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CHAPTER ONE

Introduction

 

Every culture in the world however remote or uncivilized, all believe in worlds beyond our sensory worlds.    The concept that there are beings other than us in dimensions that are not physical has always been with us from time immemorial.  The realization has led people to device methods to control and exploit these beings using barter system.  This has led to organized efforts to develop religious systems based on sacrificial systems to please and to do business with other beings that coexisted with man. 

Sacrifices were developed and fine tuned to perfection in the ancient India and in other countries during the Vedic Period when the Aryans who were displaced from Canaan and surrounding area entered India.  The Rig Veda saw personalities that controlled every natural force.  Out of the thirty three gods of Rig Veda majority of them were personified nature.  African religions always believed in the presence of Spirits of Rivers and Mountains along with their ancestral Fathers who became Spirits.  The science that developed to control and exploit the other beings in cosmos, led to the elaborate systems of magic and witchcraft to heal and to prosper.  India also claims its Atharvan Veda with its magical incantations (mantra) and yantra and tantra.  “Jewish magic is mentioned as early as Deut. 18. 10-11, where various classes of diviners, astrologers, and exorcists are named, their ceremonies being forbidden as idolatrous (comp. II Kings 21. 6; II Chron. 33. 6). Nor is there any doubt expressed as to the actual potency of magic, and the magician, who may misuse it, is accordingly feared and abhorred (Micah 5. 11/12; Jer. 27. 9; Ex. 22. 17-23; et al.)”. In the Apocryphal books the magic and witchcraft is presented in full detail. “According to the Book of Enoch (9. 7), the angels taught the daughters of men "incantations, exorcisms, and the cutting of roots, and revealed to them healing plants" (comp. 8. 1 et seq. with 7. 6, 9. 8; 10. 7-8 with 13. 2, 16. 3.). The heart, liver, and gall are magic agencies, and the blind Tobit recovers his sight when his eyes are anointed with the gall of a fish (vi. 4 et seq., 8. 2, 11. 10; see Sibyllines, 3. 220 et seq., discussed in "Alter Orient," 3. 41; Ascensio Isaiæ,2. 5; Syriac Apoc. Baruch, 50. 1, where the muttering of the incantations of the Ammonites is mentioned; see Kautzsch, "Apokryphen," 2. 435, note). Noah's book of healing (Jubilees, 10.) was magical in character, as were the writings of Solomon and Moses, mentioned elsewhere.” (http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com.)   When Christianity entered into its active mission they faced these Jewish magicians all over the world.

By the 5th C BC rationalism came into prominence and practically destroyed the Vedic religion by including mental and spiritual realms of existence along with the physical cosmos to create two atheistic religions – Buddhism and Jainism.  They prospered in India until the coming of Apostle Thomas and Christianity. 

While other religions claim ancestry based on oral traditions that cannot be verified, the oldest religion with documented scripture is Judaism.  Though Judaism from its inception of written scriptures was essentially monotheistic, they accepted the existence of other dimensions and created beings in all the dimensions.  Magic and witchcraft also developed outside of the temple movement which became prominent especially during the inter-testament period when revelations were rare.  They also had an oral tradition which went parallel to the documented scriptures which essentially formed part of the commentary of the scriptures.  These were not written down until the 14th C AD though their existences can be inferred from the terminologies and references in the Scripture itself. Thus while most of the details of cosmological structure in Judaism remained oral, they can, to a great extent, be verified from within the references of the Bible.  For obvious reasons, the subject of other dimensions of existence and the host of creations within those dimensions are not directly dealt with in the Bible.  They occur in the context of human history and revelation and given as a matter of fact and not as a theological intercourse.

 “Like most subjects of Jewish belief, the area of mysticism is wide open to personal interpretation. Some traditional Jews take mysticism very seriously. Mysticism is an integral part of Chasidic Judaism, for example, and passages from kabalistic sources are routinely included in traditional prayer books. Other traditional Jews take mysticism with a grain of salt. One prominent Orthodox Jew, when introducing a speaker on the subject of Jewish mysticism, said basically, "It’s nonsense, but it's Jewish nonsense, and the study of anything Jewish, even nonsense, is worthwhile." “Judaism 101

Other dimensions of existence.

