Designer Heavens

Here is an important twist you need to understand. God doesn't create heaven and hell. We do. Whatever plane of consciousness we find ourselves in after the body drops away is a world of our own making, according to the rishis. If our thoughts have been predominantly cheerful and benevolent, our after-death experience is similar. If our thoughts have been filled with violence and anger, our afterlife will be, too.

The climate in the life after death is the atmosphere of our own minds.

Our karma- the mental vectors we've created by our thoughts and actions-carries us to a high state, a low state, or an okay in-between state like Pitri Loka. We're in control- if we're living life consciously. If we're not directing our lives with awareness, then the unconscious tendencies stored in our karmashya are in control.

For many Hindus, a long stay in heaven is just what the doctor ordered, and some Hindus devote considerable effort to building up enough karmic velocity to transport them into a higher world after they jettison their bodies.

surprisingly, however, many of the Hindu scriptures don't consider a long stay in heavenly disembodied states to be a positive thing. Most people in those "between life" states are in dream-like condition. In our dreams, we're propelled around the images in our subconscious rather involuntarily. We're not in control. Because we're not in control, we're not in a position to expand our awareness or make any substantial spiritual progress. This is why you're in a state of  full waking awareness and can make efforts to know God and yourself better and better.

Eventually, the mental energy propelling you through the disembodied realms peters out. Your stay in that world is up-it's time to return to a physical body. You remember how much you enjoyed whipped cream puffs. You remember how much you wanted to go to Mars. You remember that your brother-in-law owes you three thousand dollars.

Your unfulfilled desires draw back to an appropriate physical body and-poof!- here you are again, in another body. You traded the old model in for a new vehicle. Hopefully, thanks to good karma, you've traded up.