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Re: What happens after enlightenment?
R. Chada (rchada@blue.weeg.uiowa.edu) wrote:
: In article <47ost4$lf1@babbage.ece.uc.edu>,
: Ken Stuart <kstuart@snowcrest.net> wrote:
: ><susarla.krishna@studentserver1.swmed.edu> elucidated:
Dear Friends:
The reference that we should be talking about is this verse from the
Srimad Bahgavad Gita.
Vedeshu yajneshu tapahsu choiva dAneshu yat punyafalam pradishtam.
Atyeti tat sarvamidam viditva yogi param sthanamupeiti chadyam. 8.28
(Yogi knows (viditva) the indicated (pradistam) benefits of virtues
(punyafalam) from Vedas, yajnas, meditations, giftings, and exceeds
(atyeti) all these (tat idam sarvam) and recieves (upeiti) the * ultimate
place * (param sthanam) that was there from the beginning (adyam).
The receipt of the ultimate place is unrelated to creation, since it was
there from the beginning, therfore it is not likely to be a physical
place (since physicality happened after creation). The place svarga-loka
is where the angels live is generally called the heaven, but heaven does
not appear to be the 'ultimate place'. It appears that the ultimate place
is devoid of physicality, and indeed, it has been variously 'param padam'
elsewhere in the SBG and also in several RigVedic verses, for example,
Om tadvishnoh paramam padam sada pashyanti surayah, diviva chakshuratatam.
This paramam padam is the goal. In the Bible, the book of revelation
tells us that heaven is very much a physical place. That is the only
apparent difference. Otherwise, in the parama-pada, one lives in the
company of God, as described in the Bible.
With best regards,
Dhruba.
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