Sāvitrī Yama Saṃvāda: Sāvitrī's Talk with Yama

The Sāvitrī Yama Saṃvāda is the long talk between Sāvitrī and Yamadharmarāja, the deva who rules the dead. It is told in the Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa, Prakṛti Khaṇḍa, in twelve chapters, 23 to 34. When Satyavān fell dead in the forest, Sāvitrī followed Yama as he carried Satyavān’s jīva (the living being) away. She did not only plead for her husband’s life. She asked about karma, naraka and moksha, and Yama taught her all of it. At the end he gave Satyavān back to her.

The account is told by Nārāyaṇa to Nārada.

Sāvitrī and Satyavān (Chapter 23)

Nārada asks Nārāyaṇa to tell the upākhyāna (the account) of Sāvitrī, the veda-mātā (mother of the Vedas). She was born through the tapas of King Aśvapati at Pushkara-kshetra. Aśvapati had honoured Sāvitrī Devī for one hundred years. As Parāśara Ṛshi instructed him, he made ten lakh repetitions of the Gāyatrī mantra. The devī appeared and gave him a daughter who would be her own aṃśa (part).

The daughter was named Sāvitrī, and she grew like the waxing moon. She chose Satyavān as her husband. He was the son of the blind king Dyumatsena. She knew that he was fated to die within a year. After one year of marriage, on the day that had been foretold, Satyavān went into the forest to gather wood. He fell from a tree and died on the spot.

Yamadharmarāja arrived at that moment. With a subtle cord he drew out Satyavān’s jīva, a purusha (a person) the size of a thumb. He began to carry it south, towards his own realm.

Sāvitrī’s heart burned with pativratā-dharma (the duty of a faithful wife). She did not stay with her husband’s body. She followed Yama step by step, in her own body. Yama was astonished and spoke to her.

“O Sāvitrī, why do you come in a mortal body? The pāñcabhautika śarīra (body of the five elements) cannot enter the eternal realm of Yama. Your husband’s karma-phala (fruit of action) is used up in Bhārata. He must now come to my realm. Turn back and do not grieve.”

Sāvitrī did not turn back. She walked on in silence. Then Yamadharmarāja, dharma itself, began to speak. (Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa, Prakṛti Khaṇḍa, Chapter 23)

Karma is the master (Chapter 24)

Yama’s first teaching was that karma comes first. Karma alone decides what a jīva becomes and what it feels.

By karma a jīva reaches the state of Indra, becomes a son of Brahmā, serves Śrī Hari, or goes beyond all births. By karma a jīva is born as a deva, a manu, a king among kings, a chief of munis, a tapasvī, a kshatriya, a vaiśya, a śūdra, a caṇḍāla or a mleccha. Karma makes one a sthāvara (something that does not move: a tree, mountain, grass or vine) or a jaṅgama (something that moves: an animal, bird, insect or serpent). Gandharvas, rākshasas, kinnaras, yakshas, pretas, bhūtas, piśācas, daityas, dānavas and asuras all arise through karma. By karma one becomes full of puṇya (merit) or a great doer of pāpa (sin), beautiful or diseased, long-lived or short-lived, fortunate or wretched.

“Through karma alone does a jīva reach svarga (heaven) or naraka (hell), and go to Indra-loka, Śiva-loka or Satya-loka. By karma alone does one live long or briefly, in happiness or in grief. The karma-phala of each jīva unfolds with perfect exactness.”

Yama said that even he is bound by this rule. He can only carry out what karma has already fixed. Brahmā, Vishṇu and Śiva do not override karma. They act through it and within it. The master of all is karma, and the master of karma is Śrī Kṛshṇa alone. (Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa, Prakṛti Khaṇḍa, Chapter 24)

Sāvitrī’s questions (Chapter 25)

Sāvitrī did not beg for her husband’s life. She answered Yama’s teaching with a careful list of questions. Yama himself marvelled: “You are only twelve years old, yet your wisdom is greater than that of the old paṇḍitas, yogīs and jñānīs.” She asked:

What is the true nature of karma? What forms do śubha (good) and aśubha (bad) karma take?
How do sādhus go beyond karma? What is the seed (bīja) of karma?
Who gives the karma-phala? Who feels it? Who remains untouched (nirlipta)?
What are the deha (body), dehī (the one who has the body), kartā (the doer), vijñāna, manas (mind), buddhi (intellect), prāṇas (life breaths), indriya (senses), devatās, bhoktā (the one who enjoys), bhojayitā (the one who makes it enjoyed) and bhoga (enjoyment)?
What is the jīva, and what is the Paramātmā?
What is moksha, and how many kinds are there?
What are the narakas, with their names, their dwellers and their torments?
Which diseases come from which pāpa karmas?

