After death, the killers of the soul go to the worlds of the demons, covered by blinding darkness.

Demons do not deserve rage, hatred or rancor, but only our compassion. Sinners suffer a great deal, even more than their victims, because they only reveal their own internal misery. Their behavior is a mere symptom of self destruction...

Never hate those who have tried to hurt you or harm you, believe me that the destructive conduct of the demons is just the proof of their pain and suffering, as they are burnt in the same fire with which they want to burn...

The term "killer of the soul" can appear at first sight as a contradiction, as we are taught by the Holy Scriptures that the soul is eternal. It says in the Bhagavad—gītā (2.17):

avināśi tu tad viddhi

yena sarvam idaṁ tatam

vināśam avyayasyāsya

na kaścit kartum arhati

"Know as indestructible that which is spread in everything. No one can destroy the immutable".

And in the same Holy Bhagavad—gītā (2.20) we read the following:

na jāyate mriyate vā kadācin

nāyaṁ bhūtvā bhavitā vā na bhūyaḥ

ajo nityaḥ śāśvato 'yaṁ purāṇo

na hanyate hanyamāneśarīre

"The soul is never born; neither does it die. It has not come into being, does not come into being and will not come into being. It is not slain when the body is slain."

Therefore, in order to understand this term, ātma—hana or "killer of the soul", a little explanation will be needed. Evidently, nothing and no one can kill or murder life. However, the human being is capable of living as if his soul was dead. He is able to suffocate it, to murder it, or in other words, to ignore it... The Upaniṣad refers here to those who live ignoring their authenticity, their inner reality, which is like a kind of suicide, because although we do not annihilate the soul, we live as if we lack it completely...

To ignore the soul is to live ignoring ourselves, our authenticity, what we really are... It is to live as if we were long dead...

Our ideas and beliefs about ourselves come from others, while we ignore our own... Our opinions about ourselves come from our parents, teachers, relatives, friends and society, we live directing ourselves towards the "other', and ignoring our true selves completely...

In fact, the ego is a product of others. It has been fabricated and concocted by and according to society. The serious problem is that instead of our lives revolving and developing around our reality, they revolve around an idea of what we are, which, respectable as it may be, is not authentic...

To those poor and unhappy beings who live in complete ignorance of their spiritual aspect, the holy Bhagavad—gītā (16:19—20) refers in the following manner:

tān ahaṁ dviñataḥ krūrān

saṁsāreñu narādhamān

kñipāmy ajasram aśubhān

āsuréñv eva yoniñu

āsuréṁ yonim āpannā

mūḍhā janmani janmani

mām aprāpyaiva kaunteya

tato yānty adhamāṁ gatim

"Those cruel and envious beings, who are the lowest of men, are perpetually thrown by Me into the ocean of material existence, to various species of demonic life. Oh, Son of Kunti! repeatedly taking birth amongst the species of demonic life, these persons can never reach Me. Gradually, they sink into the lowest levels of existence".

Andham tama means "blinding darkness", indicating that there is another kind of darkness, in which we see, which is our objective reality. This suggests that the fact that there is light does not necessarily mean that we see...

However, do not think that this mantra judges or condemns. That is not the spirit of the Upanishadic message. Instead, this verse constitutes a call to life. It asks us to truly live...