Do you have to act out your karma in hell too get rid of it?

[AstralProjectee]

Do you have to act out your karma in hell too get rid of it? Thanks.

[wundermonk]

As I mentioned, hell in Hinduism is not like in Abrahamic faiths...a place with burning fire, etc.

In general, yes, all Karma need to be worked out - good and bad.

The effects of bad Karma are hellish in experience. The effects of good Karma are heavenish in experience.

[devotee]

Do you have to act out your karma in hell too get rid of it? Thanks.

WM has replied rightly. I would like to add to that. You can do Karmas only in human body. The lower Karmas are for reaping the fruits of your Karma and that includes a stay in heaven or hell. It is not always necessary to go to hell for a sinner. He can work out it in next birth with not-so-favourable circumstances.

OM

[rkpande]

@devotee ji,

You said and correctly so:-
"You can do Karmas only in human body"

I have a doubt though.

A jivatama after incarnating variously must incarnate as human for the first time,
This implies that he/she will not have any karmic burden in the first human form.
And if that be so his chitta will need no 'chitta vartti nirodha'. there will be no kelshas.
he will always be in sattavic state and hence does no wrong.
he will be in a perpetual state of bliss.

further Patanjali says, one is born with Jati, ayus and bhoga (sutra II-13)
depending on the karmashaya.
If there is no karmashaya, what jati, ayus and bhoga will he be born with.

There is certainly some thing amiss in my understanding???


Pranam.

[Mana]

Namaste AstralProjectee,

Your typesetting leaves me wondering if all is ok?

You know, our ups and downs actually stem from intuition, but this wild horse must first be harnessed.

What we think and thus believe is very much a result of that energy, when left unattended the shackled horse revolts, when given direction and training it becomes an asset.

This is another way of thinking of karma; in effect there is no, good or bad karma; there is only what we make of the situation that we are in, you can always turn a negative to positive, it always depends on which way up you put it.

The trick is in being able to recognise this.

I sincerely hope that this perspective brings a little light to your day, the big picture is just around the corner.

praNAma

mana

[devotee]

Namaste rk,

@devotee ji,

You said and correctly so:-
"You can do Karmas only in human body"

I have a doubt though.

A jivatama after incarnating variously must incarnate as human for the first time,
This implies that he/she will not have any karmic burden in the first human form.
And if that be so his chitta will need no 'chitta vartti nirodha'. there will be no kelshas.
he will always be in sattavic state and hence does no wrong.
he will be in a perpetual state of bliss.

further Patanjali says, one is born with Jati, ayus and bhoga (sutra II-13)
depending on the karmashaya.
If there is no karmashaya, what jati, ayus and bhoga will he be born with.

There is certainly some thing amiss in my understanding???


Pranam.

Do you remember Lord Krishna's words, "Gahna karmanogati" ? This Karma is a very complicated thing which is difficult to understand.

OK. The first birth is a human birth. There is no Karma burden. So what ? There are desires and fulfilling them would create Karmas and further SamskArs i.e. impressions. Let's take an example :

You are a very good being and born with all favourable conditions. However, being born with a human body, your desires will be there and the IndiryAs would enjoy getting into contact with its objects of sensual pleasures. Now to fulfill your desires you may do good or bad Karmas so that paves way for further chances and continuation of Jeeva in bondage.

Let's be clear here. You cannot remain without doing Karmas even for a moment irrespective of the fact whether you have Bad-Karmic debt or good-karmic debt or no-karmic debt. You are forced to do karma and enjoy/suffer the fruits of Karmas such created.

That answers your question. However, I would like to point out one thing more. "Yogashchittavriddhi Nirodhah" means "Controlling mind-waves is Yoga" and not what you apparently have understood.

OM

[wundermonk]

Some ideas on bondage from Adi Shankara's Vivekachudamani:

This bondage of the non-Self springs from ignorance, is self-caused, and is described as without beginning and end*. It subjects one to the long train of miseries such as birth, death, disease and decrepitude.

This bondage can be destroyed neither by weapons nor by wind, nor by fire, nor by millions of acts - by nothing except the wonderful sword of knowledge that comes of discrimination, sharpened by the grace of the Lord.

* Notes: Without end: Relatively speaking. On the realization of the Self it disappears.

From Translation by Swami Madhavananda - published by Advaita Ashrama.

[yajvan]

hariḥ oṁ
~~~~~~

namast�

The effects of bad Karma are hellish in experience. The effects of good Karma are heavenish in experience.

I would greatly be interested in your definition of good and bad ...

praṇām

[wundermonk]

I would greatly be interested in your definition of good and bad ...

Hello yajvan:

Here are my thoughts. In general, dharma is good and adharma is bad. But this just begs the question...what is Dharma?

There seem to be very many different interpreations of Dharma - some religious and some secular.

For a secular person who is unattached to any particular religion, Dharma would refer to actions/thoughts/morals that have been derived based on rational thought.

Is this rational thought going to be the same from country to country and time to time? No. In my opinion, Dharma varies between cultures and times.

For cave man, it was Dharmic to kill any one whom he believed was invading his home and hearth. Life was much more cruel in ancient days. Now, we have progressed as a society and as humankind and hence Dharma will differ.

A best way to decide whether an action is Dharmic or not is to consider the consequences of the actions and take decisions based on that.

For a more theistic minded person, Krishna elucidates what constitutes Dharma and Adharma in the BG. I made an earlier post on Dharma here.