In answer to her devotion and wisdom, Yama gave her four varas (boons). Satyavān would have one hundred sons. Her father Aśvapati would have sons. Her father-in-law Dyumatsena would get back his sight and his kingdom. She and Satyavān together would reach Vaikuṇṭha. Then he began to answer her questions fully, as a guru speaks to a worthy śishya (student). (Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa, Prakṛti Khaṇḍa, Chapter 25)

Karma-phala and the paths after death (Chapter 26)

Yama taught Sāvitrī the order of karma-phala. Jīvas who gather puṇya go by the svarga-mārga (the road to svarga). Those who gather pāpa go by the naraka-mārga (the road to naraka). Only in Bhārata-varsha can karma, good and bad, be felt and used up. No other realm does this. Devas, daityas, dānavas, gandharvas, rākshasas and humans are all born according to their karma.

Yama spoke of two kinds of moksha named in the Vedas. One is nirvāṇa-mārga, the path of ending. The other is Śrī Hari bhakti-rūpa moksha, moksha in the form of devotion to Śrī Hari. Vaishṇavas want only the second. They do not want nirvāṇa. They want to serve at the feet of Śrī Kṛshṇa for ever.

Yama then named where each kind of person goes after death.

Nishkāma Vaishṇavas, who worship Śrī Hari without desire, go to Vaikuṇṭha or Goloka and do not come back.
Sakāma Vaishṇavas, who have worldly desires, go to Vaikuṇṭha for a time. Then they return to Bhārata and are born in brāhmaṇa families.
Brāhmaṇas who reach Brahmaloka through tapas, tīrtha (holy places) and svādhyāya (study of the Veda) go to Brahmaloka. They return when their puṇya is used up.
Śaivas go to Kailāsa, Śāktas go to Śiva-loka, and Sauryas go to Sūrya-loka. All of them return.
Those who give up their svadharma (own duty) go to naraka without exception.

The journey after death is made in the sūkshma-deha, a subtle body that carries the jīva (also called the ātivāhika-deha). Through it the jīva feels all pleasure and pain sharply. (Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa, Prakṛti Khaṇḍa, Chapter 26)

The fruits of good karma (Chapter 27)

Yama described at length the fruits of good acts: dāna (giving), vrata (vows), tīrtha-yātrā (travel to holy places) and bhakti.

Anna-dāna (giving food). A brāhmaṇa who is fed brings a stay in svarga-loka for as many years as there are grains of rice in the meal. No dāna is greater than anna-dāna.
Kanyā-dāna (giving a daughter in marriage). One who gives a capable and virtuous girl in marriage, with ornaments, lives in Candra-loka for fourteen Indra-kālas and then in Gandharva-loka. In later births he gets a beautiful, noble and devoted wife for many lives.
Go-dāna (giving a cow). One who gives a cow with gold to a brāhmaṇa lives in Vaikuṇṭha for as many years as there are hairs on the cow’s body. He returns as a great chakravartī (emperor) devoted to Vishṇu.
Bhūmi-dāna (giving land). One who gives rich, green farmland to a brāhmaṇa lives in Vaikuṇṭha for one manvantara. In one hundred later births he has land, wealth, children and authority.
Vidyā and Veda pāṭha (learning and Veda recitation). Those devoted to svādhyāya of the Veda reach Brahmaloka. The brāhmaṇa who has no desire and gives vidyā-dāna (the gift of knowledge) goes to Vaikuṇṭha.
Tīrtha-yātrā. Those who bathe daily in the Gaṅgā become as pure as the sun. They live in Vaikuṇṭha as long as the sun and moon last.
Kṛshṇa-nāma-smaraṇa (remembering Kṛshṇa’s names). Yama said that those who say Śrī Hari’s names without a break live in Vaikuṇṭha for as many yugas as the number of times they said them. The greatness of Kṛshṇa nāma-smaraṇa is above all dāna, vrata, tapas and yajña put together.
Hari-bhakti without desire. Those who serve Śrī Kṛshṇa with no desire go to Goloka or Vaikuṇṭha and never return. From the eternal home of Bhagavān Kṛshṇa they watch countless creations and dissolutions.

