Therefore, I would advise those who have already married and those who are going to marry to create your own heaven on this earth by treating your wife as your life partner. There is no reason why she will not make you happy even by sacrificing her own interests. 'Give and Take' should be the password among husband and wife. In real love, there is no chance to complain against each other. Otherwise your house will be like a hell, wishing to go to the hell above thinking it would be more comfortable.

Anil Purohit:Marriages are made in heaven, though love must be made and consummated on earth. Men and women, it seems, are inscrutable to each other. Men, until they mature, have a fantasy of how they think women are. Women, if they're still fairly innocent and uncorrupted, also have a notion of how men are. Marriage is really all about - the development of Godly character. Success in marriage does not come merely through finding the idol, but through being the right mate.

Marriage is good intimate relationship we can experience on earth, it should not be idolized. A fruitful marriage is like a good recipe whose main ingredients are love, faith, bond, compassion, regard and togetherness. Marriage on earth is merely a presentation of the relationship God intends to have with us in heaven. The time, date, venue and the pairs of each and every marriage are certain. It is Time which dominates everyone.

Manisha Gupta:Not any more!! Can't blame everything on God! Marriages were once upon a time, till a couple of years ago, "made in Heaven" and were heavenly pure, pretty perfect & peaceful. Now, they're 110% 'Made on earth' and the whole globe bears the brunt. Because for "Global peace", I firmly believe there should first be peace in the most intimate & closest relationships, marriage being one such.

Love, commitment, fidelity, sacrifice, "everlasting", "till-death-do-us-part", "saaton janam" or "janam janamantar ka saath" etc, no more hold. In an era of husband murdering more than wife's feelings & emotions or parents & brothers for money/property, or the wife herself for another woman and the equally modern wife having no hassels in killing the husband for a lover, meaning of the institution called marriage has undergone a tremendous change. So can't misuse the 'Made in Heaven' brand because marriages no more satisfy very trademark qualities associated with this tag!

AB Mehta: Marriages may or may not be made in heaven, but marriage can convert a house into heaven or hell depending upon the partners of the marriage.

We have been traditionally following the arranged marriage path. The scope has been changing with time. Earlier, the elders used to select the boy or girl and nobody could question their choice. Slowly subtle ways of finding out the opinion of the boy/girl came into practice. The next step was a simple approval or rejection of the family selected partner. Some families started asking the opinion regarding the type of partner one wants.

With the open society culture, primarily due to the impact of films, TV and page 3 parties, the selection of the partner became a personal choice, at least in the well to do society. The next logical step was 'Live-in' relationship and finally the single parent concept that is yet to become prevalent in India.

Whether all these paths of finding the life partner was destined and decided by almighty before hand, there could be opposite views. But to make a success of the marriage is definitely in the hands of the two with a little bit of luck and God's blessings. It has to be recognised, contrary to attempts made otherwise, that man and women are differently 'wired'. They are supposed to be complimentary and not competitors in life. Only then the marriage can be heavenly. Understanding and adjusting to each other's pecularities is a sure path to make a success of the marriage.

Otherwise one would have to find that not only marriages but even divorces are also made in heaven!

Gokul Prasad Bhatt:The earth goes round the sun. The moon goes round the earth as well as round the sun. The other planets go round the sun. The movement of the planets and stars affect the life of people on the earth.

The time of man's birth and the situation of the planets and stars decide man's fate.

When marriages are settled, horoscopes of the bride and the bridegroom are tallied. If the stars are favourable the marriage is settled. These stars and planets are called heavenly bodies. So they say that the marriage is settled in heaven but they are performed on the earth.

According to Hindu mythology, unless the stars are favourable, the marriage cannot take place.

God is omnipotent, omnipresent and omniscient. When God favours all these heavenly bodies, also favour the bride and bridegroom and the marriage is settled.

SS Chitwadgi:This saying is one of the most common particularly when marriages commonly fail, this statement is announced to satisfy the situation though odd and false.

Every one is born on this Ancient Earth live ones own life and die. Marriages is one event out of many of ones activities. How come? heaven provides for everybody's marriage event, may be, it is very important because two souls live together more often happily.

Failed marriages are equally common for reasons not anticipated, when wits fail to find out reason for failure one generally falls on heaven where none could go to verify.

It is more of a habit to take the name of God and his abode to attribute failures or success of life. However successful marriages seldom remember God, as they claim that it is their intelligence to make them happy. They think it is their wisdom only unsuccessful marriages go to rescue themselves and find solace in god/heaven. There is nothing like into "Marriages are made in heaven". It is here on the earth only.

Syed Zia Ul Hasan Naqvi:Marriages are made in heaven as mentioned in our different religious books.

