Yama

God of Death

Naraka Underworld Dharmapala

Yama

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naraka  

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Yama or Yamarāja is a Hindu and Buddhist deity of death, dharma, the south direction, and the underworld, belonging to an early stratum of Rigvedic Hindu deities. In Sanskrit, his name can be interpreted to mean "twin". He is also an important deity worshipped in Kalasha and now extinct Nuristani religions, indicating his prominence in ancient Hinduism. In Hinduism, Yama is the son of sun-god Surya and Sandhya, the daughter of Vishvakarma.

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According to the Vedas, Yama is said to have been the first mortal who died. By virtue of precedence, he became the ruler of the departed, and is called "Lord of the Pitrs". Mentioned in the Pāli Canon of Theravada Buddhism, Yama subsequently entered Buddhist mythology in East Asia, Southeast Asia and Sri Lanka as a Dharmapala under various transliterations. He is otherwise also called as "Dharmaraja".

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Naraka (Sanskrit: नरक) is the Hindu equivalent of Hell, where sinners are tormented after death. It is also the abode of Yama, the god of Death. It is described as located in the south of the universe and beneath the earth. The number and names of hells, as well as the type of sinners sent to a particular hell, varies from text to text; however, many scriptures describe 28 hells.

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After death, messengers of Yama called Yamadutas bring all beings to the court of Yama, where he weighs the virtues and the vices of the being and passes a judgement, sending the virtuous to Svarga (heaven) and the sinners to one of the hells. The stay in Svarga or Naraka is generally described as temporary. After the quantum of punishment is over, the souls are reborn as lower or higher beings as per their merits.

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Naraka (Sanskrit: नरक, literally of man) is the realm of hell in Indian religions. According to some schools of Hinduism, Sikhism, Jainism and Buddhism, Naraka is a place of torment. The word Neraka (modification of Naraka) in Indonesian and Malaysian has also been used to describe the Islamic concept of Hell.

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Alternatively, the "hellish beings" that are said to reside in this underworld are often referred to as Narakas. These beings are also termed in Hindi as Narakis (Sanskrit: नारकीय, Nārakīya), Narakarnavas (Sanskrit: नरकार्णव, Narakārṇava) and Narakavasis (Sanskrit: नरकवासी, Narakavāsī). In Chinese Buddhism, he is also regarded as one of the Twenty Devas (二十諸天 Èrshí Zhūtiān) or the Twenty-Four Devas (二十四諸天 Èrshísì zhūtiān), a group of protective dharmapalas

Read More Devas The Shiny Ones Guardian Angels click

Read More Dharmapalas The Wrathful Protector Gods click

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Yama - Buddhist Icon of Hell and Impermanence, Fearsome protector of the dharma

Source: https://www.learnreligions.com/yama-buddhist-icon-of-hell-and-impermanence-450163  

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If you are familiar with the Bhavachakra, or Wheel of Life, you've seen Yama. He is the monstrous being holding the wheel in his hooves. In Buddhist myths, he is lord of the Hell Realms and represents death, but more than anything else he represents impermanence.

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Yama in the Pali Canon

Before there was Buddhism, Yama was a Hindu God of death who first appeared in the Rig Veda. In later Hindu stories, he was a judge of the underworld who decided punishments for the dead. In the Pali Canon, he holds a similar position, except that he no longer judges, whatever will befall those who come before him is the result of their own karma. Yama's chief job is to remind us of this. He also sends his messengers—sickness, old age, and death—into the world to remind us of the impermanence of life.

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For example, in the Devaduta Sutta of the Sutta-pitaka (Majjhima Nikaya 130), the Buddha described an unworthy man seized by the wardens of hell and brought before Yama. The wardens declared that the man had ill-treated his father and mother, and had ill-treated contemplatives, brahmans, and the leaders of his clan.

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What Would Yama Do With Him?

Yama asked, did you not see the first divine messenger I sent to you? The man said, no, I did not.

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Have you never seen a young, tender infant lying prone in his own urine and feces? Yama asked. I have, the man said. The infant was Yama's first divine messenger, warning the man he was not exempt from birth.

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Yama asked if the man had seen the second divine messenger, and when the man said no, Yama continued, Haven't you seen an old woman or man of eighty or ninety or one hundred years, crooked and leaning on a cane, miserable, broken-toothed, gray-haired, bald, wrinkled and blotchy? This was the warning that the man was not exempt from old age.

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The third divine messenger was a man or woman gravely ill, and the fourth was a criminal punished by torture and decapitation. The fifth was a swollen, rotting corpse. Each of these messengers were sent by Yama to warn the man to be more careful with his thoughts, words, and deeds, and each was ignored. The man was then subjected to the torments of various hells—not suggested reading for the faint of heart—and the sutta makes clear that the man's own actions, not Yama, determined the punishment.

