The following story is from the book Healing Stories in Yoga by Gandhara Mandelick of Yoga Point,
India.
Heaven and Hell,
Yoga Perspective.
A place where everyone only thinks about himself or herself can give momentary pleasures but never a permanent joy and contentment.
In fact,
Such a place does not allow individuals to grow and evolve.
It is compared with the idea of hell in yogic culture.
Unconditional love,
Care for others,
And understanding others is at the root of yoga culture and lifestyle.
The place where everyone is thinking of others is heaven for sure.
Here is the story.
There was a very sincere and devoted yogi who had been worshiping God faithfully for a long time.
God was very happy with this yogi and decided to come down from the heavens and give him his blessings.
God said,
My child,
You have been a very good and sincere disciple.
I am very happy with you.
Please ask what you want and I will give it to you at once.
The yogi replied,
I am very happy with everything that you gave me in my life and the most important is this moment,
The meeting with you.
So I do not need anything but as you are asking,
Please tell me the difference between heaven and hell.
God said to the yogi,
Your question is very good.
However,
Instead of telling you about it,
I will take you to heaven and hell so you can see the difference yourself.
The yogi said,
That would be very nice.
Thank you.
God said,
Where do you want to go first?
The yogi thought for a while and said,
I would like to see hell first.
God said,
Okay,
Let us go to hell first.
So they walked until they came to a large set of gates.
Outside there was a small gate and the yogi was very surprised at what he saw.
Outside there was a sign that read,
Hell,
Enter here.
They entered through the gates and the yogi was very surprised at what he saw.
There were beautiful gardens everywhere and everything was very clean and neat.
The yogi thought to himself,
Is this really hell?
But he did not want to question his God,
He wanted to see what was really happening.
God showed him many places in hell.
It was all very beautiful,
Attractive,
Neatly arranged,
But there was a very strange energy in the surroundings.
The people he saw were very unhappy and sad.
They had no inspiration and no positive energy in them.
It was getting close to mealtime,
So God said,
Let us go to the dining room now and you can eat something.
The yogi was very happy and he was very proud of this because he was starting to feel hungry.
They got to the dining hall and the yogi could smell the delicious aromas coming from inside.
Outside the hall was a man with a bundle of iron rods.
As each person entered the hall,
The man would bind an iron rod to each of their arms.
The rods were attached firmly,
And the man would then bend his arms.
The yogi thought this was very strange,
But again,
He did not want to question his God,
So he did not ask.
The yogi went inside the hall where he saw a table with a huge variety of delicious items.
By this time,
The yogi was very hungry and he was trying to figure out what to eat.
He was trying to figure out what to eat,
But he could not figure out what to eat.
He was trying to figure out what to eat,
But he could not figure out what to eat.
He was trying to figure out what to eat,
But he could not figure out what to eat.
He was trying to figure out what to eat,
But he could not figure out what to eat.
So the food was all over their faces and bodies.
Though there were delicious recipes,
There was no satisfaction.
Everyone was blaming God for making their life miserable.
They were abusing and cursing their destiny.
The yogi realized that hell is where everything is available,
But no one can enjoy it because people only think about satisfying their own desires.
God came in and said,
My child,
I think you have seen enough here.
Now let me take you to heaven.
God and the yogi walked for a while until they came to a set of gates with the sign,
Heaven,
Enter here.
They walked through the gates and the yogi looked around.
Heaven was nice,
But it was not as beautiful as hell.
Everything was clean and neat,
But it was simpler than what he saw in hell.
The energy was very inspiring and joyful.
Everyone was happy,
Energetic,
Caring,
And loving.
After seeing most of the heaven,
They walked to the dining hall and again,
There was a man outside tying iron rods to people's arms.
The yogi allowed the man to bind his arms and they went inside the dining hall and looked around.
Interestingly,
Everyone there seemed very happy and calm.
To the surprise of the yogi,
He saw two people getting together and sitting next to each other.
Instead of trying to feed themselves,
One person was feeding the other.
As the arms could not be bent,
Self-feeding was difficult,
But feeding the next person without bending arms was very easy.
People were very happy to feed the other person.
Everyone made sure that the other person is satisfied and happy.
The yogi smiled and realized the difference between heaven and hell.
He realized that when you live for yourself,
You create hell,
But when you live for others,
You create heaven.
Heaven is a place where everyone thinks about others and not for himself.
He thanked God for showing him the places.