Space is defined as something where matter exists.  Our direct experience of the outer world is through our five senses and it is directly connected with the physical realities of matter and its motion.  From this we derived a three dimensional space of physical world where we live.

A diagram showing the first four spatial dimensions.

We get our concept of space from the experience of real objects in space.  To this we add the concept of independent reality of time.  Time is understood only in terms of the changes in the material world.  If everything remains static, there is no time.  Thus time is a realization of changes in realities.  It was Einstein who introduced the idea that probably time is as much a dimension as space and depends on the observer and his relative velocities.  Through the general theory of relativity Einstein integrated Time and Space into one continuum.  Later Quantum Theoretical development and mathematical experimentation with multidimensional formalism Physics made headway.

 Theories such as string theory and M-theory predict that physical space in general has in fact 10 and 11 dimensions, respectively. The extra dimensions are spatial. We perceive only three spatial dimensions, and no physical experiments have confirmed the reality of additional dimensions. A possible explanation that has been suggested is that space acts as if it were "curled up" in the extra dimensions on a subatomic scale, possibly at the quark/string level of scale or below.       

While physical phenomena can be explained with the addition of extra dimensions in our physical world, the presence of personality with free will requires dimensions which are not physical at all.  Physical dimensions cannot explain the phenomena of life unless we attribute matter the divine property of creating consciousness and direct the creation of it as an inherent property.  This will be equivalent to creating a wormhole entering our Physical Space from the Divine Space. As a Theoretical Physicist, I myself was forced to come to agreement that there are dimensions beyond the 11 Space-time dimensions which are of different substance in essence.

We have an external dimension in our physical dimension in the formation of life.  This life itself forms varying dimensions.  Living things are systems that tend to respond to changes in their environment, and inside themselves, in such a way as to promote their own continuation.  There is an internal dimension that provides this. Sentience is the intrinsic capacity of Reality to observe itself. We are familiar with life forms from the microbes, vegetative animals and humans.  There is a gradation of life. Thus the interaction of the extra-spatial dimension into the spatial dimension forms the life forms that we know here.  Hence it is only logical to accept other forms of life in other dimensions as well in all its multiple variations, some of which may be of higher order than us.

CREATION OF THESE WORLDS

Thus we should assume that the creations of these worlds are summarized in the first verse of Genesis. 

Gen 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

This probably refers only to the dimensions of existence or the worlds being created. If this is true each dimension has its own substance or “matter” or in Pali “Dhatu”.  Space is defined only in terms of matter.  The hosts in each dimension must have followed. Matter in itself is inert and will not develop into life forms.  The introduction of life and the varying forms of life as the host in the dimension.   And this is mentioned in the following verse.

Gen. 2:1 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished and all the host of them.

It is evident from these that there are many dimensions in heaven and every dimension is filled with hosts - living beings.  There may be a substantial essence in each dimension which need not necessarily be material.  We have no words for these substances and most literature refers to them vaguely as “Spiritual” or “Astral”

In the material realm where we live, our five senses give us the concept of reality.  Life forms or hosts in this realm of “earth” are numerous as our biology would tell us.  Here is a tree with just the names of the species or genres

Colossians 1:16  For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:


These are all in our Physical world here on earth under our conditions.
 
Practically every country and religion developed their cosmology which tries to present the same reality.  
Here are a few. 
The Jain and Buddhist interpretations were an attempt in rational interpretations to experiential realities.
 
