Life and death of a materialist (Sankhya #21)
Now that the powerful influence of Maya was described, Lord Kapila proceeds to explain the symptoms of someone deluded by this influence and the results.
« SANKHYA, The Philosophy of Lord Kapila
Life and death of a materialist
Now that the powerful influence of Maya was described, Lord Kapila proceeds to explain the symptoms of someone deluded by this influence and the results.
In the Bhagavad-gita, Krsna explains that "The spirit soul bewildered by the influence of false ego thinks himself the doer of activities that are in actuality carried out by the three modes of material nature." In reality, the soul, being spiritual, performs no actions in the material sphere. All actions are actually performed by the three modes of nature, with the sanction of the Supersoul. If the soul is not the one performing actions, why then does the soul have to suffer the karmic reactions?
As we have studied, when the soul comes in contact with material energy and takes part in material creation, a new identity is formed by the combination of material consciousness, false ego, mind, intelligence, etc. This material identity is different from the soul, but the soul identifies with it and thus shares its pains and pleasures. The material mind desires, the material intelligence makes plans to fulfill such desires, these plans are fulfilled by the actions of the three modes of material nature, and the results of such actions are enjoyed or suffered. In reality, these actions and reactions affect only this material identity, and not the soul proper. As explained in the Bhagavad-gita, the soul can't be burned by fire, moistened by water, wittered by winter, and so on. However, because of identification, the soul shares the pains and pleasures of this material identity, following it wherever it goes, just like a husband following his wife.
For example, let's imagine that the soul identifies with the material identity of a man called "Napoleon". Napoleon has the ambition of becoming a great emperor and thus commits many sinful activities by waging war, killing opponents, and so on. These actions are carried by the three modes of material nature, but everything ultimately happens due to the desire of the soul to enjoy the material world as an emperor. At the end of his life, Napoleon dies and goes to hell. There, he suffers the results of his actions through many torments. The soul is not directly affected by such torments, but because the soul identifies with "Napoleon", the soul shares his suffering. Finally, "Napoleon" is no more, this temporary identity is reset into a plant or some lower animal, from where it goes through the evolutive cycle until a new human consciousness is formed. Because the soul identifies with this particular material identity, the soul follows the whole process. Eventually, it comes again into the human form, where it assumes a new identity, "Sara". The soul identifying with "Sara" then lives as a lady, wishing to get married, attached to her home, and so on. This continues until one of these material identities comes in contact with devotees, and starts to practice devotional service. By practicing devotional service under this material identity, the soul has the opportunity of remembering his original nature and becoming finally free of material entanglement.
This process of acting sinfully due to the influence of the material energy and suffering the results is explained by Lord Kapila in the next verses:
"Such satisfaction with one’s standard of living is due to deep-rooted attraction for body, wife, home, children, animals, wealth and friends. In such association, the conditioned soul thinks himself quite perfect.
Although he is always burning with anxiety, such a fool always performs all kinds of mischievous activities, with a hope which is never to be fulfilled, in order to maintain his so-called family and society.
He gives heart and senses to a woman, who falsely charms him with māyā. He enjoys solitary embraces and talking with her, and he is enchanted by the sweet words of the small children.
The attached householder remains in his family life, which is full of diplomacy and politics. Always spreading miseries and controlled by acts of sense gratification, he acts just to counteract the reactions of all his miseries, and if he can successfully counteract such miseries, he thinks that he is happy.
He secures money by committing violence here and there, and although he employs it in the service of his family, he himself eats only a little portion of the food thus purchased, and he goes to hell for those for whom he earned the money in such an irregular way.
When he suffers reverses in his occupation, he tries again and again to improve himself, but when he is baffled in all attempts and is ruined, he accepts money from others because of excessive greed.
Thus the unfortunate man, unsuccessful in maintaining his family members, is bereft of all beauty. He always thinks of his failure, grieving very deeply.
Seeing him unable to support them, his wife and others do not treat him with the same respect as before, even as miserly farmers do not accord the same treatment to their old and worn-out oxen.
The foolish family man does not become averse to family life although he is maintained by those whom he once maintained. Deformed by the influence of old age, he prepares himself to meet ultimate death.
Thus he remains at home just like a pet dog and eats whatever is so negligently given to him. Afflicted with many illnesses, such as dyspepsia and loss of appetite, he eats only very small morsels of food, and he becomes an invalid who cannot work any more.
In that diseased condition, one’s eyes bulge due to the pressure of air from within, and his glands become congested with mucus. He has difficulty breathing, and upon exhaling and inhaling he produces a sound like ghura-ghura, a rattling within the throat.
