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Where Is Hell?

Discussion in 'Snippets of Life (Non-Fiction)' started by SGBV, Oct 14, 2024.

  1. SGBV

    SGBV IL Hall of Fame

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    What is hell?

    According to religions, hell is a location or state in the afterlife in which souls are subjected to punitive suffering, most often through torture, as punishment after death.

    I do not think there is a separate place called hell when we have the land of Palestine in this world, which symbolises hell in real time.
    We see collective suffering in Palestine because of social media, but the world is more cruel than that. There is discrimination even in sympathising with one's suffering. The black souls of Africa such as Sudanese, Ethiopians, Somalis and many others in West, Central and East horns of Africa are equally if not more, suffering due to continuous war, social destruction and poverty.
    We don't know what's happening in North Korea. We are somewhat witnessing the plight of Ukrainians. And we saw the sufferings of Afghan, Kashmir and even the Tamils of Sri Lanka in the past.
    There is Syria with a long history of suffering. Yemen is no different either. Iraq has seen it all, and now Iran is trying to taste the bitter medicine.

    There are many African souls who had never experienced "normal" life in their life time. Since childhood, they have been hiding under the bomb shelter, witnessing severe destruction, blasts, amputations, starving and loss of family members as they keep running to safety. They are refugees forever, and they never had stable life or livelihood.

    The Rohingya refugees of Myanmar (Oh.. They are called stateless people) know nothing about happiness. They are the most persecuted refugees in the world.

    I wonder, if there is God, then why some people are punished collectively, for no apparent reason?
    They are not even given an opportunity to lead a normal life to assess their good or bad deeds. They are doomed from day 1. There are kids, new-born, persons with disability and elderly who are not at all involved in any terrorist activities, yet punished for who they are.

    A simple natural disaster like hurricane or flood is enough for us to hate weather or even life if they destruction is heavier, but imagine the plight of those who live in such war zones for ages?

    I think, the so called hell is located in this world only. Those who deserve hell are born in those war zones, and being punished since birth depending their status. If not, I have no other reason to justify God's purpose for these disasters.

    PS: I have no intention to play with the sentiments of others. This is just a random thought after reviewing some reports on war issues at my office.
     
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  2. sln

    sln Finest Post Winner

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    An excelle
    An excellent analysis summarising that Hell depends on where you live.There are also temporary hells when you experience traffic jam and you are stranded for hours.You experience hell when Doctor has ordered discharge but you are let out a few hours later after insurance settles the claim.On the other hand we boast that we did hell of a job entrusted to us.A teacher described Hell and Heaven to children and finally asked the students who want to go to heaven to raise their hands.All but one raised their hands.When questioned the boy who did not raise his hand replied " My mom asked me come home straight from the school."
     
  3. Thyagarajan

    Thyagarajan IL Hall of Fame

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    @SGBV
    I am with you . A very timely analysis of hell that is vi as ible to all through social media and on the net.
    But genesis of Battle or war all first lay in the name of their Almighty then commerce.
    People suffered right from the day the world is filled with men and women. There world is simultaneously both hell and heaven.
    Yes the hell is here on this planet. It was in Vietnam. Entire Middle east countries are hell. Few are heaven example Dubai.



    There are over 82 ways of using the word hell and the numerous phrases only to express various emotions tensions. Only in religion books it's used only as noun -a place to punish sinners or erring individuals. Orthodox - Few believe it is beneath the surface of earth .

    My first experience with "hell" began inside Chennai Egmore museum when students of first form (equivalent to present VI stand in India) was taken for excursion in school bus. Harsh punishments meted out to sinners was depicted by means of toys of serious hues and models the chief one being sinners are fried in boiling oil (edible or inedible) . Many other forms of punishment in hell was depicted; all kept inside a glass covered cuboid which was labelled “HELL நரகம்". That night in middle of sleep, I had a macabre dream and see few of my class mates - the belligerent or bullying ones- or slow stir fried and Next flipped often in simmering oil in a huge cauldron over ochre orange fire. Next morning I woke up with fever of fright!

    I put up a proposal for rejecting huge claim for over ₹25 lakhs by a foreign steamer agent. My new boss - director general - wrote in the margin "GTH & pl Spk".
    I could not decipher what he meant by GTH.

    When I enter his huge chamber, he was on phone speaking to some one and concluded saying "your bill for ₹25 lakhs would be returned with remarks GTH." Later WHEN I ASKED him, he told it stands for GO TO HELL.

    Once in the evening in New Delhi -
    Sollin selvar Thirumuruga Kirupanandha Variyar
    Was dicoursing about compassion and God. An atheist in the crowd, raised a point - where is the so called Hell?
    Looking bit taken aback Warrier queried the audience,
    " If a deep hole is drilled through the earth in New Delhi, where one would reach?"
    There was a hustle and bustle and there were replies from here and there but none was convincing.
    Eventually Warrier told "He or she will reach NewYork".
     
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  4. joylokhi

    joylokhi Platinum IL'ite

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    Very apt analysis of what is Hell on earth! I agree, these thoughts keep coming to me too. Why would innocent children ,men and women who are not involved in any known crimes during their lifetime have to suffer as listed by you and more. To my mind too, the only explanation that can be deduced is that of the oft repeated word KARMA.
    As we are known to have many many lifetimes before our present forms, it can be inferred that the present life each of us is leading, is in most part to do with our own Karmas in a past life or lifetimes and to some extent on the mental and physical faculties given to each on birth and developed further out of one's free will.
     
