' Yayati answered, 'According to the merits of one's acts, the
being that in a subtile form co-inheres in the seed that is dropped into
the womb is attracted by the atmospheric force for purposes of re-birth.
It then developeth there in course of time; first it becomes the embryo,
and is next provided with the visible physical organism. Coming out of the
womb in due course of time, it becometh conscious of its existence as man,
and with his ears becometh sensible of sound; with his eyes, of colour and
form; with his nose, of scent; with his tongue, of taste; by his whole
body, of touch; and by his mind, of ideas. It is thus, O Ashtaka, that the
gross and visible body developeth from the subtile essence.'
"Ashtaka asked, 'After death, the body is burnt, or otherwise destroyed.
Reduced to nothing upon such dissolution, by what principle is one
revived?' Yayati said, 'O lion among kings, the person that dies assumes a
subtil form; and retaining consciousness of all his acts as in a dream, he
enters some other form with a speed quicker than that of air itself. The
virtuous attain to a superior, and the vicious to an inferior form of
existence. The vicious become worms and insects. I have nothing more to
say, O thou of great and pure soul! I have told thee how beings are born,
after development of embryonic forms, as four-footed, six-footed creatures
and others with more feet. What more wilt thou ask me?'
"Ashtaka said, 'How, O father, do men attain to those superior regions
whence there is no return to earthly life? Is it by asceticism or by
knowledge? How also can one gradually attain to felicitous regions? Asked
by me, O answer it in full.
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