Letters from Sri Ramanasramam, by Suri Nagamma

(222) YATANA SARIRAM*

Prev Next 23rd January, 1949
At 3 o’clock this afternoon a young man approached
Bhagavan and asked, “Swami, it is said that Siva is in Kailas,
Vishnu in Vaikunta, Brahma in Satyaloka, while Devendra
and several Devatas are in Devaloka. Is it a fact that they are
all there?”
Bhagavan: “Oho! That is what you want to know! But
first tell me, is it a fact that you are existent? If you are in
existence, they too must be existing. If you are not in
existence they too are not.”
Devotee: “It is said that there are some known as Pithru
Devathas (the manes), in the world of the manes and that if
Sradh
1
is not performed they will punish the people
concerned. Do the Manes really exist separately?”
Bhagavan: “That is just what I have been saying. So
long as you have the feeling of ego, that you are the doer, all
those beings are in existence. If that ego disappears there is
nothing else in the world.”
Devotee: “What about devils?”
Bhagavan: “It is the same thing with regard to them. If
there are Devatas in this world, devils also are there. If you
are in existence, everything else is in existence. If you are
not in existence, nothing else is. If you examine yourself
everything will be found in yourself only. There will then be
no scope for these doubts.”
Devotee: “It is said that when a man dies he goes to the
world of Yama with a Yatana body after crossing the horrid
* Yatana Sarira: the subtle body tormented by pleasure and pain
in the dream world and also after death (in fact the mind itself).

1
Sradh: death anniversary.

river Vaitharani, and that the messengers of Death create
untold miseries to the body. Is it a fact that there is a world
of Yama?”
Bhagavan: (smilingly): “Aha! If there is a heaven there
is also a hell. All these exist only if you exist; otherwise not.

First tell me, are you in existence or not? We shall then
consider the question of the existence of hell.”
Devotee: “There it is. Bhagavan is using his Brahmastram
(invincible weapon). What can I say now?”
Bhagavan: “All right. I won’t use it. You may ask
whatever you like.”
Devotee: “What exactly is meant by a Yatana body?”
Bhagavan: “When we are asleep this body lies inert.

We have dreams. In those dreams, we experience happiness
sometimes and troubles at other times. When the body is
asleep who is it who experiences all these? It must be admitted
that it is the mind. That mind is called Sukshma (subtle) or
Yatana body. After all, it is only the body that dies when a
person dies.”
Devotee: “So Yatana body means it is only the mind.”
Bhagavan: “Otherwise, what else can there be that
troubles the body other than the mind?”
So saying Bhagavan was silent.

Prev Next TOC 221. Bliss of the Self 222. Yatana Sariram 223. In the Service of the Mother 224. Tiger’s Skin 225. What Does Bhagavan Like Most? 226. Rented House 227. All Tamasic Articles are Forbidden 228. Solitude 229. Dosais 230. Golden–Armed 231. Avatar (Incarnation) 232. Inauguration of Mother’s Temple