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Yama in Mahayana Buddhism

Although Yama is lord of hell he himself is not exempt from its torments. In some Mahayana stories, Yama and his generals drink molten metal to punish themselves for overseeing punishment. In Tibetan Buddhist myth, once there was a holy man meditating in a cave. He had been told that if he meditated for fifty years, he would enter Nirvana. However, on the night of the forty-ninth year, eleventh month, and twenty-ninth day, robbers entered the cave with a stolen bull, and they cut off the bull's head. When they realized the holy man had seen them, the robbers cut off his head also.

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The enraged and possibly not-so-holy man put on the bull's head and assumed the terrible form of Yama. He killed the robbers, drank their blood, and threatened all of Tibet. The Tibetans appealed to Manjusri, Bodhisattva of Wisdom, to protect them. Manjusri assumed the wrathful form of Yamantaka and, after a long and fierce battle, defeated Yama. Yama then became a dharmapala, a protector of Buddhism.

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Yama is portrayed several different ways in tantric iconography. He nearly always has a bull's face, a crown of skulls and a third eye, although occasionally he is depicted with a human face. He is depicted in a variety of poses and with a variety of symbols, representing different aspects of his role and his powers. Although Yama is frightening, he is not evil. As with many wrathful iconic figures, his role is to frighten us to pay attention to our lives—and the divine messengers—so that we practice diligently.

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Naraka in Hinduism

Source: https://slife.org/naraka-in-hinduism/

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The Bhagavata Purana describes Naraka as beneath the earth: between the seven realms of the underworld (Patala) and the Garbhodaka Ocean, which is the bottom of the universe. It is located in the South of the universe. Pitrloka, where the dead ancestors (Pitrs) headed by Agniṣvāttā reside, is also located in this region. Yama, the Lord of Naraka, resides in this realm with his assistants.

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The Devi Bhagavata Purana mentions that Naraka is the southern part of universe, below the earth but above Patala. The Vishnu Purana mentions that it is located below the cosmic waters at the bottom of the universe. The Hindu epics too agree that Naraka is located in the South, the direction which is governed by Yama and is often associated with Death. Pitrloka is considered as the capital of Yama, from where Yama delivers his justice.

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The god of Death, Yama, employs Yama-dutas (messengers of Yama) or Yama-purushas, who bring souls of all beings to Yama for judgement. Generally, all living beings, including humans and beasts, go to Yama’s abode upon death where they are judged. However, very virtuous beings are taken directly to Svarga (heaven).

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People devoted to charity, especially donors of food, and eternal truth speakers are spared the justice of Yama’s court. War-heroes who sacrifice their life and people dying in holy places like Kurukshetra are also described as avoiding Yama. Those who get moksha (salvation) also escape from the clutches of yamadutas. Those who are generous and ascetics are given preferential treatment when entering Naraka for judgement. The way is lighted for those who donated lamps, while those who underwent religious fasting are carried by peacocks and geese.

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Yama, as Lord of Justice, is called Dharma-raja. Yama sends the virtuous to Svarga to enjoy the luxuries of paradise. He also assesses the vices of the dead and accords judgement, assigning them to appropriate hells as punishment commensurate with the severity and nature of their sins. A person is not freed of Samsara (The Karmic cycle of birth-death-rebirth Read More) and must take birth again after his prescribed pleasure in Svarga or punishment in Naraka is over. Yama is aided by his minister Chitragupta, who maintains a record of all good and evil actions of every living being. Yama-dhutas are also assigned the job of executing the punishments on sinners in the various hells.

Read More Samsara The Karmic cycle of birth-death-rebirth click

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Naraka, as a whole, is known by many names conveying that it is the realm of Yama. Yamālaya, Yamaloka, Yamasādana and Yamalokāya mean the abode of Yama. Yamakṣaya (the akṣaya of Yama) and its equivalents like Vaivasvatakṣaya use pun for the word kṣaya, which can be mean abode or destruction. It is also called Saṃyamanī, “where only truth is spoken, and the weak torment the strong”, Mṛtyulokāya – the world of Death or of the dead and the “city of the king of ghosts”, Pretarājapura.

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The Agni Purana mentions only 4 hells. Some texts mention 7 hells: Put (“childless”, for the childless), Avichi (“waveless”, for those waiting for reincarnation), Samhata (“abandoned”, for evil beings), Tamisra (“darkness”, where darkness of hells begin), Rijisha (“expelled”, where torments of hell begin), Kudmala (“leprous”, the worst hell for those who are going to be reincarnated) and Kakola (“black poison”, the bottomless pit, for those who are eternally condemned to hell and have no chance of reincarnation).

Read More Agni God of Fire Agni Puranas click

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The Manu Smriti mentions 21 hells: Tamisra, Andhatamisra, Maharaurava, Raurava, Kalasutra, Mahanaraka, Samjivana, Mahavichi, Tapana, Sampratapana, Samhata, Sakakola, Kudmala, Putimrittika, Lohasanku, Rijisha, Pathana, Vaitarani, Salmali, Asipatravana and Lohadaraka. The Yajnavalkya Smriti also lists twenty-one: Tamisra, Lohasanku, Mahaniraya, Salamali, Raurava, Kudmala, Putimrittika, Kalasutraka, Sanghata, Lohitoda, Savisha, Sampratapana, Mahanaraka, Kakola, Sanjivana, Mahapatha, Avichi, Andhatamisra, Kumbhipaka, Asipatravana and Tapana.

