By now the stinging sense of burden he’s had to deal with due to the murder has reached its climax. He’s contemplating suicide but still seeks redemption and still seeks solace in something.

Let’s examine whether or not someone CAN get into “heaven” (assuming he’s referring to the Christian heaven).

Firstly, is heaven real or not?

Most peoples perception of heaven:

According to this article the Bible doesn’t say anything about eternal life being promised in HEAVEN.

There is no promise of eternal life in Heaven according to these scriptures:

“The God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever.” Daniel 2:44

And:

“You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth.” Revelation 5:10

What most people call Heaven is actually an eternal city that God calls the “New Jerusalem”, which will be the eternal home for God’s people. This eternal city is described like this:

“Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” He who was seated on the throne said, ‘I am making everything new.’“ (Revelation 21:3-5)

As for the suicide part:

Nowhere in the Bible is suicide considered a sin.

It turns out that in the early days of the church, so many wanted to enter the next life that suicide was becoming a hassle to deal with.
Even Paul said, “my desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better” (Phil1:23). It was Aquinas and Augustine that wrote against the idea of suicide, which was then generally adopted by society.

Nowhere in the 10 Commandments does it condemn suicide, as the first 4 commandments specify our actions towards God:

1. You shall have no other gods before Me.
2. You shall not make for yourself a carved image.
3. You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain.
4. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.

The last six specify our behavior towards other people:

1. Honor your father and your mother.
2. You shall not murder.
3. You shall not commit adultery.
4. You shall not steal.
5. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
6. You shall not covet anything that is your neighbor’s.

In addition to Aquinas and Augustine’s denouncement of suicide, the idea that suicide leads to damnation stems from Catholic dogma. Murder is considered a mortal sin by the Church, meaning that a murderer who dies without having been absolved by a priest will descend into hell. As suicide is the murder of oneself, it would leave no opportunity for absolution and would result in damnation.

The speaker, having heard in his lifetime (but not understood) this concept, is asking if it’s true.

It is important to note that this dogmatic notion is only loosely based on biblical truth and that suicide, as huf stated, is alluded to by Paul even after Jesus spoke to the rich young man (Matthew 9:16-30). The Catholic Church uses these passages as one of their strongest defenses of the concept of mortal sin.

Interestingly, but not surprisingly, the speaker mistakenly links the Christian concepts of salvation and damnation with the Hindu (as well as Buddhist, Sikhist, Toaist, etc.) concept of Karma, asking if his suicide will send him to hell (Catholic), or if killing himself, thus removing what he perceives as evil, will balance his Karmic scale (Hindu et al) and allow him into heaven. This is a shining example of religious pluralism.

When the bones of someones face are showing it’s usually due to malnutrition (generally speaking), the people whose faces the ghost of electricity are howling into could’ve been his then-wife Sara Lownds or a vague reference to his previous relationship with Joan Baez, with the bones symbolising the longing they had for Bob’s presence, a sense of emotional starvation and fatigue, which had been replaced by the giant machine that was now his rock'n'roll lifestyle, with Johanna possibly playing the central symbolic roll as the temptation he was dealing with at the time, or the stress of business, fans and the media. He has no time for them, he’s too busy living and dealing with that erratic lifestyle. The presence of him is still clear in their faces, they still love him, which is why this could be a reference to Sara, because in Sad-Eyed Lady Of The Lowlands, a song widely believed to be about Sara, he references to her “hollow face”.

Bob Dylan and Sara:

Bob Dylan and Joan:

Also, a ghost is something that you cannot see, it paints the bleak sense of the loneliness they felt when he left them. Due to ghosts being things people usually feel more than see it could be Dylan referring to how he has never left them emotionally, and he’s still there with them, “haunting them” so to speak.

Due to ghost’s not being seen it could also be a reference to Dylan’s mythological cult figure status that the media had conjured up about his persona during that time. Dylan would essentially be referring to himself as the “ghost or rock'n'roll.”

Also, ghosts are dead, which could be a reference to his past life as folk musician now being completely over. It could also be a larger reference to the fact that “electric music” is essentially dead to the radical folk musicians that Dylan previously surrounded himself with.

The reaction to Dylan’s rock music

The ghost: