Tuesday, November 13, 2018

Vedic view on heaven, hell and afterlife

All major religions in the world believes in the concept of final redemption after death. It is the ultimate goal of our lives. Dharmic traditions call it as Mokṣa or Nirvāṇa or Mukti, the eternal release from the endless cycle of death and birth or Saṃsāra. The belief is that after death one will attain Svarga (heaven) or Vaikuṇṭha (Viṣṇu's abode) or Kailāśa (Śiva's abode) or any other realm and union with specific divinities according to the different sects. In this post I shall explain the concept of redemption according to the early Vedic tradition.


According to the early Vedic texts, the man who does good deeds, rituals etc goes to the heaven. Vedas calls heaven by many names such as Div, Vyoma, Dyaus, Svarga etc. It seems that Vedic people visualized the heaven as some realm deep within the sky because these terms are also synonymous the sky.


The heaven in Vedic thought is divided into three realms said in Ṛg Veda  1.35.6. First two heavens are the realms of Savitar or the solar deity. The third and the final realm of heaven is under the God of death, Yama Vaivasvata who is son of the Sun or Vivasvān .
Yama has his two four-eyed dogs to guard the pathway to the heavenly realm as stated in Ṛg Veda  10.14.10-12. He also has a twin sister named Yamī, whom the river Yamuna in northern India is named after and Manu Vaivasvata, the first ancestor of Vedic Aryans is also the brother of Yama as both are sons of Vivasvān or the Sun God. Ṛg Veda  10.14.2 informs Yama was the first mortal to die and discover the imperishable heavenly realm. Ṛg Veda 1.83.5 talks of Yama's 'deathless birth' i.e he got immortality in realm of heaven.


Ṛg Veda  10.165.4 identifies Yama with death itself. Vājasaneyi Saṁhita 39.13 also mentions Yama along with death and the destroyer.  It is possible that Yama had two aspects, first one being the ruler of heavenly realm who is also the guardian of ancestors and granter of immortality, and the second aspect being identified with death itself, as the annihilator.


Yama who was originally regarded as king of heaven gradually became degraded to mere judge of death, and further in later texts he became associated with Naraka or hell. However, he still retained his role as overlord of Dharma or Dharma Raja, and Yama has Iranian counterpart named Yima or Jamshed as he's known in later periods. He is the protector of creation in a mythical compound named Vara and the ruler of paradise. However, just like in Vedic tradition, Yima also gradually became a sinner after he instituted blood sacrifices by sacrificing an ox as stated in Yasna 32.8, an ancient Iranian scripture.


It is interesting to note that Yama is only mentioned once in the core books (books 2-7) of Ṛg Veda  which are considered as the earliest, he is mentioned in hymn 7.33 just twice. This could probably indicate that Yama was originally a latecomer into the Vedic pantheon possibly from tradition of early Iranians or some other early tradition which was parallel to Vedic tradition. It is however important to note that Yama's realm of highest heaven is mentioned may times in the core parts of Ṛg Veda .


The third realm of heaven (Tridiv) or the highest heaven (parame vyoman) is the realm of divinities as said in Ṛg Veda  10.135.1 & 7. Clearly even though Vedic authors viewed this highest heavenly realm as existing deep within the sky as in Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa 8.6.3.19, they also made it something transcendental or mystical. Many verses from Ṛg Veda  speaks of divinities like Agni, Brhaspati, Indra etc taking birth in this supreme heavenly realm as in Ṛg Veda 6.8.2, 4.50.4, 3.32.10 etc. Ṛg Veda 3.32.10 specifically states that Indra took birth in highest heaven and then pervaded from there throughout sky and earth. Highest heaven is the realm where both Sat (existence) and Asat (non-existence) meets as said in Ṛg Veda 10.5.7. It is also the place where Vak ( speech) and Brahman (mystical divine power of the Vedic speech) is united as in Ṛg Veda 1.164.35. Ṛg Veda 7.82.2 mentions all the Gods are in the highest realm of heaven. Further Chandogya Upaniṣad 8.5.3 mentions that the world of Brahman (i.e the supreme absolute cause of the existence) is in third heaven.The famous creation hymn of Ṛg Veda  also 10.129.7 claims that the creator who controls the world is located in the highest realm of heaven.
So without a shed of doubt, this realm is  ethereal and transcendental.


The highest realm of heaven is the deathless, imperishable place where the souls can feel the warmth of their departed Pitr̥-s or ancestors again, who reside with the divinities as said in Ṛg Veda  10.14.8. This realm is filled with everlasting pleasure, freedom, happiness etc as said in Ṛg Veda 9.113.7-11. These verses prays to Indu or Soma, the divine drink to grant immortality in the third or highest heaven. Atharva Veda 12.3.17 states that man will be reunited with his wife and children in  heaven. Verses from Ṛg Veda like 10.16.5 and 10.14.8 talks about gaining a new glorious body in the heaven after the parts of physical body is merged with various elements in the physical realm as in Ṛg Veda 10.16.3. Further Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa 2.6.4.8 says that it is possible to attain union with specific divinities in their world (i.e heaven) by worshiping them.


Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa 10.5.2.3 mentions Puruṣa or alter ego of Prajāpati which is located in the Sun is  both death and immortality. Vājasaneyi Saṁhita 31.18 also compares the color of Puruṣa to that of the Sun. Further Vājasaneyi Saṁhita 23.48 compares the light of the Sun with the light of Brahman. The Vedic authors perhaps knew  that the Sun is an immense source of energy and light, and no life was possible without it. In Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa 10.5.2.8 it is said that the Puruṣa in the Sun is also located in the right eye of human, with it’s female half in the left eye. Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa 10.5.2.16 states that the Puruṣa is one and many, for he is in the Sun, and indeed he is present in everything in the physical world. Also Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa 10.5.2.17 states that the Puruṣa in the Sun is both near and far away, since the Sun is far away from us, the Puruṣa seated in the Sun is located far away, but Puruṣa is also near to us since everything is his manifestation. Thus, the Sun is the seat of the absolute in the manifested realm according to Vedic texts. Prajāpati or manifested Brahman shines forth as the spirit within the Sun in physical realm and is also embodiment of Svarga (in the physical realm) as said in Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa 1.9.3.10.


Now, to gain access to Svarga one must know the true identity of oneself as narrated in Jaiminīya Brāhmaṇa 1.17-18. It is stated that after one dies, the soul goes towards the region of the Sun (representing Prajāpati ). When the soul comes near to the Sun, the Sun will ask the soul to identify itself. If the soul identifies itself by it's personal or family name from physical realm where the notion of 'I' 'me' 'mine' etc exists, the soul will be dragged away from that region towards the physical realm by seasons (who are guardian of heaven's door) and the day and night will take possession of the soul, i.e it will return to the physical world and will be be caught up in endless cycle of rebirth or Saṃsāra . But if the soul identifies itself with the Svarga represented by Prajāpati, who in turn represents  the source of everything in the manifested existence, the soul can attain union with that spirit in the Sun representing Prajāpati and go onward to the transcendental heavenly realm of Svarga and attain immortality.


Thus, the only way to free oneself from the Saṃsāra or endless cycle of death and birth is by knowing one's true identity and source, which is nothing else than the supreme absolute.
This doctrine in my opinion clearly represents the earliest form of non-duality going back to the early Vedic texts. Some authors have argued that the notion of Saṃsāra or cycle of deaths and births is a theory adopted by early Upaniṣadic authors from early non-Vedic traditions which gave rise to Buddhism and Jainism. But I beg to differ with them because the doctrine from Jaiminīya  Brāhmaṇa clearly represents the theme of Saṃsāra , and this passage occurs in early Vedic ritualistic theme. Further same passages are repeated other text Jaiminīya Upaniṣad Brāhmaṇa  3.14.1-5. Also the core theme of the departed soul attaining union with the Sun or it's light can be seen in Ṛg Veda 10.154.5, 1.125.6 & 1.109.7. So clearly the notion of Saṃsāra is nothing alien to the early Vedic Brahmanical tradition and it is not borrowed from Śramaṇic tradition.


It is interesting to note that the meditative doctrine which seems to be an early form of Kuṇḍalinī from Cāndogya  Upaniṣad 8.6 also involves attaining immortality by raising the power located within the heart to top of the head. This is spoken in context of attaining the Sun (and Prajāpati represented by the Sun).


It is to be noted that there also existed different doctrines which is different from passing through the Sun , these are Devayāna and Pitr̥yāna which is stated in earliest Upaniṣad like Cāndogya Upaniṣad 5.10.  In this doctrine, the world of Gods and world of ancestors are separate. The ultimate aim of this doctrine as in Devayāna is attain union with Brahman, while Pitr̥yāna leads to rebirth in physical realm after passing through various worlds. In Devayāna, union with Brahman is attained through different way from passing through the Sun and it doesn't view the Sun as the final goal like the mainstream Vedic view..

While the heaven is viewed as the ideal divine realm, the Vedic people feared the darkness which is associated with evil. Thus Ṛg Veda  2.40.2, 4.13.3 etc speaks of getting rid of darkness. Darkness is also explicitly associated with Rākṣasa-s or demonic beings in Taittirīya Saṁhita 1.3.9.2. So the darkness could have represented hellish element. Thus, Vedic authors also prayed to the divinities for protection from darkness as in Ṛg Veda  2.27.14. Finally, Taittirīya Saṁhita 5.1.8.5 speaks of overcoming the evil darkness and attaining the light of the Sun and the heaven.


Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa  11.6.1.1-13 and Jaiminīya Brāhmaṇa  1.42-44 narrates a story about how Varuṇa sent sage Bhrigu to otherworldly realms in some  which he saw torture and violence, these may represent hellish realms. One of the earliest mention of Naraka or hell is from Atharva Veda 12.4.36 where hell is placed in opposite to Yama's realm, i.e Svarga or heaven.

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