Chapter 369 - The description of absolute dissolution and the process of creation

[Sanskrit text for this chapter is available]

[Full title: The description of absolute dissolution and the process of creation (ātyantika-laya-garbhotpatti)]

Fire-god said:

l. I shall describe absolute dissolution [i.e., ātyantika-laya]. Absolute dissolution arises from knowledge after having known the sufferings caused by the mind etc. from one’s disinclination.

2. The sufferings are of two kinds: physical and mental. The physical sufferings are manifold. O Twice-born! Listen to me! I shall describe them.

3-5. The (individual) soul after having discarded the sensual body enters the womb as a result of (the past) deeds. 0 Twice-born! this body known as ātivāhika (that is carried forward) is peculiar to men alone. O Twice-born! when the time for death comes the bodies of men are carried away by the servants of Varna (God of Death) along the path of Varna. O Sage! this is not the case with the other beings. Such a person would wander in heaven and hell like the ghaṭayantra^[1].

6-7. O Brahmin! This is a land of deeds and is known to bear fruits (of one’s actions). Varna (God of Death) is the cause of one’s birth. He determines the hell (to which one has to go) on account of the deed. Being awaited by them (men), Varna, makes them get their befitting places (dependent) on their (deeds). The beings which have got ethereal (bodies) reach the (befitting) wombs.

8-9a. A man is led by the messengers of Varna and he sees him (Varna). A pious man is honoured by him and a sinner is beaten. Citragupta^[2] informs him the good or bad deed (done) in (every) house.

9b-12a. (The departed soul) dwells in the Ātivāhika (provisional) body and partakes the funeraloblations offered by the relatives. O Knower of virtue! (After the funeral is over) (the soul) rejects that preta body (attained after death) and ascends to another region from that of the pretas. It dwells (there) experiencing hunger and thirst and partakes the raw offerings (made to it by the relatives). A person does not get release from this newly acquired body without (eating) the funeral oblations. He partakes the ball-offerings there itself.

12b-13a. When the sapiṇḍīkaraṇa^[3] has been done, a (dead) man discards the preta body and gets a sensuous body after one year.

13b-14. Both the bodies are said to be sensuous and designated as inauspicious and auspicious. After having enjoyed by means of the sensuous body, one gets released from the bondage of deeds. Demons devour that body after that.

15. O Twice-born! A person who does sinful deeds, would enjoy (the fruits of good deeds at first) in the heaven. Then he takes a second body of sinners to experience (the fruits of sin).

16. After experiencing the fruits of sin one that has enjoyed heaven, is thereafter born in a pure and prosperous family.

17. A person doing pious deeds having (a little of) sin would first experience (the fruits of) the sin and when that body is dissolved would attain a beautiful body.

18. A person gets freed from hell even if a little of past deed still remains. There is no doubt that he would be born as an animal after getting liberated from hell.

19-20. The soul after having entered the womb dwells in the foetus. It gets hard in the second (month). The limbs (grow) in the third (month). Bones, skin and flesh (are formed) in the fourth (month). Hair grows in the fifth (month). Heart (is formed) in the sixth. The soul feels pain in the seventh.

21. Thus (the child) remains in the womb being covered with the placenta and having hands folded above the head. A eunuch stays in the middle (of the abdomen), a female (child) on the left side and a male (child) on the right side.

22. The child stays in the womb facing the back (of the mother). There is no doubt that it (the child) recognises the person in whose (womb) it stays.

23. It knows fully all the incidents of previous life from birth onwards. A person finds a great darkness and (experiences) suffering.

24. In the seventh month it partakes the food eaten by the mother. It becomes extremely restive in the eighth and ninth months.

25. It suffers when there is coition and physical exercise on the part of the mother. It becomes sick when (the mother is) sick, a moment (of agony) appearing as if lasting for a hundred years.

26. It is tormented by the (past) deeds and makes resolutions: “O Brahman! After getting out from the womb I will gain knowledge relating to liberation (from this bondage)”.

27. Being pressed down by the wind inside (mother’s) womb, it gets out through the vagina. It gets afflicted in the first month (after birth) and feels pain when touched with the hand.

28. The auditory organs, minor organs and the state of being separate (are produced) in the body from the ether with (its attribute of) sound. The process of breathing, movement and the feeling of touch are due to the wind.

29. Personality, sense of seeing, heat, celebrity, biles, intellect, colour, strength, shade, splendour and valour arise in the body from fire.

30. Sweat, the organ of taste, moisture, marrow, taste, blood, semen, urine and phlegm and the like are produced in the body from water.

31-33. The sense of smell, hair, nail, weight and firmness of the bones (are) from earth. The delicate organs, skin, flesh, heart, navel, marrow, ordure, fat, moisture and the upper part of the belly are got from the mother. Veins, arteries and semen are got from the father. Lust, anger, fear, joy, the states of being pious and not pious, form, voice, colour and the discharge of urine and the like are due to one’s own (state).

34. Ignorance, negligence, idleness, thirst, hunger, infatuation, jealousy, defectiveness, grief, weariness and fear are qualities of tamas (temperament).

35. O Great sage! Lust, anger, valour, desire to do sacrifice, garrulousness, ego and contempt for others are qualities of rājasa (temperament).

36. Desire to be righteous, desire for emancipation, extreme devotion to (lord) Keśava (Viṣṇu), compassion and diligence should be termed as arising from sāttvika (temperament).

37. A person in whom wind predominates would be fickle, irritable, cowardly, garrulous, yielding to vices of kali (yuga) and dreams of flying in the air.

38. A person in whom bile predominates would be prematurely grey-haired, irritable, very learned, fond of battle and one who sees conflagrations in dream.

39. A person in whom phlegm abounds would be a steadfast friend, constantly enthusiastic, having firm limbs, endowed with wealth and one who perceives water and white colour in dream.

40-41. Serum is the life force in the body of beings. Blood (serves as) the anointment. Flesh causes urination and perspiration. Bones make (the body) firm. Marrow would fill up and increase potency. Semen gives potency. Ojas (virility) is the sustainer of life.

42. Virility is subtler and lesser yellow than semen and flows in the vicinity of heart. There are six parts of the body, viz, two thighs (legs), two hands, head and belly.

43-45. The six external layers of skin are the epidermis, (the layer) that contains blood, the next one that contains features of grace, the fourth one that bears the sacs (storing fluids), the fifth one that is the seat of abscesses and the sixth one that supports life. There are seven sheaths (namely) that which supports flesh, the second one, blood, that which is the prop for liver and spleen, the next one that holds fat and that which supports bone, that which holds marrow, phlegm and feces, situated in the abdomen. The sixth is that which holds bile and (the next one) that holds semen in the region of that sac.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

A mechanism for drawing water from a well.

[2]:

One of the assistants of Yama who records the virtuous and vicious deeds of men.

[3]:

The rite performed at the end of one year or on the twelfth day after the death of a person to unite the dead with the departed ancestors.