The god realm is the opposite to the hell realm that we looked at last week. This realm is the most difficult to take rebirth in, whereas hell is the easiest. That is because we have a tendency to be self grasping and do negative actions to benefit ourselves, rather than doing things to benefit others. Society today glorifies selfish, greedy people and ways of living, which exacerbates these tendencies and makes it impossible to take rebirth in a god realm.
We need a massive amount of positive karma to be able to be born in a higher realm. This means we have to spend most of, if not all of our time benefiting others, instead of always trying to fulfill our own desires. We need to engage in virtuous actions such as giving, having patience, wishing others to be happy and so forth. The more time we spend helping others the better our chances of being born in the god realm in the future will be.
There are three levels of the god realm, which are desire, form and formless. Desire level gods have magnificent homes, gorgeous lovers, many enjoyments and much abundance. In the form and formless god levels they do not experience suffering. In the form god level, gods experience solitary tranquility. Those in the formless level seem to be in a state that resembles sleep, not really aware of anything at all, rather mindless.
Just as the hot hells are the lowest to take rebirth in, the formless god level is the highest rebirth you can ever have. The form god level is the second highest and the desire god level is the lowest level within the god realm. All of these realms are within Samsara still and although they suffer far less than we humans, and it may sound amazing to take rebirth there, you are still trapped in the cycle of uncontrolled rebirth. You will not stay in these places and will eventually have to take lower rebirth when you die.
The gods in the form and formless levels do not have any suffering during their lifetime, until they are about to die. When their death approaches they see where they will take rebirth and they only have one direction to go and that is down. They are horrified by the fact that they will have to take rebirth in a lower realm and will have lives with so much suffering in them. By then, there is barely anything they can do to change it having wasted their lives doing so little, other than just existing, really. It is due to the lack of suffering in their lifetime as gods, that they do not bother pursuing any spiritual attainments in order to be free from the cycle of uncontrolled rebirth. They think they will live as a god forever and it can be quite a shock to them, when they find out that is not true.
Now in the lowest level of that realm are the desire gods. While it may sound wonderful to have a magnificent home and gorgeous lovers and all, they still have some suffering. This is due to their own individual karma. The gods that are born here that do not have as much good karma as other gods, lose their best lovers to gods that have more good karma. The better the karma you have when you take rebirth here, the better looking you are, the more attractive you are to others and the more abundant your life will be. The gods that do not have the best in this realm, suffer from loss and jealousy. They can grow depressed that they don't have it as good as some of the others.
The desire realm gods can also spend time at war with the demi-gods. We will look at this realm next, but the demi-gods are constantly attacking the desire gods. The desire gods can be killed during these attacks and thrown back into uncontrolled rebirth, only to end up in a lower realm. Since it takes so much positive karma to even take rebirth in the god realm, some of us will only just arrive and after a short time, be killed in a battle with the demi-gods. We simply will not have enough stored up good karma to be able to stay up there for very long.
Once again, due to the sensational life and all the distractions in the life of a desire god, they do very little if any spiritual work. They simply do not suffer enough to want to get out of this cycle of uncontrolled rebirth, out of Samsara. They prefer to spend all their time indulging in their desires. They lead very wasteful lives, using up all of the good karma they have in their storage locker. This hinders any future efforts they may have towards spirituality and escaping this prison we are all trapped in. So, if you are thinking you would like to take rebirth in the god realm and how marvellous that would be, remember it is only temporary and you will end up back in a lower realm later to suffer greatly once again.
Those that take rebirth in the god realm, no matter what level they find themselves, are usually very self absorbed, caring only for their own desires to be fulfilled or to just feel good, without bothering about the suffering of others. Their behaviour causes them to gather negative karma that will pile up in their storage locker only to ripen on them sometime in the future. Many of them feel they deserve to have everything they desire, as though being a god gives them the right to it. This causes them a great deal of suffering in the future.
How can you know these god realms exist? Well, you may know of people in our world that have lives very similar to those in the desire god realm. People that are rich and famous, indulging their every desire with little regard of how they affect others or the world around them. There are people that throw themselves at celebrities hoping to touch them, to sleep with them, and to somehow become part of the celebrity's life. There are people that idolize the rich, the famous, and their are people that are jealous of them. Some people stalk them having convinced themselves the famous person is their lover. Some people try to kill them or harm because they are so overcome with their jealousy. All of these things show us that a place like the desire god realm can exist.
The form and formless gods can be represented here in people that become hermits and live alone away from society. We may have known someone that seemed to just be drifting through life, not really seeming like there were here in the present moment, but off in some dreamworld perhaps, as though they had no connection with their physical body or the world around them. It could be that these people were these types of gods in their previous life, and have a hard time being human now.
Personally, I have been able to visit the formless god realm during a Shamanic Journey. To me, it was like floating on clouds and the being I interacted with was a shining white light. He spoke to me, but I could not understand him, as though he spoke far too slowly or it was a language I did not understand. To get to this place I had help from one of my Upper World teachers to get there as it was very high up. I would elaborate on this particular journey more, but it would get us off topic and cause issues with some people, so maybe I will share that at a later date.
I have a need to prove things for myself. I want to know that what I am taught is true, so I work until I am able to find the answers I seek. I just wanted to share this with you, to let you know you could do this, too. If you earnestly want to know the truth, you can seek it and find it. This is how I know these realms exist, and although I have not been to all of them, I have been to 4 out of 6, which indicates the likeliness of the other 2 existing is very high.
Hopefully, by sharing these things with you, you will understand why I try to emphasize the need to build the desire or want to get out of Samsara. Staying in the cycle of uncontrolled rebirth is not ideal. Yes, it is better to take rebirth in one of the higher realms, those that are above ground in the prison of Samsara that we are all trapped in, but those places, like this life we are living currently, are only temporary. We will have to move on and are always in danger of taking lower rebirth in the future. You have no way of knowing if you will remember any of the things you have learned in this life in your future lives. You may forget it all and revert to doing negative actions out of your self cherishing causing yourself suffering in the many lives you have to live hereafter. The best we can do in this life right now is to strive to get out of Samsara.
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