Sculpture of Vamana, an avatar of Vishnu, who is associated with the legend of taking three strides upon the three worlds
Trailokya (Sanskrit: त्रैलोक्य; Kannada: ತ್ರೈಲೋಕ್ಯ; Pali: tiloka, Tibetan: khams gsum; Chinese: 三界; Vietnamese: Tam Giới) literally means "three worlds"[1][2][3][4][5] It can also refer to "three spheres,"[3] "three planes of existence,"[6] "three realms"[6] and "three regions."[4]
The concept of three worlds has a number of different interpretations in Hindu cosmology.
Traditionally, the three worlds refer to either the earth (Bhuloka), heaven (Svarga), and hell (Naraka),[7] or the earth (Bhuloka), heaven (Svarga), and the netherworld (Patala)[8]
The Brahmanda Purana conceives them to be Bhūta (past), Bhavya (future), and Bhavat (present)[9]
In Vaishnavism, the three worlds are often described to be bhūr, bhuvaḥ, and svaḥ (the gross region, the subtle region, and the celestial region)[10]
In the Nilanamatapurana, Vamana covers his second step on the three worlds of Maharloka, Janaloka, and Tapoloka, all of which are regarded to be a part of the seven heavens[11]
Kāmaloka the world of desire, typified by base desires, populated by hell beings, preta (hungry ghosts), animals, humans and lower demi-gods.
Rūpaloka is the world of form, predominantly free of baser desires, populated by dhyāna-dwelling gods, possible rebirth destination for those well practiced in dhyāna.
Arūpaloka is the world of formlessness, a noncorporeal realm populated with four heavens, possible rebirth destination for practitioners of the four formlessness stages.[3]
^ abBerzin (2008) renders khams-gsum (Wylie; Tibetan) and tridhatu (Sanskrit) as "three planes of existence" and states that it is "[s]ometimes called 'the three realms.'" Tridhatu is a synonym of triloka where dhatu may be rendered as "dimension" or "realm" and loka as "world" or even "planet."
Blavatsky, H.P. (1892). Theosophical Glossary. London: Theosophical Publishing Society. Retrieved 2008-07-14 from "The Theosophical Glossary (United Lodge of Theosophists, Phoenix, Arizona)" at http://theosophicalglossary.net/.
Fischer-Schreiber, Ingrid, Franz-Karl Ehrhard, Michael S. Diener and Michael H. Kohn (trans.) (1991). The Shambhala Dictionary of Buddhism and Zen. Boston: Shambhala Publications. ISBN0-87773-520-4.
Purucker, G. de (ed.-in-chief) (1999). Encyclopedic Theosophical Glossary: A Resource on Theosophy. Theosophical University Press. Retrieved from "The Theosophical Society" at http://www.theosociety.org/pasadena/etgloss/etg-hp.htm.
