Skandapurana 6.2.68.43.2

6.2.68.43.2

"I am powerful among piśācas, yet I fled upon seeing you. / For death is sorrow for all, and life is exceedingly hard to obtain; / therefore, frightened, I run away for the sake of life and in search of well-being." (15) / The brahmin said: / "Whence is happiness for you, O piśāca? Death would indeed be better for you! / The state of a piśāca is a vile womb, born only to sinners." (16) / The piśāca said: / "For a living soul, wherever it goes, becomes a vessel of happiness; / therefore I desire to live. Be pleased, O brahmarākṣasa!" (17) / The brahmin said: / "I do not wish to devour you; I am a brahmin, not a rākṣasa! / I wander the earth for the welfare of all beings. (18) / A brahmin is said to be the friend of all living creatures; / do not fear me, for I have attained the disposition of a friend." (19) / Hearing his word, the piśāca, his mind reassured, / bowed down and replied thus to the brahmin Śākaṭāyana: (5.2.68.20) / "If you have granted the gift of fearlessness to all beings, / and if you have become friendly in deed, mind, and speech, (21) / I ask you, O fortunate one, a doubt lingering in my heart; / having heard it, you ought to explain it fully to me out of compassion: (22) / By what maturation of action does a human enter the state of a piśāca? / How is liberation from the condition of a piśāca attained by those of sinful deeds?" (23) / Hearing these words of that piśāca, O fair-faced one, / Śākaṭāyana, enveloped with affection, spoke to him: (24) / "Having stolen the property of a brahmin, and especially that of the gods, / through that sin the most sinful people enter the state of a piśāca. (25) / The man who, having deceived father, mother, wife, child, or a twice-born, / steals their wealth, becomes a piśāca. (26) / Having taken the king's property, he who neither sacrifices nor gives, / but nourishes only himself, goes to the state of a piśāca. (27) / Those who are betrayers of trust, and those who take delight in another's wife..."