Yama closed with one statement that holds the whole teaching.

“All the merit of all tīrthas, all yajñas, all vratas, all tapas, all four Vedas, and going round the whole earth: the fruit of all of these together is service at Śrī Kṛshṇa’s feet (Śrī Kṛshṇa-pāda-sevanam). This is said in all the Purāṇas, all the Vedas and all the itihāsas.”

(Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa, Prakṛti Khaṇḍa, Chapter 27)

Sāvitrī’s stotra to Yamadharmarāja (Chapter 28)

Full of devotion, Sāvitrī praised Yamadharmarāja before she asked about the fruits of bad karma. This stotra (hymn of praise) is known as the Yamāshṭaka. It gives eight names to Yama.

Dharmarāja, the king of dharma. He was born of Dharma Devatā as the son of Sūrya. He keeps dharma among all beings without favour.
Śamana, the one who sees the karmas of all jīvas with perfect equality, free from favour.
Kṛtānta, the one who brings each being its appointed end at the appointed hour, and so completes its karma.
Daṇḍadhara, the bearer of the staff. He lays daṇḍa (punishment) on those who did pāpa, to clean them of it.
Kāla, the one who sets the āyus (life span) of all beings.
Yama, the self-controlled one. Through tapas and Vishṇu bhakti, he gives the karma-phala with saṃyama (restraint and calm).
Sarvajña, the all-knowing one. He is a friend to those who do puṇya and a source of trouble to those who do pāpa.
Brahma-vaṃśa-ja, the one born in the line of Brahmā. He shines with brahma-tejas and always meditates on Parabrahma.

Yama was delighted with this stotra. Nārāyaṇa tells Nārada that even the worst doer of pāpa who recites this Yamāshṭaka with bhakti and śraddhā (faith) will be made pure by Yama himself. After the stotra, Yama told Sāvitrī the vishṇu-upāsanā-vidhi (the method of serving Vishṇu). Then he went on to teach the pāpa-karma-vipāka (the ripening of bad karma). (Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa, Prakṛti Khaṇḍa, Chapter 28)

The naraka-kuṇḍas: names and number (Chapter 29)

Yama told Sāvitrī that the Vedas describe eighty-six naraka-kuṇḍas (pits of naraka). They have many fearful forms. They are deep and round, built of many kinds of stone, and they cannot be destroyed even in pralaya (the dissolution). They are filled with many kinds of torment. They are guarded by Yama’s kiṅkaras (attendants). These are fierce beings who carry staff, spear, noose, śakti and mace. Their eyes are the colour of copper, they are full of tamas, and they have no mercy.

