Planes other than Earth
Question
Dear Sir,
It is said that the earth is the only planet from where a conditioned soul, after being born in this physical body as a human, can do his spiritual practices (bhakti, upasana, tapa, samadhi etc.) in hopes of gaining liberation. Then what are these other planets like jana loka, rishi loka and tapo loka for? They also sound like planets of peoples and sages.
Answer
These are non-physical planes (astral & causal) where Jiva-s which have not yet attained complete liberation (but have overcome the need for a physical body) continue their efforts towards final liberation and finally merge into the Supreme. There are many advanced Jiva-s which exist in these planes.
The Earthly plane is the only plane where the physical body is utilized. It has all the favorable conditions for existence of the physical body. Those who achieve final and irreversible liberation while on Earth itself bypass stay in these non-physical planes (they experience the same in higher states of consciousness while on Earth itself) and merge into the Parabrahman (Almighty) directly upon forsaking the physical body.
ॐ तत् सत्
(That Supreme being is the absolute truth)