Dr. N.L. Kachhara
Much of the descriptions of heavens and hells given in Jain texts appear to be of a mythological nature, but from these we can gain a broad picture of these lands. The Empyrean celestial beings and the infernal beings do not have a gross body like ours; they have protean bodies which are invisible to our eyes. These protean bodies are composed of a special kind of four-touch matter known as aharavargana. Such bodies do not require water or oxygen for living or solid land to support them; therefore, the lands in the heavens and hells do not have stars, planets or galaxies. It also means that the stars, planets and galaxies of the middle loka do not enter the upper and lower loka, implying that the objects made from Mahaskandha Vargana are confined to the middle loka only. Other varganas of both eight-touch and four-touch types can travel all over the loka. So, the lower and upper loka are entirely different from the middle loka in their structure.
The movement of heavenly and hellish beings has different limits. The beings in the higher heavens (deva) can travel through the heavens of a lower category, but the beings in a lower heaven cannot travel to a heaven of a higher category. Similarly, in the case of hells a being in a lower hell cannot travel to a hell of a higher category, but a being in a higher category hell can travel through a lower category hell. Further, the infernal cannot enter the heavens and the Empyrean beings do not travel to the hells.
The nityanigoda region at the far end of the lower loka is of yet another special kind. The nigoda beings can go out of this region, but no being from any other part of the loka can enter it. On the other hand, the Siddhashila at the far end of the upper loka is the place where only a pure soul can enter but does not leave. Nigoda beings can move in and out of this Siddhaloka.
The Empyrean beings can travel to the middle loka and have the power, known as vaikreyika power, to assume any form of their choice on any planet. For example, an Empyrean being from heaven can travel to Earth and materialize in the gross form of any animal or human body. The protean bodies of Empyrean and hellish beings do not undergo an aging process. The aging process is only characteristic of bodies composed of solids and liquids. The Empyrean and hellish beings have an upapada type (spontaneous) birth; that is, they instantaneously assume their full form on birth and retain this form until their death, without aging.
The Empyrean beings are supposed to live on vimana (some kind of aerial subtle structure). The vimanas are also a source of brightness and can move freely in space like clouds. The infernal are supposed to live in holes (i.e. cells). That is, their movement through their lands is very limited; they are confined to the space of their small cell. This may also be indicative of the type of lands existing in these regions. The lands of the upper loka favour movement of beings whereas the lands of the lower loka offer resistance to movement.
The souls having more merit karma than demerit karma take birth in the heavens. Merit karma is composed of lighter karmanvarganas with a negative charge. The lands of the heavens attract these meritorious souls, so they must have a net positive charge. This means that the heavens must contain a majority of positive varganas, and souls with demerit karma cannot enter them. Similarly, the lands in the lower loka must be made of net negative varganas that attract the souls with more demerit than merit karma. Demerit karmas are made of the heavier, positive karmanvarganas. Such souls cannot enter the heavens that are made of positive varganas. It is interesting to note that the positive upper loka and negative lower loka constitute an electrical system on a cosmic scale in the trasanadi. The mobile zone region may in fact work as an active electrical system with a positive pole in the upper loka and a negative pole in the lower loka. This may have an important significance for the stability of the structure of the loka.
When the excess merit or demerit karma is exhausted by the fruition process, the karma body has an equal amount of merit and demerit karma. The soul in this state is pushed out from the heaven or hell and immediately takes birth as a human being in the middle loka, which is a neutral region. It may be noted that to satisfy the condition of compatibility a soul leaving hell cannot be born in either hell or heaven again, and similarly a soul leaving heaven cannot be born in either heaven or hell again. This means that a human being at the time of birth in the middle loka has a balance of merit and demerit karma. The balance is at different levels in different souls and is the cause of the diversity of individuals we observe on Earth. The soul in the middle loka now further bonds merit and demerit karma, depending on its actions, and this decides the future of the soul. But this does not mean that the humans in the middle loka cannot have unequal demerit and merit karma. They do have these types of imbalances in karma, but because of the gross body they cannot leave the middle loka. As soon as the gross body is left at death, the jiva immediately travels either to hell or heaven depending on the nature of the majority karma. So, it is the middle loka that ultimately determines the fate of the jiva: for this reason in Jainism human birth is given the utmost importance out of all births, and also in other religions and civilizations. Humans have the power and will to decide their destiny.
