kathopanishad-2-2-7-yonimanye

Commentary by Swami Krishnananda of the great Divine Life Society

Yonim anye prapadyante śarīratvāya dehinaḥ, sthāṇum anye’nusamyanti, yathā karma, yathā śrutam (2.2.7): Souls which have not been liberated enter into wombs of different species for the sake of embodiment. The scriptures say that the soul passes through eighty-four lakhs of species until it becomes a human being. The soul may enter into any species: a human body, or that of an animal or anything else, even an immovable object. According to the karmas it has performed and the remnant of their force, the soul enters into lower or higher wombs.

It is difficult to say where the soul will go after death, but certain outlines of the course of the soul are mentioned. It may enter a body in the physical realm, or in some higher, subtler realm. It may reach the realm of svarga or that of hell. It may follow the northern course of the sun and reach Brahmaloka, it may follow the southern course of the sun and reach Pitriloka, or it may attain jivanmukti or sadyo-mukti. Any of these are possible. The Bhagavad Gita says that the last thought determines the nature of the next birth, and this indicates the type of life one has to lead if a particular thought is to be engendered at the time of death.

The last thought, determined by the earlier ones, may be regarded as the fruit of the tree of life. The time of death is that condition of the whole personality when there is a cessation of the willpower and freedom of thought in the conscious level of our being. We cannot think as we think now. Something that may be said to happen in dream does not occur in our waking state. In waking we deliberately suppress the thoughts and feelings by the power of will, but in dream there is no such taboo or restriction and we are free to think as we like in accordance with our deepest feelings, so that the last thought comes from the whole of our being.

Therefore, the deeper layers of our personality come to outer manifestation at the time of death. Rather than the thought, the feelings come at that time. Thought is deliberate thinking, while feelings are the real personality of the individual. Thoughts may be due to pressure, but feelings are free thought, or unrestricted expression of thought. So one has to be careful of one’s feelings. Hushed thoughts, suppressed feelings, etc., are dangerous, and one has to be careful with them because it is these that we carry with us at the time of death, and not our relatives and wealth.

Hence, in an unbefriended condition the soul carries its samskaras, casting off this physical body here and seeking an atmosphere where it would be possible to pay for the samskaras and vasanas it carries with it. Violent samskaras seek expression in the nether regions. The nether regions and the higher realms are not in space and time. The space and time necessary are created by consciousness, just as when we enter into dream we seek to enter a new space and time. The most enchanting story of Lila and Padma of the Yoga Vasishtha shows how illusory are space and time, and how different space-time relations can exist simultaneously. Though it may appear that we move in space and time, we do not actually move. Even in this world the movement of the soul is relative, just as it is after death. Birth, death and transmigration are conditions of consciousness through which the soul passes.

Thus, the soul can travel through various courses, enter different wombs of species, and again revert to the original status when the karmas are exhausted. All this happens under one condition: our deeds coupled with our feelings. If we think we have done something, we will have to reap the fruits thereof. This is why karma yoga is prescribed. Our actions should not bring about a reaction which will cause rebirth. All the karmas of all previous births will have to seek expression some time or other, and as we go on adding new karmas in every birth, samsara never ends.