Vedic Mythology c9.s3.3

c9.s3.3

The dead are in the RV. often spoken of in general terms (*madanti*, *mādayante*) as enjoying bliss (10, 14¹⁰. 15¹⁴, &c.). The most detailed account of the joys of the life in heaven is given in RV. 9, 113⁷⁻¹¹. There are eternal light and swift waters; there movement is unrestrained (cp. TB. 3, 12, 2⁹); there is spirit food and satiety; there joy, glee, gladness, and the fulfilment of all desires. The joys here indefinitely referred to, are later explained to be those of love (TB. 2, 4, 6⁶ cp. ŚB. 10, 4, 4⁴); and the AV. (4, 34²) states that in the heavenly world there is abundance of sexual gratification. According to the ŚB.' the joys of the Blest are a hundred times as great as the highest on earth (14, 7, 1³²⁻³). In the heaven of the Blest, the RV. further says, the sound of the flute and of songs is heard (10, 135⁷)²; Soma, ghee, and honey flow for them (10, 154¹). There are ponds filled with ghee and streams flowing with milk, honey, and wine (AV. 4, 34⁵.⁶; ŚB. 11, 5, 6⁴). There are at hand bright, many-coloured cows yielding all desires (*kāmadughāḥ*: AV. 4, 34⁸). There are neither rich nor poor, neither powerful nor oppressed (AV. 3, 29³). To the celestial life of the Blest in the Saṃhitās and Brāhmaṇas corresponds in the Upaniṣads the lower and transient bliss of the heaven of the gods which is followed by rebirth, only those who know the truth attaining to immortality and the changeless joy of unending peace by absorption into the world-soul³. Thus the life of the righteous dead in heaven was clearly regarded as one of indolent, material bliss, in which freed from all frailties they were united with the gods, and which was devoted to music, drinking, and sensual joys (such as the gods themselves are occasionally alluded to as indulging in: cp. 3, 53⁶).