Heaven & Hell

I am reminded of one English philosopher, Edmund Burke. He was very friendly with the archbishop of England. Whenever Edmund Burke used to deliver a talk in the university, the archbishop used to come and listen to him. It was worth listening — each of his statements was coming with his wholeness, with great authority. But he never went to listen to the archbishop on Sunday in the church. The archbishop said, “At least you should come one time. I always come to listen to you.”
Edmund Burke said, “You come to listen to me because whatever you know is not your knowledge — it is all borrowed, and you are not certain of it. Whatever I say is my experience, and I give every evidence and proof and argument for it. I can stake my life for my statements. You are just a parrot. But because you have asked, I will come next Sunday.”
So the archbishop prepared a really beautiful sermon, thinking that Edmund Burke will be present, so the sermon has to be as great as he can make it. But he was surprised. Edmund Burke was sitting in the first row but there was no emotion on his face. He could not judge whether he liked it, disliked it, agreed with it, or disagreed with it. He was very much puzzled. As the sermon ended, Edmund Burke stood up and he said, “I have a question to ask, a very simple question. Your whole sermon was, in a condensed form, that the people who live a virtuous life according to your Christian ideology, and believe in Jesus Christ, will go to heaven after this life. Those who do not believe in Jesus Christ and live the life of a sinner, will fall into eternal hell after this life.
“My question is,” said Edmund Burke, “that if a person is virtuous but does not believe in Jesus Christ, what will happen? He is good. His life is a life to be praised but he does not believe in Jesus Christ — where is he going to be? Or, a man who believes in Jesus Christ but is a great sinner — where is he going to be? You missed mentioning two very important points; your sermon was half. And I was waiting to see whether you were aware of these two possibilities or not.”
The archbishop thought for a moment — the question was really dangerous. If he says the good people are going to heaven whether they believe in Jesus Christ or not, then Jesus Christ and the belief in him become superfluous, non-essential. And if he says those who believe in Jesus Christ — even if they are sinners — will go to heaven, then sin is being approved by the church itself.
He was in a very muddled situation. He said, “Your question needs some time for me to think it over. Just give me seven days. Next Sunday, I will answer it.”
For seven days, he tried all the scriptures, tried this way and that way, but… the question was simple… and he was caught in a dilemma. He could not sleep those seven days, because how is he going to face Edmund Burke and his congregation? And whatever he says seems to be wrong: either it goes against Jesus Christ or it goes against a virtuous life. He repented that he ever invited that fellow to come to the church!
He went early in the morning to the church, before the congregation came. He still did not have any answer. He thought, “In the early morning, when there is nobody in the church, I will pray to Christ himself to just show me the light, give me the answer. Because not only my prestige is at stake, his prestige is also at stake.”
Seven days, continuously worrying, not sleeping… he was bowing down before the statue of Jesus Christ. He fell asleep, and he saw a dream. Naturally, because for seven days only one thing had been in his mind, the dream was also connected with it.
He saw himself sitting in a train, and he asked, “Where are we going?” Somebody said, “This train is going to heaven.” He had a great relaxation, and he said, “That’s perfectly good. Perhaps this is Jesus Christ’s doing, so that you can see for yourself who goes to paradise and who does not go.”
As he reached the station of paradise, he could not believe — it looked so rotten. He entered inside paradise. The people he met were almost corpses, walking. He recognized a few saints and he asked them, “I want to ask one question: where is Gautam Buddha? because he never believed in Jesus Christ or in God, but he was one of the most moral men you can conceive of.”
The saint said, “He is not here.”
“Socrates? He was also not a believer in any god, but was a man of great virtue.”
“He is also not here.”
And he said, “Why does this whole paradise look like a ruin? And saints look like the dead; there seems to be no joy. I used to think that angels go on singing with their harps. I don’t see any angels, any harps, any song, any dance — just a few dull and dead saints are sitting under the trees.”
And whoever he asked, said: “Don’t bother us. We are tired.”
Just an idea came into his mind at that moment that perhaps there is a train going to hell, also. So he rushed back to the station, and the train was standing at the platform, ready to leave for hell. He entered the train, and as the hell started coming closer, he was even more puzzled. The wind was fragrant with flowers. There was so much greenery, lush green. The station was so beautiful — he had never thought that a station could be so beautiful. And people looked so happy, so joyous. He said, “My god, is there something wrong or what?”
He enquired, “Is this really hell?”
They said, “It used to be. Before Gautam Buddha, Socrates, Epicurus, Mahavira, Lao Tzu, people like these came here, it used to be hell. But now they have transformed the whole place.”
He entered hell and he could not believe — it was sheer joy! The very air was full of blissfulness. And there was dancing and there was singing, and he asked somebody, “Where is Gautam Buddha?”
They said, “Do you see in the garden, he is watering the roses.”
“And where is Socrates?”
And they said, “Socrates is working in the field.”
“Where is Epicurus?”
They said, “He just passed by you. The man who was dancing and playing on the guitar was Epicurus.”
At that very moment, the shock was too much — he woke up. He said, “My god! What a dream!”
And people had started arriving — particularly, Edmund Burke who was sitting in the front seat already, waiting for the answer.
The poor archbishop said, “I have not been able to find the answer. But I have seen a dream which I will describe to you, and you can conclude the answer from the dream.”
He described the dream. Edmund Burke said, “Now you conclude also! The conclusion is clear: that wherever good people are, there is paradise. It is not that good people go to paradise — wherever good people are, it becomes paradise. And wherever stupid people and idiots are — they may be great believers in God and Jesus Christ and the HOLY BIBLE, it does not matter — even paradise becomes a ruin. It becomes a hell.