God goes with people to Hell | Wisdom to ACT-1 | Chaitanya Charan

Transcript

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In some religious traditions, the idea is that if you disobey God, if you defy God, God will send you to hell. In the Vedic tradition, God doesn’t send anyone to hell.
God, it is their own karma which sends people to hell. But God goes with people to hell. Because even when somebody goes to hell, Krishna is there at the Paramatma Vindhya.
So, even a soul who has gone to hell, Krishna doesn’t reject or abandon them. Krishna is there with every single person. So, often this is, many religious traditions now, especially in Christianity, they try to soften the teaching, but actually hell is all metaphorical and it’s the idea of God being so cruel as sending people to hell, just because of not surrendering to Jesus in one lifetime.
That seems very barbaric. So, the Vedic tradition is that God sends people to hell. That is not true at all.
It is not that, see, the Bhagavad Gita is such that, the Kurukshetra war was not a war between devotees and non-devotees. Because Bhishma was a devotee on the opposite side. On the Pandava side, Drupada was a Shiva worshipper.
Drupada was not exactly a Krishna devotee. He respected Krishna, but he was not a Krishna devotee. And it was not, the war was for establishing dharma, not bhakti.
See, bhakti is voluntary. Bhakti cannot be forced. You cannot have a government which says everybody has to become a devotee now.
You can do that. They can say that I will shoot you if you don’t chant. But you know, that chanting will not be out of love.
Isn’t it? So, the Kurukshetra yudha, we call it a dharma yudha. It is not a bhakti yudha. It was not that everybody, after they were defeated, the cause of the war was not because the opposite side was not ready to worship Krishna.
That was not the cause. See, there is the concept of hell. In the Abrahamic religions, hell is for non-believers.
Non-believers. If you don’t believe in God, you will go to hell. That is the Abrahamic idea.
In the Vedic tradition, hell is for wrong-doers. It is not for non-believers. So, of course, we can say non-believers will be wrong-doers.
Well, not necessarily. Somebody can be a non-believer, in the sense that they don’t believe in God, but still they might live a relatively sattvic life. They might be in the mode of goodness in the sense that they are charitable, they are polite, they are environmentally conscious, maybe they are even vegetarian.
It’s possible. So, now, of course, it is good to be devoted to the Lord, no doubt. But the point I am making is, it is, if somebody goes to hell, it is not because Krishna says, you don’t believe in me, so I am going to send you to hell.
It’s not like that. Krishna has the law of karma operating in the world. And if you harm others, you will be punished.
So, when somebody goes to hell, it is, it is karma sends people to hell. It is not that God sends people to hell. Now, we can say, karma is working under God.
That is true. But karma is neutral. Karma is impartial.
And karma sends people to hell and God goes with them. Because Krishna loves them so much that he wants them to be delivered. He is the Paramatma present even when a soul goes to hell.
So, that means, karma is not, karma is a principle that applies for everyone. So, it’s the law, basically. So, there are actions which are harmful to others and if you do those actions, you will go to hell.
Now, of course, from one perspective, anything separated from Krishna is hell. And even if somebody is in heaven, a devotee feels that without separation, without Krishna, it’s just like hell. That is a devotional perspective.
And that’s validating to it. No doubt. But the point I am making is, it is not that Krishna is a vengeful God who sends people to hell just because they don’t believe in him.
So, now, of course, when I said, it’s an important principle. Let’s elaborate on this. 4.7, 4.8, 4.9 and 4.10 in the Bhagavad Gita.
4.7 and 8 are about establishing dharma. This, Krishna says, even a war is to be fought. Dharma samsthapanarthaya sambhavami yogeve.
And how does he do that? Vinashaya ye duskhita paritranaya sadhunam. Those who are wrongdoers, they are disempowered, they are sidelined, they are neutralized. And those who are devoted, those who are pious, they are empowered.
Now, after that, Krishna does talk about it. Does Krishna want us to become devotees? Definitely. The next is about inspiring bhakti.
That janma karma chame divyam. That those who, while Krishna is establishing dharma, Krishna performs such attractive pastimes, that if people understand those pastimes, they will become attracted. And when they become attracted, then they will develop love for him.
So, these are two distinct missions. Puta madbhavamagata. The next verse is in 4.10, that vitragbhaya krodha manmaya mamupashutah.
Bahavo jnana tapasa, puta madbhavamagata. So, in one sense, Krishna’s mission is multilevel. Same way as matter of degrees.
Dharma, in the sense of, dharma, when Krishna uses it over there, it’s not sufficient sense of religion as social order. Like we say law and order in today’s world. Law and order is not optional.
You cannot say that whether you rob or kill or violate people, it’s just my preference. Now, there has to be law and order. That is mandatory.
Now, beyond that, whether somebody wants to practice bhakti or not, that is voluntary. It’s good if they practice bhakti. But everything good cannot be made illegal.
There is free will which Krishna has given. Krishna doesn’t descend to this world to take people’s free will away. So, we could say Krishna’s mission, in one sense, is also a matter of degrees.
At one level, at a foundational level, Krishna’s mission is to establish dharma. We could put this way. It’s like a funnel.
So, at one level, Krishna’s mission is to establish dharma. And that is for whole society. And then Krishna’s mission is also to inspire prema in the heart.
But that is for individuals. Individuals who are willing. So, that’s why Krishna also says that, Few who would seek to know me and among those who know me, few attain me.
So, sudurlabha. So, the point is that Krishna cares for everyone. Even those who are not ready to become his devotees, Krishna cares for them also.
Krishna wants order to be established in society so that at least at a material level people are living harmoniously. And then, of course, Krishna wants them to become devotees. That is the ultimate purpose of the material world.
No doubt about it. So, if you consider the world to be like a hospital. Now, the purpose of the hospital is to heal people so that people can go and discharge and go home.
That is the final purpose. At the same time, in the hospital, while the hospital is there, order has to be maintained in the hospital. If somebody is a miscreant within the hospital, that person has to be regulated, that person has to be disciplined.
So, Krishna works that way. So, Krishna’s love is a matter of degree, not of category. So, in the bhakti tradition, while there is material categorization, like there are mlecchas and yavanas and so many other groups are talked about, but the point is often made that bhakti cuts across all these categories.
Even a mleccha or a yavana or a shvapacha or whatever category might be used. Everyone can become a devotee. And in that sense, Krishna’s love includes everyone.
Nobody is so far away from Krishna that Krishna can’t reach them. And no action of theirs can either do, can do the same thing. So, that brings me to the next point.
So, in principle, we said Krishna’s love is unconditional. Krishna loves everyone. At the same time, it’s a matter of degree based on how they are reciprocating.