Kicking the Bucket

Kūpayantraghaṭa nyāyaḥ (bucket-well apparatus) A contraption of buckets on a wheel spoons out a water out of the well. While the spoons go up, they are full of water. After emptying itself on the top the buckets go down again. This is figurative description of the wheel of karma shown on a commonplace example. It is specified in Bhagavad-gītā 8.16 as ā-brahma-bhuvanāl lokāḥ punar āvartino 'rjuna. From the lowest status up to the abode of Brahmā, all living entities travel up and down through various bodily existences like on a carousel. In human form of life living entity has an opportunity to fill up his “bucket” with the load of pious activities. That promotes him to ascend high, to a better sense gratificatory standard, where he empties his “bucket” of profitable results, after which he sinks to human form to make his try again. He has a decision to make, he may empty his “bucket” completely, and go even lower to the bottom of hellish “well”, or start to fill the “bucket” again with pious credits, avoiding, for the time being, the hellish existence. Of course, the final solution is to give up this joy-ride alltogether, and use one's breath to ascend over Brahmā-loka, to Kṛṣṇa-loka, from where he does not go down – mām upetya tu kaunteya punar janma na vidyate. In other words - there is no more kicking the bucket.