Chapter 31 – Sufferings of the Jīva—The Rājasī Gati
The Lord said:
1. The jīva is impelled by the force of his Karma which is under the direction and control of God. For the formation of his gross body, he, through the medium of the semen of man enters the womb of a woman.
2. In one night, the mixture of the (man’s) semen and (the woman’s) blood takes place. In five nights, a circular bubble-like mass is formed. In ten days, it becomes (somewhat) hard like the fruit of the jujube tree (karkandhu). Thereafter, it becomes a ball of flesh or an egg.
3. In one month, the head is formed. In two months, the body develops arms, feet and other organs. In three months, nails, hair, bones, skin, the penis and the anus are formed.
4. By the end of the fourth month, the seven essential ingredients of the body are produced. In the fifth month, hunger and thirst are felt. In the sixth month, the foetus is enveloped with an external skin called jarāyu, and if begins to make movements in the rightside of the mother’s abdomen.
5. He develops the essential ingredients of the body by the mother’s intake of food and drinks. The jīva stays in an abominable hollow place, full of urine and feces, a breeding place of worms.
6. By the frequent biting of the hungry worms which are there (in the same hollow place), his whole body, being very delicate and soft, is wounded all over. Being extremely tormented, he falls into a swoon at every moment.
7. He is affected by the bitter, pungent, hot, salt, astringent, acidic and such other unbearable substances eaten by the mother, and thereby suffers pain spread all over the body.
8. Enveloped in the womb and surrounded on the outside with the entrails, it lies there with his head protruding towards the stomach and with his back and neck in a bent position.
9. Like a bird (shut up) in a cage, he is incapable of making (free) movements of his body there. As a result of his karma in previous births, he recollects his actions (karmas) done in the last hundred previous births and suffers the endless pain without a sigh. What happiness can he have (in such a condition).
10. From the seventh month, he gets consciousness. But as he is always moved by ‘the winds of delivery’ (sūtivāta), he cannot remain in one spot like the worms born in the feces in the same place.
11. The jīva who knows both body and the Soul but is bound by seven essential ingredients of the gross body, is afraid. In repentance he folds his hands and in words expressing distress, he praises the Lord who has confined him in the womb.
The jīva (the Individual Soul) said:
12. That the Lord has shown me this condition (made me to experience confinement in the womb) is quite befitting as I am wicked. I, who am of that type, (now) take shelter under the lotuslike feet of the Lord, who fearlessly moves over the earth, after assuming various bodies (incarnations), with the desire of protecting the world, which has submitted to him for refuge.
13. I stay as if bound down, here (in the mother’s womb), depending on the Māyā in the form (of my body consisting) of five Bhūtas, sense-organs and mind (manas), and with my real nature covered by karmas. I bow to the Lord who is being realized in my tormented heart yet is himself unaffected by changes (avikāra) as he is extremely pure and unlimited by conditions, and of uninterrupted knowledge.
14. I who am falsely concealed in a body composed of five Bhūtas, am factually unattached to it. I am the jīva falsely reflected in the sense-organs, attributes (like sattva) and objects of senses. I bow to that Supreme Man whose greatness is not limited by the body—the Supreme Man who is the controller of the Prakṛti and Puruṣa and who is omniscient.
15. By what means can the jīva regain for himself his original status without the grace of the Lord by (the power of) whose Māyā he lost his memory (about his true self) and is wandering in this path of saṃsāra suffering the afflictions resulting from it and wherein he incurs heavy bondage from actions (committed) due to the three guṇas.
16. Which of the gods except the Supreme Being has inspired in me this knowledge of the past, present and future? (It must be the Supreme God as) we jīvas follow the course of karmas (and are subject to births and deaths). By his aṃśa, he has pervaded the mobiles and immobiles (as an antaryāmin). We resort to him for the cessation of the three kinds of afflictions (viz. ādhibhautika, ādhyātmika and ādhidaivika).
17. Oh Lord! this embodied being has fallen into the hollow place full of blood, feces and urine in the cavity in the body of another person (i.e. the mother). His body is extremely scorched by the abdominal fire (of the mother). Being anxious of getting out of this place, he is counting his months. When will this low-minded being be delivered (lit. pushed out of this place)?
18. Oh Omnipotent Lord, you are simply incomparable. By your unbounded mercy, you have blessed a jīva of ten months with this knowledge. May that protector of the distressed (i.e., you) be pleased with his (your) own action (of this gift of knowledge). What can anyone do to him (you) except offering one’s obeisance?
19.This another kind of jīva (sub-human beings like birds, beasts) certainly feels physical (pleasures and pains) pertaining to his body. I am blessed by him with intelligence (knowledge and discretion) and gifted by him with a body capable of being disciplined with śama, dama etc. I can see that eternal, perfect Puruṣa directly both within and without my heart just like a caitya (the jīva who possesses ahaṃkāra and is an enjoyer of pleasure and pain).
20. Oh All-pervading Lord, though I am dwelling in the womb full of many kinds of afflictions, I do not wish to get out of the womb and fall into a dark well (of ignorance) (and be born in this world). (Because, outside) God’s Māyā approaches the jīva which has fallen into the dark pit (well) of saṃsāra. The Māyā is followed by false apprehension (about the identification of the body and the Soul etc.) and this cycle of saṃsāra.