Marriage is actually a sacred bond for the spouse with the condition that it should be maintained throughout life. In spite of clear social and religious bindings people cast it in oblivion and make a kirk or mill of it.

Nowadays crime graph of atrocities on married women by in-laws and husbands has gone so high that everyday we hear about brides burning, dowry deaths and suicide by brides etc. Oppression of women has become an expression of male chauvinism.

Domestic violence like physical and mental torture has become an affair of everyday in most of the houses. This is deadly against the spirit of the sacred bond of marriages made in heaven. The foundation of marriage is based on love and faith for each other.

Domestic violence is one of the worst and most pervasive human rights violation. Everybody should try to avoid it when the conditions are unavoidable and the couple is unable to continue marriage. In law we have civil remedies tailored to meet the circumstances we should use them instead of violence on women.

RJ Khurana:In a manner of saying, 'yes'. Someone born in a village in Bilaspur in Chattigarh marries a boy or a girl in a village in Bhatinda in the Punjab or vice versa or for that matter someone born in Chennai or Hyderabad or Ludhiana marries a boy or girl as the case may be born in Japan, the US or any other country of the world and vice versa.

There is no dearth of such instances. Looking at them one may say, " Oh, the marriages are made in heaven. It is not the human beings who decide. It is power above that decides."

Yet, if it had been so, there would not have been as many divorces, desertions and infidelities as one hears day in and day out. Some marriages are on the rocks the next day pushing the brides and the bridegrooms into the blind alleys of life, in other words the living hell and not the heaven once partners might have dreamed of. Any wonder then that the marriage counsellors are advising, " Look before you leap for the heaven of your dreams?"

Jaskaran Singh Dhami:It is said that marriages are made in heaven. What about marital discords and divorces? Gone are the days when divine powers were thought to be behind all happenings. In fact, nothing takes place in heaven or hell. Marriages get materialized on this very earth. If marriages are made in heaven then why do people do a lot of deliberations before getting married?

The divine power which (many think) 'makes' the marriages in heaven seems to be vulnerable to follies like ordinary human beings. It arranges many marriages for some and none for some others. If that power predetermines the pairs why do divorces take place? The power in heaven, it means, mismanages the things and despite vast experience has not learned yet the art of good match making. That 'power' ensconced in heaven should come on earth and join some good institution for coaching or work in a marriage bureau for some time. I would suggest that 'power' to get married itself to fully understand the nitty gritty of the 'business' it deals in heaven.

The bottom-line dear readers is that marriages are not made in heaven but heavens and hells are made (on this very earth) by good and bad marriages. Someone has rightly said that keep your eyes wide open before marriage and half shut afterwards. Isn't it a good tip for successful marriage? What do you say, the 'power' in heaven?

MRG Pillai:Not at all. Heaven and hell are man made and the belief itself is a utopia. There are arranged marriages and love marriages as well. In both cases failures are very common. The success of the marriage lies on, mutual trust, capacity to accommodate each other, better understanding between them, dedication, sacrifice, and above all tolerance. This agreement is bondage for life. The society, relatives, social and religious obligations etc are the binding factors, which connect the marriage contract in tact and push it ahead.

In my 72 years of life I have seen very few family who are made for each other. 99% of married families are dissatisfied and they continue with woes lifelong due to compulsion. Outwardly they look very happy family but the truth is otherwise. They are weeping inside and are unable to spell the truth publicly because of no remedy. Children are born because of biological necessity and doomed. In many families, either side does not get what it desires and those who got could not be loved. This is the biggest truth lies underneath the marriages.

BB Dubey:It is a most ancient saying that marriages are made in heaven, but, performed on earth. It is also too well known that amongst Hindus, horoscope of both the boy and girl are tallied before marriage. This fact confirms the ancient belief. The palmists can predict the marriage position in life of an individual. The position of venus star usually is the ripe time of marriage. It is a true sign. The elders usually state that marriage shall take place when the planetary position is favourable. Rich people settle marriage through heavy dowry, but they also take care to tally horoscope. There are mass marriages nowadays, but the selection of pairs is again governed by their stars. Marriage is a matter of destiny and so people come from even foreign countries to marry with Indian girls only through the force of destiny.

Again marriages are settled through the internet and in that selection the position of stars plays a very important role. The people approach astrologers and their predictions come true. Hence, there is a very large mass of unrebuttable evidence that marriages are made in heaven, but performed on earth.

Vini Ponnachen:Pablo Picasso: `A woman must know that she is a miracle that since the beginning of the world there has not been and until the end of the world there will not be another woman like her for her man'

Since time immemorial, marriage is considered as one of the stages in the life of a man. Marriage- a sacred testament has got a full fledged spiritual history behind it.