The Jain 
            Universe
 
 
The 
            universe exists as a series of layers, both heavens and hells. It 
            had no beginning and will have no ending. It consists of: 
 The 
            Supreme Abode - Siddhasila :This is located at the top of 
            the universe and is where Siddha, the liberated souls, live. 
 The 
            Upper world – Devaloka: 30 heavens where celestial beings live 
 Middle 
            world the earth and the rest of the universe with Humans and 
            Animals
 Nether 
            world – Narakaloka: 7 hells with various levels of misery and 
            punishments  with Hellish beings
 The Nigoda Base where the lowest forms of life reside 
 Lokakasha: Universe space layers of clouds which surround the upper 
            world 
 Aloka: Space beyond an infinite volume without soul, matter, time, medium of motion or medium of rest

                 

Jainism Classification of Life Forms
 
The Jiva (Life form) is that which grows, decays, fluctuates, varies, eats, sleeps, 
awakes, acts, fears, rests, has knowledge and perception, attempts to self defend, 
and reproduces. 
These and more qualities of the Jiva are obvious through a physical body 
when the soul is present in it but when the soul leaves these qualities cease.
These qualities are external features and consciousness (Chetan) is the basic 
inner feature of the soul. 
This also makes it clear for us that the body and the soul are separate entities.
 
The soul has a flexible size, pervades the entire body that it occupies.
Jain scriptures state that there are 8.4 million species of Jiva in all.  T
hey are known by the senses they possess. 
There are five senses in all, namely those of touch, taste, smell, sight and hearing. 
Different types of Jivas possess one or more of these senses.  
Based upon the number of senses and mobility, Jivas are classified.  
A) Immobile and Single Sensed 

(1) Earth bodied:  
Seemingly inanimate forms of earth are actually living beings, e.g. clay, sand, metal, and coral, etc.  
(2) Water bodied:  
Seemingly inanimate forms of different types of water are living beings, 
e.g. dew, fog, iceberg, and rain, etc.  
(3) Fire bodied:  
Seemingly inanimate forms of different types of fires are living beings, 
e.g.  Flames, blaze, lightening, forest fire, and hot ash, etc.  
(4) Air bodied:  
Seemingly inanimate forms of air are actually living beings e.g. wind, whirlwinds, and cyclones, etc.  
(5)  Plant bodied: 
 It is well known that plants grow, reproduce, etc., and they are accepted as living beings. T
rees, plants, branches, flowers, leaves, and seeds, etc. are some examples of plant life.  
 A  Special Vegetable Life
Such plant life has one soul in one body.  
Trees, plants, bushes, stem, branches, leaves, and seeds, etc. are all examples  
B  Common Vegetable Life
In such plant life many souls occupy the same body making this type of plant life multi-organic.    
Roots such as potatoes, carrots, onions, garlic, beats, etc. belong to this category.
C)  Mobile (Tras jivas, multi sensed beings, bahu indriya jiva): 
These two, three, four or five sensed beings are divided into the following categories:
(1) Two sensed beings (Beindriya Jiva):  
Two sensed beings have the senses of touch, and taste. 
E.g. shells, worms, insects, microbes in stale food, termites, etc.
(2)  Three sensed beings (Treindriya Jiva):  
Three sensed beings have the senses of touch, taste, and smell, 
e.g. bugs, lice, white ants, moths and insects in wheat and other grains, centipedes, etc.
(3) Four sensed beings (Chaurindriya Jiva):  
Four sensed beings have the senses of touch, taste, smell and sight, 
e.g. scorpions, crickets, spiders, beetles, locusts, flies, etc.
(4) Five sensed beings (Panchendriya Jiva):  
Five sensed beings have all the five senses of touch, taste, smell, sight and hearing 
e.g. human beings, cow, lions, fish, birds, etc.
The following are four sub-categories of the Panchendriya Jivas.
a)  Jivas living in hell - Naraki
b) Non-human beings i.e. elephants, lions, birds, fish,
c) Celestial (Dev) - heavenly beings,
d) Manushya - Human beings.
Among the five sensed beings some have minds, while others do not.  
Jainism is an atheistic rationalistic religion started as a reaction to the cruel 
animal sacrifice based Vedic religion. 
It was meant to be a scientific biophysics and not a religion more akin to the 
Rationalistic Movement during the Science Age.  
Notice that the concept of life forms extents over to dimensions 
of Celestial and of Hell and across all possible dimensions in matter and space, 
Spiritual and Material.
 

