Who are truly Lord Yama and Chitragupta

Your intrigues may succeed with various people whom you want to deceive, but it is not possible to deceive God. God lives in your heart. You might have heard the name of Chitragupta in Indian mythology. Chitragupta is the name of the private secretary to Yama, the Lord of Death. 

This means that this Chitragupta keeps an unerring account of the good and the bad which the individuals do in their lives. You may be amused at this and wonder if there is really a Yama, the Lord of death, and if he has a private secretary with the name Chitragupta. All this may give you the feeling that Yama is being described in terms of an office and thus your faith may be shaken up a little. In Indian culture, every word that is used has an inner meaning. We neglect the significance of these stories in our mythology by interpreting them superficially. 

Time itself is called Yama. The birth of a body, its growth, the changes that are brought about in a body and finally its death are all caused by the passage of time. If there is no passage of time, there is neither birth nor death. Since time is responsible for bringing about all these changes, and even destruction and death of the human body, time itself has been called the Lord of death. 

Time is also called the offspring of Sun. Again we may get a doubt whether the Sun God has a family, a wife and a child. The notion of time has come to us because of the phenomena of sunrise and sunset. That is why time is regarded as the child of the Sun. This name Chitragupta is inside the body itself. The mind is hiding inside the human body and this hidden mind is called Chitragupta. All the thoughts that arise in one’s mind are imprinted upon his heart. 

If someone asks something, you may hesitate and give an answer which is not the right one; but if the question is asked in one’s own heart, one cannot give a false reply. 

- May 21, 1973