इति प्रथमः पादः
27 verses · 1 of 4
The third adhyaya, on sadhana, opens with the soul's movement between births, to stir dispassion. When the jiva leaves the body it goes enveloped in the subtle elements, as the Panchagni vidya of the Chandogya shows: the waters offered in the five fires take human form. Those who performed sacrifices rise to the moon and return when their merit is spent, but with a remainder of karma (anushaya) that shapes the next birth, good or bad. Those who did evil do not reach the moon; they go to Yama and suffer there. The descent is traced through akasha, air, smoke and cloud into rain and grain. Through grain it passes into a father and, through him, into a womb and a body.
तदन्तरप्रतिपत्तौ रंहति सम्परिष्वक्तः प्रश्ननिरूपणाभ्याम्
tadantarapratipattau raṃhati sampariṣvaktaḥ praśnanirūpaṇābhyām
In passing on to another body, the soul goes enveloped by the subtle elements of the body; this is known from the question and answer in the Chhandogya teaching of the five fires. The soul does not leave bare; the seeds of the next body go with it.
त्र्यात्मकत्वात्तु भूयस्त्वात्
tryātmakatvāttu bhūyastvāt
Though the text names only water, all the elements go with the soul, since everything is made of three elements; water is named because it is the larger part of the body.
प्राणगतेश्च
prāṇagateśca
And because the pranas, the vital powers, are said to go with the departing soul, the elements that support them must go too.
अग्न्यादिगतिश्रुतेरिति चेन्न भाक्तत्वात्
agnyādigatiśruteriti cenna bhāktatvāt
If it is said that the pranas go into fire and the other devatas at death, as scripture states, the answer is no: that statement is figurative, as is said of the hair going into plants.
प्रथमेऽश्रवणादिति चेन्न ता एव ह्युपपतेः
prathame'śravaṇāditi cenna tā eva hyupapateḥ
If it is objected that water is not mentioned in the first oblation, the answer is no: the faith (shraddha) offered there is the waters themselves, for only so does the passage fit.
अश्रुतत्वादिति चेन्नेष्टादिकारिणां प्रतीतेः
aśrutatvāditi cenneṣṭādikāriṇāṃ pratīteḥ
If it is said that the soul is not mentioned as going with the waters, the answer is no: the passage plainly concerns those who perform sacrifices and good works, and it is they who go.
भाक्तं वानात्मवित्त्वात्तथा हि दर्शयति
bhāktaṃ vānātmavittvāttathā hi darśayati
Their being called the food of the devas is figurative, since they do not know the Self; scripture itself shows this. They serve and please the devas, they are not eaten.
कृतात्ययेऽनुशयवान्दृष्टस्मृतिभ्यां यथेतमनेवं च
kṛtātyaye'nuśayavāndṛṣṭasmṛtibhyāṃ yathetamanevaṃ ca
When the merit of their works is used up, they come down with a residue of karma (anushaya), as shruti and smriti show, by the way they went and also by another way.
चरणादिति चेन्नोपलक्षणार्थेति कार्ष्णाजिनिः
caraṇāditi cennopalakṣaṇārtheti kārṣṇājiniḥ
If it is said that the text speaks of conduct (charana), not of residual karma, the answer is no: Karshnajini holds that conduct there stands for the karma it implies.
आनर्थक्यमिति चेन्न तदपेक्षत्वात्
ānarthakyamiti cenna tadapekṣatvāt
If it is said that conduct would then be pointless, the answer is no: works depend on right conduct, so conduct has its own purpose.
सुकृतदुष्कृते एवेति तु बादरिः
sukṛtaduṣkṛte eveti tu bādariḥ
But Badari holds that conduct here simply means good and evil deeds themselves.
अनिष्टादिकारिणामपि च श्रुतम्
aniṣṭādikāriṇāmapi ca śrutam
Scripture also speaks of those who do not perform sacrifices going to the moon; so the next sutras take up whether all go there.
संयमने त्वनुभूयेतरेषामारोहावरोहौ तद्गतिदर्शनात्
saṃyamane tvanubhūyetareṣāmārohāvarohau tadgatidarśanāt
But the others, having suffered in Samyamana, the abode of Yama, ascend and descend by another route; for scripture shows such a course for them.
स्मरन्ति च
smaranti ca
The smritis also declare this, telling of the punishment of evil-doers under Yama.
अपि च सप्त
api ca sapta
Moreover, the Puranas speak of seven such worlds of suffering.
तत्रापि च तद्व्यापारादविरोधः
tatrāpi ca tadvyāpārādavirodhaḥ
There is no contradiction even there, since Yama's rule extends over those places too; Chitragupta and others act under him.
विद्याकर्मणोरिति तु प्रकृतत्वात्
vidyākarmaṇoriti tu prakṛtatvāt
The two paths are for those of knowledge and of works respectively, for that is the subject in hand; evil-doers go by neither.
न तृतीये तथोपलब्धः
na tṛtīye tathopalabdhaḥ
For the third place, where small creatures are born and die again and again, the rule of five oblations does not apply; so it is observed.
स्मर्यतेऽपि च लोके
smaryate'pi ca loke
It is also recorded in the world that some, like Drona and Draupadi, were born without the usual process.
दर्शनाच्च
darśanācca
And it is seen as well, in creatures born from sweat and from the earth without parentage.
तृतीयशब्दावरोधः संशोकजस्य
tṛtīyaśabdāvarodhaḥ saṃśokajasya
The third kind named in scripture includes those born of moisture (samshokaja), the sweat-born, along with the sprouting kind.
साभाव्यापत्तिरुपपत्तेः
sābhāvyāpattirupapatteḥ
On descending, the soul takes on a likeness to ether, air and the rest, not their very nature; only that is reasonable.
नातिचिरेण विशेषात्
nāticireṇa viśeṣāt
It passes through these stages before long, for scripture marks the later stage alone as hard to pass.
अन्याधिष्ठितेषु पूर्ववदभिलापात्
anyādhiṣṭhiteṣu pūrvavadabhilāpāt
When it enters rice, barley and other plants, it only dwells in what is already animated by other souls, as the earlier stages were described.
अशुद्धमिति चेन्न शब्दात्
aśuddhamiti cenna śabdāt
If it is said that sacrifice involving animals is impure and so leads to such births, the answer is no: its sanction rests on scripture.
रेतःसिग्योगोऽथ
retaḥsigyogo'tha
Then the soul becomes joined with one who sheds the seed, the father.
योनेः शरीरम्
yoneḥ śarīram
From the womb comes the new body; there the soul at last takes birth to reap the fruit of its residual karma.
Text source: Wikisource · CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikisource transcription of a public-domain text)