In this way he comes under the clutches of death and lies down, surrounded by lamenting friends and relatives, and although he wants to speak with them, he no longer can because he is under the control of time.
Thus the man, who engaged with uncontrolled senses in maintaining a family, dies in great grief, seeing his relatives crying. He dies most pathetically, in great pain and without consciousness.
At death, he sees the messengers of the lord of death come before him, their eyes full of wrath, and in great fear he passes stool and urine." (SB 3.30.6-19)
In these verses, Lord Kapila emphasizes the negative nature of materialistic life, making us see through the influence of the āvaraṇātmikā feature of Maya and understand the real nature of it.
Human life is very rarely attained. To obtain a human body a soul has to accumulate a great deal of pious merit by going through millions of births in lower species. As a plant, the soul can accumulate some pious merits by producing fruits, as an animal, by giving milk, carrying loads, or performing some other beneficial activity, and so on. After accumulating the necessary merits through such hard work, the soul finally receives the opportunity of a human birth. However, even as a human, the influence of Maya does not cease. As humans, we have free will, something that becomes covered in animal life. Animals simply act according to their nature, without any real choice. A tiger will never become a vegetarian, for example. However, the free will we enjoy in human life does not come without risks. Due to the prakṣepātmikā influence of Maya, we mostly go after sense gratification, and even if we start practicing spiritual life we tend to procrastinate, failing to make it a priority.
Material enjoyment is centered around family life. No one can enjoy alone, enjoyment can exist only through relationships. One may try to enjoy alone by buying things and trying to stimulate his senses, but this type of solitary enjoyment is not very satisfying and usually leads to depression and degradation. Family life is better, because not only does it make one happier, by developing relationships with the spouse and children, as well as friends and family members, but it can be conducted piously if one follows the recommendations of the scriptures. Nowadays, most people are afraid of getting married and having children, but if one wants to find material happiness, that's the way.
Family life however is not free of risks. When we don't have a higher goal, it is easy to get lost in the material illusion, performing all kinds of sinful activities to maintain a materialistic lifestyle. One has the right to maintain a family through honest work, and thus live a progressive life, but if one maintains his family through sinful activities, he has to suffer the consequences of it. At the same time, if one becomes devoid of higher purposes in life, he can't expect that the wife and children will be any different. Materialistic people, by nature, care about themselves and not about others. As a result, a materialistic man ends up being mistreated by his own family as he becomes old and incapable of maintaining them. He then suffers due to his attachment, and in the end has to leave, carrying with him only his sinful reactions. The other family members, who enjoyed the money he obtained by dishonest means don't share his sinful reactions. He takes everything alone. Terrified, he is carried to hell by the angry Yamadutas.
In his purports, however, Prabhupada also emphasizes another aspect: how we can become free from this entanglement. Thus, when we read the verses followed by the purports, we have the two sides simultaneously.
Family life in this material world is a perverted reflection of family life in the spiritual world. There, there are also families, fathers, mothers, children, etc. However, this original, eternal family life is pure and centered around Krsna. In this material world, we try to create a separate family centered around ourselves, and that leads to the shortcomings described by Lord Kapila. Such materialistic family life becomes a type of prison for the soul.
Family life therefore doesn't need to be rejected, but it has to be connected with Krsna. That's the whole purpose of the grihastha asrama. A grihastha learns to connect his family life with Krsna, conducting his family life in a spirit of service and detachment, different from the ordinary materialist, who just tries to use his family to satisfy his senses. A grhamedhi searches for happiness in this material world, but what we call happiness here is just the absence of suffering. Real happiness can exist only in connection with Krsna.
As Prabhupada explains: "The gṛhastha’s concern is to get out of the family life created by illusion and enter into real family life with Kṛṣṇa, whereas the gṛhamedhi’s business is to repeatedly chain himself to so-called family life, in one life after another, and perpetually remain in the darkness of māyā."
The purpose of this passage is to open our eyes to the pitfalls of materialistic family life. Once we understand these points, we may either become proper grhasthas, conducting our family life in Krsna consciousness, with a spirit of detachment, or become renunciants. Both paths can work if conducted with the proper mentality.
The dark side of the material world
Although life in this material world is full of difficulties, there is always some enjoyment present even in the most difficult conditions. Even a person who has to work very hard the whole day just to eat finds some enjoyment in being able to finally sleep at night. In reality, this is not enjoyment, but just the absence of suffering, but still a conditioned soul can become easily attached even to that.
