Heaven, Hell and the Concept of Moksha

There is no word in western culture which can translate moksha or nirvana. According to their philosophy there are only two words, hell and heaven.  In Indian religions, there are three words, hell, heaven and moksha. Let me describe each word properly. Hell means misery; a state full of negativity; a state of darkness and utter loneliness. And heaven on the other end is joy, happiness and light. But “What is Moksha”?

Moksha is a term which has been made famous by great Gautama Buddha. According to him Moksha is freedom, freedom from everything, both hell and heaven. Pain may be ugly chain and pleasure may be a beautiful chain but it binds us, it prevents us from being free. Hell may be a dirty place, full of discomfort and Heaven may be a beautiful place with all comforts but poverty and riches are two sides of the same coin. One has to be free from both.

Hindus always say if you are free from all desires, you will go to heaven after death. This philosophy is contradictory as going to heaven is also a desire. Christians and Muslims also have similar kind of philosophy. There is only one theory which is complete in this respect, the theory of Buddha. Buddha says the ultimate objective of Life is to drop all the desires (even the desire of being into heaven) because only when all desires disappears, we attain Nirvana i.e. a state of complete freedom.

Why Buddha is right?

Many of you will be thinking why am I supporting Buddhism? I don’t know much about other religions, but in Hinduism, we have a basic concept that all desires are wrong and if you live a life free from all desires, you will go to heaven. But in heaven, you have Kalpavriksha (wish fulfilling trees), you desire anything and immediately, instantly  it is fulfilled. Here they go on talking against desires and still they want to go to heaven for fulfilling all their wishes and desires, quite illogical, I think.

This is the reason why Moksha is the ultimate reality. Only when we have transcended both hell and heaven, we can attain Nirvana. Buddha had described it as complete cessation of ego and meeting and merging into the universal.  In reality nothing like Hell or Heaven actually exists. Both of them are state of mind.

According to me, if you are a good person with high moral conduct, you will attain Moksha...The ultimate freedom. People like Buddha, Mahavir and Socrates can turn hell into heaven because of their purity. It is the fear of people which lead them to believe in the concept of hell and heaven. Just forget about all the fear, and then you will start believing in the concept of Moksha.

Vishwas Vats