What exactly initiates the death process: the soul’s karma, the Paramatma or the Yamadutas?
From Ashishkumar Puri:
When a person is about to die what initiates the entire process of the Soul to leave,the Soul itself as per the Laws of
Karma or Paramatma or Yamadutta come with a challan.
To hear the answer
Transcript
This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
devotional service to Krishna.
Thank you. Question from Ashish Puri Prabhu. When a person is about to die, what initiates the entire process of the soul to leave? The soul itself has the laws of karma or Parmatma or the Yamdutas come with a chalan.
Answer. Ultimately, all activities in the world happen under the direction and the sanction of the super soul. So according to our own past karma, we have a particular amount of time to live in this world.
That amount of time is, of course, in terms of the number of breaths that we have. So when those breaths run out, at that time, it is the super soul who arranges for our transfer from this body to the next body. And if the soul is sinful, then the Yamadutas come to take the soul.
But if the soul is not sinful and the soul is not destined to go to Yamadutas, then the soul will go unescorted with the super soul to the next destination. The whole process is never initiated by the soul. The soul and karma is not an independent conscious agent.
The process is actually initiated only by the Supreme Lord, who is the present in the heart and the super soul. And it is he who supervises and oversees the whole process. The Bhagavad Gita is described in 13.23. And that is how the whole process happens.
Now the Yamadutas may sometimes have to force the hand of the soul. That means the soul doesn’t wish to leave the body. And because the soul doesn’t wish to leave the body, the Yamadutas sometimes have to forcibly drag the soul.
And all that indicates is that the soul is attached. But it is not the coming of the Yamadutas that starts the process. It is the expiry of the karma that is the basic factor that starts everything.