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The Bhagavata Purana, the Vishnu Purana and the Devi Bhagavata Purana enlist and describe 28 hells; however, they end the description by stating that there are hundreds and thousands of hells. The Bhagavata Puranaenumerates the following 28: Tamisra, Andhatamisra, Raurava, Maharaurava, Kumbhipaka, Kalasutra, Asipatravana, Sukaramukha, Andhakupa, Krimibhojana, Samdamsa, Taptasurmi, Vajrakantaka-salmali, Vaitarani, Puyoda, Pranarodha, Visasana, Lalabhaksa, Sarameyadana, Avichi, Ayahpana, Ksharakardama, Raksogana-bhojana, Sulaprota, Dandasuka, Avata-nirodhana, Paryavartana and Suchimukha.

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The Devi Bhagavata Purana agrees with the Bhagavata Purana in most of names; however, a few names are slightly different. Taptasurmi, Ayahpana, Raksogana-bhojana, Avata-nirodhana, Paryavartana are replaced by Taptamurti, Apahpana, Raksogana-sambhoja, Avatarodha, Paryavartanataka respectively. The Vishnu Purana mentions the 28 in the following order: Raurava, Shukara, Rodha, Tala, Visasana, Mahajwala, Taptakumbha, Lavana, Vimohana, Rudhirandha, Vaitaraní, Krimiśa, Krimibhojana, Asipatravana, Krishna, Lalabhaksa, Dáruńa, Púyaváha, Pápa, Vahnijwála, Adhośiras, Sandansa, Kalasutra, Tamas, Avichi, Śwabhojana, Apratisht́ha, and another Avichi.

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Early texts like the Rigveda do not have a detailed description of Naraka. It is simply a place of evil and a dark bottomless pit. The Atharvaveda describes a realm of darkness, where murderers are confined after death. The Shatapatha Brahmana is the first text to mention the pain and suffering of Naraka in detail, while the Manu Smriti begins naming the multiple hells. The epics also describe Hell in general terms as a dense jungle without shade, where there is no water and no rest. The Yamadutas torment souls on the orders of their master. The names of many of hells is common in Hindu texts; however, the nature of sinners tormented in particular hells varies from text to text.

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A narrative rationale for the concept of Hell can be found in the Hindu epic Mahabharata. This narrative ends with Yudhishthira’s visit to hell after being offered acceptance into heaven. This journey creates a scene for the audience that helps illustrate the importance of understanding hell as well as heaven before accepting either extreme.

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This idea provides an essential lesson regarding Dharma, a primary theme within the Mahabharata. Dharma is not a black and white concept, and all people are not entirely good or entirely evil. As such, tolerance is essential in order to truly understand the “right way of living”. We all must understand the worst to truly understand and appreciate the best just as we must experience the best before we can experience the worst. This narrative utilizes the Hindu religion in order to teach lessons on tolerance and acceptance of one another’s faults as well as virtues.

Read More Dharmapalas The Wrathful Protector Gods click

Read More Zaqqum Tree of Hell click

Pictures Videos Music and Additional Reading

Tibetan Painting Buddhist God Of Death Destroyer

Punishments of Naraka Hinduism

The Sword Blade Trees of Buddhist Hell A Nightmare For The Mind.

The most interesting description I’ve come across yet of the sword trees comes from The Essentials of Pure Land Rebirth, work completed in 985 by Genshin, a priest of the Japanese Tendai school. In it, the tree torture is described thusly:

“Sometimes the hell wardens seize the victims and put them into a forest of sword blades. As they look up to the top branches of the trees in this forest they see beautiful and well-dressed women, indeed the faces of those whom once they loved. This fills them with joy and so they try to climb up the trees, but when they do so the branches and leaves all turn into swords, which lacerate the flesh and pierce and pierce the bones. Though they are terrorized by this, their evil karma still drives them on in their desire and, defying the swords, they climb on. But when they reach the top they find the object of their desire below on the ground luring them to come down, and each one saying to the lover on the tree:

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‘Because of the karma created by my passions for you I have come to this place. Why do you not come near me and embrace me?’ Thus each one from beneath the trees allures her victim till the latter, in his infatuation, begins to climb down the tree again. But as they descend the leaves of the trees, which are made of swords, turn upward and thus lacerate their bodies. When they are about to reach the ground, the women appear on the tops of the trees. Then the victims, overcome with passion, again climb up. This process goes on for ten trillion years. The cause of being thus deceived in this hell by one’s own heart and the consequent suffering is one’s own evil passion.”

Read More Zaqqum Tree of Hell click

Source: https://theblogontheborderland.wordpress.com/2017/12/03/the-sword-blade-trees-of-buddhist-hell-a-nightmare-of-the-mind/

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