14.017
Vāsudeva said.
Then, having respectfully grasped his feet, he asked all those very difficult questions, and the best among the upholders of dharma replied. (14-17-1)
Kashyapa said.
How does the body die? How indeed is it born? How, moving through pain and saṁsāra, does one become completely liberated? (14-17-2)
How does the self, having united with that body, release it? And, when liberated from the body, how does it attain another? (14-17-3)
How does a man experience the results of his own auspicious and inauspicious acts, and where do deeds take effect for one who is disembodied? (14-17-4)
The Brāhmaṇa said.
Thus, being thus urged, the accomplished one answered those questions. Now, in due order, O son of Vṛṣṇi, listen to my words as they are. (14-17-5)
The Siddha said.
The actions that one performs here bringing longevity and fame—when those are entirely exhausted, in obtaining another body (life), (their effects end). (14-17-6)
When a person's lifespan is nearing its end, he engages in harmful actions; his intellect turns away as his destruction approaches. (14-17-7)
One lacking self-control, not understanding his own constitution, strength, and time, eats at improper times foods that are mutually incompatible. (14-17-8)
When he experiences all extremely painful things, or even enjoys exceedingly, or does not enjoy at any time. (14-17-9)
He eats spoiled food, poisonous food, that which is mutually hostile; heavy or together, and again, even when not fully digested. (14-17-10)
Or one engages in excessive exercise or in sexual intercourse, and constantly, due to greed for activity, or in restraining natural urges attained. (14-17-11)
One who indulges in excessively rich food or day-sleep, or who takes uncooked food at inappropriate times, thereby aggravates doṣas by his own actions. (14-17-12)
Due to the aggravation of his own faults, he acquires a fatal disease; then, afflicted by bindings and similar troubles, he suffers. (14-17-13)
Just as, by those causes, the living being falls away from the body, so you should properly understand what is being explained as 'life'. (14-17-14)
When heat is agitated in the body and driven by a strong wind, it pervades the body and indeed obstructs all the vital breaths. (14-17-15)
Excessive and powerful heat, when agitated in the body, breaks the places where life resides; know that those are the vital spots. (14-17-16)
Then, as soon as sensation is experienced, the living being is immediately displaced; when the vital points are pierced, the creature, afflicted by pains, abandons the body. Know this, O best of the twice-born. (14-17-17)
O best of the twice-born, always all beings, distressed by birth and death, are seen abandoning their bodies. (14-17-18)
A human again experiences similar pain during the shifting of the fetus and also when the vital points are displaced. (14-17-19)
A person whose joints are separated obtains moisture from waters, just as dependence is entered into the five elements. From cold, when agitated in the body, he is afflicted by intense wind. (14-17-20)
He who is established in prāṇa and apāna among the five elements—when the ascending air (ūrdhvaga vāyuḥ) leaves the embodied one after difficulties, it goes (upwards). (14-17-21)
The body is indeed abandoned, and a lifeless, breathless form is seen. Without warmth, breath, prosperity, or consciousness, he has departed. (14-17-22)
A person completely forsaken by Brahman is called dead. The embodied one, by those very channels through which he knows sensory objects, no longer perceives the vital breath that arises from food. (14-17-23)
There itself, the eternal soul acting in the body, whatever is appropriate for each of them may occur in conjunction, here and there; understand each such secret as the scriptures see it, for thus it is. (14-17-24)
When those vital parts are pierced, then he, moving forth, having entered the heart of the being, quickly and surely restrains the vital essence. Then, the conscious being no longer perceives anything. (14-17-25)
He whose knowledge is covered by darkness, being enveloped within the vital centers, that individual soul, without a supporting base, is not moved by the life-breath. (14-17-26)
Then he, with a terrible and forceful exhalation, quickly shakes that unconscious body as he emerges. (14-17-27)
When the living being departs from the body, enveloped by his own deeds and marked by his own merits or by sins, he takes a new birth. (14-17-28)
Brāhmaṇas endowed with knowledge and proper resolution from what is heard, recognize another or one who has performed meritorious acts by their distinguishing marks. (14-17-29)
Just as in darkness, those with eyes see a firefly as it merges here and there, so do those with the eye of knowledge see him. (14-17-30)
Accomplished ones of this kind see, with the divine eye, the living being as it falls (departs), is born, and enters the womb. (14-17-31)
His abodes are seen as three kinds here according to śāstra. This earth is the field of action where creatures exist. (14-17-32)
Then, having performed good and bad deeds, all embodied beings receive, here itself, varied pleasures and pains according to their own actions. (14-17-33)
Here itself, a person who performs inauspicious actions goes to hell by his deeds. That sinful man is severely tormented in hell. Therefore, liberation is very difficult to obtain; thus, the self must be zealously protected. (14-17-34)
But the living beings who, having gone upwards, are situated in those places that are being mentioned—learn about these here truly from me. By hearing this, you may gain final understanding based on the certainty about action. (14-17-35)
All forms as stars, this orb of the moon, and the sun orb which shines in the world with its own light—know these places as belonging to men of meritorious deeds. (14-17-36)
And when their karma is exhausted, all of them indeed fall down again and again; even there, there is distinction in heaven as low, high, and intermediate. (14-17-37)
Even there, upon seeing greater prosperity, there is no contentment. In this way, all these states have been described separately. (14-17-38)
O twice-born, now I shall explain the origin of the embryo further. Listen attentively as I speak of it as it truly is. (14-17-39)
