“From the highest planet in the material world down to the lowest, all are places of misery wherein repeated birth and death take place. But one who attains to My abode, O son of Kunti, never takes birth again.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 8.16)

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आ-ब्रह्म-भुवनाल् लोकाः
पुनर् आवर्तिनो ऽर्जुन
माम् उपेत्य तु कौन्तेय
पुनर् जन्म न विद्यते

ā-brahma-bhuvanāl lokāḥ
punar āvartino ‘rjuna
mām upetya tu kaunteya
punar janma na vidyate

In the following story, we have two friends who grew up together. Their parents bought homes in the same neighborhood. The children attended the same schools. The two friends maintained closeness throughout the major transformations in life, such as graduating high school to attend university, getting married, starting a family, and so forth.

Throughout the course of their friendship, they have always discussed the issues of the day. Politics. News. Sports. They even shared their struggles in areas like dealing with loss, choosing the best investments, and maintaining a single-family residence. One day, the discussion turns to religion. One of the friends offers the following:

“You see, my religion says that only people within the religion make it to heaven. I am not trying to cause division. I am not trying to scare you or anything, but have you given thought as to your future? Will your soul be saved? We are considered saved because of our affiliation. I go to church once a week. I try to be loyal to my faith. How does it work in your tradition? Is there a specific heaven involved? According to our revered leaders, you would not be granted entry into heaven. This is because you are following a different religion.”

While this thinking is not uncommon, the second friend has never considered the future destination in such a way. Through carefully listening to and deliberating on the teachings of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, they are adept at identifying patterns, especially when there are similarities between sets that are otherwise considered different.

For instance, one aspect to the Vedic tradition that might not be widely accepted within a given community is the scientific definition of a soul. The soul has certain properties. The soul even has a certain size. Take the tip of a piece of hair and divide it into ten thousand parts. One of those parts is like the soul, and this small spark is what lights up the various kinds of bodies. The same soul is within the infant as within the adult. The same soul in the tall man as in the short female. Not the same individual, but the same kind of soul.

The same soul is also there in the animal community. The only differences here are in the kinds of body. While another person might be surprised to learn that animals are the same category of life as the human, the equivalence is actually easily discernable. The animal eats. The animal mates. It sleeps, and it also defends. These behaviors exist within the human species, as well.

A person may argue that the human must have a different kind of soul, given the potential for intelligence. But then what happens in old age? Does the human soul suddenly vanish? An elderly person might be so damaged in the body that they can no longer think straight. Their memory is gone. They cannot function on their own. Does that mean they lose their status as a human soul?

Rather, the rational explanation is that the body has simply changed. The same soul was there during the period of infancy. In this time, many animals are superior. Does this mean that the infant is somehow eligible to be shipped to the slaughterhouse? Should the indigent and the elderly be condemned to a place focused on total destruction? Once their usefulness to society has run out, do they no longer warrant kindness and compassion?

With respect to the restricted entry into heaven, does the same restriction apply anywhere else? Do only members of a certain faith feel the pain of separation from a loved one? Do the winter and summer seasons only impact members of a specific religion? Are the changes between happiness and sadness exclusive to people of a specific geographic region, culture, or ethnic background?

मात्रा-स्पर्शास् तु कौन्तेय
शीतोष्ण-सुख-दुःख-दाः
आगमापायिनो ऽनित्यास्
तांस् तितिक्षस्व भारत

mātrā-sparśās tu kaunteya
śītoṣṇa-sukha-duḥkha-dāḥ
āgamāpāyino ‘nityās
tāṁs titikṣasva bhārata

“O son of Kunti, the nonpermanent appearance of happiness and distress, and their disappearance in due course, are like the appearance and disappearance of winter and summer seasons. They arise from sense perception, O scion of Bharata, and one must learn to tolerate them without being disturbed.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 2.14)

It would be silly to say that such restrictions apply. Therefore, it is just as silly to say that only people thinking of the Divine in a certain way will be eligible to place-shift, to reach a different destination. Bhagavad-gita explains that every planet in the material world is subject to birth and death. If there is birth on a particular planet, which is the end-result of dying and going to heaven, then there must be a subsequent birth.

There is one planet which is akshara, or imperishable. People who reach that planet never have to take birth again. The eligibility is based on consciousness, not affiliation with an institution. Any person can belong to any religious group, but how they think, how their consciousness carries forward, determines the future destination.

The second friend explains to the first friend that while others may consider religious life in terms of strict lines of demarcation, such as in object of worship and book of study, real religion can only be one. We are either following illusion in identifying with the temporary body or we are moving towards transcendence in understanding our position as spirit soul, part and parcel of the Supreme. The latter understanding is what creates the best destination moving forward, and since the transfer takes place through understanding, every individual is eligible for elevation.

In Closing:

Through understanding taking place,
Where ignorance to erase.

Not to institution tied,
Or fear of edicts defied.

Just as now roaming free,
Eligible for heaven is he.

Provided consciousness properly set,
Faith and alignment with principles met.

Categories: bhagavad-gita

Tags: dailyprompt, god, hare krishna, hinduism, poem, poems, poetry, religion