|
|
 |
You are here ....
HOME > Sanskruti
| |
|
|
|
Heaven and Hell |
|
SECTIONS
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
Heaven
Yudhishthira said: Thou hast told me, O regenerate one,
what the end is of unrighteousness or sin. I desire now
to hear, O foremost of speakers, of what the end is of
Righteousness. Having committed acts of sin, by what
acts do people succeed in attaining to an auspicious end
in this world? By what acts also do people attain to an
auspicious end in heaven?
Vrihaspati said: By committing sinful acts with
perverted mind, one yields to the sway of
unrighteousness and as a consequence goes to hell. That
man who, having perpetrated sinful acts through
stupefaction of mind, feels the pangs of repentance and
sets his heart on contemplation (of the deity), has not
to endure the consequences of his sins. One becomes
freed from one’s sins in proportion as one repents for
them. If one having committed a sin, O king, proclaims
it in the presence of Brahmanas (priests) conversant
with duties, one becomes quickly cleansed from the
obloquy arising from one’s sin. Accordingly as one
becomes cleansed therefrom fully or otherwise, like a
snake freed from his diseased slough.
By making with a concentrated mind, gifts of diverse
kinds unto a Brahmana, and concentrating the mind (on
the deity), one attains to an auspicious end. I shall
now tell thee what those gifts are, O Yudhishthira, by
making which a person, even if guilty of having
committed sinful acts, may become endued with merit. Of
all kinds of gifts, that of food is regarded as the
best. One desirous of attaining to merit should, with a
sincere heart, make gifts of food. Food is the
life-breath of men. From it all creatures are born. All
the worlds of living creatures are established upon
food. Hence food is applauded. The deities, Rishis
(seers), Pitris (deceased ancestors), and men, all
praise food. King Rantideva, in days of old, proceeded
to Heaven by making gifts of food. Food that is good and
that has been acquired lawfully, should be given, with a
cheerful heart, unto such Brahmanas (priests) as are
possessed of Vedic lore. That man has never to take
birth in an intermediate order, whose food, given with a
cheerful heart is taken by a thousand Brahmanas. A
person, O chief of men, by feeding ten thousand
Brahmanas, becomes cleansed of (his sins) and acquires
piety and becomes devoted to Yoga practices
A Brahmana conversant with the Vedas, by giving away
food acquired by him as alms, unto a Brahmana devoted to
the study of the Vedas, succeeds in attaining to
happiness here. A Kshatriya (ruling class and warriors)
who, without taking anything that belongs to a Brahmana,
protects his subjects lawfully, and makes gifts of food,
obtained by the exercise of his strength, unto Brahmanas
foremost in Vedic knowledge, with concentrated heart,
succeeds by such conduct, O thou of righteous soul, in
cleansing himself, O son of Pandu, of all his sinful
acts.
That Vaisya (farmers, merchant class, wealth producers)
who divides the produce of his fields into six equal
shares and makes a gift of one of those shares unto
Brahmanas, succeeds by such conduct in cleansing himself
from every sin.
That Sudra (labour class) who, earning food by hard
labour and at the risk of life itself, makes a gift of
it to Brahmanas becomes cleansed from every sin.
That man who, by putting forth his physical strength,
earns food without doing any act of injury to any
creature, and makes gift of it unto Brahmanas succeeds
in avoiding all calamities. A person by cheerfully
making gifts of food acquired by lawful means unto
Brahmanas pre-eminent in Vedic lore becomes cleansed of
all his sins. By treading in the path of the righteous
one becomes freed from all sins. A person by making
gifts of such food as is productive of great energy,
becomes himself possessed of great energy.
The path made by charitable persons is always trod by
those that are endued with wisdom. They that make gifts
of food are regarded as givers of life. The merit they
acquire by such gifts is eternal. Hence, a person
should, under all circumstances, seek to earn food by
lawful means, and having earned to make always gifts of
it unto deserving men. Food is the great refuge of the
world of living creatures. By making gifts of food, one
has never to go to hell. Hence, one should always make
gifts of food, having earned it by lawful means. The
householder should always seek to eat after having made
a gift of food unto a Brahmana. Every man should make
the day fruitful by making gifts of food.