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  5. girvani

    girvani Platinum IL'ite

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    This is a thought-provoking discussion @SGBV. I had been ruminating a lot about karma and why some must visibly suffer more than others.

    I do understand the concept of karma but at times it is difficult to comprehend logically under difficult circumstances. I very well remember the mixture of emotions (fear, anger, helplessness) I have felt during my childhood to teen years, during the war time in Sri Lanka for almost 16 years, and I have also felt fear/insecurity/anger many million times afterwards and those circumstances are not severe like going through a civil war but the pain I felt is almost the same. Those moments were hell to me. That made me realise that hell and heaven are in our thoughts, words, and actions. Our perception of hell would be very different to another. So, what in my control is to keep the thought/words/action in this present moment pure and that is all we have.
     
  6. Viswamitra

    Viswamitra IL Hall of Fame

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    @SGBV,

    A very apt description about what the people in Gaza are going through in the hands of Israel Defense Forces. I felt the same way when the Tamils in Sri Lanka went through hell in the hands of the Sri Lankan military. If you compare, in both cases, a few in each group were terrorists for which the entire population suffered.

    I remember Bosnians (Muslims) going through hell in the hands of a dictator in 1990s. Kashmiri Pandits went through hell in the hands of Muslims even though Kashmir is part of India and these Pandits sufferings are difficult to digest. Jews suffered in the concentration camp before WWII and their sufferings were unprintable. Millions of them lost their lives and every Jewish family at least have one family member in the concentration camp.

    Atrocities committed against a specific religion, race, etc. are difficult to digest. Atrocities against Black people in the US was also bad until many people in America recognized it as an atrocity against humanity and decided to make laws. For centuries in India, people of particular community were treated as untouchables until people realized that it is against God's Will. They were named as Harijans to bring awareness that God is with them. Frankly, the repurcussions of such atrocities are now felt by the forward communities even today.
     
  7. HariLakhera

    HariLakhera Finest Post Winner

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    There is no hell and there is no heaven. We experience both on this very earth. There is a situation like hell sometimes and heaven at other times. The river that gives us water to drink and survive makes living impossible at different times. When I see the top leaders of Russia, Ukraine, Israel and Palestine in their best suits addressing the media or someone, I think they have no qualms about what their actions are resulting in.

    The opposite of hell is heaven and this is what the great poet Ghalib said about it.

    हमको मालूम है जन्नत की हकीकत 'गालिब"

    दिल को बहलाने के लिये खयाल अच्छा है।

    (We know the reality of heaven, Ghalib. The thought is good to entertain the heart.)
     
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  8. SGBV

    SGBV IL Hall of Fame

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    @Thyagarajan @girvani @sln @joylokhi @HariLakhera and @Viswamitra

    Many thanks for your wonderful replies, and thought provoking analysis :)
    In fact, it was just a random thought that crossed my mind while reflecting the type of work I do here at office, and I wasn't sure about the responses as I felt the post was quite harsh and might hurt some sentiments. But, thanks again for taking it positively and realistically.

    While we experience both hell and heaven on this earth, it is sad to know that some people experience only hell for lifetime. The hell they go through is not even comparable to the hell that we know.
    The hell like situation of loosing a loved one, going through a divorce or joblessness etc or temporary hells like traffic jam etc are difficult. But the real hell is more scary than this.
    For example: The Tamils in Sri Lanka experienced a kind of hell during the war season. Though the war lasted for 30 years, not everyone living in the war zone experienced war situation for the entire 30 years. It was intense for a while only in certain pockets, and then it became calm. The issues continued, but the actual bombing and intensified war lasted only for a period of 6 months, and then it ended. After 2009, the people are leading a normal life (yes, poverty and after war affects are there, but that is no way comparable to the actual war situation).

    The situation is completely different in Palestine. It is an open prison, and the people who are caged inside Gaza and west bank experience war almost everyday. Sometimes intense, sometimes less intense. But they have no time to recover from the after affects, as the next war begins shortly.

    It is the same for certain African countries, and their cries are often overlooked by the media.

    While sympathizing for those who suffer in Hell, I in no means defend the crimes committed by the same people (a few from the lot) which caused them hell.
    Be it Tamil tigers or Hamas or Hisbulla for that matter.
    They invited such wars against their own people whatever their purpose may be. They continue to provoke their enemies despite the fact that it can be fatal to their own land and community.
    They do this for political reasons with the backing of some powerful countries, and force their helpless people to join hands together with them.
    Now that, it is very hard to separate who is a terrorist and who is not.
    According to UN, a person who supports terrorists activity (even by cooking or cleaning for them) is considered terrorist.
    But, if I was born in Gaza, would I be standing against terrorism by risking my life and that of my loved ones knowing I have no voice? Simply, I would also go with the flow, which makes me a terrorist and my suffering will not count.
     
  9. Swetha52003

    Swetha52003 Gold IL'ite

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    Good thoughts, SGBV!

    True words !
     
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