10 - Conversation between a father and son.

Jaimini asks the Birds for instruction how living beings come into existence and die, and how the foetus lives and develops-The Birds repeat the explanation that a wise young brahman Sumati, who was nick-named Jada* because of his apparent stupidity, but who remembered his former existences, gave his father- He explains how death occurs, and describes the after-existences through which a living being passes according as it has lived well or ill- He describes incidentally the hell Raurava.

* See Canto XIV.

Jaimini spoke.

1 Declare my doubt, when I enquire, O powerful brahmans, wherein the appearance and disappearance of living beings

2 consist. How is an animal produced? How too does it develop? How, again, is it placed when contained within the

3 womb, pressed upon by the limbs? How, again, when it has issued from the womb, does it grow? And how at the moment

4 of departure is it deprived of the sentient state? Every lead person also experiences the results of both his good and his land deeds, and how then do those deeds bring about† their results to

† For sampadayanti read sampadayati (neuter, dual, present participle)?

5 him? Why does the foetus not become digested there in the stomach, as if it were converted into a morsel of food? In the female’s belly, where the various foods consumed are digested although highly indigestible, how is it that the little animal

6 is not digested there? Declare all this to me, free from doubtful terms; this very matter is a transcendant mystery, where men do err. 

The birds spoke.

7 Unparalleled is this burdensome question that thon has propounded to us; it is difficult to be imagined, touching it does the existence and death of all living beings. Listen to

8 it, Sir! as a son, most thoroughly righteous, named Sumati, †† once declared it to his father. 

†† For Samatir read Sumatir. 

A certain highly intelligent brahman of Bhruigu's line addressed his son Sumati who had undergone bis initiation, and who was tranquil, and in appearance stupid. “Study the Vedas, O Sumati, in order from the beginning, be zealous in obedience to thy guru, make thy food of victuals collected by begging. After that taking upon thee the duties of a house-holder, and performing the chiefest sacrifices, beget the desired offspring. Next resort to the forest, and then living in the forest, my son, be a wandering ascetic, * free from family ties. This shalt thou attain that highest object of religious knowledge, the Supreme Being, reaching which thou shalt not grieve." 

* For parivrata read parivrán.

The birds spoke.

Thus, frequently counselled, he through his stupidity never replied: still the father again and again repeatedly admonished him affectionately. He thus frequently exhorted by his father, through paternal love, alluringly and in pleasant terms, spoke thus at length with a laugh: -

15     "Father! I have repeatedly studied this that thou enjoinest me to-day, the other Shastras also, and the various mechanical

16 arts. Ten thousand births and more have passed into my memory; disgusts and gratifications have sported in the

17 decay and the rise of my mind. I have seen partings and meetings among enemies, friends and wives; I have seen mothers of various kinds, and fathers of various kinds also.

18 I have tasted joys and sorrows thousands of times. Many

19 kinsmen have I gained, and fathers of divers kinds. I have also dwelt in women's wombs, slimy with ordure and urine; and thousands of times have the pains of sicknesses also taken

20 grievous hold of me. Many sufferings have I endured in my stomach in childhood, and youth and old age: all those do

21 I remember. I have been begotten of brahmans, kshatriyas and vaishyas, and even shudras; and again, of cattle and insects,

22 of deer and birds. I have been born Moreover, in the houses of kings' dependants, and of kings resplendent in battle, and

23 in thy dwelling also. I have been a servant and a slave frequently to men. I have been a master and a lord, and a

24 poor man as well. I have given blows, and I have received blows from others, and my own blows have procured my blows in return. Others have given me gifts, and I have given

25 gifts to others many a time. I have been gratified also by the deeds of father, mother, friend, brother, wife and other relatives. And often have I fallen into misery with my face

26 washed with tears. Whilst thus wandering, O father, in the crowded circle of mundane existence, I have gained this knowledge, which procures final emancipation from existence.

27 That being known, all this body of religious rites, called Rich Yajus and Säman, is worthless, and does not appear fit

28 tingly to mo. Of what use consequently are the Vedas to me, who am mature in wisdom, satiated with the knowledge

29 of the gurus, void of desires, virtuous in soul? I will gain, O brahman! the highest seat, that Supreme Soul, which is exempt from the qualities of the sixfold actions, pain, pleasure,

30 joy, and love. Hence, O father, I will abandon this well-known series of pains which is tainted by love, joy, fear, in quietude, anger, resentment and old age, and which is hampered with

31 hundreds of nooses in close contact ensnaring one's own self as game, and I will depart. Does not the duty enjoined by the three Vedas, which abounds in unrighteousness, * resemble the result of sin?" 

