[Prev][Next][Index][Thread]
Re: Angkor Wat: Temple relief Heaven & Hell
-
To: soc-religion-hindu@uunet.uu.net
-
Subject: Re: Angkor Wat: Temple relief Heaven & Hell
-
From: nnyxsi@ny.ubs.com (Kunal Singh)
-
Date: 22 Apr 1996 20:18:28 GMT
-
In-Reply-To: ###Withheld_on_User_Request###@cs.uml.edu's message of 18 Apr 1996 18:02:05 GMT
-
Newsgroups: soc.religion.hindu
-
Organization: Union Bank of Switzerland, New York site
-
References: <4kh0r7$e91@babbage.ece.uc.edu> <4l602t$dmh@babbage.ece.uc.edu>
-
Resent-Date: Mon, 22 Apr 1996 22:26:41 -0700 (MST)
-
Resent-From: Ajay Shah <ajay@mercury.aichem.arizona.edu>
-
Resent-Message-Id: <Pine.ULT.3.90.960422222641.1604K@mercury.aichem.arizona.edu>
-
Resent-To: ghen@netcom.com
In article <4l602t$dmh@babbage.ece.uc.edu> ###Withheld_on_User_Request###@cs.uml.edu (###Withheld_on_User_Request###) writes:
In article <4kh0r7$e91@babbage.ece.uc.edu>, binkj000@goofy.zdv.uni-mainz.de (Jochen Bink) writes:
.. stuff deleted ..
|> Where does Heaven and Hell fit into Hinduism?
.. stuff deleted ..
I have the same doubt myself.
I believe that the concepts of Heaven and Hell are later additions to Hinduism.
..stuff deleted ..
The concepts of heaven and hell were actually earlier ideas in
Hinduism present since the times of Indra. These concepts were later
questioned and even Vishnu was not able to defend the concepts of
heaven and hell. Eventually, the concept of heaven and hell lost out
in Hinduism due to the philosophers (quite a few of them Shaivite)
raising such questions as:
1) Why would God allow sin to be committed in a universe controlled
by him? If it was under his control he could certainly disable it and
if it wasn't completely under his control then he isn't God.
2) The issue of what constitutes good karma and bad karma and who decides
this.
3) With the increasing acceptance of determinism, or destiny, the notion
of sin becomes further unsupportable, as one becomes destined to sin.
4) When one realizes God, does it matter what his balance sheet says about
how many good karma vs how many bad karma credits he has had ?
5) Why doesn't a heaven or hell ever fill up with this constant flow of
people to one or the other ?
In the end, with the increasing emphasis of consciousness in Hinduism
-- which started with investigations of the material cycles in the
Upanishads, discovered the faulty nature of perception and then
reason, and then decided to focus on consciousness -- the concept of
heaven and hell could no longer be supported. Thus if you do not
attain to the Brahman, you just remain ATTACHED to the material world
and its many delusions, and that is considered worse than any hell.
And if you do attain to the Brahman, you have attained the supreme
understanding of the universe, then you become free from the arrows of
fate. And thus you attain "moksha" or in the Buddhist terminology
"nirvana." You assume a state of total neutrality by attaining the
supreme understanding. Then you perform your karma for the sake of
destiny and become free from the fears and doubts of possible results.
