The Gate

 The Gate

The newly deceased soul arrived at a vast, mist-wreathed gate before it stood a figure—neither menacing nor gentle, simply a Stopper, an eternal gatekeeper.

“Where would you like to go?” the Stopper asked, his voice echoing in the dimensionless space. “Heaven or Hell?”

“Heaven, of course,” the first man replied, his tone confident.

The Stopper tilted his head. “There are more than four thousand religions in the world. To which one did you belong?”

The man was puzzled. “Is Heaven not the same for everyone? Is Hell not the same punishment for all?”

A slow, sarcastic smile touched the Stopper’s lips. “Are you certain it is the same?”

“Well… perhaps,” the man stammered, his certainty crumbling.

“Knowing this simple fact,” the Stopper pressed, his voice dropping to a whisper that felt like judgment, “why, then, did you help create a Hell on Earth? Why did you sow hatred toward those of other faiths?”

The man had no answer. He could only stand in the echoing silence of his own making.

Just then, a second soul approached the gate. The Stopper turned and posed the same question: “Heaven or Hell?”

This person smiled, a gesture of profound peace. “I don’t subscribe to such dogmas.”

“Which religion did you follow?” the Stopper inquired.

“When I was born, I was a child. When I die, I am a body returning to the earth. What are these constructs—religion, caste, nationality—that we kill and die defending?” The second soul’s gaze was clear and untroubled.

“Interesting,” mused the Stopper. “Are you an atheist?”

“I am a human being. And soon, my physical matter will nourish other living things. In a way, I will live on in them.”

The Stopper then turned to the first man, who had been watching with growing disdain. “What do you feel about him?”

“These kinds of people,” the first man spat, “they don’t understand the value of God and religion. They have no truth.”

The second soul didn’t flinch. Instead, he laughed, a sound of pure, unburdened light. “You see? Even after death, you are armed with your dogma. Your mind was not just washed; it was permanently tuned to a frequency of hostility. You carry your Hell with you.”

The Stopper nodded slowly. “You understand,” he said to the second soul. And then, the Stopper vanished.

The second soul’s essence dissipated into the mist, moving on to a destiny of its own making. The first man was left alone at the gate. But he was not denied entry; he was trapped within the prison of his own mind. He stood there for what felt like eternity, burning not with hellfire, but with the undying embers of his own hatred, fear, and hostility—the very hell he had chosen to live in all along.

The Reflection

We may never know for sure what awaits beyond life. But one truth is undeniable: we each hold the power to build a heaven or a hell right here, in our shared world.

The heaven described in every scripture is not a distant location; it is a condition built from love, kindness, care, and brotherhood. Yet today, we so often choose the raw materials of hell: hatred, greed, and jealousy.

Remember this: We enter this world as innocent beings, and we leave it as silent matter. Everything in between—the flags, the faiths, the fences we build—is either imposed upon us or accepted through our own biases. Whether you fear God or follow no god, that is your path. But let your one universal practice be this: Be kind to everyone around you.

For that is how you live in heaven while you are still alive.

M.L.Narendra Kumar