Friday, November 2, 2007

Lord Yamaraj - The God Of Death


Lord Yamaraj is the the brother of Saturn (Sri Sanaiscarya). Yamaraj is not only the Lord of Dharma, but also the Lord of Death. He is often referred to in Sastra as the officer you will meet after dieing, who will judge your life and grant your next placement.

Yamaraj "Yama" is considered the first human, the first to die, and therefore the lord and judge of the dead.

Alternate/Different names of Yamaraj :

Yamaraj has dozens of alternate names, including Dharmarja (a name which describes his role as judge), Yama, Dherma, Pitripeti, Mritu, and Vivaswata.

Beliefs :

In the Vedas, Yamaraj (Yama) is said to be the first mortal who died and went to heaven, becoming its monarch. There is also a fake belief that yamaraj is the ruler of the hell.

However, in the Vedic times, the conception of hell had not fully developed. Yama is the god of death and holds charge of the several hells mentioned in the Puranas.

He is regent of the South, or Lower World. Yamaraj dewells in the infernal city of Yamapur or Yamalog, the place of departed souls.


Appearance :

Yamaraj wears red robes, and plays a flute. At times, Yama is depicted with a bull's head, flaming hair, and a club.Along with Yamaraj there are two dogs, each with four eyes to search the souls in all four directions. The dogs assist him in dragging the unwilling souls towards the hell

Mythology :

Yama possesses no power among the Lord Shiva and Lord Vishnu:

The story goes like this.. Once upon a time there was a man who was unwilling to lie in the hand of Yamaraj. When the yamaraj came to receive the man's soul, he refused and ran to a Shiva temmple, he holds the Shiva Linga and stars uttering the "Maha Mritiunjaya" mantra of Lord Shiva.

After then Lord Shiva appeared and orders Yamaraj to leave the man, when he refuses Lord Shiva kills the Yamaraj and from then Lord Shiva was also known as Maha Mritiunjaya. Finally Yamaraj was given another life by Lord Shiva in request of othe gods.


There is another story of Ajamila, a Brahmin, who was saved from the clutches of Yamaraj by his continuous uttering of Narayana,the name of lord Vishnu. Thus, Yama is considered to have no control over one who utters Vishnu’s name at the time of his death.

Yama has a clerk named Chitragupta, who keeps record of the good and bad actions of mortals. When a person dies, he is conducted to Yama who calls upon Chitragupta to read out the account of his lifetime works . If the bad action wins the good, the person is taken to hell where he is tortured under the supervision of Yama else the soul is sent to the heaven.

He also has servitors known as the Yamaduttas. Dutta means messenger, and Yama means Lord of Death. So, they are the "messengers of the Lord of Death".

Yami is said to be Yama’s wife in some accounts, and his sister in others.
But most believe she is his wife.
The fourteenth day of the dark half of the month Aswini is called Yamaterpanam and is sacred to Yama. On this day, torches and flaming brands are kindled, and consecrated to burn the bodies of kinsmen who may be dead in battle and light them through the shades of death to the mansions of Yama.


Vechile (Bahan) : Buffalo

14 comments:

Darisha said...

Hi all,

this is Darisha kumar from Fiji. It really scary and frightening to know or learn the hardships we humans face after death. I guess we all should realize from now that we all live temporary on this earth and we must do all good things daily so that our "bank balance"over there is always full of good deeds and also would be everlasting. We all should treat each day as our last day and hence should never commit any sin coz who knows our time for death ....its all in the hands of God. Just imagaine if Yamraj devta appears in front of us all of a sudden! surely we will have heart attack just by seeing his appearance i guess. So always pray God that our soul should be taken by Lord Vishnu or Krishna coz when we die, our soul goes to them as well or we call it Vaikund Dham. Read Garudha Puran and you will see what it portrays.....yur hair will stand on its end. Thanks all and be ready or preapred to die one day coz its inevitable of course.

Unknown said...

very well said, this is what i think daily
a bad for you!!! good

Unknown said...

very well said, this is what i think daily
a big hand for you!!! good

Anonymous said...

Doing good things is (not) enough.
Refraining from sin is (not) enough.
They are necessary, but not enough.
You are blind now.
You will die and rise blind.
One who is blind here will remain blind hereafter.
What you need is getting (enlightened) now, while you are in the body.
What is (enlightenment)?
What to do to get it?
I leave this research and finding the answers and finding the required actions as your task.
But just gave you the hint.
Good deeds is too small.
It does not take you far.

Unknown said...

hello, i am kedar and i would like to share my exp...on 30th jan2001 when i was sleepin at midnigt i saw 3 souls standing next to , an they were pulling my soul out of my body.As at that time i didnt have control on my soul i was is there command, but some how i escaped from there spell an got up an they disappeared,I could see them clearly. thank you for reading do give ur comments
kedar

Anonymous said...

To Kedar - two options here- 1- it was a dream and not real 2- it was real and some spirits were there - in either case it was not lord of death, because first he comes alone, second if it was him, you were dead, you could not scape. It is possible that bastard spirits wanted to bug you, if happens again, repeat one of names of God, Allah, Jehovah, Bhagavan. Then they escape. It is a proven method. There are spirits in the body (humans) and without a body (ghosts) every where. Some are good, some are negative (we see in both humans and out od body ghosts) . Out of body ghosts have NO physical power. They are as sting as wing of a mosquito. But they have mental power, they can scare you. So now that you know how weak they are, be kind to them, first do not be scared, there is no reason for that. And if you do not want to communicate with them and talk with them and they seem scary, then just repeat name of God. They go.

RadhaPavithra said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
DEEPTI said...

give me a stright answer.who is wiFe of yamraJ.

Anonymous said...

Dear Deepti,

Read this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yama_(Hinduism)

If you require clarity about symbolism, then, send it here.

Wish you happiness
Bhagavan Vedant Das

Unknown said...

jai hanuman gyan guna sagar.. read hanuman chalisa

Unknown said...

nice post! I heard reading hanuman chalisa daily once can provide strength and courage to a person who read it with devotion. Jai Hanuman

Unknown said...

hai
lord of death is poweful demigod He is the bhagavothama No 12. He will watch sinners and soon after the time fixed by lord brahma the wicked soul shall be sent to Lord of death for appropriate punishments to cleans his sins. HOwever he will give respect to hari bhakthas. Lord Yama raja is very much devotee of Lord Hari lord krishna. He wonn't touch the devotees of Lord Vishnu or lord krishna.
Also shiva devotees are also not come under the perview of lord yama raja. Several people thought that god gave us 70 years life time to us we can chant Narayana mantra at the end of our lives. But it is impossible. Due to old age , forgotten and dieses we wonn't chant Lord narayana mantra. Hence we shall chant narayana mantra when we our sense organs are working properly.

We shall not come sins regarding women, and other humanbeings. Our every watch is being observed by Lord yama raja and his assistants. We shall be very cautious and we shall escape from the clunches of Lord yama raja simply loudly chanting Lord Narayana mantra we can wash our sins of nearly some lakhs of births. Also we preach lord shiva he will protects us from Yama pasha.

Jan Sri man Narayana

NSN Murty Hyderabad

Unknown said...

nice post! Everyday in the morning I used to chant hanuman chalisa lyrics with devotion. It is said that Chanting Chalisa daily once will give peace of mind and remove obstacles in your path.

amit dua said...

From which Scripture could we found this story of Lord Shiva fight with Yamaraja.