Note 117 — APPENDIX I

Neither the joys of heaven nor the pains of hell could, in the view of Hindu theologians, be eternal. When an embodied soul has, by good actions, austerities, etc., acquired sufficient merit, it is permitted to taste the joys of heaven for a length of time proportional to its deserts. When these are exhausted it returns to be born again on this earth. Similarly the embodied soul whose evil deeds deserve punishment serves its time in hell and then returns to be re-born on the earth. In either case there is after re-birth no recollection of previous existences or of former joys and sorrows. But, in heaven or in hell, a recollection would be retained of the last state on earth, of which, indeed, the celestial or infernal condition would be only a sort of continuation.