225 - Results of good and bad acts

Suta said:

1. After knowing the three types of misery such as the Adhyatmika (physiological) etc. the wise man conscious of the Samsara chakra (the wheel of worldly existence) will become possessed of wisdom and non-attachment (to things mundane) and then merge into Atyantika Laya (Psychic annihilation). 

2. I shall mention the wheel of worldly Existence from the time of death without knowing which the individual self (Puruşhartha) cannot become sub-merged in the supreme self (Paramatman). 

3. After casting off the outer garment (i.e., the gross body) the man takes another body (the subtle one). In twelve days, he is led by the attendants of Yama. 

4. The water libations with gingelly seeds offered by the kinsmen in the world as well as the ball of rice (pinda) offered by them is partaken of by him in the region of Yama. 

5. From there the meritorious man goes to heaven and the sinner to hell. 

6. After experiencing the benefits or torture of heaven and hell, the individual enters the womb of women. First nucleus is formed in the umbilical region which splits into bifurcated seed. 

7. The foetus is then evolved with frothy exudations. Blood and muscles are formed thereafter when the lump may weigh a Pala in weight. Then it is said to sprout. 

8. Limbs begin to grow; fingers are developed, eyes, nose, nails, etc are formulated. 

9. Hairs begin to grow on the body and the head; the child is placed in a topsy-turvy position and is born in the tenth month. 

10. Then the most delusive Maya (Illusory Power) of Vishnu begins to envelop him as he proceeds from infancy to childhood, youth and old age. 

11. Then he dies and reaps the fruit of his different activities of virtue or otherwise. Thus man is caught in the cogs of the wheel of worldly existence that continues to turn like the water wheel. 

12. A life coming back from hell becomes born of sinful wombs. O wise scholar, a man accepting gifts from a fallen man takes birth in a lower stratum.

13. A beggar, on returning from hell is born as a worm. A brahmin defrauding his preceptor is born as a dog. 

14. Mentally coveting his (preceptor's) wife or riches he undoubtedly is born as a dog. Alike dishonouring friends he is reborn as an ass. 

15-16. A person harassing the parents is reborn as a tortoise. If a servant trusted by his master and partaking of his food deceives him out of delusion, he is reborn as a monkey after death. A mis appropriator of trust property after experiencing the hardships of hell is reborn as a worm. 

17. A person always envious of others goes to hell and is born again as a Rakshasa. A man committing breach of trust is reborn as a fish. 

18. A person hoarding barley grains is reborn as a mouse after death. A person committing rape on other men's wives is reborn as a vile wolf. 

19. A person pursuing an affair with his brother's wife is reborn as a cuckoo. A man indulging in sexual intercourse with the wife of a preceptor or other elders is reborn as a pig. 

20-21. If a person causes any impediment to a sacrifice, act of charity or performance of a marriage he shall be reborn as a worm. If a person takes food without first offering the same to deities, manes or brahmins he is reborn as a crow after undergoing the hardships of hell. A man insulting his elder brother is born again as a crane. 

22. A Shudra ravishing a brahmin women is born again as a worm. If he makes her pregnant as a result of his vile act he is reborn as a white ant eating away wood and trees. 

23. An ungrateful wretch is born successively as bacteria worm, locust and scorpion. A person abducting an unarmed person is reborn as a mule. 

24. A slayer of women and infants is reborn as a worm. A person stealing cooked food is born again as a fly. 

25. A stealer of cooked rice is born as a cat, that of gingelly seeds a mouse, that of ghi a mungoose and a stealer of sheat-fish and flesh is born as a crow. 

26. A man stealing honey is reborn as a gnat. A thief of fried pie is born as an ant. The sinner of illegal theft of (irrigation) water is reborn as a crow. 

27. A stealer of timber is born as a Harita bird or a pigeon. The stealer of a gold vessel is reborn as a worm.

28. A stealer of cotton garments is born as a crane; a fire-thief becomes a stork; a thief of paints and vegetables is born as a peacock. 

29. If a person steals any red object he is born as a Jivanjivaka bird (a chakora). If a man steals auspicious scents he is born as a mole. A thief of rabbits is reborn as a rabbit. 

30. A thief of kalápa (peacock's plumes or a woman's girdle or any other ornament) is reborn as a eunuch. A stealer of wooden pieces is born again as a grass worm. If a person steals flowers he is born as a poor beggar. If a person steals lac-juice he is born again as a lame man. 

31. A thief of greens is reborn as a Harita bird; a person stealing stored water is reborn as a Chataka bird. A person illegally occupying another man's house undergoes hardships in fierce hells Raurava etc. and is born again. 

32. A person stealing grasses, hedges, creepers and barks of these is born again as a tree. This is the same in the case of the stealers of cow, gold, etc. 

33. A stealer of knowledge (a person who does not pay for instructions received) undergoes hardships in many hells and is born again as a dumb man. If a person casts ghi and other offerings in unkindled fire he is reborn as a man suffering from chronic impairment of digestion. 

34-35. The characteristic features of those who had had their hardships in hell and are reborn are scandalising others, ingratitude, outraging the limits of decency, ruthlessness, cruelty, attachment to other men's wives, stealing other men's property, blasphemy, harassing and deceiving others, and miserliness. 

36-37. The characteristic features of those who had had a happy sojourn in heaven and are reborn are - Sympathy towards all living beings, pleasant conversation, belief in a supreme region, helping in return, truthfulness, whole-some advice to others, belief in the authority of Vedas; devotion to preceptors. Devas, divine sages, enlightened sages, etc, association with good men, eagerness in performing noble deeds and friendship.

A man attains Atyantika Laya (final emancipation of the soul) by a thorough comprehension of the Yogavidya along-with its eight subsidiary components.