BUDDHIST COSMOLOGY


 

Based on the Buddhist sutra and vinaya traditions and works of Abhidharma in the Theravāda and Mahāyāna traditions a comprehensive cosmological system was developed. It is very similar to the Jewish cosmology except it does not accept the spiritual realm.  The two fundamental core is Physical and Mental. Ancient Buddhists thought Meru was the center of the universe. The Pali Canon records the historical Buddha speaking of it.  In time, ideas about Mount Meru and the nature of the universe became more detailed.  Vasubhandhu (of 4th or 5th century CE) provide   the Meru-centered cosmos in the Abhidharmakosa    Mount Meru at the center of all things. Surrounding this universe was a vast expanse of water, and surrounding the water was a vast expanse of wind.

This universe was made of thirty-one planes of existence, stacked in layers, and three realms, or dhatus. The three realms were Ārūpyadhātu, the formless realm; Rūpadhātu, the realm of form; and Kāmadhātu, the realm of desire. Each of these was further divided into multiple worlds that were the homes of many sorts of beings. This cosmos was thought to be one of a succession of universes coming into and going out of existence through infinite time.

There are three substances of realms or dimensions to the cosmos: dhatus. The Tridhātu are:

·         Ārūpyadhātu, the formless realm;

·         Rūpadhātu, the realm of form; and

·         Kāmadhātu, the realm of desire.

 

A world is not a location but a dimension of existence of beings. The world is   sustained by their karma and if the beings in a world all die or disappear, the world disappears too.  In a sense these three realms coexist and interpenetrate each othe in various combinations.

 

Ārūpyadhātu, the formless realm consists of four worlds.
        ”Sphere of neither perception nor non-perception".
        "Sphere of Nothingness" ( "lacking anything").

"Sphere of Infinite Consciousness".
 "Sphere of Infinite Space".

 

Rūpadhātu, the realm of form

Rūpadhātu, the realm of form is the first of the physical world.  Yet the beings have bodies that are made up of subtle matter that they cannot be seen by others.  But the Devas (Angles, gods) in this realm can sometimes put on gross physical forms when they want to go down to the Physical worlds to interact with them.  Because their senses are different and limited, the beings of the Form realm are not subject to the extremes of pleasure and pain, or governed by desires for things pleasing to the senses, as the beings of the Kāmadhātu are. The bodies of Form realm beings do not have sexual distinctions.

The devas appears to correspond roughly to the Angels of the Judeo-Christian world.

Thus there are four levels of dhyānas each of them subdivided into further planes, three for each of the four dhyānas and five for the Śuddhāvāsa devas, for a total of seventeen planes. 

The four levels are:

1.  Śuddhāvāsa with five worlds 

Akaniṣṭha or Akaniṭṭha – World of devas "equal in rank" (literally: having no one as the youngest).

Sudarśana or Sudassī – The "clear-seeing" devas

Sudṛśa or Sudassa – The world of the "beautiful" devas

Atapa or Atappa – The world of the "untroubled" devas

Avṛha or Aviha – The world of the "not falling" devas

2.  Bṛhatphala worlds with fiour parts

Asaññasatta  (Vibhajyavāda tradition only) – "Unconscious beings", devas who have attained a high dhyāna (similar to that of the Formless Realm), and, wishing to avoid the perils of perception, have achieved a state of non-perception in which they endure for a time. After a while, however, perception arises again and they fall into a lower state.

Bṛhatphala or Vehapphala   Devas "having great fruit".

Puṇyaprasava (Sarvāstivāda tradition only) – The world of the devas who are the "offspring of merit".   

Anabhraka (Sarvāstivāda tradition only) – The world of the "cloudless" devas.

3.  Śubhakṛtsna worlds with three parts

Śubhakṛtsna or Subhakiṇṇa / Subhakiṇha (Tib: dge.rgyas) – The world of devas of "total beauty".

Apramāṇaśubha or Appamāṇasubha (Tib: tshad.med dge) – The world of devas of "limitless beauty".

Parīttaśubha or Parittasubha (Tib: dge.chung) – The world of devas of "limited beauty".

4.  Ābhāsvara worlds with three parts

Ābhāsvara or Ābhassara The world of devas "possessing splendor".

Apramāṇābha or Appamāṇābha The world of devas of "limitless light",

Parīttābha or Parittābha The world of devas of "limited light".

