Heaven or Jannat

Urdhva Loka or The Higher Planets:-

The Higher Planets arre abodes of Super-intelligent, super-human, semi-divine and spiritually

Advanced beings. Loosely they may be understood as the Heavenly planets compared to the Middle Realm of Earth-Like planets and the lower Hellish realms.

Comparative arrangement of Lokas

This Group contain SIX planetary systems shown in the image above as the top six Lokas.

The lowest of these, the Bhuvar-Loka, lies immediately above the Earthly Realm or Bhu-Loka.

Satya-Loka:-

The HIGHEST planet in the Material Realm is the abode of Lord Brahma,theprogenitor of this universe. Along with him are present, his consort Saraswati and other spiritual entities who, after eons of spiritual penance have been able to transcend the bonds of Material world and reach this plane by traversing through the Milky Way.

Satya-Loka or Brahma-Loka:-

At the time of final dissolution of the material planets the residents here transform their subtle bodies into spiritual bodies and enter the eternal Vaikuntha planets which begin 26,200,000 yojanas ABOVE the Satyaloka.

Tapo-Loka:-

This is the abode of the four Kumars named Sanat, Sanak, Sanandan and Sanatan and is located 120,000,000 yojanas below the Satya-Loka.

They are the first incarnations of Lord Vishnu and represents the Gyan-Shakti(power of Knowledge) of the lord. They are collectively referred as the Kumars because they are immortal and live for the entire duration of universal time, yet retain their appearance of 5 year old kids!

The 4 Kumars preaching Supreme Knowledge

Because of their pure nature, they have easy access to the of Lord Brahma-Loka as well as the Spiritual Realm and regularly visit Lord Vishnu in the Vaikuntha.

JANA-LOKA & MAHAR-LOKA:-

The next Loka lies 80,000,000 yojanas below the Tapokala and is the abode of great rishis 20,000,000 yojans below. Janaloka is the Maharloka which is another abode of great saints and sages.

These Lokas are populated by mystics who can move between any planets within the material universe at speeds unthinkable to modern science and the greatest of sages, such as Bhrigu Muni, lived in this place. The inhabitants have a life span of one whole day of Brahma(4.32 Billion year)!

Sages of Jana-Loka and Mahar-Loka worshipping the Lord

When the fire of devastation reaches this planet the residents transport themselves to Satyaloka where they live further before the highest of planets is also destroyed. They then transform their subtle bodies to spiritual and enter the spiritual realms.

Here, by means of his karma, a soul can either go higher, up to Satyaloka and become Brahma’s associate, or down, to the level of Devas or demigods.

SWARG-LOKA:-

The abode of the 33 Vedic gods also known as the Trayastrimsa in Buddhist cosmology is located on the peak of Mount Meru the central mountain of the world, at a height of 80,000 yojanas.

This loka corresponds to the concept of Heaven as decribed in the Western sense of the term . Here the King of the Gods, Indra rules with his brothers and companies. His entourage comprises of Angels, Gandharvas, Apsaras, Maruts, Vasus and other divine beings.

The Heavenly Realm 

This is one of the opulent planetary system with unimaginable riches, wish-fulfilling trees, supersonic space-crafts, ability to travel in different dimensions, long life-spans, and freedom from disease and disability, The duty of these Demi-gods is to manage the affairs of the universe, protecting its inhabitants against the demons.

The capital city of this world is Amravati Abode f the immortals, Indraand his fellow-residents obtain all the pleasures of life because of the wish-fulfilling cow Kamdhenu. Thus divne cow the three headed White Elephant Airavat as well as the flying Horse Uchhaihshrava (Greek Pegasus) were the riches Indra obtained after the Churning of the Cosmic Ocean.

Indra riding the winged-horse Uchhaihshvara

However, the 33 gods do not have a completely worry-free life here. In particular, they find themselves frequently challenged by the Asuras who dwell at the foot of Sumeru, plotting for ways to overthrow the Devas and take over their kingdom.

Devas getting ready for a battle with Asuras

Scriptual references make it equivalent to the Biblical Heaven  or  Islamic Jannat where the good souls go after death to reap the benefits of their good KARMA.

If they become advanced in devotional service, they can advance to one of the higher Munilokas but if they become attached to material enjoyment, they will degrade into a lower position of a semi-divine being of even a Human again.