In the beginning, God created man in his own image. Here `His image' refers to His likeness and His love. But as long as man is alone, how can the love be exercised? That's why God created woman out of man so that man should no longer live alone. (Holy Bible Genesis 2:18).

Here, we see that God is the creator of family. He unites man and woman into an everlasting commitment - marriage. Undoubtedly, it is all a part of His plan.

This clearly supports the statement `Marriages are made in heaven'. Here heaven is a cannonical term signifying the place where god resides.

Krishna Chander Mouli:If one goes by the logic that there is an abode of peace, prosperity and happiness called heaven and believes in destiny and fate, perhaps marriages are held in heaven. Why marriages alone? almost every event -auspicious, inauspicious- must be a celestial pre-determined activity in which we poor and helpless mortals have to play our respective roles. This is one school of thought. There is another school of thought which does not believe in the existence of heaven like abode nor do they believe in anything held or happening in heaven. The notion that marriages are held in heaven is nothing but a fantasy and a myth propagated mostly by those who are more fatalists by their religious practices and are ritualists rather than realists. Otherwise why should there be any marital discord, very often leading to separation or divorce. There have been any number of instances of estranged couples, remarriages and even polygamic marriages too on earth.

If marriages were held in heaven why are they breakable on earth? Why a marriage supposedly solemnised in heaven loses its stability and sanctity on earth? Why then a polygamic marriage, under whatever circumstances, should be illegal? Polygamy should at the most be only unviable, not even immoral since in heaven such marriages were very common.

Marriages are held in heaven thus seems to be only a myth or at the, most a traditional belief without any logical support are base. Since beliefs, faiths and those too when they enjoy religious sanction- are difficult to be erased and would only invite the wrath of /and criticism by the believers without any meaningful outcome. Let this debate thus be allowed to rest at where it has been and let everybody retain his faith of choice. In any case whether marriages are held in heaven or on earth men remain men and women remain women!

Dr Visal A Khan:Before defining Heaven let me define a Marriage. It is a way to guarantee that you will experience love, intimacy, and happiness for the rest of your life. When two people are under the influence of the most violent, most insane, most delusive, and most transient of passions, they are required to swear that they will remain in that excited, abnormal and exhausting condition until death do them apart." It's simple: you meet your soul-mate, you have powerfully experiences of intimacy that you've never felt before, You both fall in love with each other, you get married, walk off into the sunset, and live happily ever after and yourself create a Heaven on this earth. Marriages are made on this earth to make it heaven. It's an attempt to institutionalize love. It's an effort to take a mysterious, ineffable, sublime experience of "love," and capture it, stuff it, mount it, and place it securely up on one's mantle so that one is never in danger of losing it. It is a process which reliably loses the very thing it wishes to preserve. But, again, as the saying goes, so are thunder, lightning, tornados and hail.

Historically an arrangement between families whereby parents and external social

mandates create a kind of business transaction based on such factors as race, cast, land, status, and money. Bargain spoils the sense and these are the thunders in marriages, even happy ones are mistakes: in the sense that they are greedy (in a more perfect world, or even with a little more care in this very imperfect one) both partners might have found more suitable mates but the mediators greed come into play to create thunders of  hell. The real soul-mate is the one who ignore the vibrations of these thunders and doesn't listen the violent noises of it keeping his/her ear shut.

Lightening in marriage is based on telling lies where each promise shatter "To have and to hold from this day forward, for better to worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and .in health, to love and to cherish, till death us do part. Lightening makes blind the partners.

Tornados in marriage are egos of partners which shake lives like earth quack and disturb calmness and turns charms of Heaven into the fire of Hell...

Hails in marriage are most unfortunates when a partner peeps towards an outdoor love, leaving aside the arranged life partner forgets all his/her promises, slowly turns from pretty heaven to the way of heat of hell and burns his or her fingers ultimately..

Ravi:Marriages are made both on earth and in heaven. By heaven I mean God Almighty helping us to select the mate.

This takes place when we desire that He help us in selection of the mate. It may also lead us to patience and proper selection and not in a hurry.

No doubt most of the youngsters get married but I have come across many cases of juggi dwellers getting their daughters married off when she is of age and then seeing that the daughter comes back home because the boy could not support her or his parents were hostile with the girl. This means that even juggi dwellers have to seek help of God Almighty in getting the right mate for their wards. But we are in a great hurry to get our children married off. Of course time counts but God's help matters too.

Many a time the father gets too much worried about marriage of his daughter because the partner is not easy to find.

Before marriage I feared that I would not get married but I trusted in God and my parents' prayers and efforts resulted in my marriage through the TOI matrionials.