Where is Heaven/Where is Hell

Wanted to bring out a debatable topic this time. Where is heaven and hell? To me, the concept of heaven and hell were coined to bring out some imaginary destination for life-after-death. It serves an utopia and nothing else. It is all about our mind w.r.t. what is heaven and what is hell!

The funny thing is that no person after death can come back to tell us, what is life after death :-) So it always stands a puzzle. The uncertainty, unpredictability and puzzling question of life after death has made lot of our ancestors coin their own version of death and also about life after death!

To me, there is no life after death. The whole world and its life force is an energy equation and we all know every equation needs a balance. The amount of positive energy should equal the amount of negative energy to balance the equation. To keep up this balance living organisms take [re]birth. When we die, the energy that we possessed, whether positive or negative, goes into the energy pool. Depending on what imbalance it creates, organisms get their birth. Humans possess more energy than animals, which possess more energy than worms/insects which possess more energy than trees and so on... The soul possess this energy and based on the good/bad it gets responsible for during its existence, it upgrades/degrades in its powers!

The above by itself is a big topic where I can ramble more :-) Not to digress here from our topic on heaven and hell. When I say, after death our energy goes to a central pool of energy, Why was heaven and hell coined? It was not actually to symbolize life after death. It has a lot to do with life that we live. The actions that we do during our lifetime take us through a trauma or bliss, which are characteristics of hell and the heaven. There is nothing more to it. We are responsible for our actions and we are the victim to the reactions that occur for our actions. When our ancestors say to do good to reach heaven, they simply mean to do good to be happy. It’s all about how to live our life happy and better. This generic information faded and distorted to different dimensions and made heaven/hell as destinations of life-after-death.

Now, who decided on what is good that helps us to be in heavenly state and what is bad that make us suffer in the 'hell' state? Nobody made these rules/guidelines. It evolved over time. Some of our actions would have given us unfavorable reactions and would have made us suffer. Some actions would have always helped us be happy. So over time our ancestors were able to shape up the principles of living. The strongest of these principles formed religions and the bits around them were just coined as practices towards better living.

This writing can go on and on, explaining/confusing more ... But, I just wanted you to think on these lines for sometime to see if it makes sense. I am not fully supporting this thought as I too have several questions over my head on the same lines! I just wanted to bring forth a dimension that heaven and hell are not really the destinations after death. They are our destinations towards all actions that we do during our lifetime.

Let’s try to live in the heaven always, while we live!
Mani

Positive Criticism - Shiv Kera and Me

Every time we cannot get a chance to meet celebrities and share our thoughts. I read, by reading a book during coffee break, we are having a coffee with that author :-) So the title sounds this way :-) I was reading 'You can Win - Shiv Kera' and felt like talking about Positive Criticism that he has mentioned about. It sounded nice to me on what he explained about it in 2 pages. Read the excerpt if you like.

Checkpoint to criticism:
If we are criticizing a person on the right lines which will help his personal improvement, it is perfectly fine. If criticizing the person gives us a pleasure, then it could be a false criticism arising out of greed or vengeance. We should check that before we do.

If we are subjected to criticism, we should check on the same lines. We should use our wisdom in accepting/rejecting any criticism. If the criticism is out of ignorance it can be answered by a proper explanation. If the criticism is out of jealousy we cannot do anything about it. Take it positive as a compliment that you got for your work.

Why search for positive critics?
In life, people usually will like to remain in their comfort zones. They would like to be with people who will appraise them for whatever they have done [or] at least adjust to them no matter what they do. The fact is that 50% of people whom we meet don’t care what happens to us and the remaining 50% people are happy about what bad happen to us :-) People who do positive criticism are required for self improvement. If we find one, we should catch hold of them.

Some tips on 'How to Criticize':
How to criticize is an art. Always step into others shoes before you comment on them, to first see what we are criticizing is right? Never use the words like "You never do that ...", "You always do it this way ..." kind of statements as it immediately hurts the self-esteem of the other person. Always comment on the action and not the actor, criticize on the performance and not the performer.

Courtesy: You can Win - Shiv Kera. Chapter - 8 :-)
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To extend my thoughts on this, self improvement is very much essential like the air we breathe. Life acts on us based on how we live it and thus we need to be with the right people who will prepare us in life to be a complete human.

To shell out of the comfort zone, needs a lot of struggle. To put us into the experiments is against the will of life, as everyone expects a relaxed trouble-free life. But the outcome of such a struggle elevates us to a place where the world will look upon with reverence.

Vivekananda said "In a day when you don't come across any problems—you can be sure that you are traveling in the wrong path". What a statement of wisdom this is!

Willingness to change towards positive suggestions helps us develop our wisdom. Slowly, our mind and soul can become our best critic. Conscience is a matter of, the way we are brought up. Even to tune ones conscience, wisdom is required. What the world sees to be good translates into positive criticism if you are with the right people. This criticism tunes our wisdom which trains/conditions our conscience. This makes us all set!

Someone said 'Live life when you are alive. Don’t die before you are dead'.

Love Life and Live it to the best!
_Mani