Mokshadharma Parva — The nature of the soul

Vasistha said Thus on account of his forgetfulness the Soul follows Ignorance and acquires thousands of bodies one after another.

He attains to thousands of births among the intermediate orders and sometimes among the very gods on account his union with qualities.

From the status of humanity he goes to heaven and from heaven he returns to humanity, and from humanity he sinks into hell for many long years.

As the worm that make the cocoon does itself completely on all sides by means of the threads it weaves itself, so the Soul, though in reality above all qualities, invests himself on all sides with qualities.

Though above both happiness and misery, it is thus that he subjects himself to happiness and misery. It is thus also that, though above all discases, the Soul considers himself to be afflicted by headache, opthalmia, toothache, affections of the throat, abdominal dropsy, burning thirst, enlargement of glands, cholera, vitiligo, leprosy, burns, asthma, phthisis, epilepsy, and various other diseases from which embodied creatures suffer.

Considering himself, through error, as born among thousands of creatures in the intermediate orders of being, the sometimes among the gods, he suffer misery and enjoys the fruits of his good deeds.

Invested with Ignorance he considers himself as dressed sometimes in white cloth and sometimes in full dress of four pieces, or as lying on floors or with hands and feet contracted like those of frogs, or as seated upright in the position of meditation, or as clad in rags or as lying or sitting under the canopy of heaven or within palaces bult of bricks and stone or on rugged stones or on ashes or bare stones or on the naked earth or on beds or on battle-fields or in water or in mire or on wooden planks or on various sorts of beds; or, moved by desire of fruit, he considers himself as clad in a piece of cloth made of grass or as totally naked or as dressed in silk or in skin of the black antelope or in cloth made of flax or in sheep-skin or in tiger-skin or in lion-skin or in hemp fabric, or in barks of birch or in cloths made of the produce of prickly plants, or in vestures made of threads woven by worms or of tattered rags or in various other sorts of cloth too numerous to mention. The soul considers himself also as wearing various sorts of ornaments and gems, or as eating various sorts of food.

He considers himself as sometimes eating at intervals of one night, or once at the same hour every day, or as at the fourth, the sixty, and the eight hour every day, or as once in six or seven or cight nights, or as once in ten or twelve days, or as once, in a month, or as eating only roots, or fruits, or as living upon air or water alone, or on cakes of sesame husk, or curds or cowdung, or the urine of the cow or potherbs or flowers or moss or raw food, or as living on falled leaves of trees or fruits that have dropped down and lie scattered on the ground, or various other sorts of food, moved by the desire of acquiring ascetic success.

The Soul considers himself as following the observance of Chandrayana according to the rites laid down in the scriptures, or various other vows and observances, and the courses of duty laid down for the four modes of life, and even prohibitions of duty, and the duties of other subsidiary modes of life set down the four principal ones, and even various kinds of practices that distinguish the wicked and sinful. The Soul considers himself as enjoying lonely places and the charming shades of mountains and the cool vicinity of springs and fountains, and solitary river banks and secluded forests, and sacred pilgrimages, and lakes and waters remote from the busy haunts of men, and linely mountain caves giving the accommodation that houses and palaces afford. The Soul consider himself as reciting of different kinds of secret Mantras or as observing different vows and rules and various sorts of penances, and sacrifices of many sorts, and rites of diverse sorts.

The Soul considers himself as following sometimes the ways of traders and merchants and the practices of Brahmanas, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas and Shudras, and gifts of various sorts to those who are poor or blind or helpless.

On account of his being invested with Ignorance, the Soul adopts the different qualities of Goodness, Darkness and Ignorance, and Righteousness and riches and pleasure.

Under the influence of Nature, the Soul, undergoing changes himself, observes and follows and practises all these and considers himself as such. Indeed, the Soul considers himself as employed in the utterance of the sacred Mantras Svaha, Svadha and Vashat, and in saluting those he considers as his elders; in officiating in the sacrifices and studying the scriptures, and doing all other acts and rites of this sort.

The Soul considers himself as connected with birth and death and quarrels and destruction. All these, the learned say form the path of acts good and bad.

