26 - Yama answers Savitri's questions 

Narayana said—On hearing the words of Savitri, Yama was surprised and he then smiled and started speaking on the reward given to the humans as a result of their actions. 

Yama said—О daughter, though you are at present a girl of twelve years’ age yet you possess intelligence of a great yogi of ancient times besides the intellectuals. 

О damsel, in earlier times, your father performed a great tapas and got you as a boon from goddess Savitri. You have achieved intelligence and beauty because you are born of the ray of Savitri. 

Therefore, as Laksmi achieves glory in the lap of Vishnu, Bhavani in the lap of Shiva, Radha in the lap of Krishna, Savitri in the lap of Brahma, Murti in the lap of Dharma, Satarupa in the lap of Manu, Devahuti in the lap of Kardama, Arundhati in the lap of Vasishtha, Aditi in the lap of Kashyapa, Ahalya in the lap of Gautama, Indrani in the lap of Indra, Rohini in the lap of Chandrama, Rati in the lap of Kamadeva, Svaha in the lap of Agni, Svadha with the Pitris, Sanjna with the Sun. 

Varunani in the lap of Varuna, dakshina in the lap of yajna, Pruthivi in the lap of the Varaha incarnation of the lord and Devsena in the lap of Karttikeya feel glorious, similarly, О dear one, you will also become glorious in the lap of the fortunate Satyavan. I bestow this boon on you. О goddess, О virtuous one, what more can you ask from me? Whatever else is desired by you. I shall surely give you. 

Savitri said—О lord, I should get sons with the company of my husband Satyavan. This is my desire. Besides this, the eye-sight of my father-in-law may be restored and my father should be bestowed with a hundred sons. I should get back my kingdom. You kindly fulfil this desire of mine. 

О lord of the universe. I, after enjoying the company of my husband Satyavan for a lakh of years, should proceed to the abode of Vishnu. This is the boon I require from you. О lord, you kindly enlighten me on the process of the soul crossing the ocean of this universe. You kindly tell me. I am quite anxious to listen to it. You kindly tell me. 

Yama said—О immensely chaste lady, all your desires wil be fulfilled. I am now telling you about the reward of the deeds of the people. You listen to it. In the land of Bharata, there emerge good and bad deeds and the people have to reap the harvest of their good or bad deeds, here itself and nowhere else. 

All the gods, the demons, the Danavas, Gandharvas, Raksasas and humans have to face the reward of their actions but this is not equal for all. 

Out of them only the humans perform the deeds or otherwise it is only in human form that one has to perform the good or bad deeds but the reward of the same good or bad deeds has to be faced in heaven or hell. The humans specially have to reap the harvest of their deeds in many births. They have to suffer for the misdeeds committed by them in their earlier births. As a result of performing the good deeds they go to heaven and by performing the bad deeds they have to go to hell. By not performing, one is freed from the result of the actions and achieves salvation. О chaste lady, salvation too is of two types, one is the salvation from birth and death and the other results in devotion of lord Krishna. By perforating bad deeds one attracts ailments and by performing good deeds, he is freed from the ailment. Because of the good or bad deeds, he attains long life, short life, pleasure or pain. 

The one who performs bad deeds is born deformed, blind, deaf or having other deformities. The one who performs good deeds, meets with success. Thus, I have told you about the reward of ordinary deeds. Now you listen from me to something special which has been termed as difficult to get in the srutis. 

For all the regions, it is difficult to be born on the sacred land of Bharata. О chaste lady of all the castes, the Brahmanas are the best and have been commended for their noble deeds in the land of Bharata. Such of the Brahmanas as are devoted to lord Vishnu are considered to be the best. The Vaishnavas are also of two types: those who perform selfless deeds and those who perform deeds with some desire in their mind. 

The Vaishnavas who perform deeds with definite desire, treat their actions as more important but the selfless devotees of lord Vishnu give importance only to the devotion. The Vaishnavas with desires has to face the result of his actions, whereas the selfless Vaishnava is free from the result of his good or bad actions. 

The selfless devotee of Vishnu, after his death, achieves the abode of Vishnu and being selfless, he never comes back from that place.

 Such of the devotees as adore the two armed lord Krishna, proceed to Goloka after death taking to a divine form. 

Such of the devotees as meditate upon the four armed Vishnu, taking to divine form, go to Vaikuntha. 

But the Vaishnavas who adore Vishnu purposefully, have to come back to the land of Bharata, after staying in Vaikuntha and are reborn as Brahmanas. After the passage of time they also get turned into selfless devotees of lord Vishnu because the lord also bestows on them his devotion and spotless wisdom. 

Besides the Vaishnavas all other devotees of Vishnu adore him purposefully but because they do not have the deep devotion of the lord in their minds, their wisdom does not become spotless. 

