[Reader-list] 2nd posting,revising scriptures..death and bazaar

[tasneem dhinojwala]

  Dear all,
this is our second posting,hope u'll find it informative......

DEATH AND BAZAAR,REVISITING SCRIPTURES
    For Hindus, death isn’t the end. There is no concept of a Day of Judgement 
or ‘Qayamat’;but there is the concept of heaven and hell, but these aren’t 
real worlds. Its all a creation of ‘maya’. Hinduism believes in 
reincarnation; ‘karma phal’’ is the main philosophy. Simply put, it is –“As 
you sow, so you reap”. Everyone has to pay for whatever they do in their 
lives. In “hell”, there sits Chirtagupt, whose job it is to record each and 
every thing done by every single human being.  Therefore, after death, one’s 
accounts are very clear—how much good and evil one did – a simple 
calculation of ‘paap’ and ‘punya’. Depending on what you have done, you will 
be reborn as some earthly creature. One is not necessarily reborn as a human 
again; one could be an ant or a dog etc. in the new birth. Again, depending 
on one’s ‘karma’ when one is a dog, one could be born a human next. This 
cycle goes on till one has paid back for all the bad done. Then the soul 
attains ‘Moksha’. So it is a belief in the mortality of the flesh but 
immortality of the soul; once the soul has paid its dues, it attains 
‘Moksha’ which is becoming one with God.
    So in reality, there are no two worlds of heaven and hell; they both exist 
on earth and the soul has to go through the good and the bad here. Another 
important thing coming out from this is that the soul (or the present 
birth-form of it) pays the dues of the past life now – so whatever 
sufferings I as a human being am now enduring are due to whatever I did in 
my previous ‘janam’. Also, I must have done a decent amount of good to be 
reborn a human and not in any other form. To complete the logic, I pay out 
in this life my dues of bad of my previous birth(s). also, till I pay it 
through I will not attain ‘Moksha’ or deliverance. Hence I will strive to do 
only good and as much good as possible in this life so as to lessen my 
burden of sins to be repaid and maybe also attain ‘Moksha’ in this very 
birth itself!! (no one knows when one will attain this deliverance; we do 
not have the ‘hisaab’, it is kept for us by that so-called record-keeper in 
the so-called hell. .
Where the dead go after death also depends on their state of mind at the 
time of death. It means, what thoughts and what desires were predominant in 
his consciousness at the time of his death, decides in which direction the 
jiva will travel and in what form it will appear again. For example if a 
person is thinking of his family and children at the time of his death, very 
likely he will go the world of ancestors and will be born again in that 
family. If a person is thinking of money matters at the time of his death, 
very likely he will travel to the world of Vishnu and will be born as a 
merchant or a trader in his next birth. If a person is thinking of evil and 
negative thoughts he will go to the lower worlds and suffer in the hands of 
evil. His suffering may either reform him or push him deeper into evil 
depending upon his previous samskaras( tendencies). If he is thinking of God 
at the time of his death, he will go to the highest world.
The time and circumstances related to death are also important. For example 
it is believed that if a person dies on a battle field he will attain the 
heaven of the warriors. If a person dies on a festival day or an auspicious 
day, while performing some puja or bhajan in the house, he will go to heaven 
irrespective of his previous deeds.
The activities of his children also determine where a person will go after 
his death. That is whether they have performed the funeral rites in the 
prescribed manner and satisfied the scriptural injunctions. There is a 
belief that if funeral rites are not performed according to the procedure, 
it will delay the journey of the souls to their respective worlds.



O.k.
Let’s visit the believers of Islam
The Quran argues that if life were to end on this planet and there was no 
continuity of existence across the threshold of death, the entire scheme of 
creation would turn out to be an exercise in futility. No justification 
would be left for the setting up of the world. Strange though a little 
reflection shows, the position of man in the world is the same as that of an 
occupant in a house. Can anyone with an iota of commonsense say that this 
short-lived terrestrial career of man is really a matter of such importance 
that the whole creation was formed? That being the case, at the end of this 
mortal life there was not to follow another life and another world (the 
Hereafter) as foretold by the prophets and in scriptures, the creation of 
the heavens and the earth and even of man himself, would be a meaningless 
joke. The Quran sets forth the above argument in these words
“Did you think then that We had created you for nothing and that you would 
not be returned to Us?” (-- XXIII: 115)
So, if I am a believer my creation would acquire meaning and purpose only 
when I believe in the Final Requital and realize that this life is a prelude 
to and a preparation for the permanent and more defined existence of 
futurity. The various stages of growth are infact a sum total of our earthly 
existence, provided ofcourse that we are granted a normal life.

The journey of Hereafter begins with death. There are to follow three stages 
after death. The first stage runs from death to Resurrection and is called 
Barzakh. It is the same as the period spent between the mother’s womb and 
the life in this world. Although the real life of the hereafter will begin 
with Resurrection and the Divine reward and punishment will be unfolded only 
on the last day, the stage interjecting between death and resurrection is a 
prelude to it.

The Quran briefly deals with the period of Barzakh but on the questions of 
the Last Day, Resurrection , Final Reckoning and the distribution of reward 
and punishment in the shape of Heaven and Hell is thoroughly dealt with.
We have examined some of the verses dealing with the different stages of the 
Hereafter.
“Until, when death comes unto one of them, he saith: My Lord! Send me back 
so that I may make amends and do right in that which I have left 
behind
Behind them is a barrier until the day they will be raised up again.  
(XXIII: 99-104)
It intends to shiver the believers

Sura-i-Momin depicts the scene of the Last Day in these words:
“Warn them O Mohammad of the Day of the approaching (Doom), when the hearts 
will be choking the throats, when there will be no friends for the wrong 
doers
(XL:18) a large part of quran gives several revelations about the day.
Sura-i-Waqiah, Sura-i-Takvir, Sura-i-Infitar are wholly devoted to the 
description of these events.
Call it a method to lure if u wish
. The Quran promises “rivers of milk of 
which the taste never changes; rivers of wine to those who drink; and rivers 
of honey (pure and clear). In it there are for them all kinds of fruits;” 
(XLVII:15)
Can the believers indulge themselves into drinks 
?

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