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## The Feeling of Helplessness and the Nature of the World
**Fourth Light of Yoga Shastra, Verses 63 to 65**
**Meaning:**
**389.** Those with foolish minds grieve for their loved ones, being led to the door of death by their own actions. But they do not grieve for themselves, thinking foolishly, "We too will one day become victims of death." || 63 ||
Now we conclude the feeling of helplessness.
**390.** In this world, burning with the blazing flames of the fire of sorrow, there is no refuge for the embodied being, like a fawn in the forest. || 64 ||
**Meaning:** When a lion attacks in the forest, no one can save the fawn; similarly, in this world, burning with the blazing, fierce flames of the fire of sorrow, there is no one to save the being. || 64 ||
**Explanation:** This is the nature of the feeling of helplessness! In this regard, the meaning of some inner verses is presented - Experts in Ashtanga Ayurveda, medicines, or the Mrityunjaya mantra, none can save from death. There is a cage of naked swords all around, and the king is sitting safely surrounded by the four-armed army, yet the servants of Yama forcibly drag him away like a pauper. In the middle of a reservoir, there was a cage built on top of a pillar, in which a king had kept his beloved son safe from death, but even from there, death dragged him away. Then what to say of others? Sagar Chakravarti had sixty thousand sons; but those helpless sons were burnt to ashes like straw in an instant by the blazing Dev. In front of Skanda Acharya's eyes, his five hundred disciples were being ground to death by the Yama-like guardian priest in a mill, and there was no one to give them refuge. Just as an animal does not know how to counteract death, so too does a scholar not know how to counteract death. Shame on such foolishness! There have been such powerful men in the world who have made the whole world free from thorns with the strength of their swords, but those very warriors would tremble with fear and bite their tongues when they saw Yama's furrowed brow. Indra, who lovingly embraced him and seated him on half his throne, even the king Shrenik became helpless in the end. Such a plight befell him that he could not even be heard. The holy monks who walked on the edge of a sword, who followed the great vows, who had not committed any sin in their lives, were also unable to counteract death. In reality, this world is helpless, chaotic, orphaned, leaderless, no one can counteract death in it. It is becoming Yama's morsel. Dharma Kriya is considered to be a form of counteraction, but even that is not a counteraction to death. It is considered to be the giver of good fortune or the doer of good fortune. Thus, in all three worlds, the terrible Yama, without fear, does not tire of devouring the entire world, filled with all beings from Brahma to ants. It is a pity that the whole world is troubled by this. Therefore, take refuge in Dharma. Thus, the feeling of helplessness is described. || 64 ||
Now the nature of the world is explained in three verses.
**391.** The Vedic scholar, the scavenger, the master, the creator Brahma, and the worm, all are the same. In this world, like a play, the worldly being acts like an actor! || 65 ||
**Meaning:** Alas, in this world, which is like a playhouse, the worldly being acts like an actor, performing various acts. Sometimes he becomes a Vedic scholar, sometimes a scavenger, sometimes a servant, sometimes the creator Brahma, and sometimes a worm. || 65 ||
**Meaning:** Just as a playwright comes on stage in different costumes, so too does the worldly being, due to the different karmic titles, takes on various bodies and comes on the stage of the world and acts out his part. The one who was a Vedic Brahmin, becomes a scavenger according to his karma, and the one who was a master, is born as a servant after death.