 

Brahmā worlds

Mahābrahmā  the world of "Great Brahmā", believed by many to be the creator of the world, and having as his titles "Brahmā, Great Brahmā, the Conqueror, the Unconquered, the All-Seeing, All-Powerful, the Lord, the Maker and Creator, the Ruler, Appointer and Orderer, Father of All That Have Been and Shall Be."

Brahmapurohita (Tib: tshangs.'khor) – the "Ministers of Brahmā" are beings, also originally from the Ābhāsvara worlds, that are born as companions to Mahābrahmā after he has spent some time alone. Since they arise subsequent to his thought of a desire for companions, he believes himself to be their creator, and they likewise believe him to be their creator and lord.

Brahmapāriṣadya or Brahmapārisajja (Tib: tshangs.ris) – the "Councilors of Brahmā" or the devas "belonging to the assembly of Brahmā". They are also called Brahmakāyika, but this name can be used for any of the inhabitants of the Brahma-worlds

 

The mental state of the devas of the Brahmā worlds corresponds to the first dhyāna, and is characterized by observation (vitarka) and reflection (vicāra) as well as delight (prīti) and joy (sukha). The Brahmā worlds, together with the other lower worlds of the universe, are destroyed by fire at the end of a mahākalpa

Heavens

The heavens float in the air above the top of Mount Sumeru. Although all of the worlds inhabited by devas (that is, all the worlds down including the Asuras) 

Parinirmita-vaśavartin or Paranimmita-vasavatti 
The heaven of devas "with power over (others') creations".
These devas do not create pleasing forms that they desire for themselves, but their desires are fulfilled by the acts of other devas who wish for their favor.
The ruler of this world is called Vaśavartin (Pāli: Vasavatti), who has longer life, greater beauty, more power and happiness and more delightful sense-objects than the other devas of his world.
This world is also the home of the devaputra (being of divine race) called Māra, who endeavors to keep all beings of the Kāmadhātu in the grip of sensual pleasures. Māra is also sometimes called Vaśavartin, but in general these two dwellers in this world are kept distinct

Nirmāṇarati or Nimmānaratī
The world of devas "delighting in their creations".
The devas of this world are capable of making any appearance to please themselves. The lord of this world is called Sunirmita (Pāli Sunimmita .

Tuṣita or Tusita
 The world of the "joyful" devas.
This world is best known for being the world in which a Bodhisattva lives before being reborn in the world of humans. 

Yāma  "heaven without fighting" It is the lowest of the heavens to be physically separated from the tumults of the earthly world. These devas live in the air, free of all difficulties. 

Worlds of Sumeru
The world-mountain of Sumeru is an immense, strangely shaped peak which arises in the center of the world, and around which the Sun and Moon revolve. Its base rests in a vast ocean, and it is surrounded by several rings of lesser mountain ranges and oceans. The three worlds listed below are all located on or around Sumeru:

Trāyastriṃśa devas live on its peak,
the Cāturmahārājikakāyika devas live on its slopes, and
the Asuras live in the ocean at its base.

Sumeru and its surrounding oceans and mountains are the home not just of these deities, but also vast assemblies of beings of popular mythology who only rarely intrude on the human world.

Trāyastriṃśa or Tāvatiṃsa  
The world "of the Thirty-three (devas)" is a wide flat space on the top of Mount Sumeru, filled with the gardens and palaces of the devas.

Its ruler is Śakra devānām indra, "lord of the devas".
Besides the eponymous Thirty-three devas, many other devas and supernatural beings dwell here, including the attendants of the devas and many apsarases (nymphs).