The names of the kuṇḍas include these, among others: Vahni-kuṇḍa, Tapta-kuṇḍa, Kshāra-kuṇḍa, Mala-kuṇḍa, Mūtra-kuṇḍa, Śleshma-kuṇḍa, Garaḷa-kuṇḍa, Dūshikā-kuṇḍa, Vasā-kuṇḍa, Śukra-kuṇḍa, Rakta-kuṇḍa, Aśru-kuṇḍa, Gātra-mala-kuṇḍa, Karṇa-mala-kuṇḍa, Majjā-kuṇḍa, Māṃsa-kuṇḍa, Nakha-kuṇḍa, Roma-kuṇḍa, Keśa-kuṇḍa, Asthi-kuṇḍa, Tāmra-kuṇḍa, Loha-kuṇḍa, Kaṇṭaka-kuṇḍa, Visha-kuṇḍa, Sura-kuṇḍa, Pratapta-śaila-kuṇḍa, Danta-kuṇḍa, Kṛmi-kuṇḍa, Pūya-kuṇḍa, Sarpa-kuṇḍa, Maśaka-kuṇḍa, Daṃśa-kuṇḍa, Vajra-daṃshṭra-kuṇḍa, Vṛścika-kuṇḍa, Śara-kuṇḍa, Śūla-kuṇḍa, Khaḍga-kuṇḍa, Goḷaka-kuṇḍa, Nakra-kuṇḍa, Kāka-kuṇḍa, Vajra-kuṇḍa, Tapta-pāshāṇa-kuṇḍa, Tīkshṇa-pāshāṇa-kuṇḍa, Lālā-kuṇḍa, Cūrṇa-kuṇḍa, Cakra-tuṇḍa, Kūrma-kuṇḍa, Jvālā-kuṇḍa, Bhasma-kuṇḍa, Asipatra-kuṇḍa, Kshura-dhārā-kuṇḍa, Sūcīmukha-kuṇḍa, Godhā-mukha-kuṇḍa, Nakra-mukha-kuṇḍa, Gaja-daṃśa-kuṇḍa, Gomukha-kuṇḍa, Kumbhīpāka-kuṇḍa, Kālasūtra-kuṇḍa, Avaṭoda-kuṇḍa, Aruṃtuda-kuṇḍa, Pāṃśu-bhojana-kuṇḍa, Pāśa-veshṭana-kuṇḍa, Śūla-prota-kuṇḍa, Pracampana-kuṇḍa, Ulkāmukha-kuṇḍa, Andha-kūpa, Vedhana-kuṇḍa, Daṇḍa-tāḍana-kuṇḍa, Jāla-baddha-kuṇḍa, Deha-cūrṇa-kuṇḍa, Daḷana-kuṇḍa, Śoshaṇa-kuṇḍa, Sarpa-jāla-mukha-kuṇḍa, Jihma-kuṇḍa, Dhūmāndha-kuṇḍa and Nāga-veshṭana-kuṇḍa.

Yama then comforted Sāvitrī. Śaivas, Śāktas, Sauryas and Gāṇapatyas who keep their own dharma properly, and above all Vaishṇavas, will never even dream of these kuṇḍas. They will never see Yama’s kiṅkaras. (Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa, Prakṛti Khaṇḍa, Chapter 29)

Which wrongdoers go to which naraka (Chapters 30 and 31)

Yama told in detail which karmas lead to each naraka, and what births follow.

Vahni-kuṇḍa. For one who hurts relatives with harsh words. He stays there for as many years as he has hairs on his body. Then he is born three times as a paśu (animal).
Tapta-kuṇḍa. For one who refuses food and water to a thirsty brāhmaṇa who comes to his door. He is born seven times as a bird.
Mala-kuṇḍa. For those who take for themselves the dāna that was given to brāhmaṇas. They stay there for sixty thousand years and live on filth. Then they are born for sixty thousand years as worms that eat filth.
Śleshma-kuṇḍa. For those who eat tasty food alone and do not share it. They stay one hundred years, eating śleshma (phlegm). Then they are a preta for one hundred years, doing the same.
Garaḷa-kuṇḍa. For those who leave their parents, guru, wife, children and orphans without caring for them. They stay one thousand years. Then they are born as a bhūta.
Kṛmi-kuṇḍa. For brāhmaṇas who eat māṃsa (meat) or food that was not offered to Nārāyaṇa. They stay for as many years as they have hairs on the body. Then they are born three times as a mleccha.
Kumbhīpāka-kuṇḍa. The great naraka for many of the gravest pāpas. These include āgamyāgamana (wrong union with a forbidden person), sāndhyā-hīnatā (leaving out the twilight prayers), go-hatyā (killing a cow), brahma-hatyā (killing a brāhmaṇa), strī-hatyā (killing a woman), śiśu-hatyā (killing a child) and śūdra-śūpakāra (a brāhmaṇa who cooks in a śūdra’s house), among many others. The stay there is fourteen Indra-kālas. The yamadūtas beat the wrongdoer with staffs and pestles. In turn they throw him into fire, thorns, boiling oil, boiling water, burning stone and burning iron. After that he is born as a vulture for many koṭi years, as a pig two hundred times, as a crow seven times and as a serpent seven times. Then he is a worm in filth for sixty thousand years. Last he is born as a śūdra with kushṭha (leprosy) and kshaya (tuberculosis), with no children and no spouse.
Asipatra-kuṇḍa. For those who kill others out of greed with sharp weapons. If a brāhmaṇa is killed, the wrongdoer stays one hundred manvantaras. After that he is born one hundred times as a caṇḍāla, one hundred times as a pig and one hundred times as a dog. Then he is born seven times as a jackal, seven times as a tiger, three times as a wolf, seven times as a vulture and three times as a buffalo.
Kālasūtra-kuṇḍa. For those who take food at the house of prostitutes and wandering women. The wrongdoer is bound with the kāla-sūtra (the cord of time) and dipped again and again in boiling water for one hundred years.
Jvālā-mukha-kuṇḍa. For those who break oaths taken on the name of Śrī Kṛshṇa, on Gaṅgā water, on a śālagrāma-śilā (a sacred stone of Vishṇu) or on a deva-pratimā (an image of a deva). Also for those who betray friends, for the kṛtaghna (ungrateful), for the viśvāsa-ghātī (breakers of trust) and for false witnesses. They stay in fire for fourteen Indra-kālas.

