He was now as miserable as he had been happy a moment ago. He seemed to feel very thirsty but could not get a drop of water; in fact he was eating dust, only dust, endless dust. ………………………………. After death you were living in that respectable neighborhood and enjoying the fruits of the tendencies and impulses of your mind as they were in your previous life. Having done that for some time you did not like it any more, your vital nature became impatient, so you went to live in a hell full of dust; in the end, when you had enjoyed the fruits of your merit, you were born again”.
It means that observing the rules and rituals of religion, keeping fasts, visiting holy places mechanically does no good. It is merely useless dust. This has been said by most mystics including Kabir, Nanak, the seers of the Upanishads and above all Sri Krishna.
2) “He was now as miserable as he had been happy a moment ago”. Is Harimohan watching his previous life, and becoming ‘miserable’ at this moment? But why ‘miserable’?
No he is simply experiencing the state of misery after the state of happiness that is transitory passes away. This too is affirmed by all the mystics and confirmed by the Gita that the pleasures and pains after death based on our inner motives and actions are both temporary and do not last. One returns back soon thereafter to the cycle of birth and death.
3) “After death you were living in that respectable neighborhood and enjoying the fruits of the tendencies and impulses of your mind as they were in your previous life”. But how, as Harimohan didn’t have a physical body after death. Was he doing all this in his vital sheath? And in what way was he “enjoying the fruits of the tendencies and impulses of your mind as they were in your previous life.”
The seat of pleasure and pain is always in the vital body. The body in facts acts as a blunting and obscuring sheath. After dropping off of the physical sheath, the vital body continues to experience the state of pleasure or pain which it was feeling during or before death. In fact it even experiences for a while, the tendencies of the mind since now it is unhindered by the limitations of the bodily life.
The idea behind the story is not to be carried away by appearances or judge fate by outer circumstances. A rich man may be miserable within. A poor man may be simply completing the curve of certain past karmas and tendencies.
Affectionately,
Alok Da
