Heaven and hell are not physical destinations

Abstract

Human beings have been given the gift of life in order to transcend it by using the power of discrimination, dispassion and dedication to truth. When the mind is focused upon the world, it is removed from the Self, but when it is focused upon the inside, the Self is realised. Such is the interplay of the manifest and unmanifest aspects of the Supreme. Sri Krishna explains to Arjuna that he who is born must experience death. Birth and death are inevitable to all living beings. Feelings of grief are experienced due to strong identification with the body. Once this identification is removed through discrimination, the aspirant realises his true identity as being one with eternal consciousness. Self-realisation is the sole purpose of human birth. But in reality, there is neither birth nor death. It is our limited perception that makes us experience birth and death: “Anything that occurs in the visible world,” observes Swami Rama, “has its roots in the invisible. Life is like a sentence with many commas, semicolons and exclamations, but it does not have a period.

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