The lokas — the planes of existence
लोक
Also written: lokas · fourteen worlds · bhur bhuvah svah · patala · svarga · hindu cosmology worlds
The cosmos is described as fourteen lokas — seven above and seven below — with the earth at the junction. They are recited daily by anyone who says the Gāyatrī, whose first line names the first three.
| Loka | Character |
|---|---|
| Satya / Brahma | The highest; Brahmā's own realm; no return from it in the ordinary way |
| Tapas | The realm of the great ascetics |
| Jana | The realm of Brahmā's mind-born sons |
| Mahas | The realm of great sages and siddhas |
| Svar / Svarga | The heaven of the devas, reached by merit — and left when merit is spent |
| Bhuvas | The intermediate space between earth and sun |
| Bhūr | The earth |
Below are Atala, Vitala, Sutala, Talātala, Mahātala, Rasātala and Pātāla — described in the Purāṇas not as places of torment but as regions of great splendour and intense sensory enjoyment, which is a rather different idea from a hell. The narakas, the realms of suffering, are a separate enumeration.
The tattvas — how existence is layered
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Karma and rebirth
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Last revised 2026-08-16. Corrections are welcome — see how this site is written.