In the blunder world of paap n punya.. (paap means sin or sinful deeds, while punya is virtuosity or virtuous/good deeds that pay good dividends now or in the long run)
Every religion has set its own moral codes on the Do's and Don'ts to be followed by its adherents; the basic purpose of these tenets or rather "rules of good behavior" are to ensure the orderly progress of mankind , without creating undue or harsh friction or quarrels among one's own family members and in the society. The authors, to make sure that people followed them, warned the rule-breakers of retribution or severe punishment in this life or later in their afterlife e.g. the wrong-doers could be dispatched to the hell, or worse, mercilessly deep-fried in boiling oil in a kadhai (vanali/chinchatti)!! In other words, their attempts were to put the fear of God into the minds and souls of ordinary mortals, so they dared not stray from the straight and narrow path of being good men and women. This paap-and-its-punishment-in-Hell ploy was good enough to deter the simple folks back then, say prior to the 6th century A.D. Since these fears were instilled, nay drilled, into young minds, they lasted a lifetime, too.
The tales from our mythologies also taught the moral that good always triumphed over evil forces.
See, Homo sapiens existed at least 200,000 years before any of the religion and its Supreme Being, God, were founded. It therefore goes that the concept of Heaven and Hell was born in the fertile, imaginative minds of the Creators of our various Gods in the Hindu pantheon. And when there is no Hell, how can anyone or his/her soul be consigned to God-forsaken place, let alone be punished there? Moreover, when the soul or atma itself is claimed to be formless, how can it be roasted alive or put to other hard labour in the nether world? (I love to take potshots at my religion because, even though most of the followers believe in superstitious mumbo-jumbo and rituals, the they are a somewhat more tolerant lot)
Even those committing gravest of crimes like murders or rapes, leaving aside myriad other relatively less serious ones like mega scams and frauds swindling public money worth lakhs of crores of rupees, are often let off with lighter punishment terra firma, if not allowed to go scot free for want of concrete, clinching proof that stands in the law courts. Those demanding and accepting bribes are to be found in every walk of life and these otherwise God-believers bother themselves little about paaps and the consequences thereof. Or they perform some puja or the other to ward off the effect of their ill-deeds.
Arre mere bhaiyon aur behnon, so long as you lead the life of a good human being, and remain agreeable to the society at large, you may sleep peacefully and enjoy the company of your near and dear ones. And follow the dictum, "if you can't help others, it's ok, but don't harm them at least".
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