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Heaven and Hell

I was in Bangalore recently and visited a Shiva 'Temple', built adjoining the Kemp Fort shopping mall on Airport Road. I put 'Temple' in quotes because it all seemed like a scam to me, a way to earn money from tourists.

There is an exhibition of tableaus depicting the 12 Jyotirling. You have to pay 10 Rs. to get in and see it. Each one (about the size of an average aquarium) has a sculpture of the idol at the respective temple and a plate describing the 'importance' of the place. The first tableau, on Mahakaleshwar in Ujjain, states that 'Visiting this temple guarantees that you will attain Moksha and go to heaven.'

This statement got me so angry I barely paid attention to the rest of the tableaux. 'Heaven'? 'Hell'? What kind of foolishness is this? How can any logical-minded person believe that there are two vast worlds, with enough space for everyone who has ever lived, populated by other beings intent on keeping all who live there happy or tortured for all eternity? I personally cannot think of anything that would keep me happy for all eternity. I'd get bored of being unable to die in a few hundred years or so.

There is a much more logical explanation of Heaven and Hell. Assuming that we agree to the basic thesis that there is something within a living body that does not die with the physical body, we need to think of a place where this eternal component could go to. If you don't, of course, this discussion is stillborn.

As I mentioned before, the idea of having a omniscient, all-knowing being in a white beard, who makes decisions of whether a person should go to Heaven or Hell is ridiculous. This stuff is more suited to describing Santa Claus. So then, what happens when you live a 'good' life? [We'll come back to the definition of a 'good' life later] Or, what consequences do you suffer on living an 'evil' life? Let us skip the bit about the 'deciding factor' for now, let's just say that the sorting happens somehow.

The best definition of 'Heaven' that I can come up with is : A happy life. That is, if you live the 'good' life, when you start your next one, you will get a generally happy life. You will marry the girl of your dreams. Your kids will drink Glucose-D and bring home Athletics prizes. Your boss will appreciate the work you do. And you will always reach the junction when there is a green light.

And a definition of 'Hell' : A miserable life. If you lived an 'Evil' life, then when you're born, your face will turn the midwife sick. No shampoo will cure your dandruff. Your wife won't know how to cook. Your kids will leave you in your old age. And you will keep trying your luck at the Employment Exchange all your life, with no result.

This is pretty much all there is to it. You always have a chance to improve your life. An intelligent person could potentially turn his 'hellish' life into heaven, and vice versa.

And whether you are in 'Heaven' or 'Hell', there is always a higher state to go to - that of not existing at all. 'Moksha'. Or rather, of aligning your consciousness to the Supreme Being, the 'VishwaPurush', so closely that you stop existing as a separate individual. That is the only goal worth striving for.

The Characteristics of God

So now you have a workable definition of God. To put a bit of context on it, imagine yourself as a cell in a human body. You are a part of the body, no doubt, and even contribute to the nature of the body, but you are not the body. Nor do the characteristics you use to define yourself and your neighbouring cells be used to describe the whole body. In the same way, the characteristics of God are on a different scale entirely from human characteristics.

So what do you use to describe God, and to comprehend Him? You can't say things like "He is Kind", or "He is Powerful" or "He sees everything", because these descriptions bring Him down to the scale of humans, and we lose the God-level qualities we want to examine.

What people did, was to take these qualities and bring them down to a comprehensible level. The qualities themselves got anthromorphosized in the process, but that couldn't be helped. Let's take an example.

One of the characteristics of God is, "God Exists". By our Universal Set definition, this means that every entity we know also exists on one plane or the other. Now, to better describe this characteristic, you anthromorphosize it, give it a name: Vishnu. Whatever features Vishnu has are basically symbolic references to this characteristic of Existing.

Let's take one more: "Everything which is within God ends at some point in time." And give this one a name : Shiva. To make things easier to understand, Shiva just gets called 'The God of Destruction', and all the qualities of Ending get assigned to Him. Ever noticed how, when things end - lives, projects, dreams, places, ideas - there is a kind of cruel grace to the end? A
kind of - dare we say it - Dance to them? Notice how, the End of one thing contains within it the Seed of the birth of a new beginning? You might say, perhaps, that the Child of the End is the Beginning. Maybe that is why the Seed of the Beginning, within Shiva, is worshipped. The Beginning (another characteristic of God) can be personified in two ways. Let me take one of
them, and call it Ganesha. Always remember that a good beginning is one that remembers all the past (like an Elephant, let us say).
I hope this conveys some of the idea. Separating the symbolism from the ritual is a very complicated task, compounded by the fact that we are dealing with millenia of mutations of the philosophies. That was necessary, because everyone picks up what he can understand, and treats it as the entire body of religion.

A convenient definition of God

One half of your troubles in life could be avoided if only you knew for sure whether God exists. The problem is, no one today knows for sure what God looks like; everyone uses the narrow Anthromorphic definitions, which raise more questions than they answer. What you need to do is use a definition that suits your preconceptions, yet can be proven to exist.

This requires a mathematical concept. I’m sure you’ve learned Set Theory in school. Do you remember something called the Universal Set?

The Universal Set is the set of all things, persons, thoughts, that have been or might be. Include all of existence as you know it. Can you see all this as one Entity?

This Entity, which contains everything you know within it, is God as the Hindu philosophy defines him. This, as you can see, is a matter of definition and not of existence. And there is no way to deny the existence of such a God.

In fact, God exists in the overlapping region between definition through existence, and existence because of definition. So the correct answer to the question, “Do you believe God exists?” or “Do you believe God lives in you?” or “You really think God exists in every blade of grass?” is to say, “Yes, that is the way I define it.”

To take a related example. You, or maybe your parents, defined your name. Now if I ask you, “You believe your name is X, and everyone you know also believes that. But is that really your name?” You’d be confused. The name and you map together because of definition. So it is with God and our definition of him.

It is as a wise man said, “Belief is like a path through the forest. The path did not exist before all the people chose it, and walked it.” Just as most of basic mathematics is a matter of definition, to make all the kids use the same numerical and notational conventions, a lot of religion is just a set of conventions that gather believability from belief.

An Introduction

There is only one way to achieve true peace: realize your place in the world, understand the value of your life, and know that the world gives you the chance to live every dream you have. Hindu Dharma ('Hinduism') is a philosphy developed on a subcontinent teeming with people; it has evolved in order to enable a crowded society to exist in peace. Take from its tenets whatever you find useful and relevant. If there was something that suited every one of its billion inhabitants, there will be something that you can use.