Yama also gave Sāvitrī a wide teaching on what brahma-hatyā means. It is not only the killing of a brāhmaṇa. It also includes:

speaking against one’s guru or ishṭa-devatā (chosen deva);
treating Vishṇu and other devas as equal in nature;
insulting those who serve the mantra of Mahāvishṇu;
not keeping the five sacred parvans (holy days);
fouling rivers with urine and faeces;
neglecting one’s parents and guru.

In the same way, go-hatyā covers more than killing a cow. It includes:

striking cows;
loading heavy burdens on bullocks;
stopping a thirsty cow from drinking;
feeding cows leftover food (ucchishṭa);
tying bullocks to carts;
neglecting one’s svadharma;
many other acts of disrespect to cows and bulls.

For almost every kind of pāpa, Yama named both the naraka and the births that follow. These are a series of animal, insect or low human births, and each one matches the wrong that was done. (Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa, Prakṛti Khaṇḍa, Chapters 30 and 31)

The form of the naraka-kuṇḍas (Chapter 33)

Yama described the kuṇḍas as they look.

All the naraka-kuṇḍas are round like the full moon. They are deep and built of many kinds of stone. They cannot be destroyed. Even in the mahāpralaya (the great dissolution) they do not melt away, because they were made by the will of Parameśvara. Their forms differ. Some blaze with fire whose flames rise one hundred hastas (cubits). Some are filled with boiling salt water full of crocodiles. Some are filled with every kind of body matter: urine, faeces, śleshma, pūya (pus), rakta (blood), vasā (fat), śukra, aśru (tears) and ashes. Some hold serpents, scorpions, insects, razors, swords or stakes for impaling.

Kumbhīpāka is the largest naraka. It holds four times as many wrongdoers as all the other kuṇḍas together. Inside it are smaller kuṇḍas of boiling oil, molten metal and burning stone. There is no light there, and those inside cannot see each other.

The subtle body (sūkshma-deha) of the wrongdoer is only the size of a thumb. It does not die in any of these torments. Fire, water, swords, thorns, molten metal and falls from great heights cannot destroy it. It only suffers. For this reason the naraka-bhogas (the sufferings of naraka) can last for whole manvantaras and Indra-kālas. (Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa, Prakṛti Khaṇḍa, Chapter 33)

The highest teaching: the glory of Vaishṇavas (Chapter 32)

Sāvitrī asked Yama about the highest dharma. Which dharma makes sure that no jīva ever has to come to Yamapurī, face the naraka-kuṇḍas, or go through the rounds of birth and death? Yama answered without a pause.

“Service at Śrī Kṛshṇa’s feet (Śrī Kṛshṇa-pāda-sevanam): this is what all the Vedas, all the saṃhitās, all the Purāṇas, itihāsas, pañcarātra-śāstras and vedāṅgas declare together. This is the highest essence (sāra) of all.”