A person by feeding, O king, a thousand Brahmanas all of
whom are conversant with duties and the scriptures and
the sacred histories, has not to go to Hell and to
return to this world for undergoing rebirths. Endued
with the fruition of every wish, he enjoys great
felicity hereafter. Possessed of such merit, he sports
in happiness, freed from every anxiety, possessed of
beauty of form and great fame and endued with wealth. I
have thus told thee all about the high merit of gifts of
food. Even this is the root of all righteousness and
merit, as also of all gifts, O Bharata!
back to top
Hell
If, on the other hand, without following righteousness,
without interruption, he acts sinfully, he reaps
happiness at first as the reward of his righteousness
and endures misery after that. Endued with
unrighteousness, the Jiva has to go to the dominions of
Yama and suffering great misery there, he has to take
birth in an intermediate order of being.
Listen to me as I tell thee what the different acts are
by doing which the Jiva, stupefied by folly, has to take
birth in different orders of being, as declared in the
Vedas, the scriptures, and the (sacred) histories.
Mortals have to go to the frightful regions of Yama. In
those regions, O king, there are places that are fraught
with every merit and that are worthy on that account of
being the abodes of the very deities. There are, again,
places in those regions that are worse than those which
are inhabited by animals and birds. Indeed, there are
spots of these kinds, in the abode of Yama which (so far
as its happier regions are concerned) is equal to the
regions of Brahman himself in merits. Creatures bound by
their acts endure diverse kinds of misery. I shall,
after this, tell thee what those acts and dispositions
are in consequence of which a person obtains to an end
that is fraught with great misery and terror.
If a regenerate person, having studied the four Vedas,
becomes stupefied by folly and accepts a gift from a
fallen man, he has then to take birth in the asinine
order. He has to live as an ass for five and ten years.
Casting off his asinine form, he has next to take birth
as an ox, in which state he has to live for seven years.
Casting off his bovine form, he has next to take birth
as a Rakshasa (demon)of regenerate order. Living as
Rakshasa of the regenerate order for three months, he
then regains his status (in his next birth) of a
Brahmana.
A Brahmana (priest). by officiating at the sacrifice of
a fallen person, has to take birth as a vile worm. In
this form he has to live for five and ten years, O
Bharata. Freed from the status of a worm, he next takes
birth as an ass. As an ass he has to live for five
years, and then a hog, in which state also he has to
remain for as many years. After that, he takes birth as
a cock, and living for five years in that form, he takes
birth as a jackal and lives for as many years in that
state. He has next to take birth as a dog, and living
thus for a year he regains his status of humanity.
That foolish disciple who offends his preceptor by doing
any injury to him, has certainly to undergo three
transformations in this world. Such a person, O monarch,
has in the first instance to become a dog. He has then
to become a beast of prey, and then an ass. Living his
asinine form, he has to wander for some time in great
affliction as a spirit. After the expiration of that
period, he has to take birth as a Brahmana.
That sinful disciple, who even in thought commits
adultery with the wife of his preceptor, has in
consequence of such a sinful heart, to undergo many
fierce shapes in this world. First taking birth in the
canine order he has to live for three years. Casting off
the canine form when death comes, he takes birth as a
worm or vile vermin. In this form he has to live for a
year. Leaving that form he succeeds in regaining his
status as a human being of the regenerate order.
That son who disregards his father and mother, O king,
has to take birth, after leaving off his human form as
an animal of the asinine order. Assuming the asinine
form he has to live for ten years. After that he has to
take birth as a crocodile, in which form he has to live
for a year. After that he regains the human form. …..
That man who misappropriates what is deposited with him
in trustfulness has to undergo a hundred
transformations. He at last takes birth as a vile worm.
