Dr. Jagan Mohan

Hell in Abrahamic Religions is a place of eternal damnation and suffering. Hell is used to 'frighten' adherents into submission. (Maybe the Jewish traditions don't stress much on Hell.. and a few christian churches also are evolving a idea of a temporary hell, purgatory etc)
But a average Hindu does not follow his religion/abstain from sinning for the fear of Hell. The Idea is to transcend this mundane existence where we are caught in a web of pleasures and misery while continously striving to enhance our lives with temporary happiness to a existence void of any suffering... a state of bliss (but very unlike a state of physical enjoyment as promised in a Islamic heaven for example)..

and yes... the ulimate goal of life is not to attain Heaven, which itself is no attraction to a Hindu, but to attain that state of existence when the notion of self is dissolved and our 'self' is identified into oneness with the ultimate reality identified as 'God'. (In Advaitic school of philosophy or Absolute Monism, we are not sentinent beings as we wrongly identify ourselves, but we are the neuter GOD itself)

roshan

hinduwoman, jagan mohan is correct.

heaven and hell in hinduism are merely states of mind. when we are clouded with dark and negative thoughts, then we are in hell.

when we are happy, and our minds are filled with goodness, love etc, then we are in heaven.

in hinduism, everyone will keep on reincarnating until we achieve moksha, or salvation.

in some scriptures, hell is an actual place, but it is metaphorical and it represents reincarnation in lower planets or reincarnating as lower life forms in order to suffer for our bad karmas.

[ April 19, 2002: Message edited by: roshan ]</p>