>From The Mahabharata
Anusasana Parva, Section CXI
Translated by Sri Kisari Mohan Gangul
Yudhishthira said: O grandsire, O thou that are
possessed of great wisdom and conversant with all the
scriptures. I desire to know those excellent
ordinances in consequence of which mortal creatures
have to travel through their rounds of rebirth. What
is that conduct by following which, O king, men
succeed in attaining to high Heaven, and what is that
conduct by which one sinks in Hell? When abandoning
the dead body that is as inert as a piece of wood or
clod of earth, people proceed to the other world, what
are those that follow them thither?
Bhishma said: Here comes the illustrious Vrihaspati of
great intelligence! Do thou ask his blessed self. The
subject is an eternal mystery. None else is capable of
explaining the matter. There is no speaker like
Vrihaspati.
Yudhishthira , approaching the illustrious Vrihaspati,
asked him the question in proper form, desirous of
knowing the truth.
Yudhishthira said: O illustrious one, thou are
conversant with all duties and all the scriptures, Do
thou tell me what is truly the friend of mortal
creatures? Is the father, or mother, or son, or
preceptor, or kinsmen, or relatives, or those called
friends, that may be said to truly constitute the
friend of the mortal creature? One goes to the next
world, leaving one's dead body that is like a piece of
wood or a clod of earth. Who is it that follows him
thither?
Vrihaspati said: One is born alone, O king, and one
dies alone; one crosses alone the difficulties one
meets with, and one alone encounters whatever misery
falls to one's lot. One has really no companion in
these acts. The father, the mother, the brother, the
son, the preceptor, kinsmen, relatives, and friends,
leaving the dead body as if it were a piece of wood or
a clod of earth, after having mourned for only a
moment, all turn away from it and proceed to their own
concerns. Only righteousness follows the body that is
thus abandoned by them all. Hence, it is plain, that
Righteousness is the only friend and that
Righteousness only should be sought by all.
One endued with righteousness would attain to that
high end which is constituted by heaven. If endued
with unrighteousness, he goes to hell. Hence, the man
of intelligence should always seek to acquire
religious merit through wealth won by lawful means.
Piety is the one only friend which creatures have in
the world hereafter. Let by cupidity, or stupefaction,
or compassion, or fear, one destitute of much
knowledge is seen to do improper acts, his judgement
thus stupefied by cupidity.
[Note: One that is not possessed of much learning is
liable to do improper acts. These acts are all done
for another, viz., one's body and the senses and not
oneself. The Sanskrit word para here is, the
Not-self.]
Piety, wealth and pleasure, - these three constitute
the fruit of life. One should acquire these three by
means of being free from impropriety and sin.
Yudhishthira said: I have carefully heard the words
spoken by thy illustrious self,-these words that are
fraught with righteousness, and that are highly
beneficial. I wish now to know of the existence of the
body (after death). The dead body of man becomes
subtile and unmanifest. It becomes invisible. How is
it possible for piety to follow it?
Vrihaspati said: Earth, Wind, Space, Water, Light,
Mind, Yama (the king of the dead), Understanding, the
Soul, as also Day and Night, all together behold as
witness the merits (and demerits) of all living
creatures. With these, Righteousness follows the
creatures (when dead).
[Note: When these leave the body, they are accompanied
by Righteousness.]
When the body becomes bereft of life, skin, bones,
flesh, the vital seed, and blood, O thou of great
intelligence, leave it at same time. Endued with merit
(and demerit) Jiva (Individual soul), after the
destruction of this body, attains to another. After
the attainment by Jiva of that body, the presiding
deities of the five elements once more behold as
witness all his acts good and bad. What else do thou
wish to hear? If endued with righteousness, Jiva
enjoys happiness. What other topic, belonging to this
or that world, shall I discourse upon?
Yudhishthira said: Thy illustrious self has explained
how Righteousness follows Jiva. I desire to know how
the vital seed is originated?
Vrihaspati said: The food that these deities, O king,
who dwell in the body, viz., Earth, Wind, Space,
Water, Light, and Mind eat, gratifies them. When those
five elements become gratified, O monarch, with Mind
numbering as their sixth, their vital seed then
becomes generated, O thou of cleansed soul! When an
act of union takes place between male and female, the
vital seed flows out and causes conception. I have
thus explained to thee what thou hast asked. What else
do you wish to hear?
Yudhishthira said: Thou hast, O illustrious one, said
how conception takes place. Do thou explain how the
Jiva (individual soul) that takes birth grows (by
becoming possessed of body)?
Vrihaspati said: As soon as Jiva enters the vital
seed, he becomes overwhelmed by the elements already
mentioned. When Jiva becomes disunited therewith, he
is said to attain to the other end (viz., death).
Endued as Jiva becomes with all those elements, he
attains, in consequence thereof, a body. The deities
that preside over those elements behold as witness all
his acts, good and bad. What else do you wish to hear?
Yudhishthira said: Leaving off skin and bone and
flesh, and becoming destitute of all those elements,
in what does Jiva reside, O illustrious one, for
enjoying and enduring happiness and misery?
Vrihaspati said: Endued with all his acts, the Jiva
quickly enters the vital seed, and utilizing the
functional flow of women, takes birth in time, O
Bharata. After birth, the Jiva receives woe and death
from the messengers of Yama (god of death). Indeed,
misery and painful round of rebirth are his
inheritance. Endued with life, O king, the Jiva in
this world, from the moment of his birth, enjoys and
endures his own previous acts, depending upon
righteousness (and its reverse). If the Jiva,
according to the best of his power, follows
righteousness from the day of his birth, he then
succeeds in enjoying, when reborn, happiness without
interruption
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