History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v7.c95.188

v7.c95.188

"so truly according as he works and according as he behaves so will he be, a man of good deeds will become (be born) good, a man of evil deeds will become (be born) evil; he becomes holy by holy deeds, evil by evil deeds. Here they say 'a person only consists of desires (or is fashioned out of) desires and as his desire is so will be his (determination or) will and as is his will, so is his deed; and whatever deeds he does that he will become (reap)."²⁵⁰⁹ On this there is a verse 'To whatever a man's mind and subtle body are attached to that he goes together with (the fruits of) his deeds and after having obtained the end (the last results) of whatever deeds he does in this world, he returns again from that world (where he temporarily went by way of reward) to this world of action, so much with regard to him who is consumed by desires; now concerning the man who has no desires (akāmayamāna); he who is without desire, free from desire, in whose case desires are laid to rest, who is himself his own desire, his vital spirits do not withdraw elsewhere but he, being *brahma* itself (here), is absorbed into *brahma* (or attains to *brahma*). On this point there is a verse: 'When all hankerings that found an abode in a man's heart vanish, then he who was liable to death becomes immortal, here (in this body itself) he attains to *brahma*." In the above passage the sequence is : desire, will and act.