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In this world people commit many bad deeds in their day to day life. Some on extreme level, but still those people live their life happily. There are many historical examples of such people for instance Aurangzeb etc. So do such people get punished for their bad deeds? Now the common answer would be that there is hell and heaven after life or they are punished in their next birth, but I didn't get this concept. If a person is not punished in his present life, how can he be punished in his next life? Puranas have a lot of references to hell and heaven but what does Vedas, Upanishads, Bhagavad Gita or epics or Agamas have to say about it?

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    You could limit the number of scriptues.Otherwise becoming too broad.
    – user17294
    Mar 22, 2019 at 14:27
  • Related: hinduism.stackexchange.com/questions/8848/… My answer there is also applicable here
    – Rickross
    Mar 22, 2019 at 14:54
  • If it's difficult to understand that people have to suffer for their bad deeds in the next life, then this question may be of some help: Why people have to suffer in this life, is there some reason for their suffering or they just suffer because of no karmic reason?
    – brahma jijnasa
    Mar 22, 2019 at 17:59
  • no. everything you do carries along with it a slew of other things. those add-alongs are what causes the bad things following bad deeds. there is no cosmic retribution. Now, that said. if you do bad things that generally carries ill-will from those around you which is part of the add-alongs. so in a way that is the punishment for bad things also. but there is no moral judgment from brahman.
    – Kauvasara
    Jul 24, 2019 at 0:25

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The misdeeds are like the "act of sowing seeds in the soil".

Just like we don't get fruits immediately after sowing a seed, in a similar manner, the fruits of misdeeds are not received immediately. It takes some time before the fruits are received.

In KulArnava Tantram Chapter 1, Lord Shiva says:

Iha yat kriyate karma tat paratropabhujyate |
Siktamulasya virkshasya phalam shAkhAsu drisyate || (verse 53)

Whatever deeds that are done here (in this world - Ihaloka) create fruits and that are to be reaped. The roots of the trees are watered and the fruits are seen in the branches.

So, without doubt the Jiva has to face the consequences of it's good or bad deeds.


DAridrya-dukkha-rogAshcha vandhana-vyAsanAni cha |
AtmAparAdha-vrikshasya phalAn-yetAni dehinAm || (Verse 54)

Poverty, misery, diseases, bondage and the bad habits -- these all are the fruits of the tree (Atma-Aparadha Vriksha) which is the manifestation of the Jiva's misdeeds.

So, the misdeeds are like seeds, which grow up, in time, into trees that are ready to bear fruits. And, the fruits of the bad deeds are those miseries mentioned above. But it takes time for the seeds to grow into fruit-bearing trees. Mostly, fruits of karmas are received in the next lives.

Therefore, Aurangazeb or any other miscreants must have been punished for their bad deeds.

In Hinduism, the king should punish for the sins that are traceable i.e. which are openly done (like theft, murder etc etc). And, Yama punishes for the secret sins and the rest.

3 The elder disciplines those who are self-controlled and the king disciplines those who are wicked, whereas Yama, son of Vivasvat, disciplines those who commit sins secretly

Vashishta Smriti 20.3

Auragazeb himself was a king. So, there was none (except other kings and rulers) who was able to punish him. So, from the perspective of Hinduism, all his bad karmas must have been duly judged by Yama in the afterlife.

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