Yama said that true Vaishṇavas, the devotees of Śrī Kṛshṇa, never come to Yamapurī at all. They never see the naraka-kuṇḍas, even in dreams. The yamadūtas who carry nooses and staffs into the mortal world are warned never to go near the āśrama of one who serves a Śrī Kṛshṇa mantra. Even the names of such devotees make the yamadūtas run. Citragupta himself strikes their names from his records.

The sūkshma-deha is used to feel karma-phala. Though it cannot be destroyed, it is still a tool of karma. But the bhakti (sevā, service) of Śrī Kṛshṇa, when it is nishkāma (without desire), cuts the karma-vṛksha (the tree of karma) at the root. It does not only use up karma birth by birth. It burns away all stored karma at once, as a great fire burns grass.

On the greatness of Kṛshṇa nāma-smaraṇa, Yama said:

“Kṛshṇa-bhaktas who pass through Brahma-loka on their way to Goloka are received by Brahmā himself with madhuparka and honours. The mere touch of a Kṛshṇa-bhakta destroys all pāpa, as a great blazing fire destroys dry grass. In the presence of a Kṛshṇa-bhakta, māyā runs away in shame. Mṛtyu, Kāma, Krodha and Lobha all vanish. Death, disease, old age, grief and fear all run from the Kṛshṇa-bhakta, as serpents run from Garuḍa.”

(Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa, Prakṛti Khaṇḍa, Chapter 32)

Satyavān is freed and Sāvitrī returns (Chapter 34)

Sāvitrī then asked Yama to teach her the full nature of Śrī Hari bhakti, its kinds and its differences, and the meaning of nisheka (the way karma-phala is felt). Yama did so.

Moksha comes in four forms. These are sālokya (living in the same loka as Bhagavān Kṛshṇa), sārshṭi (equal wealth and power), sārūpya (the same form as Bhagavān Kṛshṇa) and sāmīpya (nearness to Bhagavān Kṛshṇa). True Vaishṇavas do not even want these. They want only the service of Śrī Kṛshṇa. The Vaishṇava who has no desire gains a divya-rūpa (a divine form). He lives in Goloka or Vaikuṇṭha in endless service and never returns.

Nisheka is what chains the jīva to the cycle of births. Only service to Śrī Kṛshṇa can break these iron chains.

After this full teaching, Yamadharmarāja released Satyavān. He blessed Sāvitrī with one lakh years of happiness in Bhārata-varsha. After that she and Satyavān would go together to Goloka and live for ever in the mandira (house) of Śrī Kṛshṇa. He also taught her the Sāvitrī-vrata, to be kept each year on Jyeshṭha-māsa śukla-caturdaśī for fourteen years, and the Mahālakshmī-vrata.

Sāvitrī bowed to Yamadharmarāja with tears of devotion and with grief at parting from such a sādhu. Yama himself was moved. His blessings took effect at once. Aśvapati received sons, and Dyumatsena regained both his sight and his kingdom.

Sāvitrī went home with Satyavān. She told her husband, and all who had gathered, the whole of this wonderful talk. (Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa, Prakṛti Khaṇḍa, Chapter 34)

Sources

Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa, Prakṛti Khaṇḍa, Chapter 23: Sāvitrī upākhyāna begins
Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa, Prakṛti Khaṇḍa, Chapter 24: karma as master
Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa, Prakṛti Khaṇḍa, Chapter 25: Sāvitrī’s questions and the four varas
Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa, Prakṛti Khaṇḍa, Chapter 26: karma-phala and the paths after death
Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa, Prakṛti Khaṇḍa, Chapter 27: the fruits of good karma
Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa, Prakṛti Khaṇḍa, Chapter 28: the Yamāshṭaka
Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa, Prakṛti Khaṇḍa, Chapter 29: the naraka-kuṇḍas
Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa, Prakṛti Khaṇḍa, Chapters 30 and 31: wrongdoers and their narakas
Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa, Prakṛti Khaṇḍa, Chapter 33: the form of the kuṇḍas
Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa, Prakṛti Khaṇḍa, Chapter 32: the highest teaching
Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa, Prakṛti Khaṇḍa, Chapter 34: Satyavān freed