In 1985, New York City dedicated an area of Central Park directly across from the Dakota as Strawberry Fields, where Lennon had frequently walked. In a symbolic show of unity, countries from around the world donated trees and the city of Naples, Italy, donated the Imagine mosaic centerpiece.

Just over thirty-five years ago, on December 10, 1980, John Lennon was murdered by Mark Chapman. On the fateful evening, Chapman shot at Lennon five times, and then calmly took off his coat and hat and sat down and waited for the police to arrive. In his hand was a paperback book of J. D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye. In the book, he had written, “This is my statement” and signed it “Holden Caulfield.”

At the time, John Lennon was living in the United States and was an extremely important figure in the antiwar movement. There were many attempts by the Nixon administration to have him deported, and since that was not successful… there are speculations. One speculation is the Chapman was like a robot, psychologically programmed to kill Lennon.

He penned many popular songs during his years with Yoko Ono and the Beatles. One of his most popular songs is called Imagine, and the song asks you to imagine a world where everyone lives in peace. It happened in the past, many thousands of years ago, but it happened, and it can happen again. It is something to imagine… a great place to begin for bringing it into reality.

The message of peace is important, but there are issues as well. Here is the beginning of the song.

Imagine there’s no heaven – It’s easy if you try – No hell below us – Above us only sky

It is marvelous that people have the ability to imagine, but important to understand the reality we live in. Brahma, the Creator, separated into two parts to create the universe: male and female, heaven and earth, up and down, and so on. Since Brahma separated into heaven and earth, there is no hell. Even if you live in a safe place, you can easily find images of places in ruin, and read horrible stories from people in the many war ravaged areas of the world today. If you want to find hell, there it is.

All the visible universe is considered as the earth and heaven is all around. Many people searching for heaven like to look up – nothing wrong with that, but do not forget to look around. Heaven is all around you, all you need to do is look between the objects. See, it’s easy if you try.

Here is a verse from the Veda about the Sacred Temple.

The wind is conveyed to you from the Temple of Space,

And is a Sacred Place beyond suffering.