It is God who encompasses everything including the so called hell and heaven, not other way around. And the same One God who encompasses everything resides within our bosom as well. Also, we are told by the scriptures that God has created man in His True Image. Therefore, any hell and heaven that reside in God must also reside here within us! Thus, imagining or believing the notion that hell or heaven is mere futuristic and otherworldly existence is a creation of man’s inconsistent understanding of these terms. Whatever is there yonder is also here within! Therefore, what ever is up there must be demonstrated here on this earth; otherwise it has no meaning! Man has made his life so complicated that he wants more complexity, because he is not contented with simplicity. As a result, so many religions have come into existence with their own complex adherents and antagonists! Although most of these religions often start good but later turn bad, and fork up in many sects when they fall in the hands of those who want name and gain. Unfortunately, in some sects of these religions, though not all, God is portrayed as vengeful. Accordingly, the distinction between hell and heaven is so predominant that it causes fears and mental conflicts; resulting in unmeaning rites, rituals, ceremonies, paths, and beliefs; creating fake fear of hell and death, and expectation of some far-off heavens, and so on. To put it in simple language, heaven is higher Spiritual state of consciousness, and hell is a lower state of consciousness. To put it in simple terms, the enlightened mind is its own heaven whereas the unenlightened mind its own hell. Therefore, hell and heaven are here and now. They are not at some other time or other place. Neither they are after death phenomena; for they are not post-mortem states! In other words, there is no futuristic and otherworldly hell or heaven up there which is not in the man here and now. If we can understand the hidden symbolism in these terms, only then we can appreciate their inner meanings. However, unfortunately, majority of us get stuck to symbols only! It’s like remembering gifts, but not the giver! Man’s false ego or depraved mind gives him doubt fear and worry and keeps him unaware of that Truth beyond it. The role of egoistic mind in the play, therefore, is to keep the person in the dark and in the past. As revealed in the scriptures, man’s this egoity is responsible for his repeated birth and death. Owing to our lower or animal consciousness, the suffering resulting from this vicious cycle of repeated pain and delusion has been termed as hell. What is it that leads us to enter hellish life? It is our lower or animal nature. The scriptures tell us that our false ego-sense begets lust. If this lust becomes fulfilled, it breeds greed. On the other hand, if this lust remains unfulfilled, it manifests into anger. These perverted offspring of ego-sense are said to be the doorways through which man enters hellish life or Spiritual oblivion, hear and now. Simply put: hellish life is nothing but degradation of our Soul-qualities. Quraan calls it the state of animal Soul. The Spiritual Being turns away from these portals of darkness both within and without. Heaven is a mental state of no pain or no anxiety. Like hell, this state is also not positive or permanent; because once the experience is over, the experiencer falls down to earthly or material consciousness. Thus, the hell, heaven, heavenly kingdom, or Supreme Bliss is by no means a far-off thing to be experienced after death, but a very present reality fully existent in all of us this very moment. There are people on this earth today who are living in heaven, and there are also those who are living in hellish states as well. In other words, we go to hell or heaven on a daily basis, depending on the states of our minds! Therefore, our scriptures tell us that we do not have to wait till death to realize the outcome of the results of our Karma, for its all here and now!
