by Bibek Debroy
Chapter 3(30)
‘“Kapila said, ‘Indeed, people do not know about his great strength, though they are at the mercy of time, just as a mass of clouds does not know about the strength of the wind that carries it away. For the sake of happiness, whatever one obtains with a great deal of difficulty, is destroyed by the illustrious one and a man sorrows on this account. This body, and everything associated with it, is temporary. However, out of delusion, an evil-minded person takes them and homes, fields and riches to be permanent. A living being finds satisfaction as whatever kind of species it is born in, and is never disgusted. Even if the body is in hell, a man does not want to give it up. Confounded by the maya of the god, he finds satisfaction in that existence in hell. With deep-rooted affection in his heart for himself, his wife, his children, his houses, his animals, his riches and his relatives, he takes himself to be extremely fortunate. In an attempt to maintain these, all the limbs burn with anxiety. The foolish person, evil in his intentions, incessantly performs wicked acts. The senses are agitated by the false charms of wicked women. He takes delight in talking to them in private and in the sweet words of children. Attentively engaged in the secret 1151 dharma of a householder, he faces a lot of misery. The householder acts so as to counter misery and takes this to be joy. He obtains a great deal of wealth by causing violence here and there. He himself eats only what is left after his dependents have eaten and heads downwards. 1152 In trying to subsist, his attempts are repeatedly frustrated. Overcome by greed, he is ruined and desires the wealth of others. He is unable to sustain his family. He is unfortunate and his efforts are futile. He is without riches and miserable. The evil-minded person grieves and sighs. In this way, seeing that he is unable to support his dependents, his wife and the others no longer respect him, as they used to do earlier. It is like the attitude of a farmer towards an old bull. Even then, no disgust is generated in him. About to die, he is maintained by his own dependents. He is deformed because of old age and in this way, in his home, he approaches death. He is neglected and eats like a dog in the house. Suffering from disease and indigestion, he eats little and his movements become limited. Because of the pressure of the air, his eyeballs bulge. His glands become obstructed because of phlegm. He coughs and finds it difficult to breathe. There is a gurgling sound in his throat. He lies down, surrounded by his grieving relatives. Having come under the subjugation of the noose of time, even when he is spoken to, he does not reply. In this way, having indulged in the unrestrained senses in an attempt to sustain his family, he dies in pain and not without consciousness, with the relatives weeping. Two terrible messengers of Yama arrive and their eyes are full of rage. On seeing them, his heart is terrified and he releases urine and excrement. They forcibly tie a rope around his neck and imprison him 1153 in a body, so that pain can be caused. Like a convict being punished by the king’s soldiers, he is dragged a long distance away. When he is conveyed in this way, his heart is shattered by the threats and he trembles. Dogs devour him along the way and, afflicted, he remembers his own sins. He suffers from hunger and thirst. Along the path, he is scorched by hot sand, the sun, forest conflagrations and wind. He is severely struck on the back with whips. Without rest and water, he is unable to move. Exhausted, he falls down here and there, unconscious, but raises himself again. Along that evil path, he is swiftly conveyed to Yama’s abode. Suffering, in two or three muhurtas he is conveyed a distance of ninety-nine thousand yojanas 1154 and reaches there. He is surrounded by blazing torches and his body is set on fire. He is sometimes made to cut up his own flesh and eat it, or get it eaten by others. In Yama’s abode, while he is still alive, his entrails are torn out by dogs and vultures. He is tormented by the bites of snakes, scorpions, gnats and other such things. His limbs are chopped off. Elephants and other such animals crush him. He is hurled down from the peaks of mountains. He is imprisoned inside the water, or in caves. Whether a man or a woman, the person suffers pain in hells known as tamisra, andha-tamisra, rourava and others and also those constructed for people who indulge in illicit relations. O mother! It is said that heaven and hell are on this earth. The pain of hell is also noticed in this world. In this way, he may have maintained his family and filled his stomach. However, after death, he gives up both his family and his body and enjoys these kinds of fruits. After having given up his own body, he enters the darkness alone. The sin of injury he has caused to creatures is the only thing that sustains him then. It is because of destiny that a man obtains and enjoys this defilement in hell, having maintained his family. Having lost his riches, he is like a person who is afflicted. A person who is eager to maintain his family only through adharma, obtains his ultimate state of darkness in andha-tamisra. Headed downwards and born as a subhuman species, he goes through many kinds of afflictions. As he gradually passes through these, he again obtains an auspicious birth.’ 1155
Chapter 3(31)
