सम्परेतेषु यथाकर्मावद्यं दोषमेवानुल्लङ्घितभगवच्छासनः सगणो दमं
धारयति ॥६॥
yatra ha vÄva bhagavÄn pitá¹›-rÄjo vaivasvataḥ sva-viá¹£ayaá¹ prÄpiteá¹£u sva-puruá¹£air jantuá¹£u sampareteá¹£u yathÄ-karmÄvadyaá¹ doá¹£am evÄnullaá¹…ghita-bhagavac-chÄsanaḥ sagaṇo damaá¹ dhÄrayati
yatra - where; ha vÄva - indeed; bhagavÄn - the most powerful; pitá¹›-rÄjaḥ - YamarÄja, the king of the pitÄs; vaivasvataḥ - the son of the sun-god; sva-viá¹£ayam - his own kingdom; prÄpiteá¹£u - when caused to reach; sva-puruá¹£aiḥ - by his own messengers; jantuá¹£u - the human beings; sampareteá¹£u - dead; yathÄ-karma-avadyam - according to how much they have violated the rules and regulations of conditional life; doá¹£am - the fault; eva - certainly; anullaá¹…ghita-bhagavat-Å›Äsanaḥ - who never oversteps the Supreme Personality of Godhead's order; sagaṇaḥ - along with his followers; damam - punishment; dhÄrayati - executes.
The King of the pitÄs is YamarÄja, the very powerful son of the sun-god. He resides in Pitá¹›loka with his personal assistants and, while abiding by the rules and regulations set down by the Supreme Lord, has his agents, the YamadÅ«tas, bring all the sinful men to him immediately upon their death. After bringing them within his jurisdiction, he properly judges them according to their specific sinful activities and sends them to one of the many hellish planets for suitable punishments.
YamarÄja is not a fictitious or mythological character; he has his own abode, Pitá¹›loka, of which he is king. Agnostics may not believe in hell, but Åšukadeva GosvÄmÄ« affirms the existence of the Naraka planets, which lie between the Garbhodaka Ocean and PÄtÄlaloka. YamarÄja is appointed by the Supreme Personality of Godhead to see that the human beings do not violate His rules and regulations. As confirmed in Bhagavad-gÄ«tÄ (4.17):
karmaṇo hy api boddhavyaá¹
boddhavyaṠca vikarmaṇaḥ
akarmaṇaÅ› ca boddhavyaá¹
gahanÄ karmaṇo gatiḥ
“The intricacies of action are very hard to understand. Therefore one should know properly what action is, what forbidden action is, and what inaction is.†One should understand the nature of karma, vikarma and akarma, and one must act accordingly. This is the law of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The conditioned souls, who have come to this material world for sense gratification, are allowed to enjoy their senses under certain regulative principles. If they violate these regulations, they are judged and punished by YamarÄja. He brings them to the hellish planets and properly chastises them to bring them back to Kṛṣṇa consciousness. By the influence of mÄyÄ, however, the conditioned souls remain infatuated with the mode of ignorance. Thus in spite of repeated punishment by YamarÄja, they do not come to their senses, but continue to live within the material condition, committing sinful activities again and again.
