solution of the body it
inhabited, does not, O king, take birth in a different body immediately.
It roves through the sky for some time like a spacious cloud. Obtaining a
new receptacle, O monarch, it then takes birth again. The soul is above
the mind. The mind is above the senses. Mobile creatures, again, are
foremost of all created objects. Of all mobile creatures those that have
two legs are superior. Amongst two-legged creatures, those that are
regenerate are superior. Amongst those that are regenerate they that are
possessed of wisdom are superior. Amongst them that are possessed of
wisdom they that have succeeded in acquiring a knowledge of the soul are
superior. Amongst those that are possessed of a knowledge of the soul,
they that are endued with humility are superior. Death follows birth in
respect of all men. This is settled. Creatures, influenced by the
attributes of Sattwa, Rajas, and Tamas, pursue acts which have an
end.[1554] That man is regarded as righteous who meets with dissolution
when the Sun is in the northern declension, and at a time and under a
constellation both of which are sacred and auspicious. He is righteous
who, having cleansed himself of all sins and accomplished all his acts
according to the best of his power and having abstained from giving pain
to any man, meets with death when it comes. The death that one meets with
by taking poison, by hanging, by burning, at the hands of robbers, and at
the teeth of animals, is said to be an inglorious one.[1555] Those men
that are righteous never incur such or similar deaths even if they be
afflicted with mental and physical diseases of the most agonising kind.
The lives of the righteous, O king, piercing through the Sun, ascend into
the regions of Brahma. The lives of those that are both righteous and
sinful rove in the middle regions. The lives of those that are sinful
sink into the lowest depths. There is only one foe (of man) and not
another. That foe is identifiable with ignorance, O king. Overwhelmed by
it, one is led to perpetrate acts that are frightful and exceedingly
cruel. That foe for resisting which one should put forth one's power by
waiting upon the aged according to the duties laid down in the
Srutis--that foe which cannot be overcome except by steady
endeavours,--meets with destruction, O king, only when it is crushed by
the shafts of wisdom.[1556] The man desirous of achieving merit should at
first study the Vedas and observe penanc