The problem is that even when we decide to settle into our current condition, just living life the best we can, tolerating the difficulties, and looking for whatever small enjoyment is available, still we are not allowed to stay. Time ticks and when it is finished, we are forced to leave.
The ultimate goal of human life is to become a devotee of Krsna and dedicate our actions, words, and thoughts to Him in devotional service. Krsna consciousness is the normal, healthy condition of the soul, and human life is an opportunity to revive it.
If one is not ready for it, the scriptures offer a second option in the form of a pious life, following the rules and regulations. Apart from these two paths, there is only sin, and when we go in this direction, we are forced to face the consequences of our choices at the end of life. A materialist thus suffers two times: first by living a life full of illusion and anxiety, and finally by suffering the reactions of his sins after death. Lord Kapila explains this path in detail so we may understand how painful it is. The hellish punishments described in the Srimad Bhagavatam are not just metaphorical: they are real, and sinful people are liable to be punished in this way. Such hellish punishment is usually followed by a very long path through the lower species of life until one can again accumulate enough merit to obtain a human birth again. When one becomes too sinful, one gradually exhausts all his pious merits, and once these merits are finally exhausted, he goes to hell, where this sinful identity is destroyed through the sufferings imposed, forcing the soul to develop a new material identity through the slow progression in the lower species. Hell offers thus an opportunity for rectification to the soul, but one that is extremely painful. One who voluntarily accepts to correct himself avoids all this suffering.
The ultimate purpose of this description is to not just convince us to avoid it but to also invoke our compassion for the precarious condition of general people, who we can help by spreading Krsna consciousness. In the age we live in, the sincere practice of Krsna consciousness is the only process that can truly save one from hell, as described in the beginning of the sixth canto of Srimad Bhagavatam. Other processes are not very effective in this age. Devotees who use their lives to serve the Lord are avoided by the Yamadutas, who fear being punished for wrongly approaching them. As Yamaraja himself instructed: "Please do not even go near them. They are always protected by the club of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and therefore Lord Brahmā and I and even the time factor are not competent to chastise them." (SB 6.3.27)
Here is the description of the punishment of sinful souls in hell by Lord Kapila:
"As a criminal is arrested for punishment by the constables of the state, a person engaged in criminal sense gratification is similarly arrested by the Yamadūtas, who bind him by the neck with strong rope and cover his subtle body so that he may undergo severe punishment.
While carried by the constables of Yamarāja, he is overwhelmed and trembles in their hands. While passing on the road he is bitten by dogs, and he can remember the sinful activities of his life. He is thus terribly distressed.
Under the scorching sun, the criminal has to pass through roads of hot sand with forest fires on both sides. He is whipped on the back by the constables because of his inability to walk, and he is afflicted by hunger and thirst, but unfortunately there is no drinking water, no shelter and no place for rest on the road.
While passing on that road to the abode of Yamarāja, he falls down in fatigue, and sometimes he becomes unconscious, but he is forced to rise again. In this way he is very quickly brought to the presence of Yamarāja.
Thus he has to pass ninety-nine thousand yojanas within two or three moments, and then he is at once engaged in the torturous punishment which he is destined to suffer.
He is placed in the midst of burning pieces of wood, and his limbs are set on fire. In some cases he is made to eat his own flesh or have it eaten by others.
His entrails are pulled out by the hounds and vultures of hell, even though he is still alive to see it, and he is subjected to torment by serpents, scorpions, gnats and other creatures that bite him.
Next his limbs are lopped off and torn asunder by elephants. He is hurled down from hilltops, and he is also held captive either in water or in a cave.
Men and women whose lives were built upon indulgence in illicit sex life are put into many kinds of miserable conditions in the hells known as Tāmisra, Andha-tāmisra and Raurava.
Lord Kapila continued: My dear mother, it is sometimes said that we experience hell or heaven on this planet, for hellish punishments are sometimes visible on this planet also.
After leaving this body, the man who maintained himself and his family members by sinful activities suffers a hellish life, and his relatives suffer also.
He goes alone to the darkest regions of hell after quitting the present body, and the money he acquired by envying other living entities is the passage money with which he leaves this world.
Thus, by the arrangement of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the maintainer of kinsmen is put into a hellish condition to suffer for his sinful activities, like a man who has lost his wealth.
Therefore a person who is very eager to maintain his family and kinsmen simply by black methods certainly goes to the darkest region of hell, which is known as Andha-tāmisra.
