SECTION XXXIV
"Sauti said, 'Hearing this story of the re-appearance and departure of
his forefathers, king Janamejaya of great intelligence became highly
pleased. Filled with joy, he once more questioned Vaisampayana on the
subject of the reappearance of dead men, saying,--"How is it possible for
persons whose bodies have been destroyed to re-appear in those very
forms?" Thus asked, that foremost of regenerate persons, viz., the
disciple of Vyasa, that first of speakers, possessed of great energy,
thus answered Janamejaya.
"Vaisampayana said, 'This is certain, viz., that acts are never destroyed
(without their consequences being enjoyed or endured). Bodies, O king,
are born of acts; so also are features. The great primal elements are
eternal (indestructible) in consequence of the union with them of the
Lord of all beings. They exist with what is eternal. Accordingly, they
have no destruction when the non-eternal are destroyed. Acts done without
exertion are true and foremost, and bear real fruit. The soul, united
however with such acts as require exertion for their accomplishment,
enjoys pleasure and pain.[50] Though united so (that is, with pleasure
and pain), yet it is a certain inference that the soul is never modified
by them, like the reflection of creatures in a mirror. It is never
destroyed.[51] As long as one's acts are not exhausted (by enjoyment or
endurance of their fruits good and bad), so long does one regard the body
to be oneself. The man, however, whose acts have been exhausted, without
regarding the body to be self, takes the self to be something
otherwise.[52] Diverse existent objects (such as the primal elements and
the senses, etc.) attaining to a body, become united as one. To men of
knowledge who understand the difference (between the body and self),
those very objects become eternal.[53] In the Horse-sacrifice, this Sruti
is heard in the matter of the slaying of the horse. Those which are the
certain possessions of embodied creatures, viz., their life-breaths (and
the senses, etc.), exist eternally even when they are borne to the other
world. I shall tell thee what is beneficial, if it be agreeable to thee,
O king. Thou hast, while employed in thy sacrifices, heard of the paths
of the deities. When preparations were made for any sacrifice of thine,
the deities became beneficially inclined to thee. When indeed, the
deities were thus disposed and came to thy sacrifices, they were lords in
the matter of the passage (from this to the next world) of the animals
slain.[54] For this reason, the eternal ones (viz., Jivas), by adoring
the deities in sacrifices, succeed in attaining to excellent goals. When
the five primal elements are eternal, when the soul also is eternal, he
called Purusha (viz., the soul invested with case) is equally so. When
such is the case, he who beholds a creature as disposed to take diverse
forms, is regarded as having an erroneous understanding. He who indulges
in too much grief at separation is, I think, a foolish person. He who
sees evil in separation should abandon union. By standing aloof, no
unions are formed, and sorrow is cast off, for sorrow in the world is
born of separation.[55] Only he who understands the distinction between
body and self, and not another, becomes freed from the erroneous
conviction. He that knows the other (viz., self) attains to the highest
understanding and becomes freed from error.[56] As regards creatures.
they appear from an invisible state, and once more disappear into
invisibleness. I do not know him. He also does not know me. As regards
myself, renunciation is not yet mine.[57] He that is not possessed of
puissance enjoys or endures the fruits of all his acts in those too dies
in which he does them. If the act be a mental one, its consequences are
enjoyed or endured mentally; if it be done with the body, its
consequences are to be enjoyed or endured in the body.'"[58]
