We have followed the Jiva in his evolution and in the unfolding of his faculties and powers. When he is clothed in any form including the human form he dwells in this physical world, the world that he is able to see, hear, touch and feel. Science states that there are many parts of this physical world that our senses are not keen enough to perceive and too subtle to effect any of our senses.Albeit being invisible, these parts of the world are still physical in nature. Our Dharma also puts forth details about many worlds that are invisible to the Jiva when he is in this physical world.
In these different worlds or lokas, the Jiva is bound to the cycle of births and deaths and his evolution proceeds. He dwells in these different lokas during his long journey. Chiefly, there are 3 lokas in which the Jiva circles around. Bhulokah or Bhurlokah, the physical earth, Bhuvarlokah, the world next to the physical, and closely related to it but of finer matter and Svarlokah, or Svarga, the heavenly world. The Bhulokah is partly visible to us and it has Prithvi tattva as its basis. The Bhuvarlokah and Svarlokah are totally invisible to us with Apas tattva being the basis for bhuvarlokah and Agni tattva being the basis for svarlokah. Beyond these are 4 other lokas, Maharaloka, Janaloka, Tapoloka and Satyaloka. All these 7 lokas lie within the Brahmanda. There are others like Indraloka, Suryaloka, Pretaloka and Pitriloka which are not exactly separate worlds but special regions situated within these 7 lokas.
There are seven other worlds, usually called Talas, which are regions within the earth, that is of grosser matter than the earth. They are Patala, Mahatala, Rasatala, Talatala, Sutala, Vitala and Atala. We can imagine these Talas to the lokas as an image corresponding to an object. These are on a descending scale unlike lokas which are on a ascending scale.
These lokas are significant to the Jiva since they mark the stages of his evolution. As his powers uncurl, he begins to feel and becomes conscious of these lokas. Thus each loka becomes the form of consciousness of the Jiva as a state and as a place, it represents the modifications of the Prakriti that is expressing each state of consciousness. Puranas and Itihasas introduce the concept of lokas as a prakriti tattva to us first. Hence we can see numerous stories involving Jivas and lokas. As our understanding of such Vedic concepts gains traction, our scriptures take us to the next level and expose our minds to lokas as a yoga tattva – different levels of consciousness or existence for the Jiva to journey into. If we go back to those stories from the puranas after we have gained advanced level knowledge about our dharma, we can realize that the same stories give us a different perspective from the time we learnt them as novices.
Since the Jiva is of the nature of the Ishvara, he is fully capable of realizing these 7 states of consciousness and experiencing all the 7 higher lokas seen above. For the Jiva to experience all these lokas, the existence of the lokas alone is not enough. He also needs Upadhi with which he can experience the lokas and the bhutani, the Bhutas or the elements. We will look at the various upadhis in the coming posts.
mythological squirrel 