Gandharavada

Author(s): Esther A Solomon
Publisher: Gujarat Vidyasabha

Page 76

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so there is another world in which the soul persists after death and experiences the fruits of pāpa and punya which are in store. A person after death may be reborn as a denizen of hell, or of heaven, or as a human being or as a lower being. This means that hell and heaven exist and they are inhabited by beings. The existence of gods has to be believed in, though gods are not ordinarily seen by the human eye. They visit the earth on certain occasions, and bring prosperity to some human beings and ruin to others. It may be argued that we see men who are very happy and so can be looked upon as experiencing the fruit of punya, and so there is no reason to believe in a distinct world of happiness called heaven; so also in the case of hell. But, we find that on the earth, the highest happiness has a taint of pain --however slight it may be associated with it and the darkest cloud of suffering has a silver lining of happiness, however meagre it may be. Hence we are compelled to recognise the existence of heaven and hell, where those beings who do not deserve to experience any suffering or any delight whatsoever can reside. The Jainas recognise four classes (nikāya) of gods Bhavanapati, Vyantara, Jyotiska, and Vaimániká according to the place of residence assigned to them.* Seven Hells are recognised, one below the other — Ratnaprabha, Sarkarāprabhā, Válukāprabhā, Pankaprabhà, Dhūmaprabhā, Tamaḥprabhā, Mahātamah prabhā.t
All the schools of philosophy except the Cárváka have discussed the problem of life after death, to explain why all the fruits of actions performed are not attained in this very life, or why a good man is found to suffer and a wicked man is at times found to be happy. In the Vedas, as said before, we have the concept of the world of Yama, or of Vişņu, or of Varuņa meant for the good after their mundane life. The concept of hell is not found distinctly referred to in the Vedas, because, as scholars say, the Vedic people were very cheerful and optimistic by temperament, and did not entertain any dark thoughts. That even the gods
* For details see Tattvārthasūtra, 4. + For details see Tattvārthasūtra, 3.