CONCEPT OF HELL IN HINDUISM AND IN CHRISTIANITY

Hindu Concept

Narak (Sanskrit) is the equivalent for hell in Hinduism. This is the place where sinners are tormented after death according to their doings when they lived in this earth. It is described as located in the south of the universe and beneath the earth. This is the abode of Yama the god of death. There is also a belief that there are 28 types of hells. According to the intensity of the sins committed, hells are selected for different sinners. Hindus believe that no one is sent to the hell permanently. After the prescribed duration of stay in the hell the soul is sent back to earth for another term of life in a superior or inferior form than the earlier life as per the current status. Nowhere in the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna said, heaven or hell is permanent. Krishna also did not say that those who disobey him would end up in hell. Chapter two of the Bhagavad Gita also says; for soul there is neither birth nor death at any time. He has not come into being, does not come into being, and will not come into being.

Christian Concept

Sheol in the Hebrew Bible, Hades in the New Testament and Grave in all international translations denote Hell.  Both Sheol and Hades do not typically refer to the place of eternal punishment, but to the grave, the  temporary abode of the dead, the underworld. "Gehenna" in the New Testament where it is described as a place where both soul and body could be destroyed (Mathew 10:28) in 'unquenchable' fire (Mark 9:43). The word is translated as 'Hell' or 'Hell fire' in many English versions. Gehenna was a physical location outside the city walls where garbage was burned and also where lepers and outcasts were sent, hence the weeping and gnashing of teeth. In Mathew 25:31-46, Jesus says that, when the Son of Man comes in his glory, he will seperate people from one another as a shepherd separate sheep from goats, and will consign to everlasting fire those who failed to aid "the least of his brothers". This seperation is stark, with no explicit provision made for fine gradations of merit or guilt. In the parable "The rich man and Lazarus" in Luke 16:19-31; the poor man Lazarus enjoys a blissful repose in the 'bosom of Abraham' while the rich man who was happy in life is tormented by fire in Hades, the two realms being seperated by a great chasm.

Different Christian sects have different views and interpretations of hell. The above views hold good about the concept of hell both in Hinduism and Christianity.

K V George

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