including that of Rishi by Hindu Prarthana Samaj of Toronto Hindu Ratna by Hindu Federation of Toronto. He received an award  for 2005 in the Internet category - Opinion - for his Spirituality columns in South Asian Outlook e-Monthly, from  Canadian Journalists' and Writers' Club (CEJWC), now re-named as Canadian Ethnic Media Association.]

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