Thanks guys for your great answers, and I think one thing we can see is that it is hugely complex, and maybe some answers we don't know. The questions are specific, but the things Krishna said to Arjun are broad thus this leaves room for interpretations( how i wished arjun asked krishna other questions as well!)
After reading what you tihnk, and think a bit, maybe hell and heaven is just an illusion, it is rather symbolic. I think Krishna said those who die in Kurushshtra will automatically go to heaven, then karmic accounts won't come into play, it is highly unlikely that Krishna will bypass his own 'laws". See, about repentance as well, he showed that if you truly repent, you can get foergiveness but it doesnt say if that will erase your accounts. Repentance is more like realizing your actions, but also owning your actions, so that your actions do not own you. We do not know if it can be achieved by just a state of mind, or one has to go to vanvas and acute penance to repent. Example how would a 21th century repent? Charity? Prayers? but how do we know it's enough?
About one act can negate another act is confusing too, impossible to assess the correct degree. For instance, one person, murdering someone on monday and doing charity on sunday. Whatever he does, will he be able to undo what he did? Repentance is important, but it is for one personal satisfaction, and while repenting, we cannot expect anything because we should fulfil our duty without expectations. But when we are repenting\, we are expecting something-to be forgiven( not sure if this is clear)
Some may do it or not, and it is difficult to draw the line, and if repentance has truly been achieved. For pandavas case, it was crystal clear but for others, it cannot be said. If heaven is for pure good, then nobody can ever get there, we are all grey. It's like a clear glass of water but once something gets in there, it is never the same. And as I said, difficult to draw the lines, and classify what was wrong or not. If we look it philosophically, it is easy to tell but even harder once you bring norms/societal issues etc. But once we leave the physical body, then it becomes easy to classify again.
Every incident in MB (almost ) indicates that everything is predestined. Who lived, who died by whom, and in some texts it is said that krishna knew outcome of war, he was just there to steer the war in pandavas direction to make sure everyone satisfies their duty like Amba killing Bheeshma, Drist killing drona. Hence if Destiny comes into play, how do we explain birth/rebirth?
Hence, maybe hell/heaven is one representation of how somebody lived his life. Like a life movie haha but going in hell to suffer again, is pointless because, that person will be born again to suffer. A soul is free, free from pain and ties, eternal. Folk tales really confuses me, like I read one when it says when Karna went to hell(or heaven haha I forgot where he went) and he didnt get food, because he never donated food as he wasn't allowed to, due to his caste, people never accepted food from him, this indicates that hell/heaven is some kind of temporary residential place, and I find this hard to believe. Imagine people in hell keep doing bad things again and again!
I read somewhere in Greek mythology( sorry for that and also texts are scattered so) but it says that all our pain and suffering goes into hell, the negativity, bad, goes in hell, not us. Think of it like dementors(in Harry Potter), a manifestation of the bad in us (
Bg 7.4 Earth, water, re, air, ether, mind, intelligence and false ego all together these eight constitute My separated material energies.)
We are soul, we are energy, energy cannot be created nor destroyed as per law of physics, and energy whether is positive or negative will always be here. Energy can only be transformed from one form to another, again law of physics. Thus, it can also get transformed and goes into hell or heaven. Hell, according to Greek mythology is the underground, heaven is up there, when those energies gets distributed, it is what keeps the middle world in place. Balance, equilibrium.
Krishna says more or less the same when the world has had enough of bad, it is when a new world has to be born. But we should also bear in mind, that since energy cannot be destroyed, it will always be there, even after mass destruction.
Cricket