‘“The illustrious one said, ‘Depending on his karma, a living being obtains a body under the supervision of the god. Using a particle of a man’s semen, he enters the womb of a woman. The mixing 1156 takes place in a single night. A bubble results on the fifth night. In ten days, there is a mass like a jujube berry. 1157 After that, there is flesh and it becomes an egg. The head is formed in a month. The arms, feet, limbs and other parts of the body develop in two months. Nails, body hair, bones, skin, genital organs and the anus are formed in three months. The seven ingredients 1158 of the body are formed in four months and hunger and thirst develop in the fifth. The placenta provides a covering in the sixth month and there is movement on the right side of the stomach. The ingredients of the body develop from the mother’s intake of food and drink. The being lies down in a hollow that is full of urine and excrement, a place where worms breed. All his limbs are delicate and they are constantly wounded from the biting of the worms. Hungry all the time, he loses consciousness because of the suffering. The mother eats excessively bitter, pungent, hot, salty, astringent, acidic and other such food. Touched by these, there is pain in all his limbs. He is enveloped by the embryo. 1159 On the outside, he is covered by the entrails. His head is bent down towards the stomach. His back and neck are arched. Like a bird in a cage, he is unable to move his own limbs. Depending on destiny, he may gain his memory and remember his karma in one hundred earlier births. Remembering these, he sighs deeply. How can one obtain peace in that state? Beginning with the seventh month, consciousness develops. Because of the wind of delivery, he trembles and cannot remain in one place, but is tossed around inside the stomach, like the worms born from the excrement. The living being is terrified and looks for a protector. Surrounded by the seven sheaths, he falteringly prays to the one who has hurled him inside the stomach. The living being says, “I approach and seek protection at the lotus feet of the one who creates the universe with his will. He assumes many kinds of forms and roams around the earth. I go and seek refuge with him, so that he can grant me freedom from fear. Since I was wicked, he is the one who has decided that this kind of destination is appropriate for me. I am in this body made out of five elements, but am actually separate from it. I am falsely covered by the senses and the gunas. I am the atman which is consciousness. The omniscient one is unrestricted in his greatness and I bow down to the being who is beyond Prakriti and Purusha. It is because of his greatness that one is bound down in karma and the gunas. One is suffering pain and is wandering around on this path of samsara. The memory has been destroyed. Without his great mercy, how can one realize one’s true nature? Mobile and immobile objects follow him. Other than that divinity, who can provide me knowledge about the past, the present and the future? Along the trail of karma, the jivatman follows him. We worship him so that the three kinds of torments are countered.” He is in another person’s body, he is in a hollow inside the body, suffering from the fire in the stomach and immersed in a pool of blood, urine and excrement. His body is severly scorched. He is anxious to emerge and counts the months. Miserable in his intelligence, he asks,
“O illustrious one! When will I be released from here? O lord! I am ten months old and have been reduced to this state. I have been made to accept this state because of your mercy. May the protector of the distressed be satisfied with what he has done. Indeed, what can I do for him, except to join my hands in salutation? The jivatman is bound by the seven sheaths and can use his intelligence to perceive and control pleasure and pain in his own body. O ancient being! You have created this. I can see you outside my heart. You appear like a sanctuary. O lord! I am residing here, in an abode that is full of many kinds of miseries. I do not wish to leave this womb and immerse myself in the well of ignorance outside. If one goes there, one is captured by the divine one’s maya. Indeed, with that false intelligence, one circles around in the cycle of birth and death. Therefore, let this agitation be over. With my atman as a well-wisher, I will quickly deliver myself from this darkness. Now that I have obtained Vishnu’s feet, let this hardship of many holes 1160 not be something I have to face again.” After ten months in the womb, the learned one makes up his mind in this way. However, when he is in this act of praising, the wind of delivery at the time of birth immediately propels him downwards. He is violently pushed by the wind, afflicted and his head downwards. He emerges with difficulty and finds it hard to breathe. He loses his memory. He falls down on the ground, mixed with blood and writhes around like a worm in the excrement. With his knowledge lost, he obtains a perverse state and cries. He is dependent on others. He is nurtured by others, who do not know his desires. Even if he is given something he does not want, he is unable to refuse. The being is made to lie down on an unclean bed, defiled by those who are born from sweat. 