Heaven on Earth

One of the magnets that make religions become such attractive and appealing to many people is the promise of heaven after death. A promise that has been taken for granted by billions of people.

Heaven as Fruit of Attitude

Once upon a time, a warlord came to zen master asking about heaven and hell. Hearing such question, then the last zen master unfriendly answered like this: "I cannot explain hell and heaven to a stupid person like you". 


Of course the war commander was furious listening to the answer and then threatened the master with a sword. With a calm face this zen teacher pointed to the heart of warlord and whispered: "this is hell". As soon as the commander calmed, the master invited the warlord to clean the garden and at the same time singing beautiful songs. When this strong soldier enjoying his song, suddenly the zen master pointing to the heart of the warlord: "this is heaven".

To make it simple, heaven is not a place, heaven is the fruit of beautiful attitude. In the moment when people are burnt by grumpy attitude, then all places are hell. In the moment when heart is beautiful then all places are heaven. That's why, every soul with beautiful attitude meets beauty everywhere.

Nelson Mandela was a great light. Although he was imprisoned for 27 years, with an unimaginable pain and deeply wounded, he could easily give the lantern of forgiveness. And the end of Mandela's life was very beautiful. He had long life, he is memorized by billion of people as beautiful heart. There is nothing more important behind all of this light than beautiful attitude. 

The Mystery Behind Attitude

At the level of aspiration, all people want to have wonderful attitude. But what happen in everyday life, most people are dragged by the torrent of thoughts and emotions. That's the reason why many human beings forget the importance of wonderful attitude again and again.

In deep meditation, the untrained mind is symbolized as waterfall which is so malignant. Everything is hit and kicked by waterfall. As soon as the mind is touched by deep meditation, the mind turns into a beautiful flowing river. At the peak of meditation, one swims to the bank of river and then become a witness to all flow of life.

Anyone whose practice of witnessing is deep enough, then they no longer being dragged by thoughts and emotions. From such calm inner life then beautiful attitude becomes something that's very natural. It is as natural as rose which is beautiful. In a more poetic language, as we cannot separate between rose and beauty, we cannot separate between inner calmness and beautiful attitude.

Earth vs. Heart

It is not coincidence that the spelling of earth is very similar to heart. Mainly because this earth is heaven for any soul who deeply understand heart. Anyone who is free from judgment and complaint, then getting married with gratitude and thankfulness, by then all places becomes heaven. The blooming flowers, the beautiful sun rises, the singing birds, the playing children are all reminders that how beautiful this planet is.

Put it simply, heaven and hell are a matter of viewpoint. If the point of view is full of complaint and judgment, then life is a suffering. When the point of view is thankfulness and gratitude, then life is a blessing. 

Within this insight, it is not surprising when in certain meditation ever heard a beautiful message like this: "if you cannot find heaven on earth, look deeper into your heart". A deep spiritual friend heard another beautiful message like this: "the only way to beautify the heart is to love more". A heart seeker also heard the similar message like this: "all beings are here to beautify the heart". Welcome to heaven beautiful souls.

Author: Gede Prama
Photo Courtesy: Twitter @Gabriele_Corno.