Reclaiming Loans is an Achievement, But Writing Off Loans is the Super-Achievement

Will our actions propel us towards Swarga, the land of plenty, or Naraka, the repayment of debts?

- Devdutt Pattanaik

2500 years ago, a great revolution took place in India. The country saw the rise of many monastic orders, in the middle of great affluence. The most popular amongst them were the Buddhists. But the Jains were the most resilient. The unique feature of the Jain monastic order was the monks who chose to wander without clothes. Buddhist monks wore robes and shaved their heads. Hindu monks smeared their body with ash and matted their hair. Another feature of the Jain monks was their desire to fast unto death. This feature of monks, sitting on top of stone mountains and fasting, has been documented in inscriptions of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. These were the Sramanas, the ones who strive hard. But the question is, for what exactly were these Sramanas striving hard?

All these monastic orders recognize the universality of hunger. All life yearns for food and comfort. So, we give and receive goods and services. We feed and are fed. This creates debts: lenders and debtors. This establishes Swarga and Naraka.

People often confuse Swarga and Naraka with the heaven and hell ideas found in Christianity and Islam. In Christianity and Islam, God creates the world. He creates nature as well as culture. God provides laws that humans must follow and judges them on the basis of their conduct. If humans follow the law of God, they go to heaven, if they don't follow the law of God, they go to hell.