Such of the Brahmanas as engage themselves in tapas while dwelling at the sacred place, achieve Brahmaloka and after the completion of their prescribed period they have to return several times over to the land of Bharata. 

Those of the people that following their own dharmas adore the sun, go to suryaloka and return to the land of Bharata after some time. 

Similarly following their own Dharma such of the Brahmanas as adore Shiva, Durga and Ganesha proceed to the abode of Shivaloka and return after some time. 

Such of the Brahmanas as adore other dharmas, go to Indraloka and then return after sometime. Such of the selfless devotee Brahmanas as are devoted to their own family gods, also achieve the abode of Vishnu on the strength of their devotion. 

Such of the Brahmanas as are devoid of their own dharma and adore some demi-god besides having a polluted and wicked mind surely fall into the hell. 

Therefore, the people of all the four varanas if they adore their respectives gods, surely reap the good results of the same. 

In case they fall from their dharma they surely go to the hell, because in the land of Bharata one has to reap the harvest of his good or bad deeds. 

A Brahmana who gets devoted to his own dharma and gives away his own daughter to the followers of the same dharma, goes to Chandraloka. He remains there up to the duration of the life of fourteen Indras. О chaste lady, in case a daughter adorned with all the ornaments is given away in marriage, one gets double the merit for the same. 

But a Brahmana with a mind filled with desires cannot equate with a selfless Vaishnava. Such people remain seperate because of their desire for the good deeds performed by them and then proceed to the abode of lord Vishnu. 

Such of the people who give away in charity the cow’s milk, silver, clothes, fruit, the food and water also go to the same loka and remain there up to a manvantara. Thus they reside there for a long time. 

The noble Brahmana when he gives away gold, the cow, copper in charity, goes to heaven. He resides there for ten thousand years. Thereafter without any obstruction he stays there for a long time. 

The one who gives away in charity, the land, immense riches to a Brahmana, he goes to the Vishnuloka as well as Svetadvipa. They dwell there up to the life of the sun and moon. He, the meritorious lives there for a long time. 

The one who gives away to a Brahmana with devotion a house in charity, goes to heaven and stays there for a long time. 

If someone gives away in charity at an auspicious day an account book, he resides in the heaven for a period of the dust of that house still remains. Thus whosoever gives away in charity in favour of any god, goes to the abode of the same god and resides there for a long time. 

In case one performs charity in a temple instead of his own house, he gets four times the merit. The one who constructs a step-well or a tank gets a hundred times more merit and in case the same is done at a sacred place the merit is multiplied to eight times. This has been ordained by Brahma. 

In the land of Bharata whosoever constructs a tank and gives it away in charity he gets a hundred times the merit. The one who constructs a bridge, earns the merit of constructing a tank.

The size of the tank should be four thousand dhanushas (one dhanusha is four feet in length and four feet in breadth) Such of the tanks which are smaller than this size are called step-wells. 

If one gives away his daughter to a competent person, he earns the merit of constructing ten step-wells. If the daughter is given away in marriage adorned with all the ornaments, one earns double the merit. 

The merit one earns by constructing a tank, the same merit is earned by him by repairing it. One who plants a Pipala tree and consecrates it, he resides in Tapoloka for a thousand years. 

О Savitri, the one who grows a beautiful garden and orchard and opens it for the use of the people, he remains in the Dhruvaloka for ten thousand years. There is no doubt about it. 

In the land of Bharata, the one who gives away in charity a chariot to lord Vishnu resides in his abode for a manvantara. If a chariot is given away in charity fully decorated with paintings flowers, one earns four times the merit and if a palanquin (palaki) is given away in charity, one gets half of the merit of donating the chariot. 

The one who constructs a temple for lord Vishnu, resides in the abode of the lord for a manvantara. О chaste lady, the one who constructs a road and also provides shelters in appropriate places, resides in Indraloka for ten thousand years. 

Thus by giving away charities to Brahmanas and the gods, one earns equal merit. The merit one earns by performing charity in earlier births is received by him in the subsequent births. The one which is not given, how can it be received? 

Such of the people are reborn on earth after enjoying all pleasures of the heaven, in the race of Brahmanas and others. The meritorious Brahmanas arc reborn in the land of Bharata after enjoying all the pleasures of heaven but the same rule does not apply to the Kshatriyas. 

The Kshatriyas and the Vaishyas can achieve Brahmana-hood by performing tapas for a crore of kalpas. This has been ordained in the Vedas. The Brahmana who is deprived of all his dharma, wander in many births and facing the result of his own deeds ultimately is reborn.

After the passing of the crores of kalpas the effect of deeds does not vanish and one has to bear the same. One has to face the reward of his good or bad deeds. A person gets purified with the help of the gods and taking baths in the sacred places. О chaste lady, I have told you everything. What more do you want to listen to from me?