letters from yamaraja

8/19/2019 Letters From Yamaraja

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The Four Letters Sent by Yamaraja

A man by the name of Amrita, living on earth, thought to himself that the

one thing he feared most was death. To avoid death, Amrita practised

austerities and concentrated his mind upon Lord Yama, the Lord of

Death. Lord Yama was pleased and granted a vision to Amrita.

Lord Yama said: “y presence is only available to those who are about to die

or already dead. Yet ! granted you my vision while you are still living,

pleased by your penances".

Amrita said: “! as# this favour of you. !f death is inevitable, ! as# that if ! am

to die, then at least send me a letter before death so that ! can ma#e proper



provision for my family before departure and also prepere myself for my

ne$t life with proper sadhana and worship of %rishna."

Lord Yama said, “&ure, ! shall certainly do this. 'ut as soon as you get the

message, please set about ma#ing the preparations.", and he disappeared.

any years passed after this. Amritas hair began gradually to turn grey, but

he was living a life full of sinful activities with not a thought about the fear of

death.

(e was pleased that so far no letters had arrived from the Lord of Death.

&ome )aishnavas approached him and advised him to ta#e to devotional

service. (e did not heed to their instructions as he thought so much timewas left.

&ome more years passed by. 'y this time Amrita had lost most of his teeth

and the devotees came again to warn him about his imminent death. &till he

did not bother because no letter has come from his friend Yama.

As the years rolled by, Amritas eyesight became dimmer. (owever he

continued his sensual life than#ing his friend Yamara* for not sending any

letter so far.

&ome more years passed by. Amrita was now a very old man and with his

bac# bent forward, he could not wal# without the support of a wal#ing stic#.

(is s#in was all wrin#led. +ne day he suffered a stro#e and became

paralysed. eople said his condition was very critical.



'ut Amrita was still in a happy frame of mind, since he did not receive any

letter from Yamara*.

Then his destined end of life came and Lord Yama, the god of death, entered

the room.

Amrita was startled and his mind was sei-ed with fear.

Yamara* said, “y friend, come now, you have suffered greatly.

Today ! have come to ta#e you with me."



Amrita trembled in fear and said, " y friend, you have betrayed me by

brea#ing your boon. You have not sent me any letter as you promised. ow

all of a sudden you are ta#ing me from this world. You are a cheater".

Lord Yama said, “Amrita/ You spent all your life in sense indulgence with no

interest in spiritual life. (ow then could you #now the letters ! sent you0 ot

one, but four letters ! did send to you. 'ut you ignored all of them."

Amrita was greatly pu--led: “1our letters did you send0 'ut not even one

letter reached me. !t is *ust possible that the postman2courier forgot to

deliver it.".

Lord Yama said, “y friend, do you thin# ! will ta#e a paper and pen andwrite a letter to you0

o, 3ith your body as paper, with the pen of bodily changes ! wrote my

letters and time is the messenger who delivered those letters.

45 Years ago, your hair turned grey. That was my first letter. You ignored it.

65 1alling of your teeth was my second letter.

75 y third letter was sent to you when your eyesight failed.

85 The fourth message was when your body became paralysed.

You comfortably ignored all these letters. ow ! have come not as your

friend but as the dispenser of the Laws of 9od.", and Yamara* tied the rope

around Amritas nec# and pulled it hard.

eople around Amrita said, “Amrita is now dead".

Moral of the Story:

3hen the body is young and hale and when we dont get any letter from

Yamara*, we should start our preparations for facing his lethal blow.



3hen we completely ignore his letters, then we come under his control.

Different people are afraid of different things in life and one persons ob*ect

of fear is not an ob*ect of fear for another person.

(owever in general, fear of death is common to all. &ome people may boast

that they are not scared of death.

(owever when they get some fatal disease which paralyse them or in case of

dangers, the fear of death will be clearly visible in their eyes.

There is no material solution to this attac# of Yamara* and his punishments

after death.

Though death is formidable and uncon;uerable, &ripada &an#aracharya, one

of the great acharyas of the )edantic tradition, gives a very simple solution

to avoid interview with Yamara*.

!n his famous wor# “'ha*a 9ovindam" appears the following slo#a.

bhagavad gita #inchit adeeta 2 ganga *ala lava #ani#a peetaa

sa#rdapyena muraari samarca 2 #riyate tasya yamena sasarcaa

“!f a person reads little of 'hagavad 9ita, ta#es a little drop of 9anges water

and performs worship to urari <&ri %rishna5 atleast once in his lifetime,

then he does not have to face an interview with Yamara*."

!n the 'hagavata urana <=.7.6>5, Yamara* himself identifies who are the

candidates for his punishment:

*ihvaa na va#ti bhagavad?guna?naamadheyam

cetas ca na smarati tac?caranaaravindam

#rishnaya no namati yac?chira e#adapi

taan aanayadhvam asato @#rita?vishnu?#rityaan



“y dear servants, please bring to me only those sinful persons who do not

use their tongues to chant the holy name and ;ualities of %rishna, whose

hearts do not remember the lotus feet of %rishna even once, and whose

heads do not bow down even once before Lord %rishna. &end me those who

do not perform their duties toward )ishnu, which are the only duties in

human life. lease bring me all such fools and rascals."

&rila rabhupadas program of chanting and hearing and offering obeisances

to the &upreme Lord will empower us to escape the punishment of Yamara*

who is otherwise uncon;uerable.

(are %rishna, (are %rishna, %rishna %rishna, (are (are

(are ama, (are ama, ama ama, (are (are

&ource: bhagavatam?#atha.com

http://www.bhagavatam-katha.com/

http://www.bhagavatam-katha.com/

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