Men perform meritorious deeds of various kinds with a desire for welfare. The types of meritorious rites are varied. Some wear fur-clothes; some lie down on the ground; and
some are seated in the Veeraasana. After Veeraasana, some do levitation (lying in the firmament); some lie on bricks and rocks; some lie on spherical rocks; some lie on
ash rocks; and some have the ground for their bed as well as unguent. Some do drinking and cooking in peculiar ways. Some lie down on planks or on beds equipped with fruits and articles of domestic use. Some lie down in gardens attached to barns. Some wear leather pieces or silken clothes along with the hide of black deer. Some wear fur-garments studded with jewels or tiger-skin garments.
Some may wear lion-hides or silken garments; some put on a mat or a plank as a robe; and some wear bark-garments. People take pride in wearing different types of
clothes.
Some have diverse types of food and jewels. Some take food once a day, or on different nights with intervals of one or more nights in between.
Some may take meals once in two, three or four days.
Some may fast for a month; their diet may be confined to roots; a person may eat fruits or air alone or oil cake, curd and cow-dung.
Some may take cow’s urine; some the kaasa flower. Some may take only water-moss. Some may sustain themselves by other things. Some live upon scattered old leaves or scattered fruits.
A devotee resorts to different kinds of very difficult austerities with a desire for spiritual achievement. He may perform different kinds of Chaandraayana rites. There may be
symbols pertaining to the four stages of life, or to virtue and evil.
He may resort to various shelters. He may indulge in different heresies. He may resort to isolated shadows of rocky cliffs or to mountain streams.
He may resort to lonely river banks, different forests, or lonely mountain caves.
He may adopt different types of holy rites and observances, and various kinds of austerities, sacrifices of various types and different kinds of scholarly arts.
He may resort to the path of merchants or to the four castes, namely, Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaisyas and Sudras. He may distribute charitable gifts of various kinds among the wretched, the blind, and the miserable ones. He may identify himself with different attributes such as sattva, rajas, tamas, dharma, artha and kama.
The Atman divides itself into various types of embodied souls. The various items in the holy rites are Svaahaakaara, Vasatkaara, Svadhakaara, Namaskaara (obeisance),
sacrifice, study, presiding over sacrifices, teaching of Veda and Sastras, etc. They (the learned) say that this (the holy rites) is both auspicious and inauspicious due to birth and death (destruction).
Divine Prakrti causes fear and annihilations. At the end of the day, the embodied soul (the Jiva) passes beyond gunas and remains alone.
Just as the sun controls at the proper time the cluster of its rays, so also the soul controls all these activities, and identifies itself with them for the sake of sport.
It (the soul) identifies itself with these various features and qualities pleasing to the heart. Carrying out the function of creation and annihilation, it identifies itself with these activities. It is the master of the attributes and the gunas. It is interested in the path of activities. It is equipped with the paths of activity, as well as inactivity.
O great King! This entire universe is blinded by Prakrti. Everything is pervaded in many ways by rajas and tamas.
The soul thinks like this: ‘The Dvandvas (the pairs of opposites) afflict me continually and pass beyond. They are born of me and they resort to me at the time of annihilation.
All these are to be crossed’. So thinks the soul, O King, as the intellect is partial.
It also thinks as follows: ‘I have to enjoy these merits when I go to the heavenly world. Here, too, I shall enjoy even as it (such enjoyment) gives rise to auspiciousness or
inauspiciousness. If I earn merits, it must yield happiness to me in every birth. Let there not be misery at any time. Human birth is miserable unto all, and so is the fall into the hell. From the hell I shall again go to the mortal world. From human birth, I shall attain the status of gods, and from godliness I shall attain human status again.’ And in due succession, he attains to hell from the status of human being. This is the type of soul of the twice-born as it is surrounded by gunas.
Therefore the attainment of hell by gods and human beings is relevant. Overwhelmed by the sense of ‘I-ness’, the Jiva always moves there around.
There are thousands of crores (billions) of creations in these forms that end in death.
He, who performs actions the fruit whereof is either auspicious or inauspicious, attains to the fruits related to the said actions, taking up forms in all the three worlds.
It is Prakrti that performs actions, the fruit whereof is either auspicious or inauspicious. And it is Prakrti that can go as it pleases anywhere in all the three worlds and attains to results.
One shall know that the birth as one of the low creatures, the birth as a human being and the birth in the heavenly world of gods are the three regions (worlds) pertaining to
Prakrti.
Since Prakrti is un-manifest, it can be inferred by means of symbols, too.
One can consider the manly symbol only owing to inference. Mingling with other symbols, it becomes the unerring symbol of Prakrti.
After presiding over the pores of vital airs, the soul considers the actions to be in the atman itself.
All the sense-organs and the organs of action initiate passion, etc in the gunas.
The atman which is devoid of sense organs and organs of action thinks like this: ‘I am doing this. These are my organs’.
One who is devoid of wounds thinks ‘I am wounded’. One who is without a symbol thinks that one has a symbol. The atman has no Kala (Time) but one thinks it has Kala.
Atman is devoid of sattva but one thinks that it has sattva. The atman is immortal but one thinks that it dies. One thinks that the atman is mobile while in reality it is
immobile.
Atman is really devoid of action, but one thinks that it does act.
Atman has no attachment but one thinks it has attachment. Atman is different from a principle but one thinks it has a principle. Atman is devoid of birth but one thinks that it has birth.
