In the Gita-mahatmya of the Padma Purana there are many examples, like the story of one brahmana who had to go to hell after death and then had to accept an animal birth. The example of a person who went to heaven is Maharaja Pururava. After he had somewhat cooled down from his excessive attachment to Urvasi, he became absorbed in performing sacrifices which the Gandharvas had taught him. At the end of his life he went to heaven. There are also all sorts of jnanis and yogis and brahmacharis who go to the realm of Brahma. Yamaraja is the King of the pitas, and the very powerful son of the sun-god. He resides in Pitrloka with his personal assistants and, while abiding by the rules and regulations set down by the Supreme Lord, has his agents, the Yamadutas, bring all the sinful men to him immediately upon their death. After bringing them within his jurisdiction, he properly judges them according to their specific sinful activities and sends them to one of the many hellish planets for suitable punishments. In the Vedas Yama is god of the dead, with whom the spirits of the departed dwell. He was the son of Vivasvat (the Sun) and had a twin-sister named Yami or Yamuna. These are by some looked upon as the first human pair, the originators of the race. And there is a remarkable hymn, in the form of a dialogue, in which the female urges their cohabitation for the purpose of perpetuating the species. Another hymn says that Yama ‘was the first of men that died, and the first that departed to the (celestial) world.’ It was Yama who found the way to the home which cannot be taken away. ‘Those who are now born follow by their own paths to the place where our ancient fathers have departed.’ ‘Yama is nowhere represented in the Rigveda as having anything to do with the punishment of the wicked.’ So far as is yet known, ‘the hymns of that Veda do not contain any mention of any such penal retribution... Yama is still to some extent an object of terror. He is represented as having two insatiable dogs with four eyes and wide nostrils, that guard the road to his abode, and which the departed ones are advised to hurry past with all possible speed. These dogs are said to wander about among men as his messengers, no doubt for the purpose of summoning them to their master, who is in another place identified with death, and is described as sending a bird as the herald of doom.’
Posted on: Tue, 15 Jul 2014 10:30:09 +0000
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