The Philosophy of the Upanishads c12.s2.t3.28

c12.s2.t3.28

“‘Yâjñavalkhya,’ thus he spake, ‘when a man dies, do the vital spirits wander forth from him or not?’ ‘By no means,’ said Yâjñavalkhya, ‘but they remain gathered together at the very same place; his body swells up, becomes inflated, and he lies there dead and inflated.’” ¹ In this passage, as has been already remarked,² no restriction to those who are already emancipated is implied, since inflation by the expanding gases may be observed in every body without distinction. Yet we are compelled, as seems to have been done already by the Mâdhyandinas, to interpret the words only of the emancipated, if we would not set ourselves in irreconcilable contradiction with the words of Yâjñavalkhya elsewhere:—“When the life departs, all the vital organs depart with it.” ³