Friday 30 September 2016

[www.keralites.net] Heaven or Hell!

 

Heaven or Hell! Both are here.
Create your own HEAVEN within.

Capt. Ravi Mahajan


Right from childhood, our mind is conditioned to think of Heaven or Hell as good and bad places somewhere in the universe or beyond. Heaven is supposed to be 'up there somewhere', where you live in the company of Gods, beautiful winged women (called 'apsaras', 'huurs', 'angels' or 'fairies'), all the good saintly people for company with plenty of goodies to enjoy.


On the other hand, Hell is supposed to be somewhere in those dark alleys deep inside the earth, where all the bad things happen, tough punishments are given (like throwing one in boiling hot oil or mercilessly beaten by big bullies etc.) and where one is supposed to live mostly on starvation diet. Presumption is that while living your life, if you do good deeds, heaven will be your blissful abode after death, while if you do bad deeds, hell is waiting for you. No wonder, umpteen imaginary stories about life there, up above or down there, are in endless circulation.


Incidentally, scientists from across the world have sent human beings or cameras far into the outer space or through submarines,  into the deep seas or have dug deep inside the earth but have found no evidence of anything resembling perceived existence of heaven or hell as described above.  But, both, Heaven or Hell, are very much there, right here within us, in our hearts and minds. We can always feel them, create them and live in the resultant bliss called heaven or frightening painful life called hell. Both are of our own making.


When you analyze life, you will find that two parameters affect our lives. Outer and Inner parameters! Outer parameters are our physical appearance, clothes we wear, money or wealth we have accumulated or materialistic things we own or status compared to others. In fact, all those things which make our life comfortable, filled with worldly pleasures, what we call enjoyments, are all visible. One can always see rich people doing whatever they can to look better, attired in expensive stylish clothes, owning large houses filled to the brim with expensive gadgets in high-end locales, riding in swanky expensive cars and holidaying in exotic places etc. etc. Whatever one aspires for in life, they seem to possess. They are always flush with money. Some of them inherit it, while others have made it. They are mostly vociferous, ostentatious, quite often crude, undignified and impatient, wanting to be seen where ever it matters.


Now let's examine the other parameter which is our inner-self. This parameter is conspicuous by its invisibility. It cannot be seen but only felt. This is the beautiful, happy peaceful inner part full of serenity, contentment, fulfilment and satisfaction. These have invisible positive influence in our lives in the shape of expressions of love, joy, happiness, patience, kindness, compassion, generosity, friendship and forming meaningful relationships generating serenity and tranquility in our lives. When our inner core is filled with these positive virtues, they repulse all negativity and generate exhilaration which, though not visible, gives us a great high in life, makes it more purposeful, a true reality to be cherished.


When we look casually, on the surface, we might be convinced that outer parameters have more influence on our life. They do but mostly negative. People who are predominantly influenced by outer parameters, tend to be egoistic, arrogant, selfish, self-centered, greedy, jealous and envious. They may be rich but are very possessive about things and least generous with the wealth they have. In heart of heart, they remain in the illusion that they shall be able to carry everything with them but since during their entire lifetime, they never got into the habit of giving, they cannot give even at late stage. They remain stingy as earlier. In spite of all their wealth and possessions, they remain miserably poor at heart.


Though there is no evidence of heaven or hell physically present somewhere, but it is possible to create your own heaven within by peace and happiness which can be generated by our innate goodness. Being generous, kind and helpful makes us happy, joyous and satisfied. It is when we spread love and goodness around, both these rebound. To love and be loved is the greatest happiness of existence.


Life is full of 'Contradictions'. Good Bad, Love Hate, Positive Negative, Success Failure, Hope Despair, Vibrant Lethargic are all part of life, same way as Heaven and Hell are. All these are our own creation, within the same mind. For hell, commonly used word is 'miseries'. Yes, we make our life miserable or hellish by embracing negatives, by reacting angrily instead of responding calmly with grace and dignity. We give-in to negativity easily, instead of standing upright and steadfast for positivity.


