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Matsyapurana 39

English (machine translation) 39

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English

39.1

Aṣṭaka said: / When you lived in the Nandana garden, assuming forms at will, for a hundred myriad years, / for what reason, O foremost one of the Kṛta Yuga, did you abandon that and descend to the earth?

39.2

Yayāti said: / Just as here a kinsman, a friend, or one's own people are abandoned by humans when their wealth is exhausted, / so in heaven the sky-wandering hosts of gods immediately abandon a human whose merit is exhausted.

39.3

Aṣṭaka said: / How do they become those whose merit is exhausted there? My mind is utterly bewildered on this point. / Possessing what distinction, whose abode do they reach? Tell that indeed, for I consider you a knower of the field.

39.4

Yayāti said: / Lamenting profusely, O lord of men, they all fall into this earthly hell; / and to serve as food for herons, jackals, and demons, they attain various states of growth on the earth.

39.5

Therefore, O lord of men, such vile and blameworthy action in the world must be avoided. / All this has been narrated to you, O king; speak further now, what shall I tell you?

39.6

Aṣṭaka said:
When birds peck at them, and likewise vultures, white-throated [birds], and winged insects,
how do they exist, how do they come into being? I hear from you of this earthly hell.

39.7

Yayāti said:
Above the body, unfolding from their action, they visibly wander upon the earth;
they fall into this earthly hell, and do not look back for many multitudes of years.

39.8

For sixty and eighty thousand years they fall in the sky;
and as they fall, having departed, terrible earthly rākṣasas with sharp fangs drive them onward.

39.9

Aṣṭaka said:
When these terrible earthly rākṣasas with sharp fangs torment them as they fall,
how do they exist, how do they come into being, being of what nature do they become embryos?

39.10

Yayāti said:
Blood and semen, joined with the essence of the flower [of menses], immediately follow [when] discharged by the man;
and [the soul] enters the menstrual fluid in the womb; having become an embryo, it comes into being there.

39.11

They enter trees and plants, water, wind, earth, and the sky,
quadrupeds and bipeds, and all things; being of such a nature, they become embryos.

39.12

Aṣṭaka said:
Does the embryo take on another body here, or does it go by its own desire,
entering into this human womb? Explain this to me as I ask out of doubt.

39.13

By what does it attain consciousness, the bodily frame and forms, and eyes and ears?
Explain all this, father, when questioned, for all consider you a knower of the field.

39.14

Yayāti said:
At the fertile season, the wind draws into the womb the semen joined with the essence of the flower;
there, assigned to the subtle elements, it gradually develops the embryo in this world.

39.15

Then, being born, as soon as he is received, the human being, having established consciousness,
perceives sound with his two ears, and he sees form with his eye;

39.16

and smell with the nose, taste with the tongue, touch with the skin, and divine nature with the mind.
Know that in this way, O Aṣṭaka, [it is] accumulated in the body of the high-souled living being.

39.17

Aṣṭaka said:
When a man who has died is burned, or buried, or dragged away,
becoming non-existent, having met with destruction, by what does he become conscious beforehand?

39.18

Yayāti said:
Having abandoned his life-breaths, having ceased like one asleep, placing his good and evil deeds before him,
he abandons his body and takes another womb in accordance with his merit and sin, O lion among kings.

39.19

Doers of good enter an auspicious womb; doers of evil go to an evil womb.
From sins they become worms and insects; I have no wish to speak further [of this], O noble one.

39.20

Quadrupeds, bipeds, and birds become embryos in this manner.
All this has been related entirely; what more do you ask, O lion among kings?

39.21

Aṣṭaka said:
By doing what, father, does a mortal attain the highest consciousness through ascetic heat or through knowledge?
Questioned, relate all that to me as it is, by which he may go in due order to the auspicious worlds.

39.22

Yayāti said:
Ascetic heat, giving, tranquility, self-restraint, modesty, uprightness, and compassion for all beings—
the virtuous call these the seven great gateways of heaven for men.

39.23

And all these as described, foremost in ascetic heat, are destroyed for an envious man
overcome by darkness through pride; so the virtuous always say.

39.24

A man who studies, considering himself learned, and through his learning ruins the fame of another,
his worlds have an end, and that [learning] does not grant him the fruit of the Veda.

39.25

Four actions are terrible and produce fear when improperly performed:
a fire offering done with pride, silence observed with pride, study done with pride, and sacrifice performed with pride.

39.26

One should not rejoice when honored, nor should one suffer grief from disrespect.
In this world the virtuous honor the virtuous; the wicked do not attain the mentality of the virtuous.

39.27

“Thus one should give, thus one should sacrifice, thus one should study”—such is my learning;
these, they say, are fearless, and must never be abandoned.

39.28

That ancient refuge which the wise recognize in the mind endowed with honor—
having attained union with that highest good, they would attain supreme peace both here and after death.

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