Yama:
The God of Death
INTRODUCTION
I
am Yama, the god of death. I retrieve the souls of
the deceased from
earth. When people die, I ride to earth on my bull with a rope in one
hand and a club in the other. I use the rope to catch hold of people's
souls, while the club is used for punishment, when
needed. Sometimes I get tired of going to earth to get people's
souls,
so I send my messengers to get them instead. As I sit on my throne my
messengers bring souls to me from earth and I decide whether they led a
good or bad life.
I know,
I know,
surprise! I am not only the god of death, I am also the god of justice.
So if you get sick of calling me Yama, you are more than welcome to
refer to me as Dharma. It is by far my favorite nickname. My job of
being the god of justice entails judgment. I decide whether the
deceased person lived a life which deserves to go to heaven or hell by
their deeds done throughout their life on earth. The responsibility of
judging someone's life is hard at times, but then I remember the people
left on earth. I ask myself, did this person treat people kindly, or do
the people still living on earth deserve justice for the actions of
this person? It is then I remember that judgment is essential to keep
order in the world.
As
you can tell, I have a big responsibility.
Therefore, I am the presiding officer over a court of people who help
me with this job. My court contains my messengers and assistants. I
mentioned my messengers earlier. When I do not want to retrieve the
deceased souls, they do it for me. My main assistant is a small god
named Chitragupta. He helps me keep track of people's wicked and noble
deeds on earth.
Considering
that
there is no way for you to know how it is
to walk a day in my life, I decided to write a storybook for you! There
are four death stories about four different people in the storybook.
These
death stories are from my perspective so you can get a feel for
what it is like to be the god of death, and of justice. I want to warn
you,
though, at times it can be very exhausting. However, with the
exhaustion comes excitement, gossip, and all the inside details of
death!
The
first story comes from the Ramanya. It is about King Dasaratha's death after hearing the horrific
news of his son being exiled from the city of Ayodha.
I am telling you this story so you can see what it is like when I
actually come down from the heavens to get this person, and the
thoughts I am having throughout the process.
The
second
story comes from Ramanya. It is a
different
type of death. One that is not permanent. It is the death of Rama,
right before Hanuman brings Medicine Hill to cure the army. I want to
use this story to emphasize my heart for justice.
The
third
story comes
from the Mahabharata. It involves the death of the King Pandu as a result of
having sex with his
wife! I
know what you are thinking, why on earth should someone die for that?!
Well, my friend, that is exactly why I want to tell you this story. I
want you to see that since I am also the god of justice, there is a
reason for people dying in such a manner as this.
The
fourth story also comes from the Mahabharata. It
involves a soul who comes back to life on earth. Satyavan was a young
prince who was loved very much by a princess named Savitri. He was
cursed to die within a year. Savitri pleaded with me to give his soul
back. Of course, I could not do such a thing, but decided to grant
her any wish she wanted. With her loving heart, she was smart with her
wish, and eventually won her husband back. This story is rare, and one
of which I would like to share with you.
