The Four Letters Sent by Yamaraja

A man by the name of Amrita, living on earth, thought to himself that the
one thing he feared most was death. To avoid death, Amrita practised
austerities and concentrated his mind upon Lord Yama, the Lord of
Death. Lord Yama was pleased and granted a vision to Amrita.
Lord Yama said: My presence is only available to those who are about to die
or already dead. Yet I granted you my vision while you are still living,
pleased by your penances.
Amrita said: I ask this favour of you. If death is inevitable, I ask that if I am
to die, then at least send me a letter before death so that I can make proper

provision for my family before departure and also prepere myself for my
next life with proper sadhana and worship of Krishna.
Lord Yama said, Sure, I shall certainly do this. But as soon as you get the
message, please set about making the preparations., and he disappeared.
Many years passed after this. Amritas hair began gradually to turn grey, but
he was living a life full of sinful activities with not a thought about the fear of
death.
He was pleased that so far no letters had arrived from the Lord of Death.
Some Vaishnavas approached him and advised him to take to devotional
service. He did not heed to their instructions as he thought so much time
was left.
Some more years passed by. By this time Amrita had lost most of his teeth
and the devotees came again to warn him about his imminent death. Still he
did not bother because no letter has come from his friend Yama.
As the years rolled by, Amritas eyesight became dimmer. However he
continued his sensual life thanking his friend Yamaraj for not sending any
letter so far.
Some more years passed by. Amrita was now a very old man and with his
back bent forward, he could not walk without the support of a walking stick.
His skin was all wrinkled. One day he suffered a stroke and became
paralysed. People said his condition was very critical.

But Amrita was still in a happy frame of mind, since he did not receive any
letter from Yamaraj.
Then his destined end of life came and Lord Yama, the god of death, entered
the room.
Amrita was startled and his mind was seized with fear.
Yamaraj said, My friend, come now, you have suffered greatly.
Today I have come to take you with me.

Amrita trembled in fear and said, My friend, you have betrayed me by

breaking your boon. You have not sent me any letter as you promised. Now
all of a sudden you are taking me from this world. You are a cheater.
Lord Yama said, Amrita! You spent all your life in sense indulgence with no
interest in spiritual life. How then could you know the letters I sent you? Not
one, but four letters I did send to you. But you ignored all of them.
Amrita was greatly puzzled: Four letters did you send? But not even one
letter reached me. It is just possible that the postman/courier forgot to
deliver it..
Lord Yama said, My friend, do you think I will take a paper and pen and
write a letter to you?
No, With your body as paper, with the pen of bodily changes I wrote my
letters and time is the messenger who delivered those letters.
1) Years ago, your hair turned grey. That was my first letter. You ignored it.
2) Falling of your teeth was my second letter.
3) My third letter was sent to you when your eyesight failed.
4) The fourth message was when your body became paralysed.
You comfortably ignored all these letters. Now I have come not as your
friend but as the dispenser of the Laws of God., and Yamaraj tied the rope
around Amritas neck and pulled it hard.
People around Amrita said, Amrita is now dead.

Moral of the Story:

When the body is young and hale and when we dont get any letter from
Yamaraj, we should start our preparations for facing his lethal blow.

When we completely ignore his letters, then we come under his control.
Different people are afraid of different things in life and one persons object
of fear is not an object of fear for another person.
However in general, fear of death is common to all. Some people may boast
that they are not scared of death.
However when they get some fatal disease which paralyse them or in case of
dangers, the fear of death will be clearly visible in their eyes.
There is no material solution to this attack of Yamaraj and his punishments
after death.
Though death is formidable and unconquerable, Sripada Sankaracharya, one
of the great acharyas of the Vedantic tradition, gives a very simple solution
to avoid interview with Yamaraj.
In his famous work Bhaja Govindam appears the following sloka.
bhagavad gita kinchit adeeta / ganga jala lava kanika peetaa
sakrdapyena muraari samarca / kriyate tasya yamena sasarcaa
If a person reads little of Bhagavad Gita, takes a little drop of Ganges water
and performs worship to Murari (Sri Krishna) atleast once in his lifetime,
then he does not have to face an interview with Yamaraj.
In the Bhagavata Purana (6.3.29), Yamaraj himself identifies who are the
candidates for his punishment:
jihvaa na vakti bhagavad-guna-naamadheyam
cetas ca na smarati tac-caranaaravindam
krishnaya no namati yac-chira ekadapi
taan aanayadhvam asato krita-vishnu-krityaan

My dear servants, please bring to me only those sinful persons who do not
use their tongues to chant the holy name and qualities of Krishna, whose
hearts do not remember the lotus feet of Krishna even once, and whose
heads do not bow down even once before Lord Krishna. Send me those who
do not perform their duties toward Vishnu, which are the only duties in
human life. Please bring me all such fools and rascals.
Srila Prabhupadas program of chanting and hearing and offering obeisances
to the Supreme Lord will empower us to escape the punishment of Yamaraj
who is otherwise unconquerable.
Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare
Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare
Source: bhagavatam-katha.com