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On Earth as in Heaven

February 28, 2015

Unwinding Culture
Teotonio R. de Souza
Teotonio R. de Souza is the founder-director, Xavier Centre of Historical Research, Goa (1979-1994). He
presently resides in Portugal, where he is a University Professor and Fellow of the Portuguese Academy of
History since 1983 and tweets @ramkamat

The prayer that Jesus taught his disciples and which most practicing Christians
devoutly repeat in the course of their lives includes reference to a wish of Gods
Will being done on Earth as it is in Heaven. It is a wish charged with ambiguities,
if not incongruities. Obviously all ambiguities or incongruities diminish
(or disappear) if we regard it as a pious wish or wishful thinking which takes for
granted that we know what Heaven is.
The Christians are asked to make a leap of Faith, particularly from the time the
Fathers of the Church in the early centuries of the Christian era in the Roman
empire had to contend with the questions of the intellectuals entering the Church
enticed by its moral and social values that were becoming rare in the Roman
empire in rapid decline. St Augustine is better known among those early Fathers
for his Confessions, and for his tale of Two Cities.
Heaven or paradise, as a sacred place beyond the limits of the ordinary world or
a state of being after death, appears in the myths and legends of most cultures
around the world and promise reward and punishment after death. Heaven came
to be seen as a place where the righteous dead would dwell with God. We might
see it as an extension of human instinct for survival after death, and to die with
hope of achieving what lifes conditions did not allow.
The Hindu heaven consists of several realms without suffering and in company
of beautiful celestial beings or apsaras. But unlike in most other cultures, the

Hindu heaven is transient. Once the merit of good karma is exhausted, the soul
must reincarnate as a human.
The ultimate goal is moksha (or nirvana for Buddhists), a liberation from the cycle
of birth and death, which is extremely difficult to achieve and may take millions of
lifetimes of good karma, purified into nishkama karma, or activity devoid of selfish
desires, the essence of sufferings.
For the Muslims the Quran mentions eight types of Janna or paradise of gardens
in which rivers flow forever. Obviously, for people born and grown amidst the arid
soil of desert, the rivers and gardens were a most desirable pleasure. We know
how gardens and fountains constitute the most pleasant characteristic of the
historic Islamic cultures around the world.
Unlike the sexless Christian Heaven, where no one marries or gives in marriage
(Mk 12:25, Mt. 22:30, and Lk. 20:35), Muslim paradise promises 72 wives. That
too and polygamy needs to be understood in the context of the desert conditions
and the early wars of expansion for survival of children or the adults. The latest
rebirth of caliphate and its appeal for jihadi brides is a reminder of those early
times.
Over the centuries, traditional ideas have changed, and many people now think
of heaven more in terms of a state of spiritual existence. The Catholic Church
teachings have included other alternate states prior to heaven, such as limbo and
purgatory. These are under reformulation in recent times since the second
Vatican Council.
However, unlike Hinduism the Christianity retains its linear concept of time, which
Islam too shares with it. One has to be prepared for the eternal reward or
punishment. There is no second chance. A disastrous implication of this is the
attitude towards the nature, in keeping with the divine command in the book of
Genesis to subdue and dominate. The net result has been an environmental
disaster. A Hindu is more likely to care for the nature and leave the world as a
better place where he may have to return. Hindu cult of animals and plants reflect
this consciousness.
To conclude, I am inclined to share the Feurbachian thinking about after-life as a
projection of our fears and unfulfilled desires. Much before him it was the thinking
of the Charvakas in India, including Buddha who belonged to that tradition. This
is by no way an imposition or even a subtle appeal to any of my readers to agree
with me. Op-ed column is merely a reflection on personal experiences. I need to
leave this caveat because some of my readers in the past reacted as if I was
representing them or any section of population. I respect cultures as
sedimentation of collective experiences, and I respect them while they help.

Paraphrasing Jesus for our times: Let them who wish to read, read! Our ancestors
said: Boroun boroun Kulkarni zata, zankun zankun Ganvkar zata [Constant
writing makes a writer, repeated discussions make a village leader]. May I
add?Vachun vachun chintpi zata [constant reading makes a thinker]. But watch
out: chintpi is usually chintest (worried person) and rationality in modern times
has been the mother of many evils.

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