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   from the responsibility of reality by counting the stars in the   
   heavens." (The Message of Human Fulfillment, THE PRACTICE OF ART AND   
   LITERATURE, A Few Problems Solved Part 1, 1966)   
      
   In literature it is also important to understand the inner meaning.   
      
   "To understand the underlying meaning of what is laid down in   
   scriptures, the idea is to be grasped first; otherwise the proper   
   spirit will never be realized. If I say, something the same word   
   carries different meanings in different contexts. You have to   
   understand how cautious you have to be in practising reading   
   spiritual works. Those with vested interest seek to keep the public   
   away from the true spirit of the true scriptures, because this   
   facilitates their exploitation." (SVA'DHYA'YA, A Guide to Human   
   Conduct, A'nanda Pu'rn'ima', 1957)   
      
   In this regard, consider the concepts of heaven and hell.   
      
   "The mind has this potentiality - it takes the form of its object.   
   If you say, 'I am a sinner, I am a sinner,' you will be a sinner.   
   Even if you are not a sinner but you always think, 'I am a sinner, I   
   am a sinner, I am a sinner,' you will be a sinner because that   
   sinning becomes your mental object. So you should never say, 'I am a   
   sinner, I am a sinner, I am a sinner.' You should say, 'O Lord, I am   
   your child, I am your son, I am your daughter. I have the birthright   
   to sit on your lap. Please purify me.' This is the proper approach.   
   This should be the proper approach.   
      
   'My dress has become dirty. Please get my dress clean and take me on   
   your lap.' This should be the proper approach, and not, 'Oh, I am a   
   sinner, I am a sinner, I am a sinner.' Never say this, that I am a   
   sinner. Don't be guided by this sin complex or a complex of   
   hopelessness, or a complex of defeatism.   
      
   And in personal life you should move along the path of   
   righteousness, towards the Supreme Goal, towards your Supreme   
   Father. Nobody is unimportant, nobody is insignificant.   
      
   And you should never think, 'Oh, because the priest didn't issue me   
   any ticket for Heaven, I won't be able to go to Heaven.' No, no, no,   
   don't say that. The priest has no right to issue you a ticket, and   
   who is going to issue you a ticket to Hell? No, no, no, your good   
   actions will bring you closer to the Supreme Consciousness (God),   
   and finally you will become one with Him by dint of your spiritual   
   practices, by dint of your intuitional practice." "EVERYTHING COMES   
   FROM SOMETHING, A'nanda Vacana'mrtam Part 12, 2 June 1979 evening,   
   Lyon)   
      
   "So now, if a man always thinks, 'I am a sinner, I am a sinner, I am   
   a sinner, I am a sinner,' then in a weak moment that will happen.   
   [Whispering] 'I am a sinner, I am a sinner. I will have to go to   
   Hell. The priest said he won't grant me a gate-pass to Heaven. I   
   don't know who will issue a gate-pass to Heaven to that priest! If   
   he won't issue a gate pass to Heaven, certainly for this hypocrisy   
   he should also be served with a gate pass to Hell!'   
      
   So you should not develop the sinning complex or sinner's complex in   
   your mind. Rather, yours should be a positive ideation. 'I am the   
   son or daughter of the Supreme Consciousness - God. I am never   
   alone. I am an inseparable portion of that Supreme Entity.' What   
   will happen? Your mind will be strengthened. You will get immense   
   psychic power, and that psychic force will get affixed by dint of   
   your meditation (repetition of the name of the Supreme and constant   
   internal remembrance of the Supreme). This is the positive approach   
   and this you must do. You must not develop the complex of sinning,   
   You must not develop the complex of inferiority - 'I am illiterate.   
   I am a fool'.  A complex like this also makes a man weak, mentally   
   weak." (SELECT YOUR OBJECT VERY CAREFULLY, A'nanda Vacana'mrtam Part   
   12, 31 May 1979 morning, Valencia)   
      
   So what is heaven and hell from an internal meaning?   
      
   The human mind is progressively unfolding according to its inherent   
   propensities. When it finds something that produces congenial mental   
   feelings, it is called happiness, and when uncongenial mental   
   feelings come, it is called sorrow. 1   
      
   "When a man moves in a line opposite the pull of the Supreme Being,   
   this is movement towards degradation. Movement is a must, whether it   
   is towards progress or degradation - whether towards hell or   
   superman. Those animals and inanimate objects whose minds are not   
   developed have no chance of being degraded since they have no choice   
   of movement except in the direction of the Supreme. But man has the   
   freedom of choice between progress and degradation. (THE DIVINE   
   WILL, Ba'ba''s Grace)   
      
   Only the movement according to the will of the Supreme Being is   
   movement towards progress. 2   
      
   Movement that expands the mind is good or virtue or creates a   
   heaven.  Movement that is contracts and narrows the mind is bad or   
   vice or creates a hell.   
      
   "The subtle mental world (svarloka in Sanskrit) is the pure mental   
   sphere on which happiness and sorrow are experienced; it is also   
   called the pure mental body of the Cosmic World (manomaya jagat) or   
   pure mental body (manomaya kos'a) in individuals.  It is in this   
   sphere that the the reactive momenta to past actions exist.   
   According to mythology, after the death of the physical body, people   
   go to heaven or hell.  The fact is that the reactive momenta of   
   one's past actions are that which determine the individuality of   
   unit beings (situated mentally in this subtle mental world).  The   
   Christian and Muslim ideas of heaven and hell and also in Hindu   
   Karmakandi Jaemini Partna', were derived from the fact that the   
   reactive momenta to past actions are that which determine that the   
   requitals of actions exist and they exist in subtle mental world   
   (svarloka).  In reality no layer of the mind will remain after   
   death.  The reactive momenta to past actions remains as the object   
   of the soul.  Thus the ideas of heaven and hell of the Hindu,   
   Christian and Muslim mythologies are completely false, because after   
   death there remains no mind at all to experience heaven or hell."   
   (SOME QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ON ANANDA MARGA PHILOSOPHY, Ta'ttvika   
   Praveshika', Tattva Kaomudii Part 1).   
      
   What exists is the potential reactions to past actions.   
      
   "It is the subtle mental world (svarloka) which is called the pure   
   mental (manomaya) world and it is in this stratum that a person   
   experiences pleasure and pain. Heaven or Svarga and Svarloka (in   
   Sanskrit) are synonymous. Pleasure-seeking persons perform righteous   
   deeds motivated by the desire to attain heaven after relinquishing   
   the mortal body. the potential reactions to past actions   
   (sam'ska'ras) exist in the pure mental (ie the very manomaya world   
   or manomaya-kos'a) which is also known as the pure mental sphere.   
   The potential reactions to past actions (sam'ska'ra) are generated   
   in this subtle mental world (svarloka). It is the popular belief   
   amongst the Christians, the Mohammedans, the Jains and the   
   ritualistic Hindus that the fruits of virtuous deeds are enjoyed in   
   svarloka or heaven." (THE BASE AND THE RELATIVE TRUTH (A'dha'ra and   
   A'peks'ika Satya) Subha's'ita Sam'graha Part 1, A'nanda Pu'rn'ima' 6   
   May 1955).   
      
   But:   
      
   "There is neither heaven nor hell (Na svargo na rasa'talah).   
      
   There exists no such thing as heaven or hell. When a person does a   
   virtuous act or enjoys the fruits thereof, the environment around   
   him or her is then called heaven; and when he or she does an evil   
   act and endures the consequences thereof, then the environment   
      
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   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)