Paradise

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Paradise innately comes with a jolt of thoughts subjective to interpretation but revolving around the objective idea of a ‘dukhmukt avdharna’. In this article I have tried to provide perspective based analysis of the notion of Paradise, primarily  focusing on two views: Spiritual and Sensual, and then how they are both different and intertwined and how they are one in the core. Lastly, I delve into my personal understanding of paradise—the periphery within which I seek to exist in order to claim, "Wohoo, boys! It’s heaven.” 

“What is heaven? A garden? A promise? Perhaps heaven is the moment you stop searching and realize— you are already home.”

When we wake up in a world that runs 24/7, we find ourselves caught in a web of scenarios, decisions, and dilemmas. Some moments demand rationality, others call for analysis, and still others seek reason, logic, or practicality. The list of what life asks from us is endless. At its simplest, for the layman, paradise represents freedom from the burden of seeking itself, a space untouched by the need for choice, free from the weight of dilemmas and discourse. It is an existence where the mind no longer toils over decisions but simply is. 

To build a comprehensive understanding of paradise, we must first define it technically before delving into its discourses. The first image that comes to mind is of celestial gardens, rivers of milk and honey, eternal bliss, and an existence beyond suffering. But what is paradise? Is it a realm of the soul, an ultimate transcendence beyond the material world? Or is it a place of earthly pleasure, a fulfillment of human desires?

For centuries, poets, philosophers, mystics, and theologians have sought to define this elusive concept. In its deepest essence, paradise exists at the confluence of the spiritual and the sensual, two rivers flowing into an ocean of longing, fulfillment, and eternity. In simpler terms, as the body and mind seek the state of bawaal nahi chahiye (a state free from unnecessary chaos) at different levels, we get closer to understanding paradise in its entirety. Before understanding paradise in the human context, we must first explore the concept of stable equilibrium. Even though the universe is in constant motion and discontinuity, every system naturally seeks its lowest potential energy–the most stable state. 

Understanding it in the world, this energy is the bawal we talked about. The universe has an innate tendency to let go of excess energy, detach from discourses and dilemmas, and shed attachments, pasts, and anxieties about the future. It simply exists.

So what we deduce from this is that, the tendency of humans to seek paradise, or build a notion or idea of paradise is not built over time, it is an innate quality that transcends from the universe to the essence of a human consciousness, as the Sankhya says, humans are composed of Prakruti (nature) and Purusha (consciousness), where Purusha, through adhyasa (superimposition), interacts with Prakruti to create the world as we perceive it. Paradise, then, is a construct of maya, not in the sense that the reason of seeking for paradise is due to maya, because maya gives ability to do a comparative analysis of situations, generating a goal or need or seek in human mind, which originates, in itself after purusha is drawn towards the beauty of prakriti losing its true essence of Chetna (pure consciousness). So this is how or why the idea of paradise originates in the conscience of human existence. 

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Since humans operate on different energy levels and approach consciousness in varied ways, their perception of paradise also differs. The idea of bliss, commitment and love is a concrete and objective idea, and which may be a paradisiacal idea for a group of people, but to say that this is the only idea of paradise, would rather be limiting it. Because for everyone, love, commitment and bliss is not the idea of paradise, for some people, Pratishtha or Asmita is the idea of paradise, while for others, supreme knowledge is paradise while for others, sex is paradise. But for discussions, If we try to draw a line to form sections of perceptions of humans, Two major discourses of ideas to attain or ways to attain paradise come into existence. Attachment and detachment or Spiritual and Sensual are the types of paradisiacal goals set by humans. 

We shall discuss the concepts, and ways to attain them in detail now. Spiritual paradise is neither a place, nor a destination, it is an awakening, a shedding of the illusions (which we earlier termed detachment) that bind the soul to suffering. In this realm, the self dissolves, not into nothingness, but into everything; the boundaries of identity fade, and what remains is pure existence, timeless, weightless, infinite. It is a state where desires cease, not out of suppression, but because fulfillment itself is transcended. Like a river merging into the ocean, the soul reaches a state of perfect equilibrium, where silence speaks louder than words, and stillness carries the weight of the universe. Spiritual schools of thoughts, ideas of Nirvana, Vaikunth, Kaivaly, Heaven, Jannat, all align with more or less the same idea. The idea of detachment from the world of suffering and to claim the spiritual identity which is beyond existence and is eternal. Now, what happens if we strip Paradise of its divine metaphors and place it into the realm of reality? It becomes an orchestra of pleasures, of touch, taste, sight, sound, and scent, all playing in harmony without the discord of restraint. It is the warmth of the sun on bare skin, the decadence of an unhurried kiss, the laughter echoing in candle-lit rooms filled with poetry and wine. It is where time slows, where nothing is rationed, neither love nor luxury, where existence is not a pursuit but a celebration. And there my friend, sensual paradise is not an illusion, it is an art of living without the weight of 'what if' and 'what next.' It is the world, not as a test of endurance, but as a canvas for pleasure, for passion, for the unapologetic embrace of everything that makes being human a privilege.

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The spiritual and sensual paradises, though seemingly opposing, are deeply intertwined, shaping human experience in many ways. The spiritual paradise offers liberation from worldly chaos, a state of transcendence where the soul finds eternal peace beyond material desires. On the other hand, the sensual paradise is rooted in earthly pleasures, love, beauty, art, and indulgence, bringing fulfilment through physical experiences. Yet, one often leads to the other. The intoxication of love can become a path to divine ecstasy, just as spiritual enlightenment can enhance the joy of sensory existence. In practical life, neither can exist in isolation. A truly enriched life is one that harmonizes both the serenity of the soul and the passion of the senses. 

Considering, this as the official conclusion for the article, I would be from here describing the idea of my paradise from my lens, beyond what is spiritual and what is sensual; from what I have outgrown, survived, fought, and been shaped by. I have come to understand the ideas of possession and the inability to possess, whether it be material wealth, people, power or even time itself. My notion of paradise is deeply tied to fulfilling these desires, to tasting what was once unattainable, and only then transcending toward a spiritual realm.

This path may not be the purest way to paradise, but it is the intersection of longing and liberation, of indulgence and detachment, that defines the paradise I seek to own. And thus, I will become the owner of my paradise.                  

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By Anshumaan Singh Anshuman Singh is a 1st year student of Physics Hons., Hindu College

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