Fourteen Types of People Who Are Considered as Good as Dead

 

**🔥 Fourteen Types of People Who Are Considered as Good as Dead**

Angad, in the court of Ravana, describes **fourteen types of human beings who are regarded as “living dead.”**

*(This episode appears only in Tulsidas’s* Ramcharitmanas*)*

**Verse (Ramcharitmanas):**

*Kaula kāmbasa kṛpaṇa vimūṛhā |

Ati daridra ajasi ati būṛhā ||

Sadā rogavasa santata krodhī |

Viṣṇu vimukha śruti santa virodhī ||

Tanu poṣaka nindaka agha khānī |

Jīvata śava sama caudah prānī ||*

**Meaning:**

There are fourteen kinds of beings who, though alive, are like corpses.

### The Fourteen Categories Explained

1. **Slave of Desire (Kāmavaśa):**

   A person completely immersed in sensual pleasures and endless desires, who lives only to satisfy cravings and never turns toward spirituality, is like the dead.

2. **Left-hand Path Follower / Contrarian (Vāmamārgī):**

   One who constantly opposes truth, scientific principles, social traditions, dharma, and righteous conduct—seeking negativity in everything—is considered lifeless in spirit.

3. **Miser (Kṛpaṇa):**

   An extremely stingy person who hesitates in charity, righteous deeds, yajña, or social welfare is regarded as dead.

4. **Extremely Poor (Ati Daridra):**

   A person devoid of wealth, self-confidence, honor, and courage is considered as good as dead. Such people deserve compassion and help, not contempt.

5. **Utterly Foolish (Vimūḍha):**

   One who lacks discernment and cannot make independent decisions, remaining dependent on others for understanding and judgment, is spiritually dead.

6. **Ill-Reputed (Ajasi):**

   A person who has lost respect in family, society, community, or nation due to bad conduct is considered lifeless.

7. **Constantly Sick (Sadā Rogavaśa):**

   A perpetually ill person, whose body and mind remain disturbed, loses joy in life and becomes dominated by negativity—thus living without truly living.

8. **Extremely Old and Helpless (Ati Būṛha):**

   When extreme old age brings total dependence and incapacity of body and intellect, such a life is likened to death.

9. **Perpetually Angry (Santata Krodhī):**

   One who remains angry day and night, lacking control over mind and intellect, is spiritually dead. Such a person harms others and moves toward downfall.

10. **Eater of Sin (Agha Khānī):**

    A person who sustains self and family through wealth earned by sinful means is considered dead; such earnings lead only to degradation.

11. **Self-Centered Body Worshipper (Tanu Poṣaka):**

    One who lives solely for self-gratification, devoid of compassion for others, always thinking “I first, others later,” is dead to society and nation.

12. **Slanderer (Nindaka):**

    A person who habitually criticizes others, sees only faults, and never appreciates good deeds is considered lifeless. Backbiting leads to moral degradation.

13. **God-Denier (Paramātmā-Vimukha):**

    One who denies the existence of the Supreme Reality and believes only in ego and material power is spiritually dead.

14. **Opponent of the Vedas and Saints (Śruti-Santa Virodhī):**

    Those who oppose the Vedas, true scriptures, and saints—who act as moral brakes on society—are considered dead. Without such guides, society descends into chaos.

### Conclusion

A wise person should strive to **stay away from these fourteen vices**, so that while living, one does not become *alive like the dead*.

Reproduced by Dr.Vivek Arya