Having gone through all the miserable, hellish conditions and having passed in a regular order through the lowest forms of animal life prior to human birth, and having thus been purged of his sins, one is reborn again as a human being on this earth." (SB 3.30.20-34)
The hellish planets are situated at the bottom of the universe. The path is perceived by the sinful soul as a tortuous road on which he is forced to move quickly by the servants of Yamaraja, even though he is very tired. Crossing the road he reaches the abode of Yamaraja, where he listens to a description of his sins and is sentenced to be punished according to their gravity. While in hell, the soul has no gross physical body, but the subtle body assumes a form that allows him to experience the sufferings inflicted there. Different from a physical body, which is killed when cut, burned, etc. the subtle form that the soul assumes in hell is never destroyed, allowing him to experience such sufferings again and again.
While suffering in this way, one remembers the sins he committed and the pain he inflicted on others, and this trauma creates impressions in the subtle mind that may make him avoid repeating the same sins in the future. If one is destined to go down to the animal species, the punishments also have the function of forcing him to adapt to the conditions he will be living in the next life. Some of the conditions experienced in the lower species are considered an extension of the punishments in hell, as indicated by Lord Kapila when He says that hellish punishments are sometimes visible on this planet also.
Once in the plant and animal species, a soul is forced to act according to the laws of nature. Because animals don't have free will, there is no accumulation of karma for them. They are allowed to live and enjoy whatever they are entitled to without fear of punishment. Similarly, devotees who are seriously practicing Krsna consciousness are above the jurisdiction of Yamaraja, as he directly explains: "Considering all these points, therefore, intelligent men decide to solve all problems by adopting the devotional service of chanting the holy name of the Lord, who is situated in everyone’s heart and who is a mine of all auspicious qualities. Such persons are not within my jurisdiction for punishment. Generally, they never commit sinful activities, but even if by mistake or because of bewilderment or illusion they sometimes commit sinful acts, they are protected from sinful reactions because they always chant the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra." (SB 6.3.26)
Of course, we can't use this to willingly commit sinful activities thinking that because we are chanting the holy names, everything will be automatically pardoned. If we do that, we incur the offense of committing sinful activities intentionally on the strength of the holy names. However, if a devotee commits sins due to accident or weakness, he is purified by the process itself. Different from a materialist, a devotee doesn't have to follow any separate process of atonement, he has just to continue chanting and following the devotional process.
In our times, people like to think that there is no afterlife or no hell, and based on this conception, abortion, animal slaughter, and other sinful activities are encouraged. These descriptions of the scriptures remind us of the danger of this lifestyle, and of how important it is to bring people to the path of Krsna consciousness. It's not necessary to scare people with descriptions of hell since once one comes to the path of Krsna consciousness, hell is automatically avoided.
In the Garuda Purana, it is described that Yamaraja has two countenances. For the sinful he appears very fearful, as one who ministers punishment. To the pious, on the other hand, he appears to be compassionate, calm, and welcoming, describing their pious activities and sending them to heaven to enjoy the results. Similarly, the path they go through also differs. For the sinful, the Yamadutas appear in terrifying forms and the path is tortuous, as described, while for the pious the Yamadutas appear to have pleasant forms and gently guide the soul through a pleasant path for his meeting with Yamaraja.
We can thus see that the terrible path the sinful soul has to travel to hell and the punishments one is inflicted there are not accidental, but the results of his activities and the consciousness he developed due to these activities. Apart from being a system of justice, these punishments have a function: to purify the soul of the excessive load of sins and correct one's mentality, making him regret, and hopefully not follow the same path in his next life. When we adopt the process of Krsna consciousness, however, whatever sins we may have committed in the past are cleansed and we have the opportunity of a clean start.
Even if a devotee commits mistakes and can't finish his process of Krsna consciousness in this life, he doesn't have to meet Yamaraja. He is helped by the Vishnudutas to go to his next body, where he can continue his practice of Krsna consciousness. In the Brhad Bhagavatamrta, it is described how the Vishnudutas are constantly engaged in numerous missions in different universes, protecting and assisting devotees in their spiritual path. Even if a devotee is not advanced enough to have completely destroyed his past karma, the Lord protects him from the reactions, allowing him to receive just a sample of these reactions, just enough to help him learn his lessons and complete his path of Krsna consciousness. Different from a gross materialist, who is rewarded or punished for his actions due to the automatic works of the law of karma, a devotee is under the protection of the Lord, who makes sure that despite any setback, he will eventually attain perfection and return back home, back to Godhead.
Hare Krishna
Very well explained :)