As the irritating, yet monotonous beeps of the life monitor in the emergency room began to slowly die away, george struggled to hang on. The beeps soon became increasingly far in between, while the doctors frantically bustled on in a futile attempt to stabilize the dying man like a bunch of panicking bees trying to save their doomed hive from a pouring rain. The world turned hazy, then completely dark, as george felt himself slowly floating into the darkness. Randles 2 it gave out a strange, comforting warmth that enveloped him, easing his fears and relieving all doubts.

Back on earth, the rhythmic, mechanical beeps suddenly turned into a solid, continuous high e, signaling the end. Being bathed in the strangely comforting light, he was soon greeted by his long lost friends and relatives, beckoning for him to come, come join them. More than anything he cared for, george wanted to stay right here, basking in the light of love. The next moment, george was somehow reunited with his physical body, lying on that uncomfortable hospital bed, amidst the doctors sighing in relief, surrounded no longer by that soft glow, but again by that rhythmic beep, beep, beep.

Unlike science, dealing only with the material and tangible, traditional religion takes another view of our reality by recognizing the validity of metaphysical experiences. World's major religions, such as hinduism, buddhism, and christianity, as well as primal pagan ones, such as the greek and roman mythology, although quite different in basic fundamentals of belief, all attempt to give its followers an explanation of the world on the other side of life. He was the son of the titans cronus and rhea and the brother of zeus and poseidon. Cumont 34 when the three brothers divided up the universe after they had deposed their father, cronus, hades was awarded the underworld. There, with his queen, persephone, whom he had abducted from the world above, he ruled the kingdom of the underworld itself was often called hades. It was divided into two regions: erebus, where the dead pass as soon as they die, and tartarus, the deeper region, where the titans had been imprisoned.

It was a dim and unhappy place, inhabited by vague forms and shadows and guarded by cerberus, the three headed, dragon tailed dog. Sinister rivers separated the underworld from the world above, and the aged boatman charon ferried the souls of the dead across these waters. It was represented as a many gated, dark and gloomy place, thronged with guests, and set in the midst of shadowy fields and an apparition haunted landscape. Hades, a dark and gloomy place, was originally the apparent destination for all the good and the bad. Perhaps with the unintended influence of the incipient contemporary christianity, hades was mollified into a much more organized place, giving rewards to the good and punishments to the wicked.

One notable aspect of this mythology is that greeks, much like most of the major religions today, believed in an eternal, undying self in each of us that conquers death and carries on another life after a physical death. Today, unlike the greeks and romans, hindus do not believe in a set place where our undying selves end up after the inevitable physical death. Personal eschatology is concerned with the immediate fate of righteous and unrighteous souls following death, and the conditions governing each category of souls between death and the universal resurrection of humanity. General eschatology, on the other hand, considers the final destiny of the whole human race, especially the events of the last days, that is universal resurrection and final judgment. Ma'sumian 2 as with any aspect of hinduism, the teachings of life after death must take into consideration the many different sectarian beliefs. Smith 26 different philosophies of hinduism hold divergent views about what happens after death, but the twin doctrines of karma and samsara are at the center of the eschatological beliefs of most hindus.

According to the samsara literally the round of existence doctrine, the present life of each person is shaped by the fruits of the acts he or she performed in previous lives. For every action, there is a reward or retribution all our present pleasures, pains, and sufferings are the direct result of our past actions. Ma'sumian 4 as long as our karma results in sins and imperfections, we will continue to be reborn into other existences.

More than likely, these successive rebirths will not be on the same plane of being they may occur in any of a number of temporary heavens or hells, or on earth. Human rebirth is considered most significant because only in human form can we accumulate good karma. Smith 27 traditional hindu literature such as the puranas identify numerous temporary heavens and hells that are set aside for karmic retribution.

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Once the consequences of virtuous or evil deeds are exhausted, the soul is reborn as a human being on earth. The purpose of life is to break the vicious cycle of birth death rebirth and liberate one's soul, but very few of us can do this at any given time. Ma'sumian 4 once enough good karma is collected, the soul is then transmigrated to the kingdom of inexhaustible light, as mentioned in rig veda. Ma'sumian 3 the rig veda notes that the way to heaven is perilous and believers will have to face many dangers before getting there, including demons who are ready to devour them should they stray from the right path. To help the faithful in this dangerous journey, the rig veda identifies a colorful god named yama, who was the first man to die but is now the god of the dead and the ruler and judge of the departed. Ma'sumian 5 it is the twin doctrines of samsara and karma that make the meaning of death and the afterlife in hinduism very different from the views offered by most other religions.

Like hinduism, the term buddhism refers to a diverse array of beliefs and practices and implies a degree of uniformity that does not exist. Noss 157 after originating in india, buddhism soon spread to various parts of asia and eventually reached the western hemisphere in the nineteenth century. Like hinduism, buddhism is only concerned with personal eschatology there is no mention of a collective destiny for humankind. Because buddhism is essentially a reform movement within hinduism, buddhists maintain beliefs in the twin doctrines of transmigration hindu samsara and karma.

According to these beliefs, each person is reborn countless times and lives through different types of existence. Hence, if the individual now lives a comfortable life, this is the reward of good deeds performed in present and past lives. In contrast, those experiencing misery can only blame themselves for evil deeds they are committing or have committed in previous existences. Thus the individual is held totally responsible for the quality of the life he is now experiencing, and pointing the finger of blame at external forces such as a deity, demons, or fate is not acceptable. Noss 164 both buddhists and hinduists view the universe as a stage for countless rebirths of human beings in a spectrum from evil to goodness. Nonetheless, there are notable differences between the two interpretations of the transmigration, or reincarnation, doctrine. For instance, the buddhist belief the mind takes possession of everything not only on earth, but also in heaven, and immortality is its securest treasure trove.

Buddhist catena, anathapindika jethavana in another text, buddha defines consciousness vijnana as that entity which is invisible, boundless, all penetrating, and the ground for rupa former body , vedana sensation , samjna perception , and samskara will. Noss 164 the buddhist element of consciousness or mind appears to replace the hindu notion of atman as the only immortal substance in humans. As with its parent religion hinduism, belief in the twin doctrines of transmigration and karma makes buddhism very different from western religions. The main theme of buddhism is that life is suffering, and the best way to eliminate suffering is to achieve detachment from the world and material possessions. However, most people continually fail to become detached, commit evil, and are thus condemned to successive rebirths.

Unlike the two personal eschatological religions from the east, the new testament of christianity, which deals mainly with the subject of life and death, has little to say on what happens to individual souls after death. Instead, the major focus of the eschatology of many new testament books is general. The final destiny of human kind and dramatic events such as the return of christ in glory in the hereafter are major themes in the synoptic gospels the gospels of matthew, mark, and luke. Here can be found a number of passages that refer to the return of christ as an unexpected event preceding the final judgment.

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Badham 85 while in some passages the synoptic gospels present god as the judge of the world, more often it is christ who is expected to discharge the duties of the judge. For instance, in matthew's scene of final judgment 25: 31 32 all the nations of the past and present are brought before christ: when the son of man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate one from the other as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.