> Date: Sat, 21 Oct 2006 09:52:03 +0100 (BST)
> From: priya kashyap <priyask2001@yahoo.co.in>
> Subject: Life after death (21)
> To: meenakshi <meenakshimalkani@yahoo.co.in>
>
> Once upon a time a young Brahmin named Svetaketu
> went
> to the assembly of the Panchalas. His father had
> educated him at home and he was under the impression
> that he had completed his studies and that he knew
> everything that a Brahmin should know.
>
> When he entered the assembly, discussions were going
> on, questions and answers were bandied about. It was
> usual to hold such an assembly at the time of a
> sacrifice or a similar ceremony.
>
> Prince Pravahana, a Kshatriya, accosted the young
> newcomer, "Have you had full education young man?"
>
> Svetaketu said with pride, "Yes, indeed!"
>
> "Do you know where all these people go to from here
> after death?"
>
> "No sir, I do not know."
>
> "Do you know how they return to this world again?"
>
> "No sir, I do not know."
>
> "Do you know the two paths along which the dead
> travel
> and which are known as the Path of Light (Devayana)
> and the Path of Darkness (Pitryana)?"
>
> "No sir, I do not know."
>
> "Do you know why the other world does not become
> overfull though so many continue to depart from this
> world and enter it?"
>
> "No sir, I do not know."
>
> "Do you know how in the fifth stage elemental matter
> becomes the Purusha or the living person?"
>
> "No sir, I do not know."
>
> "Then how dare you say that your education is
> complete? You do not seem to know anything of this
> important subject which concerns every one of us,"
> said the prince with some disparagement.
>
> Svetaketu felt humiliated and thought he had been
> deceived into thinking that he was adequately
> educated. So he went straight to his father and
> said:
> "Father, you said my education was complete. But
> when
> Prince Pravahana asked me some five questions,
> believe
> me, I could not reply even one of them. How then did
> you say that I was sufficiently educated?" He then
> told his father the whole story about five questions
> and his discomfiture in the assembly of the
> Panchalas.
> "Dear child," replied the father, "I myself do not
> know the replies to the questions you have just
> mentioned. I do not know the reply to even one of
> them. If I had that knowledge, do you think that I
> would have ever withheld it from you?"
>
> The father then went himself to the Prince to learn
> at
> his feet. He bowed to him respectfully and waited at
> his court.
>
> Next morning when the Prince saw Svetaketu and his
> father, he said to the father respectfully, "Sir, I
> offer you wealth which is dear to all. You may
> demand
> as much as you please."
>
> The Brahmin said, "Great Prince, let the wealth
> remain
> with you. I do not want it at all. I want knowledge
> from you, I want you to talk with me as you talked
> with my child. I am thirsting for the knowledge of
> the
> other world."
>
> The Prince was pleased with the attitude of the
> Brahmin and requested him to stay at his court. He
> said, "Respected Brahmin, till now this knowledge
> has
> been traditionally known only to the Kshatriyas. It
> is
> only now and for the first time that I am imparting
> that knowledge to you, a Brahmin.
>
> "I shall take up the last question first. There are,
> as it were, five yajnas or sacrifices, and as a
> result
> of those sacrifices it is that elemental matter is
> ultimately converted into life or into a person.
> There
> is the fire and the sun and elemental matter is the
> oblation offered to it. The result of this yajna is
> the production of Soma, the life giving juice. Then
> Soma is poured into Parjanya, the power that brings
> on
> rain. The result is rain itself. The rain is poured
> as
> an offering on the earth and food is the result.
> When
> food is offered to man and when he digests it the
> vital fluid called Reta (semen) is produced. When
> Reta
> enters the body of a woman the embryo is born and
> then
> a child. Thus is elemental matter converted into
> life
> after going through five stages."
>
> Then he gave answers to the other four questions. He
> said, "Since a man's body is made up of the four
> elements, it is dissolved into those constituents
> after death. But the destiny of his soul depends
> upon
> his actions and his knowledge. If he has attained
> real
> spiritual knowledge he goes by Devayana, the Path of
> Light, and does not return to this earthly
> existence.
> His soul becomes immortal.
>
> "But if he has led a life of desires and spent it in
> doing good deeds out of a desire for heaven, his
> soul
> goes by Pitryana, the Path of Darkness, to heaven,
> remains there till his merits are exhausted and then
> hurries back to this world and takes birth according
> to the general nature of his former actions.
>
> "But if his is a life of sin and evil deeds and of
> wickedness, if he was all along engaged in stealing,
> drinking, killing and debauch or in associating with
> people occupied with these sinful acts (these are
> the
> five great sins) he forfeits his claim to both
> immortality and heaven. He is born and reborn here
> on
> earth and he goes through the cycle of lives of
> insects and worms and of vile vermin and suffers
> interminably.
>
> "Thus of those who are born on earth, some pass on
> and
> away to the world of Brahman (Supreme Reality), from
> which there is no return. Some others go to heaven,
> stay there for a time and then return to the worldly
> existence. Numerous others are caught up in the
> ever-recurring cycle of birth and death, that is why
> the other world never becomes overfull. There is no
> such danger either!"
>
> This is the knowledge of life, its origin, and of
> the
> destiny of the soul after death, This knowledge was
> given by Pravahana Jaivali, a Kshatriya Prince, to a
> Brahmin for the first time.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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