The human is a rational being and not a rational animal. Now, some people say that human beings will one day have to face the Day of Judgment, Doomsday. Let us see how far this is correct.

Rationally speaking, does it make sense? Where will the dead bodies of human beings remain, in their graves? Won’t those dead bodies turn into soil beneath the ground? Near the knee, and in some other place, the bones of a dead body remain undecayed for eight to ten years. The remaining portion becomes part of the earth. So where will those bodies stay after death? In the graveyard? Isn’t it possible that a farmer will plough that ground? Under such circumstances, when the body, cells and nerve fibres no longer exist, where will the departing minds and souls rest?

Now, what is death? After death the mind becomes suspended, and the mind and átman become dissociated from the decaying body. So on the Day of Judgement, who will rise from the grave? The body cannot rise since it has already turned into soil. And where will the bodiless mind go? And when the mind is suspended, the jiivátmá cannot function either.

Here is another point – human beings do not have to wait for the Day of Judgement, their judgement is tied to their actions. Wherever there is an action there is an equal and opposite reaction, provided that the three fundamental relative factors of time, space and person remain unchanged. In this case, we may presume that space remains unchanged, but time is constantly changing.

Thus, the Doomsday argument is illogical. Even the people of old did not really believe the logic of Doomsday. Those who did, did so out of fear and ignorance, but the rational person of today won’t accept all this. Those who believe due to tradition do not really accept the idea with their minds and hearts either. They don’t have the courage to speak out; that is why they don’t say anything.

In every action there lies the potentiality of its reaction, which will express itself at an opportune moment. The reaction of each action does not get consummated immediately. It must wait for the proper environment to enable its expression. Every environment is conducive to experiencing the reaction of some action or other, but it is a fact that not every environment is conducive to experiencing every reaction. However, no one can wait in suspension for eternity, because if that happens then the mind also will have to remain in suspension indefinitely, which is not possible. Not even for an infinitesimal period can the mind remain in a suspended state. Suspension will germinate the seeds of revolt and cause the mind to explode.

Suppose somebody is suspended from his job. In his mind the seeds of revolt germinate. He files a court case, contacts so many people, organizes a demonstration, etc. That is the natural reaction to suspension. If the mind is suspended for a moment it cannot exist.

Immediately after the death of a creature, be it insect or human, the search for a new body starts afresh. Wherever it finds an appropriate environment, it will get a new body. Until it finds the new body, is the mind suspended? No, Even then it is engaged in action, the action of search. Search, search, effort, effort.

When a person dies, the mind becomes dissociated from the body. Death is of many kinds. When the nerve cells stop working, the nerve fibres stop working, the heart stop working and the lungs stop working, death may be considered complete. But sometimes, though the nerve fibres stop working, the heart stops working, and the lungs stop working, the nerve cells continue to work. In such a case doctors might pronounce the person dead, but after two or three hours or even two or three days, the person may come back to life. Everyone’s nerve cells continue to function for at least some time after so-called death. In some such instances, as you have seen, I have saved persons from death.

So even after death the nerve cells of a person function. If the nerve cells stop functioning, it means the person has started the search for a new body. The person may or may not get the new body right away. The dissociated mind, along with its reactive momenta, leaves the old body in search of a new one. In accordance with its samskaras, its reactive momenta, the mind searches for and finds an appropriate medium for expression.

Let’s say an alcoholic and a sádhu go from Patna to Benares. The sádhu will join the company of other sádhus on some riverbank, while the alcoholic will locate some pub. So, in accordance with one’s saḿskáras, one gets an appropriate physical body. If a human being constantly hankers for food, the person is bound to get the body of a pig. Similarly, if one thinks of money all the time, one will become crudified and find oneself as a safe in some bank or in the home of some wealthy individual.

The mind cannot stand still, nor will it stay suspended in a graveyard until the Day of Judgement. All this is contrary to logic and reason. This happens when people don’t understand the difference between mind and soul. Everything moves, movement is the rule of this world. That is why “Jagat” (the world) means “that which is constantly moving”. So the question of someone lying in a grave for eternity does not arise. Where there is a graveyard today, we may have paddy fields tomorrow.

Where people regard the supramental body as the soul or spirit, they make a mistake. Such people lack an understanding of correct philosophy. Those concerned with higher philosophy should also have tried to understand the reason why some people are happy and others sad. Why are some happy, why are others sad? Paramátmá does not indulge in partiality.

The truth of the matter is that everyone moves according to one’s karma. To expand psychically is natural – no one is born dhármika or adhármika, righteous or unrighteous. Even after death one will not go the flaming fire of hell. According to our philosophy there is no hell or heaven. If the Lord taught righteousness to some and not to others, that would not be fair. And if, for that reason, one got to heaven while others didn’t, would that be fair? That would also be favouritism. But this very thought, of eternal heaven or hell, is faulty. It is a defective approach. People speak like this due to ignorance and lack of proper philosophical understanding. Today’s progressive human society cannot have any respect for these ideas.

You people are able to say that Bhu, Bhuvah, Svah, Mahah, Janah, Tapah and Satya are the seven layers of the Cosmic Mind.⁽¹⁾ People used to say that one went to Svarga, or Svarloka,⁽²⁾ and enjoyed a good life if one did good actions, or underwent suffering if one did bad actions. This notion is somewhat better than the notion of eternal heaven and hell, because the results of action have a beginning and an end. One remains in heaven or hell only until one’s saḿskára is exhausted, then takes another birth. But this is not a perfect idea or a proper goal either. One’s goal should be to establish oneself in Satyaloka.

Eternal hell or heaven is a totally defective idea. The belief in the existence of Tala, Atala, Talatala, Pátála, Atipátála, and Rasátala is also incorrect. We should not encourage these approaches. There is no hell or heaven, and no one will go to hell or heaven for eternity after death, or lie in a grave forever; nor will anyone have to wait until any Day of Judgement.

By constant ideation on Brahma, that is by surrendering to the Supreme, and by constant service, one should consummate one’s reactive momenta and establish oneself in Parama Puruśa. In this way you will attain blessedness forever. This is the proper path.

Footnotes

(1) At times these have superstitiously been considered actual worlds. –Eds.

(2) Svah. –Eds.