Heaven and Hell

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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.

New Roman">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.

0.3pt">[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.]

Arial"> 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?

mso-bidi-font-family: Arial">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?

New Roman">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?

0.3pt">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

0in 0in 0pt">Thank you Kumar

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