Where does the soul go after death – heaven, hell or lower species?

From Anand

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Thank you. Question from Anand Prabhu.
Where exactly does the conditioned soul go after death? To heaven or hell or directly takes the body of animal or demigod or human being? Answer, it depends on the karma of the soul. Krishna describes in the Bhagavad Gita in the 14th chapter in the 18th verse that, So those who are in goodness go upwards, those who are in passion go downwards, sorry those who stay where they are, and those who are in ignorance go downwards. Now after describing this, the specifics Krishna does not go into over here.
That is an elaborate process and Arjuna already knows about it being in the Vedic culture. So this is described in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad as well as in the Vedas. Now important point is that the karma of the soul is very important.
So the lower can be in three directions. The lower can be to the hellish planets, the lower can be to the lower species or the lower can also be in terms of a lower status within the human species itself. Now where that will go, that will depend on a combination of karma and kama.
Karma is the activities that we have done and they will determine the kind of result that we will get. But along with that, our karma, our desire also plays a role. So generally speaking, if the soul has to go to animal body, then the soul may have to get a transitional body in between so that the soul gets habituated to the tastes in the animal body.
So for example, if a soul has to get the body of a hog, the next body, the humans are revolted by hogs, by hogs’ food, that is stool, whereas hogs are attracted by that food. So how can a humans or a soul in a humans’ body have its tastes change so quickly? So it cannot happen immediately. So that soul is taken to a transitional place where the soul gets nothing except stool to eat and having nothing to eat, the soul gets habituated to eating that stool in that transitional body and then after that, the soul gets a hog’s body.
So that means, generally speaking, the whole post-mortem journey is arranged in such a way that whatever the body the soul is going to get, that the soul becomes suited for that body. So where the soul exactly will go? That will depend on karma. It’s not fixed.
Now, do all souls have to go to hell? No. It is very very clear in 6th Canto of Srimad Bhagavatam that Yamaraja has jurisdiction over sinful souls. Those who do punya, Yamaraja doesn’t have jurisdiction over them and those who do bhakti also Yamaraja doesn’t have jurisdiction over them and souls in lower species also, Yamaraja doesn’t have jurisdiction because they are not doing any karma.
They are simply acting according to their instincts. So, of course, in Kali Yuga many people are doing sinful activities. So they may have to go to hell.
But in general, the point is that we go where our karma and our kama can best be harmonized under the guidance of the Supersoul and under the supervision by the arrangement of material nature. So, the Puranas and especially the Vedas the Upanishads, the Puranas, the Vedas, they all give this description in various places and the essential point is Gahana Karma Navagati. Because the movements of karma are complex so we can’t know exactly where we’ll go.
The Bhagavatam describes that in the fourth canto in the Puranjana section that the subtle body is an indicator of our past bodies as well as our future bodies because depending on the kind of thoughts that we have, we can understand what kind of thoughts and desires we had in the past and we can also make a general inference about what kind of thoughts and desires we’ll have in the future and accordingly our body will be shaped. So, we focus not on the specifics but on the generics. Generic principle is according to our karma and our karma we will get a body.
So, if we purify our karma and develop spiritual desires and we purify our karma and develop devotional activities, then we get the most auspicious destination. That is we return back to Krishna. Thank you.