Death as Punishment?

[yajvan]

hariḥ oṁ
~~~~~~

Namasté

Have you considered the notion of death as punishment? An individual that is perhaps of wicked character is put to death for his or her acts.
Where is the punishment? That individual is now beyond his/her transgressions outside the field of pain; the remembrance of the acts that got them into the bind or the jail cell have fallen.

There could be the thought that those that were transgressed, the victim of the crime has settled the score and all is even. Yet isn't it a function of living that one pays for their transgressions? That this ruffian, or perpetrator of vice , or thief gets punished in life not outside of it?

How does this ruffian feel death as punishment then when he/she no longer (physically) exists? The rules of karma suggest -' as you sew so shall you reap' . The punishment for wrongful living is another life, and then another and another, till one gets it right. Till one wakes up and realizes how their actions impact their life.


Yet something occurs in the present life, and there is no rhyme or reason for a specific action or response to take place. Most likely this has been from actions of the past. Where one's actions did not get worked out, and the fruit ( the responsibility) of that action now follows that being along till its completion.

This perhaps is why Kṛṣṇa said¹ 'unfathomable is the course of action'. We at times are bewildered at the events of life; What was the audit trail back to this action? We hear often 'Why did it happen to me or to us?'
What then is punishment and what is relief ?

praṇām

words and references
Bhāgavad gītā - Chapter 4, 17th śloka - gahanā karmaṇaḥ gathiḥ -

• gahana गहन - inexplicable , hard to be understood ~ unfathomable
• karmaṇaḥ or karman कर्मन् - act , action , performance
• gati गति - path , way , course , method