Where is Heaven…!

Every person creates his own heaven and hell. A disciple once asked his murshid, 'Pray, Murshid, let me see heaven in a vision.' The murshid said, 'Go into the next room, child, and sit and close your eyes and you will see heaven.' The mureed went into the next room and sat in meditation. He saw in his vision a large area but nothing else. There were no rivers of honey and seas of milk, nor bricks of ruby, nor roofs of diamonds. He went to his murshid and said, 'Thank you, Murshid. Now I have seen heaven, I should like to see hell.' The murshid said, 'Very well; do the same again.' The disciple went into the next room and sat in his meditation, and again he saw a large area, but nothing in it, no snakes, no fire, no devils, nor cruel animals, nothing. He went to the murshid and said, 'I saw an area, but again there was nothing in it.' The murshid said, 'Child, did you expect that the rivers of honey and the seas of milk would be there, or the snakes or the fire in hell? No. There is nothing there. You will have to take everything from here. This is the place to gather everything, either the delights of heaven or the fires of hell.'

When Jesus said that the Kingdom of heaven is at hand, he should have meant that it is so in space and time that it is here and now. He was asking us to make heaven on earth. He was teaching us how to enjoy happiness, joy and peace on earth. But is this possible? How can we build heaven on earth? I certainly feel that we can and that we must try. He had given us the instructions or guidelines for doing so. His teachings are full of these.

True happiness is when you live "with malice towards none and charity for all." If you are radiating love to all, if you do not envy or hate anyone or bear malice to anyone, then you really are in a state of happiness and peace, which is ‘heaven’. Heaven is happiness and peace. Here on earth you can enjoy happiness and peace if you live in a state of universal love. What is universal love? Many people around us are very much unlikable and only few are ‘lovable’ characters. Even as you disapprove of and dislike what they do or how they behave, you must never once stop loving them. It is not enough not to hate. You cannot be indifferent to others even. "To love" is a positive command.

People tend to think of the soul or spirit as beginning its life after one’s death. They forget that the soul is a living entity and that it is "alive’ that it needs nourishment and growth. This is the essence of the concept of spiritual life. This is not meant for ascetics or those in monasteries or nunneries. Spiritual life is for everybody and is not meant for certain days or hours of the week either. It must not be divorced from everyday life.

Even if the spirit is alive, it is often imprisoned or under bondage. The soul is often compared to a bird that is at home while soaring high up in the skies or heavens. Attachments to the worldly matters, to wealth and power, are the bondages that prevent the spirit from taking off for its flight. These are the walls that imprison the soul. This is why Jesus advised us against ‘storing up treasures on earth’, for according to him "your heart will be where your treasures are". Buddha also has something similar to say in this regard, "It is not life, wealth or power that enslaves men," he says, "It is cleaving to life, wealth and power". Once you are free of such attachments you can experience heavenly happiness here on earth. Non-attachment does not mean renunciation. You can possess wealth, power or friendship as long as you are not tied down to them. You must learn to live in the world without being part of it. The idea of contentment and non-attachment is embodied in the words of Jesus, "Blessed are the poor in spirit". And in this first declaration on the Sermon on the Mount he adds the reward for this mode of life, "For theirs is the kingdom of heaven". He hadn’t said anything about this reward being after one’s death. It is heaven on earth that he talks of. And those who make heaven on earth will enjoy heaven in the next life as well. In the same way we may assume that those who make, here on earth, hell for themselves and others are the candidates to fill the vacancies in hell.

The equivalent of the Christian concept of salvation or kingdom of heaven, in Hinduism is the concept of Moksha or liberation – liberation from the bondages of the perishable body, liberation from the cycle of births and deaths. This liberation or Moksha is complete only with the ultimate union with God. There are different paths (marga) or means (Yoga) of attaining this goal. These are the paths of action (karma), devotion (bhakthi), spiritual knowledge (jnana), and the great ascetic progress (raja).

One is born alone and one dies alone; one crosses alone the difficulties one meets with, and one alone encounters whatever misery falls to one’s lot. One has really no companion in these acts. The father, the mother, the brother, the son, the preceptor, kinsmen, relatives, and friends, leaving the dead body as if it were a piece of wood or a clod of earth, after having mourned for only a moment, all turn away from it and proceed to their own concerns. Only righteousness follows the body that is thus abandoned by them all. Hence, it is plain, that Righteousness is the only friend and that Righteousness only should be sought by all.

One endued with righteousness would attain to that high end which is constituted by heaven. If endued with unrighteousness, he goes to hell. Hence, the man of intelligence should always seek to acquire religious merit through wealth won by lawful means. Piety is the one only friend which creatures have in the world hereafter.

Piety, wealth and pleasure, - these three constitutes the fruit of life. One should acquire these three by means of being free from impropriety and sin.

Heaven is for the pious whose virtues were for this end, and hell is for the wicked who themselves have kindled its fire. The Sufi says, 'I am beyond both. Happy in the arms of the eternal peace. Neither can the joy of heaven tempt me, nor can the fire of hell touch me, for I have embraced the bliss and have kissed the curse, and have been raised above life's joys and sorrows.'

Of course, no soul will remain in heaven or hell forever. It is a gradual process of dissolving in the ocean of the eternal Being the remainder of the individual being. It is this state which is called Pulserat, or purgatory.