* A pun on dharma and a-dharma. Prof. Monier-Williams gives trayi-dharma as masc. only.

The birds spoke.

32 Hearing that his declaration, which was interrupted by joy and surprise, the eminent father with gladsome mind addressed his son. 

The father spoke.

33 “What is this thou sayest, my son? Whence arose thy wisdom? How came thy stupidity before, and thy awakening

34 now? Is this a curse-wrought change inflicted on thee by a Muni or god, since thy wisdom which was obscured has become manifest?"

The son spoke.

35 “Listen, father, how this happened to me, entailing pleasure and pain on me, and who I was in another birth, and what is beyond myself.

36 I was formerly a brahman, my soul fixed on the Supreme Being; I attained the highest perfection in the consideration of the knowledge of the Supreme Being. While continually

37 occupied in devotion, through constant application to study, through association with the good, through my own natural disposition, through deliberation, behaviour and

38 purification, while occupying myself in this indeed I experienced the sublimest joy at all times, and I gained the position of a spiritual guide, the most successful remover of

39 the doubts of disciples. A long while afterwards I attained absolute perfection; and my good disposition warped by

40 ignorance fell into calamity through carelessness. Beginning from the time of my departure I had no failure of memory, until a year had passed and had returned to my

41 recollection of my births. Being such, I, keeping my organs under control, will strive indeed, O father, by means of that my former study, so to act that I may not have another

42 existence. For this is the result of learning and liberality that I remember former existences; this indeed is not obtained, O father, by men who apply themselves to the duty enjoined

43 by the three Vedas. Being such I, from my former hermitage indeed, recurring to the duty of perfection, will attain to devotion to ono object and will strive for the final emancipation

44 of my soul. Declare thou then, Sir! what is perplexing in thy heart: and to this extent let me, bringing the joy, discharge my debt.” 

The birds spoke.

45 Thereupon the father spoke to his son that speech of a man of faith, which relates to the perfection of mundane existence, and which we have been asked by thee, Sir. 

The son spoke.

46 “Listen, O father, how I have often perceived the truth; the circle of mundane existence is ever young, the duration of 

47 which is not known. I then tell thee the whole, with the permission, O father, commencing from the period of departure, as no one else will tell thee. 

48 “Hot moisture is excited in the body; it is set in motion by a strong vital air; blazing without fuel it pierces the sites of

49 the vital organs. And then the vital air, called Udana, passes upwards, impeding the downward course of the water and food consumed.

50 “Hence he, who has offered presents of water and has given

51 food and drink, obtains joy therefrom in adversity. He also who has bestowed food with a mind purified by faith, is then

52 satisfied even without food. He, who has not spoken un truth, nor caused a breach of amity, a faithful believer

53 meets a happy death. Men who have been intent on the worship of the gods and brahmans, and who are unspiteful,*

* For anusúyavaḥ read an-asúyavaḥ.

54 fair, charitable, shamefast, die happily. He who would no forsake righteousness through lust, or anger or hatred, who acts up to his words and is gentle, meets a happy death

55 Men who do not give away water, nor give away food, endure then, on the approach of death, burning thirst and hunger

56 Those who give away fuel overcome cold; those who give away sandal overcome heat; and those who do not inflict dis

57 tress overcome the woeful life-ending pang. Those who cause error and ignorance suffer grievous terror; base men are op

58 pressed with intense pains. A false witness, a liar, and he who teaches evil, they all and also blasphemers of the Vedas die in delusion.

59 " Then Yama's officers, terrific, foul-smelling, carrying hammers and maces, bard-hearted, approach the false man

60 When they meet his eyesight, trembling seizes him, and bewails without ceasing his brother, mother, and children

61 His voice seems thick, O father! and monotonous; and his sight wanders through terror; and his mouth grows dry with

62 his breathing; his breathing grows loud; his sight fails; next

63 he is pervaded with pains; then he quits the body. Preceded by the vital airs he assumes another body, similar to the former, produced by the actions of the former, intended for chastisement, born of no mother and father, like the previous one, with the periods of life and death conformable thereto.

