SANATHANA DHARMA - INTERPOLATIONS IN THE VEDIC LITERATURE

I had to suddenly leave for Chennai last week to attend to a bereavement and consequent cremation of a relative in the extended family.  While waiting in the crematorium for the ashes, the talk among the people veered to the concept of sin, righteous deeds, heaven, hell etc.  One of the persons present there talked about the Garuda Purana and the punishment detailed therein for the sinful soul for various sins committed by the same while alive on the earth.  The discussion went on for about half an hour and finally we agreed to disagree and part as friends.  My take on the various sins and consequent punishments as reportedly detailed in Garuda Purana (I have not read this).

In the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, when the concept of death and the travel of the atma (soul) is explained, it is said it will take either the lighted path or the smokey path.  It will reach the world of the ancestors who died earlier or the specific world depending on the karma while the soul was in the body in the earth.  When the soul takes the lighted path, it travels upwards and reaches different places during the first year after death of a person, before reaching its destined world.  When the soul takes the smokey path, it travels downwards and reaches the world of ancestors who died earlier.  After the period destined to stay in the designated world, the soul returns to the earth as rain and enters the food grain. The food grain eaten by the species becomes the semen in the body of the male.  The soul in the form of semen in the body of male enters in the female while they copulate.  The female body nurtures the impregnated egg in the womb of the female.  The fertilised egg is born as the baby, be it an animal, bird or human depending on the karmic balance of the soul while leaving the earth earlier. This concept of birth and rebirth is very well explained in detail in this upanishad. This upanishad goes on to say that the humans who are the last form the soul takes should endevour to attain salvation of no rebirth.  

There is no given pointer in any of the Vedic literature when they were written or compiled. The Vedas and the Upanishads are considered ageless.  Generally we all consider that all the Vedas and the puranas were classified, codified and compiled by Ved Vyas.  As Vyas was a title, there is no specific instance or reference to give a clue as to which Vyas the literature were referring to who compiled the same. There was a Krsihna Dwaipyana who was known as Vyas who figures in the Mahabharatha a little earlier than the present day Kali Yuga. If he is taken as the person who compiled the Vedas and Puranas, then the question of how they were taught to pupils prior to the advent of Krishna Dwaipayana raises.  Was there a Vyas earlier to him who could have compiled the Vedas and Puranas is not known. 

Neither in the said upanishad nor in other vedic literature there is a concept of hell or heaven.  The various materials that talk about death, travel of the soul after leaving the physical body do not mention the soul ever reaching the hell or heaven.  Of course, there is a world ruled by the demigod Indira where the soul which is destined to reach resides for a specific period of time.  In various literature, we read that the heaven is the abode of demigods and ruled by Indira.  

In Sanathana Dharma, the omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient God is not depicted as vindictive; whereas, the concept of punishment, hell etc, find a place in the Christian literature. As for the Garuda Purana is concerned, it could have been written or passed down the ages since the advent of Christianity in the beginning of the common era. There is no reference to say whether there was any other sage titled Vyas later than Krishna Dwaipayana who could have been instrumental in writing the Garuda Purana and other puranas later.

The principle disciple of Jesus Christ, St. Thomas is reported to have arrived in India in the second CE itself and therefore, the lectures and teachings of his could have influenced the thinking of many Vedic scholars and the question of hell and heaven could have been included in the writings and consequent punishment. However, given the position that the concept of heaven and hell are alien to the principles of Sanathana Dharma, it is safe to assume that at least the Garuda Purana was written or compiled post the advent of Jesus Christ and Christianity in the country in 2nd CE, as Christianity talks extensively about heaven and hell in their literature.