History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v7.c95.239.3

v7.c95.239.3

Sanjana on p 10 of his 'Dogma of reincarnation') that Manu prescribes that 'each ego has to go through ten thousand millions of existences.' Manu nowhere says so. All that he means is that the Sannyāsin desirous of liberation should revolve in his mind the possibility of some souls having to migrate through millions of births. Yāj (in III. 169) employs the verb 'saṁsarati' in the sense of 'undergoes births' and states 'The fruition of actions done by some men results after death (in other bodies) or in this very life (as in the case of Kārīrī sacrifice) and in some cases either in this world or the next (i. e. there is no hard and fast śāstra rule that fruits of actions result immediately after they are done); it also states in a fine simile²⁵³⁸ 'just as an actor, when acting different parts, colours his body in different colours (fair, dark, brown), so the soul assumes various forms (as short, hunchback, &c.), assumes different bodies due to the various acts done by it. In Yāj III. 140 the word saṁsāra itself occurs 'The soul affected by (or under the influence of) *rajas* and *tamas*, wandering in this world and coming in contact with undesirable objects (or mental attitudes) goes through transmigration (i. e. assumes various bodies)'. This is in reply to the question in Yāj. III. 129 (Īśvaraḥ sa kathaṁ bhāvairanistaiḥ samprayujyate). The Śāntiparva²⁵³⁹ remarks 'there is no doubt that in life there is far more misery than happiness'.