64 “Thereupon Yama's messenger speedily binds him with cruel fetters; drags him, bewildered as he is with the blows

65 of his staff, to the southern region. And so, to some place which is rough with kusha grass, thorns, ant-hills, stakes, and stones, where a fire is raging, which abounds in hundreds

66 of holes, and which is heated by the blazing sun, which is scorched by his rays, he is haled by Yama's emissaries, terrible

67 through their ghastly cries. Being dragged about by those fearful servants, being eaten by hundreds of she-jackals, he, the evil-door, proceeds by an awful road to Yama's abode.

68 Men who give umbrellas and shoes, and who bestow garments, those men pass along that road in ease; and so also do those

69 who give away food. Thus, encountering afflictions, the man oppressed with sin is led in twelve days to the city of king Yama.

70 “While the body is being burnt, he experiences a great burning; also, while it is being beaten, and while it is being

71 divided into pieces, terrible agony. While the body is being wetted a living being enduros a very long pain, even while it is inhabiting another body, through the consequences of

72 its own acts. There the deceased feeds on the water that his relatives offer together with the sesamum seed and the cake

73 that they offer. The anointing with oil by relations, and the kneading of the limbs that they perform, - a living being is

74 nourished thereby, and by what his relations* eat. A living being does not encounter excessive affliction on the earth through his deceased relatives, and so when dead lie is nourished by his relatives who make gifts.

* For sa bandhavah read sva-bándhaváh

75 “Being led off he sees his own abode for twelve days and he enjoys the water, cake &c. that are offered on the earth.

76 After twelve days, the man who is being carried off, next sees Yama's city, awful, made of iron, terrible in appearance.

77 Immediately he has gone there he beholds Yama, with fiery red eyes, like to a mass of broken collyrium; in the midst of

78 Death, the destroyer Time and others; his mouth gaping with projecting teeth, his countenance dreadful with frowns; a lord surrounded by hundreds of deformed, horrible and crooked

79 diseases; busy in awarding punishment, with long arms, noose in his hand, very formidable. Then the living being

80 takes the happy or miserable course decreed by him. But the false witness goes to Raurava, and the man who is un truthful. Listen while I describe the nature of that Raurava

81 “Raurava* is in truth two thousand yojanas in size. The there is a chasm, just knee-deep, very difficult to pass over

* Terrible.

82 in it charcoal is heaped up aud made level with the ground It barns vehemently with its glowing surface of kindle 

83 charcoal. In its midst Yama's servitors cast the evil-doer

84 He runs about there, being burnt by the violent flame; and at each step, his foot is wasted and consumed again and again day and night he continues on the move.

85 “When he has thus passed over a thousand yojanas he is released, and then enters another similar hell Niraya, † to

† Devoid of happiness.

86 purge away his sins. Afterwards when he has passed through all the hells, the sinner enters the brute creation among worms, insects and birds; among carnivorous animals

87 among mosquitoes and such like. After having been born among elephants, trees and such like, among cattle, and among horses also; and among other evil and noxious crea

88 tures; he attains humanity, and is born a man, contemptible as a hunch-back or a dwarf; among chandālas, pukkasas and

89 such-like castes; and then accompanied by the remainder of his sin and merit, he enters the castes in ascending order

90 such as shudras, vaishyas, kings and so on; also, the position of brahmans, the gods and Indra. Sometimes in descending order, and thus evil-doers fall headlong into the hells.

91 "What happens to righteous-doers, listen while I declare that. They take the holy course decreed by Yama. Bands

92 of Gandharvas singing, bevies of Apsarases dancing, brilliant with various celestial garlands, bedecked with strings of pearls

93 and anklets and gay with music, * and heavenly chariots beyond compare go forth quickly to them. And when they descend therefrom, they are born in the family of

* For - Shobhitáni read - Shobhita?

94 kings and other high-souled men: there observing upright conduct, they experience vigorous† pleasures, and afterwards

† Ugra; or noble.

95 they go upwards; and otherwise, when they take the downward path, they become men as before. 

“This has all been declared to thee, how a living being perishes. Next listen, O Brahmarshi, how the foetus begins."