Did Dasharatha Maharaj go to heaven instead of the spiritual world?

From Amalpurana Prabhu did Dashrath Maharaj go to heaven why did he not go to the spiritual world answer the Ramayan describes the analysis of Lord Ram largely from a Karmakand perspective even if we, this is actually the nature of the epics the Ramayan and the Mahabharata both are called the Itihasas the epics and they focus primarily on the Karmakand level they can be understood at the Bhakti level also at the pure devotional level so in the Vedic culture there are two levels there is Aparadharma and there is Paradharma Aparadharma is the gradual progression of Dharma, Artha, Kama and Moksha and the Paradharma is direct progress of spiritual life of pure devotional service so both are progressive one is gradual Dharma, Artha, Kama and Moksha and the Prema, the path of love is rapid so the Mahabharata and the Ramayan focus primarily on the progressive path of Dharma, Artha, Kama and Moksha that's why in the Mahabharata also there is a whole Parava called Swarga Arohan Parava, the last Parava where the Pandavas are said to go to heaven so similarly we see that in the Ramayan the Maharaja Dashrath after his departure is said to go to heaven and at the end of the war between Ram and Ravana at that time after Ravana is defeated, the Devatas come to congratulate Lord Ram and express their gratitude to him and at that time Dashrath Maharaj also appears and he expresses his, he appreciates and praises his son Ram for his achievement, herculean achievement so the implication over there also is that Dashrath Maharaj is in Swarga so now from the Karmakand perspective once one does Dharma properly, the success of life is to go to Swarga and it is that which is depicted in the Ramayana and the Mahabharata so the Ramayana and Mahabharata contain philosophy for example the Mahabharata contains philosophy and in the philosophy of the Bhagavad Gita the difference between Swarga and Vaikuntha Swarga and the kingdom of Krishna that is clearly talked about Krishna talks about so those who worship Devatas go to Devatas and those who worship me come to me so Krishna says that in 9.25 9.25 he says that so similarly Krishna describes that आ ब्रह्मभोना लोका पुनरावर्ति नोजिना मा उपित्ति कौन्ते पुनाजन्मन विद्यते so here also in 8.16 he differentiates between all the worlds up to Swarga up to even Brahma Loka and the spiritual world so this differentiation is clear when it comes to the philosophy but in general because the Ramayana and Mahabharata are talking about primarily the Karmakand level so they do not go too much into the technical details of the difference so the word heaven basically refers in the Vedic cosmology specifically it will refer to one of the higher planets which are not the top most even in the material world but which have a lot of material enjoyment and they are higher than where we are right now and the spiritual world is different so it is this heaven which is the destination of the Karmakand, is the aspiration of the Karmakand now the Ramayana if it is seen at the external level the idea is that because Dasyat Maharaj practiced Dharma properly so therefore he attained Swarga so the Ramayana talks about values like say obedience to father, faithfulness to husband faithfulness to one's older brother it talks about these values and these values are important for at the level of Aparadharma, at the level of material harmony in society and the Ramayana doesn't disrupt that at the same time this is not just material because Lord Ram is himself the Supreme Lord so generally speaking the Aparadharma does not lead to liberation, it leads to elevation if it is done properly it is only Paradharma which will lead to liberation.

Paradharma is the path of Dharma of pure love for Krishna and that is talked about in Bhagavata Sarva Dharma Parityajyamam Ekam Sharanam Rajyam Krishna is telling so that is Krishna is telling give up Aparadharma for the sake of Paradharma now because Lord Ram is the Supreme Lord so in the case of the characters of the Ramayana the Aparadharma and the Paradharma coincide that means if Sita Devi is faithful to Lord Ram Lakshman and Bharat are obedient and diligent and faithful to Lord Ram then they are not just doing Aparadharma they are also doing Paradharma because Lord Ram is the Supreme Lord so in this way there is a union of these two so if we see the Ramayana from the perspective of Aparadharma then what we will see is that the success is to go to Swarga and that's what happens as per the description of the Mahabharata but when we see the Ramayana from the point of view of Paradharma then we will understand that actually devotion to Lord Ram devotion to Supreme Lord and thinking about him at the time of death as Ashat Maharaj did will take one to the spiritual world to the Kingdom of God so the understanding is that transitionally to play a part in the Lord's pastimes to illustrate a particular teaching the Lord may arrange for a devotee to go to a particular destination so in the Mahabharata also it is described that the Pandavas go to Swarga and the Bhagavatam describes the Pandavas go to the spiritual world so the reconciliation is that for demonstrating the principles of Aparadharma so that people will follow Aparadharma at least if they can't follow the Aparadharma then this result is also demonstrated so normally when people go to Swarga from Swarga they will come back to the Marthiloka to the earthly planetary system but when the devotees go to Swarga like the devotees of Ashat Maharaj then that is only transitional for them and they don't have to come back they will go from there to the spiritual world so to demonstrate the teachings of Aparadharma within the epics the attainment of Swarga is demonstrated because that is the aspiration of most people who are at the level of Aparadharma that means those who are practicing religion for the sake of material improvement whether in this world or in the next world so it is shown to them that you will gain this also but when one practices when one looks at the epics from the point of view of pure devotion service then one understands that the result of pure devotion service will be attainment of the spiritual world and Dashrath Maharaj attains that spiritual world eventually but during the past times of the Lord to teach the principles of Aparadharma what happens is it is demonstrated that by the arrangement of the Lord it is arranged that Dashrath Maharaj goes to Swarga so that is an exception normally devotees will go back to the spiritual world but within the epics this is demonstrated now we have to understand Jiva Goswami in his Chatsandarbha states that how do we understand the essential message of a scripture and to understand that we have to look at its start so like the Bhagavatam is asking the question what is the essence of all religions what is the highest Dharma but what the Ramayana starts with is Valmiki is asking this question to Narada Muni was there a human being with ideal character and then he gives a list of qualities of a person who had that ideal character so the Ramayana answers that through the past time of Lord Ram so the Ramayana is demonstrating at external level Aparadharma at inner level Paradharma so Dashrath Maharaj goes to Swarga because that is fitting in with the teaching of what is the ideal human being from the point of view of Aparadharma and how those related with the ideal human being can attain what is considered in Aparadharma the highest destination that is Swarga Loka. So by seeing the relationship of Aparadharma and Paradharma we can understand the destination attained by Dashrath Maharaj Thank you. Hare Krishna.