Yatana Sariram*
At 3 o’clock this afternoon a young man approached Bhagavan and asked, “Swami, it is said that Siva is in Kailas, Vishnu in Vaikunta, Brahma in Satyaloka, while Devendra and several Devatas are in Devaloka.
At 3 o’clock this afternoon a young man approached Bhagavan and asked, “Swami, it is said that Siva is in Kailas, Vishnu in Vaikunta, Brahma in Satyaloka, while Devendra and several Devatas are in Devaloka. Is it a fact that they are all there?”
Bhagavan: “Oho! That is what you want to know! But first tell me, is it a fact that you are existent? If you are in existence, they too must be existing. If you are not in existence they too are not.”
Devotee: “It is said that there are some known as Pithru Devathas (the manes), in the world of the manes and that if Sradh 1 is not performed they will punish the people concerned. Do the Manes really exist separately?”
Bhagavan: “That is just what I have been saying. So long as you have the feeling of ego, that you are the doer, all those beings are in existence. If that ego disappears there is nothing else in the world.”
Devotee: “What about devils?”
Bhagavan: “It is the same thing with regard to them. If there are Devatas in this world, devils also are there. If you are in existence, everything else is in existence. If you are not in existence, nothing else is. If you examine yourself everything will be found in yourself only. There will then be no scope for these doubts.”
Devotee: “It is said that when a man dies he goes to the world of Yama with a Yatana body after crossing the horrid
* Yatana Sarira: the subtle body tormented by pleasure and pain in the dream world and also after death (in fact the mind itself). 1 Sradh: death anniversary.
river Vaitharani, and that the messengers of Death create untold miseries to the body. Is it a fact that there is a world of Yama?”
Bhagavan: (smilingly): “Aha! If there is a heaven there is also a hell. All these exist only if you exist; otherwise not. First tell me, are you in existence or not? We shall then consider the question of the existence of hell.”
Devotee: “There it is. Bhagavan is using his Brahmastram (invincible weapon). What can I say now?”
Bhagavan: “All right. I won’t use it. You may ask whatever you like.”
Devotee: “What exactly is meant by a Yatana body?”
Bhagavan: “When we are asleep this body lies inert. We have dreams. In those dreams, we experience happiness sometimes and troubles at other times. When the body is asleep who is it who experiences all these? It must be admitted that it is the mind. That mind is called Sukshma (subtle) or Yatana body. After all, it is only the body that dies when a person dies.”
Devotee: “So Yatana body means it is only the mind.”
Bhagavan: “Otherwise, what else can there be that troubles the body other than the mind?”
So saying Bhagavan was silent.