This direct rebirth from hovering in the astral body in the astral plane for some time is not true in the case of every disembodied soul. There are souls which, after death, may go at once to Heaven ('Swarga,' Celestial regions) or to Purgatory, the nether regions. According to the Hindoo Scriptures, Heaven (Swarga) is not the Abode of God, but the abode of the gods, the Swar-sphere where the gods, the governors of the Elements and Attributes of Nature, dwell. It is the Prārabdha Karma of the soul that determines its translation after death to Heaven or Purgatory. The joys of Heaven are reserved as a reward for good Karma. And yet these heavenly joys are but finest forms of material happiness, enjoyed by merit of good actions performed in earth-life for the sake of just such recompense. These heaven-dwellers mentally enjoy all these exquisite pleasures of the senses at their will, as well as the company of celestial beings, as long as the term of their merit lasts. At the expiration of the term they come down to earth to be reborn again. These heavenly blessings are, therefore, but transitory. Intensely wicked actions, in the same manner, are punished by a term of suffering tortures in Purgatory, at the expiration of which the purged souls may go straight to heaven, if good Prārabdha Karma succeeds their expiatory sufferings, or be reborn again on earth. The tendency of the pleasure-seeking, materialistic, modern mind is to disbelieve the existence of any such place of torture as Purgatory. They think that Heaven and Purgatory exist only on earth within man's mind. This is true and yet it is not. If anybody develops high spirituality he or she can taste higher, finer and more lasting joys than even celestial pleasures. For such there is neither Heaven nor Purgatory, for intense spirituality burns down all seeds of Karma. As to enduring the tortures of Purgatory here on earth through repentance, that is true too. But if the spirit of repentance is not absolute, it fails to fully purge away the sin, so that such sinful souls have to go to the nether regions for complete cleansing. The Hindoo Books do not believe in such a thing as Eternal Hell or Punishment, because it is absurd, unjust and unscientific according to the laws of Nature. The governor of "Naraka" (Purgatory) one of the gods, the presiding deity of (Dharmarāj) and the regions of his rule are situated within the bowels of the earth. Human houses of correction (prisons) tend more to corrupt than to correct, because those in charge of them are not imbued with a perfect spirit of sympathy, justice and mercy. In the Divine houses of correction (Purgatory) perfect justice blends with mercy and sympathy, and the governor thereof is the embodiment of these three attributes. He has to deal with his prisoners according to their own records of their misdeeds, reflected on the aura, a true copy of which is kept in the books of Ether, from which