Part II
HELL AND HEAVEN
AFTER death there is no consciousness of the gross world since such consciousness is directly dependent on the physical body. But though the consciousness of the gross world is thus lost, the impressions of the experiences of the gross world are retained in the mental body, and they continue to express themselves through the semi-subtle sphere. Subjectivity of life after death During the interval between death and the next incarnation, the consciousness of the soul is turned towards these impressions resulting in a vivification of impressions and the revival of corresponding experiences. The average man does not become aware of the subtle environment. He is wrapped up in complete subjectivity and absorbed in living through the revived impressions.
In life after death the experiences of pain and pleasure become much more intense than they were in earthly life. Hell and heaven states of mind These subjective states of intensified suffering and joy are called hell and heaven. Hell and heaven are states of mind; they should not be looked upon as being places; and though subjectively they mean a great deal to
the individualised soul, they are both illusions within the greater illusion of the phenomenal world.
In the hell-state as well as in the heaven-state, desires become much more intense since they no longer require expression through the gross medium. Like desires, the experiences incurred in their fulfillment or non-fulfillment also become greatly intensified. Desires and experiences intensified after dropping body In the earthly career desires, as well as the pleasures and sufferings which they bring, are experienced through the medium of the gross body. The soul is of course actually using its higher bodies at the same time, but in the earthly career its consciousness is bound up with the gross body. Therefore the processes of consciousness have to pass through an additional veil which lessens their force, liveliness and intensity just as rays of light are dimmed when they are required to pass through a thick glass. During habitation in the body, desires and experiences suffer a deterioration in intensity, but when that habitation is given up they undergo a relative increase of intensity.
In the heaven-state the fulfillment of desires is not, as in the gross sphere, dependent upon having the object of desire. Fulfillment of desires through thought Fulfillment of desire comes merely through thinking of the object of desire. For example, if a person wishes to hear exquisite music, he experiences this pleasure merely by thinking about it. The imaginative idea of exquisite music becomes, in this state, a substitute for the physical sound vibrations in the gross sphere. The pleasure he derives from the thought of exquisite music is much greater than the pleasure which he derived in his earthly career from the actual hearing of physical sounds. In the heaven-state there are no obstacles between desires
