If wine is bad why is it allowed in heavens?
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And gradually the purity will naturally result. If wine is bad, then why is it allowed in heaven? Answer? There are different kinds of intoxications.
And there are different boundaries of right and wrong in different domains of existence. Swarga, the heavenly planets are places where people have done certain amount of punya in this life, get elevated. And in one sense, by that punya, the boundary of what is acceptable and not acceptable, that expands for them.
So, for example, sex outside marriage is wrong on earth. On the heavens, Indra has many apsaras, celestial damsels and uniting with them does not lead to any karmic consequences specifically. So, in general, the principle that we are accountable for actions is universal.
The specifics of which actions will have which consequences that can vary based on situations. So, that is the one point about specific boundaries varying according to situations. And we understand that even in this life, normally people are not allowed to break speed limits in driving cars.
But an ambulance can break the speed limit. A police chasing a criminal can break the speed limits. And they do not consider culpable actions.
And those are exceptional situations, but the exceptions do illustrate the point that boundaries don’t have to be rigid to be valid. Now, second point is that soma while sometimes it may be translated as wine or liquor, it is a celestial drink. And while it does lead to intoxication, that intoxication is not necessarily tamasic.
It’s not in the mode of ignorance. That intoxication is of a different kind. The same word intoxication is also used sometimes for prem or premonmad or divyonmad.
Divinely intoxicated or intoxicated with the divine love. Such are words used in the Chaitanya Chaitanya Amrit. to our answer, that heavenly intoxication or soma is different from the intoxication that is typical in this.
That we typically think of when we hear the word wine. And secondly, for those in heaven, there are different boundaries. Now, soma is also a drink that people may drink in this world to go towards heaven.
And that soma is prepared from a particular way that is mentioned in the broad Vedic tradition and that is quite different from wine as we understand it. So, it’s an elevating kind of intoxication, not necessarily spiritually elevating. But it is not taking one towards the Mauna.
That’s why it’s also considered to be part of the religious rituals that are practiced to rise towards heaven. Bhagavad Gita 9.20 says that when one drinks soma, one becomes purified of papa by that. Which is quite opposite to what happens when one drinks intoxication in this world.
One becomes more inclined to do wrong things under the influence of intoxication. It just removes the normal restraints that guarantee civilized behavior.