It is the goddess Nature who causes birth and death. When the time comes for Universal Dissolution, all existent objects and qualities are withdrawn by the Supreme Soul which then exists alone like the Sun withdrawing at evening all his rays; and when the time comes for Creation. He once more creates and spreads them out like the Sun shedding his rays when morning comes. Thus the Soul, for the sake of spol, repeatedly considers himself invested with all these conditions, which are his own forms and qualities infinite in number, and agrecable to himself. It is thus that the Soul, though really above the three qualities, becomes attached to the path of acts and creates by modification nature invested with the conditions of birth and death and at once with all acts and conditions which are characterised by the three qualities of Goodness, Darkness, and Ignorance. Arrived at the path of action, the Soul considers particular acts as possessing particular characteristics and productive of particular ends.

O king, the whole of this universe has been blinded by Nature and all things have been variously overwhelmed (through Nature by the qualities of Darkness and Ignorance).

It is on account of the Soul being invested by Nature that these pairs of opposites, productive of happiness and woe, again and again come. It is on account of this Ignorance that individual Soul considers these sorrows to be his and imagines them as following him.

Indeed, O king, through that Ignorance it is that Individual Soul imagines he should anyhow cross those sorrows, and that he should, going into the regions of the gods, enjoy the happiness that await all his good deeds. it is through Ignorance that he thinks he should enjoy and suffer these delights and these miserics here in this world.

Through Ignorance Individual Soul thinks,-I should secure my happiness. By continually doing good deeds, I may enjoy happiness in this life till its close and shall be happy in all future lives.

Through, again the evil deeds I do in this life I may suffer unending misery. The status of humanity is full of great misery, for from it one sinks into hell.

From hell, it will take many long years before I can return to the status of humanity. From humanity I shall attain of the status of the gods. From that superior status I shall have to return to humanity and thence to sink into hell once more.—One who always consider this combination of the principal elements and the senses, with the reflection of consciousness in it, to be thus invested with the characteristics of the Soul, has again and again to walk among gods and human beings and to sink into hell. Being always invested with the idea of mineness, Individual Soul has to go through a round of such births.

Millions upon millions of births have to be gone through by Individual Soul in the successive forms he assumes, all of which are liable to death. He who does acts in this way, which are all full of good and bad fruits, has in the three worlds to assume successive forms and to enjoy and suffer fruits corresponding therewith. It is Nature that causes good and bad acts; and it is Nature that enjoys and suffers the fruits thereof in the three worlds. Indeed, Nature follows the course of acts. The status of the intermediate beings, of humanity, and of the gods, all originate from Nature. Nature has been said to be shorn of all qualities. Her existence is proved by her acts.

Similarly, Soul, though without attributes himself, has his existence proved by the acts which the body does when it receives his reflection. Although the Soul is not subject to changes of any kind, and is the active principle that sets Nature in motion, yet entering a body which is united with the senses of knowledge and action. He considers all the acts of those senses as his own. The five senses of knowledge beginning with the ear, and those of action beginning with speech, uniting with the qualities of Goodness and Darkness and Ignorance become engaged in numerous objects. Individual Soul imagines that it is he who does the deeds of his life and that the senses of knowledge and action belong to him, although in reality he has no senses. Indeed, though having no body, he imagines that he has a body. Though shorn of qualities, he considers himself as endued therewith, the though above Time, imagines himself to be under Time's control.

Though having no understanding, he still considers himself as endued with it, and though above the four and twenty topics, considers himself as one included among them. Though deathless, he still considers himself as subject to death, and though motionless regards himself as having motion.

Though not possessed of a material body, he still considers himself as possessed of one; and though unborn, he still regards himself as having birth. Though above penances, he still considers as engaged in penances, and though he has no end he still considers himself as liable to attain to ends.

Though not gifted with motion and birth, he still considers himself as endued with both, and though above fear, still considers himself as subject to fear. Though Indestructible, he still considers himself Destructible. Invested with Ignorance, the Soul thus thinks of himself.