Cāturmahārājikakāyika or Cātummahārājika 
The world "of the Four Great Kings" is found on the lower slopes of Mount Sumeru, though some of its inhabitants live in the air around the mountain.
The devas who guide the Sun and Moon are also considered part of this world, as are the retinues of the four kings, composed of Kumbhāṇḍas (dwarfs), Gandharvas (fairies), Nāgas (dragons) and Yakṣas (goblins)

Asura  
The world of the Asuras is the space at the foot of Mount Sumeru, much of which is a deep ocean.
It is not the Asuras' original home, but the place they found themselves after they were hurled, drunken, from Trāyastriṃśa where they had formerly lived. The Asuras are always fighting to regain their lost kingdom on the top of Mount Sumeru, but are unable to break the guard of the Four Great Kings. The Asuras are divided into many groups, and have no single ruler, but among their leaders are Vemacitrin and Rāhu 

Earthly realms

Manuṣyaloka (Tib: mi) – This is the world of humans and human-like beings who live on the surface of the earth.  In the ocean all around are four continents  . The four continents are:

    • Jambudvīpa or Jambudīpa is located in the south and is the dwelling of ordinary human beings. It is said to be shaped "like a cart", or rather a blunt-nosed triangle with the point facing south. (This description probably echoes the shape of the coastline of southern India.)
    • Pūrvavideha or Pubbavideha is located in the east, and is shaped like a semicircle with the flat side pointing westward (i.e., towards Sumeru).
    • Aparagodānīya or Aparagoyāna is located in the west, and is shaped like a circle  
    • Uttarakuru is located in the north, and is shaped like a square

 

Tiryagyoni-loka or Tiracchāna-yoni  This world comprises all members of the animal kingdom that are capable of feeling suffering, from the smallest insect to the elephant.

Pretaloka or Petaloka The pretas, or "hungry ghosts", are mostly dwellers on earth, though due to their mental state they perceive it very differently from humans. They live for the most part in desert and waste places.

 

Hells (Narakas)

Naraka  is the name given to one of the worlds of greatest suffering .

As with the other realms, a being is born into one of these worlds as a result of his karma, and resides there for a finite length of time until his karma has achieved its full result, after which he will be reborn in one of the higher worlds as the result of an earlier karma that had not yet ripened. The mentality of a being in the hells corresponds to states of extreme fear and helpless anguish in humans.

Physically, Naraka is thought of as a series of layers extending below Jambudvīpa into the earth. There are several schemes for counting these Narakas and enumerating their torments. One of the more common is that of the Eight Cold Narakas and Eight Hot Narakas.

Cold Narakas
  • Arbuda – the "blister" Naraka
  • Nirarbuda – the "burst blister" Naraka
  • Aṭaṭa – the Naraka of shivering
  • Hahava – the Naraka of lamentation
  • Huhuva – the Naraka of chattering teeth
  • Utpala – the "blue lotus" Naraka
  • Padma – the "lotus" Naraka
  • Mahāpadma – the "great lotus" Naraka

Each lifetime in these Narakas is twenty times the length of the one before it.

Hot Narakas
  • Sañjīva – the "reviving" Naraka. Life in this Naraka is 162*1010 years long.
  • Kālasūtra – the "black thread" Naraka. Life in this Naraka is 1296*1010 years long.
  • Saṃghāta – the "crushing" Naraka. Life in this Naraka is 10,368*1010 years long.
  • Raurava – the "screaming" Naraka. Life in this Naraka is 82,944*1010 years long.
  • Mahāraurava – the "great screaming" Naraka. Life in this Naraka is 663,552*1010 years long.
  • Tapana – the "heating" Naraka. Life in this Naraka is 5,308,416*1010 years long.
  • Pratāpana – the "great heating" Naraka. Life in this Naraka is 42,467,328*1010 years long.
  • Avīci – the "uninterrupted" Naraka. Life in this Naraka is 339,738,624*1010 years long.

The foundations of the earth

All of the structures of the earth, Sumeru and the rest, extend downward to a depth of 80,000 yojanas below sea level – the same as the height of Sumeru above sea level. Below this is a layer of "golden earth", a substance compact and firm enough to support the weight of Sumeru.

Thus the picture developed in the Buddhist cosmology defines an infinite number of being in infinite number of dimensions. Distributed over the three dhatus (substances) and are determined by the karma of each jiva.  These are not spatial dimensions or material beings.  Those that are of immaterial bodies are the angels in our modern terminology.  Even though they have no bodies, they do interact with humans and with the rest of the cosmic being through common dimensional extensions.  It is the choices that each jiva makes that decide their future until it escapes the cycle of existence in the various realms.