One must know the nature of karma, vikarma, and akarma, and act accordingly; this is the law established by the Supreme Lord.

Karma: Law of nature according to which any material action, good or bad, necessarily entails consequences, which have the effect of always linking its author more and more to the material existence and the cycle of the dead and the rebirths.

Vikarma: Action contrary to the norms of the holy scriptures, or guilty action.

Akarma: Action not subject to the law of karma.

Conditional souls, who have come into the material universe to indulge in the pleasures of the senses, have the possibility of doing so according to certain regulating principles; if they violate these principles, they will be judged and punished by Yamaraja. He will ship them to hellish planets and chastise them to bring them back to the consciousness of Krishna, God, the Supreme Person. However, under the influence of maya, the delusional energy of the Lord, conditioned souls remain bewitched by ignorance. Thus, even after being repeatedly punished by Yamaraja, they do not ameliorate, but continue to live conditioned by matter and engage in culpable acts.

The soul can experience two forms of transmigration after leaving its present body. A kind of transmigration or reincarnation is to go to the one who judges sinful acts, and who is called Yamaraja. The other is to go to the higher planets, or to the spiritual world. The envoys of Yamaraja, (the lord of death and judge of sinners) Yamadutas, treat people who, to maintain a family, are absorbed in activities for the pleasures of the senses. At the moment of death, those who have persevered to satisfy their material desires are placed under the care of the Yamadutas. They seize the dying man and take him to the planet where Yamaraja resides.

Every living being, the soul, is covered with a subtle body (ethereal) and a gross body (dense matter). The subtle body is composed of the mind, the intelligence, the false ego and the consciousness. Now, the agents of Yamaraja cover the subtle body of the criminal and take him to Yamaraja to inflict punishment that he can tolerate. It is not the responsibility of the agents of Yamaraja to kill anyone. In any case, it is impossible to kill the soul, of eternal nature. The individual being must simply suffer the consequences of the mistakes he has made in wanting to satisfy his senses.

The Supreme Lord says, "While he is carrying away the agents of Yamaraja, he trembles in their hands, terrified. Throughout the path he travels, dogs bite him, and he remembers the faults of his life. He thus knows a terrible distress.