Pricchami Tva – Four Kinds of Death Explained
This mantra is from Taittiriya Aranyaka Surya Namaskara – part of Krishna Yajurveda. It is a question-answer session between two munis.
पृच्छामि त्वा..... (1.8)
The first muni asks the second muni – there are four kinds of death mrityu, I have heard: para, avama, madhyama, and chatu – what are they? And also I would like to know what happens to those who do punya and those who do papa.
अमुमाहुः.....
Surya is called the first, para mrityu; Vayu is the second, madhyama mrityu; Agni is the avama or third kind of mrityu; and Chandra is the fourth kind of mrityu. This topic has come up in the middle of a discussion about Surya.
अमुमाहुः – meaning this Surya is called para mrityu, or he is the cause of para mrityu. Time is controlled by Surya, Surya’s movement. Death that is caused by time, decided by time, when someone or some being dies after its longevity is over, it is called para mrityu.
The second – madhyama – is connected to Vayu. When prana vayu's movement in the body is irregular, this also means the oxygen concentration in the blood, presence of toxic gases in the blood such as carbon monoxide, or removal of carbon dioxide is irregular. Death due to such diseases is called madhyama.
Avama mrityu is connected to Agni. Agni causes digestion. Death due to improper digestion is called avama mrityu. This is not only in men, even in animals, birds, insects.
The fourth kind of mrityu is connected to the moon. Moon is the essence in all plants, moon is food and nutrition. You need the blessing of Chandra to get good food and nutrition for the body, in the absence of which death occurs.
When we say Ayurveda is based on Vedic principles, this is what it means. Ayurveda is an upaveda – knowledge derived from Veda and built upon subsequently.
Ayurveda says diseases are of three kinds – due to vitiation or aggravation of vata, pitta, and kapha.
Vata is connected to Vayu.
Pitta is connected to Agni.
Kapha is connected to Chandra.
So, the fundamental division of diseases into vata-based, pitta-based, and kapha-based is derived from Veda itself. There is also a fourth kind in Ayurveda called sannipata, which is just a combination of these three.
So, death is broadly divided as timely and untimely.
Timely is when full longevity has been lived. This is called para mrityu and is connected to Surya.
The other three kinds of death are untimely, caused by diseases which are due to vata, pitta, and kapha.
Now, what happens after death?
अनाभोगाः.....
In the case of para mrityu – there are two possibilities:
Anabhogaaha – people who do not live a righteous life as ordained by scriptures and commit a lot of sins, they suffer after death.
Aabhogaaha – those who live righteously as per scriptures, they attain worlds where punyatmas live.
ततो मध्यममायन्ति......
Those who do some punya and some papa, a mixture of both – they are neither punyatmas nor extreme papis – these are the ones you find on earth as of now. They are the ones who have taken birth as humans, given one more chance to do good, live well, and attain sadgati.
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