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What is the actual description of the Heaven according to Hinduism. Is it a static place or does it change with the times?

Do you think there would science related things in Heaven example - cars, planes, iphones etc ?

Vivikta
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    Possible duplicate of http://hinduism.stackexchange.com/questions/7243/where-are-heaven-and-hell – Aby Jul 17 '15 at 12:02
  • Regarding cars and iphones, there's nothing written as such but its said need is the mother of invention, so if there is any need then there should have been a technology developed for that. Iphones is still a lesser technology, earlier people and sages were said to connect each other mentally ie by using telepathy. That was more advanced technology. Similarly, vimans or flying chariots are different names used for planes. There were divine weapons earlier same as nuclear weapons.These all were developed so much earlier by them and we have just started using them within last 20-50 years. – Aby Jul 17 '15 at 12:14
  • So, if there is physical heaven and people reside there, then definitely they would be lot more advanced than us. – Aby Jul 17 '15 at 12:15
  • According to Hinduism, Heaven is not an Ultimate Place as believed by westerners. There are several heavens. Heaven simply means a higher plane, in which souls take birth, after death in the physical loka. However the similarity to Western Heaven is a place called Kailash (for Shaivites) and Vaikunta (for Vaishnavites). These lokas are permanent and souls taking birth there are considered liberated. According to Advaita, the souls' freedom is independent of the loka in which it is born. The soul can be liberated in this life, in this loka, if it only realizes who He reallly is. All the best – Sai Jul 17 '15 at 14:43
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    Arthur C. Clarke said that any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. But by the same token, any technology, no matter how advanced, can be replaced by magic. Since the inhabitants of Devaloka have magical powers, they would have no need for technology. But I suppose there might be some materialitic people who were using their iPhones on Earth and want to continue using it after they die, so perhaps they'll have the ability to do so. Devaloka is about material enjoyment, after all. – Keshav Srinivasan Jul 17 '15 at 15:17
  • @Sai "According to Advaita, the souls' freedom is independent of the loka in which it is born." Swami Vishwananda told me in another thread that some Advaitins believe that only when you're born as a human on Earth do you have the ability to attain self-realization. Adi Shankaracharya says in the Brahma Sutra Bhashya that the gods have the ability to attain self-realization, but Swami Vishwananda said Adi Shankaracharya says something very different in his Vivekachudamani. See here: http://hinduism.stackexchange.com/a/4069/36 – Keshav Srinivasan Jul 17 '15 at 15:24
  • @KeshavSrinivasan Yes IMHO, human birth is just emphasized because we're humans. If we're in another loka, the saints there would say that 'being born as a ... is the most exalted privelege and moksha can be attained'. Sri Ramana Maharishi says that in all the worlds there are sadhakas seeking to know the Truth and there are saints guiding them. Sri Yukteshwar Giri ji in 'Autobiography of a Yogi' by Paramhansa Yoganandaji describes in great detail several other lokas where the jivas seek to know the Truth. However I don't know about devaloka specifically. But theoretically I would imagine so – Sai Jul 17 '15 at 16:38
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    @Sai Yeah, I think realization is possible in Devaloka. Look at what Indra says in this chapter of the Kaushitaki Upanishad: http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/sbe01/sbe01241.htm Indra seems to have attained the realization of Brahman. – Keshav Srinivasan Jul 17 '15 at 17:20
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    If you desire to go to a heaven filled with iPhones, then you will go to a heaven filled with iPhones. Be careful what you desire for, because you will get it. Perhaps you will go to a heaven filled with those things, but it perhaps comes after several more lives - when in your new birth you have no desires for those things. See Gita II. 42-44. – Swami Vishwananda Jul 19 '15 at 04:08

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