Dictionary of all Scriptures & Myths

Understanding Biblical Symbolism


Home
Preface
5 Planes of Existence
Introduction
Five Planes of Manifestation

A to Z

Related Information

HADES; THE UNDERWORLD

A symbol of the lower planes of existence. The lower quaternary, which is below the Upper world of the higher planes. More particularly it refers to the desire-mental conditions which involve suffering and sorrow. Souls are always in Hades until the consciousness has risen above the lower mental plane and entered the higher, where union with the Higher Self is effected.

"And in Hades he (Dives) lifted up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am in anguish in this flame."-LUKE xvi. 23, 24.

“The rich man " is the lower self (kama-manas) which is satisfied with the things of the world and the pleasures of sense. But by a change of state he is now cut off from those things in which he delighted. And in the midst of his suffering, when he has no means of satisfying those cravings to which his life has been given, he is led at length to cast his eye upward and to aspire to something towards which he had not yet been able to look. And then he asks that mercy may be extended to him, and that the buddhic function of the causal-body (Lazarus) may be aroused in him, so that he may perceive Truth (water), to receive which, however, his condition is not yet ripe, and he must undergo further purification.

 

See Also

ABRAHAM
ADONIS
AIDONEUS (Hades)
CAUSAL-BODY
FIRE OF HELL
FIVE, NUMBER
FURNACE
HELL
HERMOD
HINE
LAZARUS
MEADOW
MICTLAN
NIFLHEIM
PO
PURGATORY
QUATERNARY
RE-STAU
RICH man
Tartarus
TUAT
UNDERWORLD