Believing in Christ and karma, can a person be consigned to hell before death?
—Nicholas Celia, USA
Dear Nicholas,
Suffering and misery exist on both the material and the astral (but not the causal) planes of existence. One who lives in luxury need only read the newspapers or watch the news to see “hell on earth” perhaps in his own city, certainly his own country!
Karma therefore, exists everywhere – indeed, on all three planes of existence.
When the word “hell” is typically used, it refers to a state of being and a location (usually in the after-death region of the astral world). But if your question is: Can my karma bring to me a state of existence here on earth that I might call “hell?” Well, as they say in America, “Hell yes!” As I wrote above, just look around you.
Karma is created by our actions and what we have brought upon ourselves by past actions can be undone step by step by present action. Hell is not eternal as some Christians teach. No action taken in time and space can result in eternity except to escape time and space in the transcendent consciousness of the soul and of God. (And that consciousness is satchidananda — ever existing, ever-conscious, ever-new bliss!)
So, if your current circumstances seem to you to be your version of “hell,” withdraw to your center of inner stillness, seeking refuge in the presence and peace of God within (Jesus taught: “The kingdom of God is within”). Do your karma-given duties in life as best you can, with a calm and cheerful attitude, and as an act of devotion and gratitude, and each day do not miss your appointment with God in the portable paradise within you. If you can practice accepting your current life as a divine gift given to you that you might learn the lessons from which you can be freed from past karma, then do so with joy.
When we are suffering it only seems eternal. When we experience human happiness or pleasure it seems all too brief and fragile. Such is the delusion of maya. Live in the ETERNAL NOW of God’s joy within you and as reflected all around you.
May the Light of wisdom guide the footsteps of your life to the eternal shores of God’s bliss!
Nayaswami Hriman
Seattle WA USA
www.Hrimananda.org
