The Concise Oxford Dictionary Of World Religions - Plot & Excerpts
In origin there were three lokas (triloka), locations inhabited by beings appropriate to them: earth, atmosphere, and ‘the yonder world’ (of the gods, the sun, the moon, and the stars). But these were early related to domains pertaining to salvation (and its opposite). Thus svar, ‘sky’, is already synonymous in the Vedas with svarga, ‘heaven’, so that another triad was produced of svarga-loka, bhmi- (earth), and ptla- (underworld or hell).Buddhism The primary sense is analytic, in which loka is the ‘habitat’ of gods and human beings. In these contexts, loka is explained as all the perceptible world, i.e. all that which comes within the spheres of the senses. Loka in its cosmographic sense includes the entire cosmos. A lokadhtu is a smaller unit within the loka, a unit which may be described as a solar system. Thus, the loka consists of myriads of such solar systems. Therefore, in its immensity, the loka is unlimited. It is not possible, therefore, to reach the end of the loka by travelling and its immensity cannot be grasped by thinking either.
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