1161 He is incapable of scratching his limbs. He cannot sit, arise or move. He has been deprived of his knowledge. His delicate skin is bitten by gnats, mosquitoes and other bugs, like worms biting other worms. In this way, he suffers from miseries in childhood and as a boy. Unable to obtain what he desires, he is overwhelmed by grief. Because of his ignorance, his rage is ignited. As his body grows, so do his pride and anger. Driven by desire, he fights with others who are driven by desire and ensures his own destruction. The body is made out of five elements. However, he is perpetually ignorant about the body. He accepts notions of “I” and “mine” and acts in accordance with this wicked intelligence. He performs acts for the body and is bound in the cycle of birth and death. Because of his ignorance, he is tied down in the bondage of action. He gives himself hardships that follow him. He is repeatedly brought back to the wicked path and acts for the sake of the penis and the stomach. Having resorted to these, the being finds delight and enters darkness again, as earlier. Because of association with the wicked, truth, purity, compassion, silence, intelligence, prosperity, modesty, fame, forgiveness, fortitude, self-restraint and fortune are destroyed. One must not associate with disturbed, foolish and wicked people who have separated themselves from their atmans. They are as inauspicious as domesticated deer that women play with. There is no confusion or bondage from attachment to something that is as great as the attachment towards women, or association with men who are thus attached. At the sight of his own daughter, Prajapati 1162 was smitten by her beauty. When she assumed the form of a doe, he shamelessly assumed the form of a buck and ran after her. Among all kinds of living beings that have been created by the creator, and those created thereafter, there is no man who is not attracted to the maya of a woman, the rishi Narayana being the only exception. Behold my maya in the form of a woman, whereby I have conquered the directions. A mere arching of her eyebrows can make people follow her tracks. If one aspires to reach the ultimate shore of yoga, one must never associate with a woman. By serving me, one obtains realization of the atman. However, it is said that she is the gate to hell. A woman has been fashioned by the god and her maya approaches slowly. One must look upon her as death towards one’s own self, like a pit that is covered by grass. In an earlier life, if one was attached to women, one obtains the state of being a woman. Because of my maya she thinks that her husband is approaching and that she has obtained riches, offspring and a house from him. She should know that her husband, offspring, home and her own self are the result of destiny and that they are like the singing of a hunter when he summons a deer to its death. Because of the body, 1163 the jivatman wanders around, from one world to another. Enjoying the fruits, a man incessantly undertakes action. The jivatman follows the body, consisting of the elements, the senses and the mind. When these come to an end, the body dies. But is manifested again in birth. The gross body perceives objects. When it is incapable of perceiving objects, this is said to be panchatva. Because of the sense of “I”, when the objects can be perceived again, this is said to be birth. The eyes can perceive the forms of objects. However, when they cannot perceive objects, this means that the eyes are incapable of seeing. Neither the eyes, nor the seer, can see. 1164 A steadfast person knows this progress of the jivatman and is not terrified, miserable or scared. He roams around in this world without any attachment. Through yoga and intelligence, he possesses the proper insight and is full of non-attachment. In this world that is fashioned by maya, he roams around in his body.’”’
Chapter 3(32)
‘“Kapila said, ‘A person who is in the householder stage performs the dharma meant for those who live in homes. He enjoys his own dharma of kama and artha and repeatedly performs the same tasks. He is confused by desire and withdraws from the dharma of devotion to the illustrious one. Full of devotion, he performs sacrifices and rites for the gods and the ancestors. The man’s mind is full of devotion and he performs the vows for the gods and the ancestors. He goes to the world of the moon and drinks soma, but returns again. When the worlds head towards destruction and Hari, seated on Ananta, lies down on the couch made out of the Indra among serpents, the worlds meant for householders are also destroyed. Those who are intelligent do not enjoy their own dharma for the sake of kama and artha. They are without attachment and give up their tasks. 1165 They are tranquil and pure in their intelligence. They constantly follow the dharma of nivritti. They are without a sense of ownership and without ahamkara. They purify their intelligence through sattva and engage in their own dharma. Through the gate of the sun, they go to the Purusha whose face is in every direction. He is the lord of this world and the next. He is the one who causes the creation and destruction of nature. Those who worship Brahma, taking him to be the supreme, reside in his supreme world for two parardhas. After this, there is destruction. 1166 Having experienced a period of two parardhas, characterized by the three gunas, the supreme Svayambhu enters the immutable, desiring to dissolve the earth, water, fire, wind, space, the mind, the senses, the objects of the senses and the elements that cover them. There are yogis who have controlled their breath of life and minds and are non-attached. Along with Brahma, they enter the immortal, ancient and illustrious Purusha. However, despite reaching that supreme state, they have not lost their ahamkara. 