Lord Krishna, in Gita, says that 'Sukham' (Happiness) is lying within us. Similarly, Bible also says the same thing in other words that kingdom of heaven is within us. Even a small act of kindness, altruism, giving, sharing, empathy takes us towards our goal of happiness creating heaven and peace within us. What we need to do is to get out of self created comfort zones, never letting them hamper our growth both materially and spiritually, since we need to grow on both parameters. Do not ever get used to limiting options since there is unlimited scope, both for happiness and peace in life.   


I would like to relate an imaginary story about hell and heaven, here. Both heaven and hell have the same entry point. A person, after death on earth, reached there at the gates but the lord, after seeing his records, told him that it was by mistake, he died since it was someone else's turn. Hence, he will have to go back to earth. He requested to the lord that before returning to earth, would it be possible to see hell and heaven, since people on earth are very curious about them and would positively ask him what I saw here. His wish was granted and a guard took him to a huge hall. He was made to stand on the balcony of a huge dining hall, which was divided in the middle by dark glass so that nothing was visible from the other side. On both sides, all kind of delicious foods were laid on the tables. This wronged man from earth was confused, as there appeared no difference between hell and heaven. When he pointed it out to the guard, he was told to wait, since it was not lunch time yet.


Suddenly gates of both hell and heaven were opened. He saw people entering both the halls. People entering the left side hall which was heaven, were healthy, well-fed, laughing and well-kept, while on the right side which was hell, people appeared ill-fed, unhealthy with morose and sad faces. On the hell side, virtual hell broke loose as people entered. Everyone was trying to feed himself, snatching and looting things from each other. There was fighting all around and in the commotion, no one was able to eat. In no time, there was chaos all around and tables which were so well laid earlier, had food splattered all over, glasses and plates broken in the melee. The atmosphere there was virtual hell. Allotted half an hour for lunch, soon passed in fighting and people were asked to vacate the premises, most of them without eating. No wonder people were ill-fed and gloomy.  


But in the adjacent hall, things were amazingly different and orderly.  All of them waited till everyone sat down. Then only they started eating together offering each other, laughing and joking, having swell of a time. By giving, sharing and helping each other, they created heavenly atmosphere. In half an hour, everyone enjoyed heavenly food, bonhomie and friendship, exchanging jokes and pleasantries. No food was wasted or spilled. No wonder, everyone was healthy, friendly, enjoying each others' company.  


Such stories, of course, are imaginary but the essence, lessons we should learn, are real. Same person lives in hell when he is selfish, greedy, uncaring, not wanting to share, accumulates and monopolises wealth. He lives in hell when he thinks that with that wealth he can buy all the luxuries, pleasures and good life for himself or his immediate family at the most. He looks the other way, when he sees hungry desolate homeless and hopeless people searching for food in trash containers lying on road. He only thinks of selfish interest, never of general good. Hell is created when one cares more about his outer entities, ignoring inner values.


On the other hand, heaven is created inside through kindness, compassion, altruism, sharing, giving, helping and love. You become a magnetic and pleasant personality to attract others. You are loved and trusted by all whom you meet. You do things individually but for collective good. You reflect goodness, grace and dignity while living in heaven. One does not have to wait till death to go to heaven which can be created within with the right sharing and caring attitude.


Give because you must, help because you want to, share because you love to. Our motive behind all these must be pure, sincere and unselfish. When we give to charity, our object should not be self-aggrandizement or self-promotion. Object should be pure and simple, sharing, giving and helping generously. When we share happiness with others, happiness multiplies manifold. When we are innately good and spread goodness, we find ultimate peace and presence of God within us which in essence, is heaven. In fact, heaven or hell are creation of your own mind as Milton said in 'Paradise Lost', "The mind is it's own place, and in itself can make a heaven of hell or hell of heaven". ●


Excerpts from 'YOUR QUEST FOR BEING BETTER'.
www.keralites.net

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Posted by: Cool Kis <cooolkis@gmail.com>
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