'"
SECTION XC
(Sambhava Parva continued)
"Ashtaka said, 'Capable of assuming any form at will, thou hast lived for
a million years in the gardens of Nandana. For what cause, O foremost of
those that flourished in the Krita age, hast thou been compelled to leave
that region and come hither?' Yayati answered, 'As kinsmen, friends, and
relatives forsake, in this world, those whose wealth disappears so, in the
other world, the celestials with Indra as their chief, forsake him who
hath lost his righteousness.' Ashtaka said, 'I am extremely anxious to
know how in the other world men can lose virtue. Tell me also, O king,
what regions are attainable by what courses of action. Thou art acquainted,
I know, with the acts and sayings of great beings.'
"Yayati answered, 'O pious one, they that speak of their own merits are
doomed to suffer the hell called Bhauma. Though really emaciated and lean,
they appear to grow on Earth (in the shape of their sons and grandsons)
only to become food for vultures, dogs, and jackals. Therefore, O king,
this highly censurable and wicked vice should be repressed. I have now, O
king, told thee all. Tell me what more I shall say.'
"Ashtaka said, 'When life is destroyed with age, vultures, peacocks,
insects, and worms eat up the human body. Where doth man then reside? How
doth he also come back to life? I have never heard of any hell called
Bhauma on Earth!'
"Yayati answered, 'After the dissolution of the body, man, according to
his acts, re-entereth the womb of his mother and stayeth there in an
indistinct form, and soon after assuming a distinct and visible shape
reappeareth in the world and walketh on its surface.
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