The different ideas of Paradise in Sanatana Dharma & Islam- the consequence of limiting any language

I discuss how, by limiting their language, Muslim fundamentalists have shrunk their idea of heaven to just a place with unlimited worldly pleasures for menfolk.

The ultimate nature of the absolute reality, Brahman, is described in the Vedas as Satchidananda. This means:

Sat: pure existence or being (truth/reality).

Chit: pure consciousness or awareness.

Ananda: pure bliss or joy.

In Arabic, which is also an expressive language, there is a close equivalent of Sat-chit-ananda in these terms - wujūd, shuʿūr, and saʿāda.

Wujūd: Absolute Existence (≡ sat).

Shuʿūr or ʿIlm bi-l-Dhāt : Self-Consciousness or Self-Knowledge (≡ chit).

Saʿāda or Bahja: Supreme Bliss or Beatitude (≡ ananda).

Ibn Arabi has described God's self-manifestation thus: He is the Existent who knows Himself in bliss (al-mawjūd alladhī yaʿrifu nafsahu fī saʿāda).

These are beautiful words.

These wonderful Arabic phrases are well-known in Islamic mysticism, especially amongst the Sufis. Regrettably, Muslim fundamentalists discriminate against Sufis who they do not consider pious Muslims. This abasement of those who believe in wujūd, shuʿūr, & saʿāda virtually amounts to removing these words from the spiritual vocabulary of the fundamentalists. This has had the expected consequences.

Ludwig Wittgenstein said “my language is the limit of my world”. Indeed, with rare exceptions, our imagination takes us only as far as our language permits. By expelling wujūd, shuʿūr, & saʿāda from their spiritual vocabulary, Muslim fundamentalists have limited their imagination to the worldly. This has changed the expectation of heaven amongst many. Consider this:

We strive to maximise our pleasure. We try to eat things we find delicious as much as possible. We try to keep drinking things that we associate with pleasure. And so on....

We want to continue these pleasurable things even after life. Thus many fashion their 'heaven' as a place where these enjoyable sensations will continue indefinitely. Such a place would, naturally, be full of whatever things we feel give us the greatest pleasure.

In Sanatana Dharma we have different paths to enlightenment but the end goal is the same - to attain the greatest ‘pleasure’ of all – the overwhelming Bliss that comes with the realisation of our real identity as a spark of the Divine. The realised seer live