1167 He has made his abode in the lotus hearts of all living beings. O beautiful one! Therefore, with devotion, go and seek refuge with the one whose glories you have heard about. He 1168 is the creator of mobile and immobile objects. The Vedas are in him. Along with the rishis, the Kumaras and the others are lords of yoga and have propounded the path of success through yoga. They are non-attached in their deeds. However, even when they reach the supreme brahman, the Purusha who is a bull among Purushas, because of the gunas, they have a sense of ownership and touched by this ahamkara, have a sense of difference. 1169 When the lord of time decides that it is time, he 1170 is born again. Because of the transformation in the gunas, he is born and creates again, as earlier. Because of the dharma they followed, they 1171 also enjoy supreme prosperity. However, because of the transformation in the gunas, they are born again. In this world, there are those whose minds are attached to action. They always faithfully perform all the tasks that are not prohibited. Because of rajas, their minds are anxious. They have not been able to conquer their senses and their souls are full of desire. As household
ers, they have wishes and every day, perform sacrifices for the ancestors. These men serve the three objectives of life 1172 and their intelligence turns away from Hari’s accounts, though accounts about the great prowess of Madhu’s slayer are worth hearing about. Those who cast aside the nectar-like accounts of Achyuta, and hear wicked accounts instead, are like those who eat excrement and are indeed condemned by fate. They follow the southern path of the sun 1173 and go to the world of the ancestors. They are born as offspring of their own offspring 1174 and perform all the rites, ending with the cremation ground. When the merit of good deeds is exhausted, they return again to this world. Urged by destiny, with their prosperity over and helpless, they fall again. Therefore, in every possible way, you must worship Parameshthi. His lotus feet deserve to be worshipped. With faith, seek refuge in his qualities. If devotion to Vasudeva is practised through bhakti yoga, non-attachment and knowledge that leads to insight about the brahman are swiftly generated. Such a person’s mind is indifferent towards material objects and the workings of the senses. He does not discriminate between what is agreeable and what is disagreeable. He sees the atman in his own atman. He is without attachment and impartial in his vision. He does not think anything is to be accepted or rejected, but considers the supreme and elevated state. The supreme brahman is only knowledge, described as the paramatman, the lord and Purusha. The illustrious one is one, but is perceived in different ways. Through yoga, the yogi seeks the objective of complete non-attachment and desires to achieve this. The brahman is one and is nirguna. However, those who are averse to knowledge use their senses and it appears in the form of diverse objects, such as sound and other things. But this is because of confusion. The self-ruling Mahat appears as three kinds of ahamkara, the five elements and the eleven. 1175 The entire universe originated in the cosmic egg. This can be realized through faith, devotion, constant practice of yoga, meditation, disassociation and non-attachment. O lady who is my senior! I have thus spoken about the knowledge that enables realization of the brahman. Through this, one understands the truth about Purusha and Prakriti. Jnana yoga 1176 is about the nirguna and there are the attributes of bhakti towards me. Both have the same objective, expressed as realization of the illustrious one. The same object can have many attributes and different senses perceive these as different doors. In the same way, the single illustrious one is perceived in different ways in paths mentioned by different sacred texts. Religious rites, sacrifices, donations, austerities, studying, inquiry, conquest of the mind and the senses, renunciation of deeds, the different limbs of yoga, bhakti yoga, both kinds of dharma, pravritti and nivritti, 1177 understanding the truth about the atman and firm non-attachment—these are means of realizing the self-luminous and illustrious one, in saguna and nirguna forms. I have described the nature of the four kinds of bhakti yoga 1178 and about the imperceptible movement of time, which runs inside all living beings. I have spoken about the external and material appearance of the jivatman, caused by ignorance and karma. O dear one! When the atman enters these, it is unable to perceive its own progress. If a person is wicked or insolent, this instruction should never be explained to him, nor to one who is dumb, ill-behaved, or one who falsely flies the flag of dharma. It should not be instructed to a person who is greedy or one whose mind is attached to the house, nor to a person who is not a devotee, or a hater of my devotees. It should be taught to one who is faithful, devoted, humble, without a sense of envy and to a person who is friendly towards all creatures and disposed towards serving. It should be instructed to someone who is non-attached, internally and externally, and to one who is tranquil in his mind, to one who is without envy, is pure and to one who regards me as the dearest of loved ones. O mother! If a man listens to this faithfully, with his mind fixed on me, he certainly obtains my state.’”’