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What Are the Different Realms?

Realm, Kingdom, Castle

14 Realms (Swarga and Narak)

Lokas (Realms)

While not fully acknowledged in the mainstream scientific community, realms are considered specific territories within a plane of existence. Like kingdoms, they’re usually governed by specific, laws, and inhabitants. The existence of realms in the spiritual universe is unknown to us. Perhaps this is where the twelve gates of heaven reside (The Bible: Revelations: 21:21). There doesn’t seem to be a consensus on the number of realms, which could be infinite. However, a commonality we’ve noticed is that most of our resources differentiate between heavenly and hellish realms.

Swami Mukundananda (Bhakti Yog Saint & Yoga Teacher) explains that there are 14 realms (lokas) in the material universe (Bhagavad Gita, 8:16), which are defined by substance and location. There are seven higher realms called swarga and seven lower realms called narak.

Swarga Realms

Swarga realms are considered the celestial realms. Could these higher realms be associated with the subtle astral and causal planes of existence? The higher realms (swarga) beginning with Earth and higher are:

  1. Bhuh (Earth)
  2. Bhuvah
  3. Swah
  4. Mahah
  5. Janah
  6. Tapah
  7. Satyah (also referred to as the kingdom of Brahma)

Narak Realms

The lower realms (narak) are considered the nether regions or what some would consider hellish. Could the lower realms be considered part of the lower gross physical planes? They’re generally associated with lower vibrations, darkness, self-imposed suffering, negativity, and demons. Yes, demons. What exactly are demons?

According to the Bhagavad Gita (16:3-21), qualities like greed, ignorance, anger, pride, cruelty, and hate are attributes which are considered to be demonic in nature. So is having negative qualities like the ones mentioned the true definition of a demon? Perhaps our physical depictions of demons as grotesquely horrific entities is meant to be symbolic of how our inner quality can affect or manifest our outer forms. But we digress…

The narak realms that are lower than Earth are considered:

  1. Tal
  2. Atal
  3. Vital
  4. Sutal
  5. Talatal
  6. Rasatal
  7. Patal

Consider this fellow souls. Could all of these realms be in existence because of or to feed our egos and material desires? The Bhagavad Gita explains that all of these realms, even the heavenly ones, are still under the illusionary force of maya and are therefore temporary. Ergo, we shouldn’t get too comfy in any of them.

31 Realms (Wholesome and Unwholesome)

Buddhism suggests there are thirty-one realms, but six in general (sadgati). The six realms are divided into two general groups. The first group is considered the higher or heavenly realms. The realms for typically for those with predominately wholesome karma. For example, there are realms filled with refined pleasures for gods (devas) who are susceptible to pride. There are also realms for demigods (asuras) who are susceptible to anger, power, and jealousy of the devas.

The first group of heavenly realms also includes realms for human entities (manushya) whose experiences are more balanced between happiness and suffering. This balance is said to create a more conducive environment to practice the dharma (4 Noble Truths). Why is this? Because the suffering in these realms is not so overwhelming that it paralyzes us (as in the hellish realms), and pleasure is not so overwhelming that it makes us complacent (as in the devas realms).

The second group is considered the lower realms which encompasses predominately unwholesome karma. There are realms for animals or those with predominately ignorant, primal, or instinctual desires (tiryak). There are also realms for hungry ghosts (pretas) with predominately greedy and hungry desires (pretas). Lastly, there are realms for those with demonic tendencies (niraya) who are mainly fueled by hatred, violence, and anger.

These realm descriptions are synonymous with the Tibetan Book of the Dead (100-101, 250) which describes various levels of light from the six lokas (realms) and the colors worn by their sages:

  • White light from the deva realms (gods)
  • Green light from the asura realms (antigods)
  • Yellow light from the human realms
  • Blue light from the brute realms (animal)
  • Red light from the preta realms (anguished ghosts)
  • Black light from the hellish realms

With that being said, Buddhism seems to place more emphasis on our spiritual evolution being entirely in our own hands. This would suggest that Source doesn’t send us to specific realms. Instead, we manifest or attract realms through the patterns of our own consciousness and are drawn to specific realms by the Law of Attraction. Perhaps we transverse higher realms not because we’ve earned it or deserved it, but because we’ve constructed a pattern of consciousness that vibrates at that realm’s frequency.