There are many beliefs and imaginations about heaven. When asked where it is, we often say "up in the sky." Or, when someone passes away, we say they have "gone to heaven." So, is heaven in the sky, on this earth, or somewhere else? Can we only go to a heavenly place after we die, or can we live in heaven while still alive? Let's explore these questions.
As we learned in the previous blog, "What is Heaven?", heaven is proposed as a state of mind. If our minds are in a heavenly state, then the world around us automatically becomes heaven-like. This means that when a person's mind and nature are composed solely of the seven virtues, and when vices have no effect on the mind and nature, his surroundings become heaven-like. Whenever we imagine heaven, we picture an extremely happy and peaceful world. How does this happiness and peace come about? If we consider carefully, we can see that these qualities are each one of the seven virtues that reside within humans. Therefore, the happiness and peace that exist in heaven are the essence of the virtues that reside within us.
Think of a completely sinless human being - one whose nature is free of anger, greed, attachment, ego, etc., and who embodies love, peace, purity, and happiness. Meeting such a person might feel like meeting a deity from heaven. So, if experiencing heaven can happen by meeting such a person, then imagine if all humans living on earth became completely sinless beings. When all vices in humans are destroyed and only virtues remain, then all the suffering and unrest in the world would disappear, and what would remain is a happy and peaceful world that we call heaven.
According to this perspective, heaven is not in the sky, but rather on this earth. It is possible to go to heaven while still living, not just after death. But looking at the present, many would say that such virtuous and completely sinless people are nowhere to be found, making the earth far from being heaven. However, the argument is that there was a time when heaven did exist on this earth, and all humans were supposedly sinless. We still remember stories of Atlantis, Dwarka, etc., don't we? Even today, we are interested in learning about them, visiting them, and perhaps even living there.
Image generated by Bard, a large language model by Google AI
These places, Atlantis, Dwarka ( Known as India's Atlantis, City of Gold, Gateway to Heaven, and most importantly, known as Lord Krishna's Kingdom), etc., are different names for heaven. We are supposedly attached to them because we have seen them at some point in time or lived there. Generally, we tend to remember what we are familiar with, we only remember things we that would have seen or experienced. When we move to a new house, we remember the old one, don't we? Similarly, we remember heaven because we have supposedly lived there.
The question then arises: if there was heaven on this earth, then where did it go? Just like all good things deteriorate over time, similarly, the virtues that were once prevalent in humans began to decrease, and vices began to take hold. With this change in humans, the world also changed, and currently the world is no longer heaven.
However, just as we renovate an old thing and make it look new, so this earth can also be made heaven again. Knowing this, all of us will have the heart to rebuild the earth into a heaven-like state and experience that state ourselves. We all would also the desire to live in heaven again, don't we? Well. I definitely do.
The question naturally follows: how can we bring back heaven again, or how can we go to heaven again? This question, will be addressed in the next blog...
To be continued....
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