Question about Hell

October 31, 2004

Hare Krishna!

Please excuse some ignorant neophyte questions from a western/christian point of view.

Could anyone tell me a little about the vedic conception of hell please? Is vedic idea of hell more akin to the christian idea of 'purgatory' that was about in the middle ages, where sinful souls are were punished for their sins and crimes, but are then purified by their suffering, as opposed to an being put in a everlasting hell?

From a vedic viewpoint would these souls then be given another chance of life through reincarnation, to try and get it 'right' and find their way back to God ?

Is it that when we die, and our false ego is stripped away and we have to look honestly at ourselves, and if we have behaved very badly, eg hurting others, we make our own hell, torturing ourselves with our regrets ?

Where is hell by the way ? (Not that I want to go there!)

If we turn to God and pray, chant/meditate etc, and try to live a reasonably decent life, will we avoid hell, despite our misdeeds commited before we turned to God?

My understanding is that Krishna will burn up our karma when we truly turn to him. If we turn away from God for some reason, will we start accumulating karma again?

Please excuse my ignorance..

My humble obeisances to all neophytes and devotees

Harebol,

Mark

sumedh · October 31, 2004

Hare Krishna and dandavat pranam

Is vedic idea of hell more akin to the christian idea of 'purgatory' that was about in the middle ages, where sinful souls are were punished for their sins and crimes, but are then purified by their suffering, as opposed to an being put in a everlasting hell?

Almost so, just that instead of purification in Vedic concept it means fruits of previous sinful activities (and so after the period in hell being free from them); just as sinful activities are material so also is the "purification" and cannot compare to purification due to devotional service. In other words, as such no benefit is there for the living entity in such a "purification".

The descriptions of various hellish planets and their location are given in Srimad Bhagavatam 5.26 (e.g. http://srimadbhagavatam.com/5/26/en)

When the period stipulated for punishment is over, the living being then take bodies (reincarnates) in accordance with its level of consciousness. In the words of Lord Chaitanya and all acharyas, these circles for living entities in this material world has been going for billions of billions of births (yes, all of us have been to hells innumerable number of times).

Is it that when we die, and our false ego is stripped away and we have to look honestly at ourselves, and if we have behaved very badly, eg hurting others, we make our own hell, torturing ourselves with our regrets ?

No, this is not the way it works (though some philosophers interpret things this way, it is condemned by Acharyas). The material nature punishes or rewards us accordingly. Why on earth would anyone subject oneself to such huge tortures only due to some regrets; everyone wants to be happy no ???

If we turn to God and pray, chant/meditate etc, and try to live a reasonably decent life, will we avoid hell, despite our misdeeds commited before we turned to God?

Much, much more than that. Since we have been in material from time immemorial, our accumulated karma (prarabdha) is also very, very large and by the calculation of visiting heavens/hells/other bodies will take time immemorial (and meantime we will have more karma and so on). Taking the shelter of Lord, not only frees one from all this but is gradually elevated to the spiritual platform; chanting offenselessly even once makes us liberated -- one of the glories of Holy Name.

If someone turns away from God after taking His shelter, the Lord will bring him to His shelter sooner or later. Lord Krishna says that an unsuccessful yogi takes birth in the family of pious persons where he continues the previous endeavour with greater determination. The verdict of all is that even a small effort will save us from the greatest danger (of entering into the circle of birth-death in this material world).

This was the subject of enquiry of King Pariskshit after hearing about the hells from SB 6.1 http://srimadbhagavatam.com/6/1/en

Anyway, devotees don't worry about these things (or any other material consideration) since they have surrendered to Krishna. There is a nice story related to this.

Once Lord Krishna was (pretended to be) ill, so much that all physicians and others could not know the reason. Sri Narada Muni came to see the lotus feet of Lord. When he came to know of this, he asked Sri Krishna of the cure of the disease. Sri Krishna replied that there was only one cure -- to bring the dust from feet of His pure devotee. Sri Narada was perplexed and could not imagine giving the dust of feet to the Lord. He inquired from all in Dwarka and no one consented to do this. When Sri Krishna was informed of this, He asked Narada to go to Vraja dhama where he will be able to get it. Sri Narada went to Vrindavana and asked for dust of feet, then everyone was ready to give saying 'O, my Krishna is ill and needs it, please take it quickly'. Sri Narada then enquired that were they not afraid to do this as one may even go the hell for such imputence. 'We have been there innumerable number of times. What difference will it make if we go there once more for Krishna' was the reply. Overwhelmed, Sri Narada first put the dust on himself.

(I have not got the exact story and the quotes are from my side only, so please forgive me for putting "words in their mouths")

Parabrahman · October 31, 2004

In this web site it will explain where the heavens of krishna are, where brahma loka is, where the demi gods rest, where hell is, what goes down in all these planets and things like that. its a bit confusing but it explains everything

http://www.veda.harekrsna.cz/planetarium/index.htm