In that order he has to live for a period of ten and
five years, O Bharata. Upon the exhaustion of his great
demerit in this way, he succeeds in regaining his status
of humanity. That man of wicked understanding who
becomes guilty of breach of trust has to take birth as a
fish. Living as a fish for eight years, he takes birth,
O Bharata, as a deer. Living as a deer for four months,
he has next to take birth as a goat. After the
expiration of a full year he takes birth then as a worm.
After that he succeeds in regaining his status of
humanity.
Having committed an act of adultery with the spouse of
another man, one has to take birth as a wolf. After that
he has to assume the forms of a dog and a jackal and
vulture. He has next to take birth as a snake and then
as a Kanka (a bird of prey) and then as crane.
He who eats without having performed the rites in honour
of the deities or those in honour of the Pitris (dead
ancestors) or without having offered (even) oblations of
water to both the Rishis and the Pitris, has to take
birth as a crow. He next assumes the form of a cock. His
next transformation is that of a snake for a month.
After this, he regains the status of humanity.
The man who becomes guilty of ingratitude, O king, has
to go to the regions of Yama and there to undergo very
painful and severe treatment at the hands of the
messengers, provoked to fury, of the grim king of the
dead. Clubs with heavy hammers and mallets,
sharp-pointed lances, heated jars, all fraught with
severe pain, frightful forests of sword-blades, heated
sands, thorny Salamis – these and many other instruments
of the most painful torture such a man has to endure in
the regions of Yama, O Bharata! The ungrateful person, O
chief of Bhatrata’s race, having endured such terrible
treatment in the regions of the grim king of the dead,
has to come back to this world and take birth among vile
vermin. He has to live as a vile vermin for a period of
five and ten years.
He has then to enter the womb and die prematurely before
birth. After this, that person has to enter the womb a
hundred times in succession. Indeed, having undergone a
hundred rebirths, he at last becomes born as a creature
in some intermediate order between man and inanimate
nature. Having endured misery for a great many years, he
has to take birth as a hairless tortoise.
That wretch who himself well armed, slays another while
that other is unarmed, from motives of obtaining his
victim’s wealth or from feelings of hostility, has,
after casting off his human body, to take birth as an
ass. Assuming that asinine form he has to live for a
period of two years and then meet with death at the edge
of a weapon. Casting off in this way his asinine body he
has to take birth in his next life as a deer always
filled with anxiety (at the thought of foes that may
kill him). Upon the expiration of a year from the time
of his birth as a deer, he has to yield up his life at
the point of a weapon. Thus casting off his form as a
deer, he next takes birth as a fish and dies in
consequence of being dragged up in net, on the
expiration of the fourth month. He has next to take
birth as a beast of prey. For ten years he has to live
in that form, and then he takes birth as a pard in which
form he has to live for a period of five years. Impelled
by the change that is brought about by time, he then
casts off that form, and his demerit having been
exhausted he regains the status of humanity.
Indeed, having committed sins, O Bharata, one has to
take birth in an order intermediate between that of
humanity and vegetables. Those people are entirely
unacquainted with righteousness, which has their own
hearts for its authority. Those men that commit diverse
acts of sin and then seek to expiate them by continuous
vows and observances of piety become endued with both
happiness and misery and live in great anxiety of heart.
Those men that are of sinful conduct and that yield to
the influence of cupidity and stupefaction, without
doubt, take birth as Mlechchhas that do not deserve to
be associated with. Those men on the other hand, who
abstain from sin all their lives, become free from
disease of every kind, endued with beauty of form and
possessed of wealth. Women also, when they act in the
way indicated, attain to births of the same kind.
Indeed, they have to take births as the spouse of the
animals I have indicated.
I have told thee all the faults that relate to the
appropriation of what belongs to others. I have
discoursed to thee very briefly on the subject, O
sinless one. Having listened to all this, O monarch, do
thou always set thy heart on righteousness.
back to top
|