21. I have now attained to the feet of Viṣṇu and am free from destruction. I shall stay therefore, here (in the womb) only with the help of my mind which is like a friend, I shall soon lift myself up from ignorance. So that the calamity of staying in many holes (wombs at the time of each birth in saṃsāra) will not befall me.
Kapila said:
22. In this way, the jīva who is ten months old and who has acquired knowledge, makes up his mind. While he is praising the Lord in the womb the wind produced in the womb during the pangs of travail suddenly pushes him with his head downward for his birth.
23. Being thus thrust down by the wind of delivery, the jīva gets suffocated and anguished and loses his memory. With great trouble, he is suddenly born with his head downward.
24. He falls on the ground in a pool of blood and urine. He moves about like a worm in feces. (Finding that) he has lost his knowledge and has fallen in the contrary state (of dark ignorance), he frequently cries out.
25. He is being fed by persons who cannot understand the will (and need) of another. If he is presented an unwanted object, he is incapable of refusing it.
26. He is made to lie down (sleep) on a dirty bed rendered troublesome by worms born of sweat. He is unable to scratch his limbs or make movements like sitting, standing or moving.
27. Just as big worms gnaw and bite smaller worms, similarly mosquitoes, flies, bugs etc. bite the soft and delicate skin of the crying child who has lost its (previous) memory.
28. In this way having suffered miseries in childhood and boyhood, (in youth) he becomes down-cast with grief for his inability to obtain the desired object. He flares up with rage out of ignorance.
29. His pride and anger go on increasing with the growth of his body. He, being passionate, fights with other passionate persons like him, and meets his end (ruin).
30. This ignorant, dull-witted embodied being constantly entertains the false notion about this body which is composed of five bhūtas to be himself and as belonging to him.
31. He performs action for the sake of the body—the body which gives the jīva a great trouble (from birth to death) and which being bound down by avidyā (ignorance) and karmas (destiny, fruit of actions), always follows him (in the next birth). It is by being bound down to the body that the jīva goes to (and is entangled in) the cycle of saṃsāra.
32. While on the path of righteousness, if the being comes in contact with and is influenced by the unrighteous who are striving for the gratification of their lusts and appetites and enjoys himself (in those ways), he enters the darkness (of ignorance or hell) as before.
33. (For virtues such as) truthfulness, purity, mercy, silence (control over speech), intelligence or the sense of the highest objective (puruṣārtha), affluence, modesty, renown, forbearance, control of sense-organs, control of the mind, prosperity go on diminishing in the company of the evil.
34. Avoid close ties with people who mistake the body for the Soul, lack inner peace, and are ignorant. They are easily swayed by others, like a tamed deer used for amusement, making their situation regrettable.
35. The influence of delusion and worldly bondage is at its peak when a person is attached to the opposite gender, or to those who are attached to them—it’s a greater danger than on any other occasion.
36. The Lord of Creation (Brahmā) was enamoured of the beauty of his daughter when he saw her. When she assumed the form of a female deer, the shameless god assumed the form of a male deer and ran after her.
37. Who among all beings in creation—including the greatest sages, deities, and mortals—can remain unaffected by the captivating force of Māyā (Illusion), except for the divine sages Nara & Nārāyaṇa?
38. Behold the immense power of Māyā (Illusion)! With effortless grace—merely a subtle gesture—it completely overwhelms even those who have conquered the entire world.
39. A person who has achieved Self-realization through serving me and aspires to reach the highest level of Yoga must never associate with people that are attached to the world, as the Yogis consider them to be the gate to hell.
40. Māyā (Illusion) is a creation of the Divine, often presenting itself as an attractive attachment. When this bond subtly approaches you, the seeker should recognize it as a profound spiritual risk—like a treacherous, hidden pitfall disguised by superficial appeal.
41. A person sincerely desiring spiritual freedom (liberation) should view any worldly figure or bond that approaches them—and which they mistake for a source of ultimate happiness—as a form of spiritual demise (death), an agent of Illusion (Māyā). This individual is a soul (jīva) who, due to powerful attachments to others in a previous life, has been reborn into a current form that naturally attracts entanglement through home, wealth, and family.
42. Just as the song (sweet notes) of a hunter is a death to the deer, similarly one should understand the Māyā to be the death in the form of the husband, children and home brought to her by Fate.
43. By his Liṅga-śarīra surrounding the jīva, he wanders from one world to another (from one body to another). While the man enjoys the fruits of actions, he continuously goes on committing actions (karmas).
44. The jīva i.e. the subtle-body (Liṅga-śarīra) closely follows the ātman and is conditioned by it. The gross body is the product of the Bhūtas, indriyas (sense-organs) and manas (the mind). The suspension of the use of the gross-body is the Death, and the manifestation of its powers (to produce the effect) is the birth.
45. When the gross body which is the place (and condition) of the perception of substances becomes incapable in its function of observing them, it is called death. When it (the gross body) is identified with the Self through ahaṃkāra and is capable of perceiving the objects, it is called the birth.
46. (For example) when the eyes (the region of visual perception of objects) becomes incapable of seeing the parts of a substance, it is the incapability of the sensory organ. When the (physical) eyeballs and the sensory organ both cease to function, the seer (the jīva that perceives (becomes incapable of seeing. (Thus the Liṅga-śarīra—subtle body—becomes incapable of functioning after the incompetence (and cessation of function) of the gross body. But that is not the death of jīva, himself).
47. (As there is no birth or death to the jīva), the wise man should not get agitated with grief or show niggardliness (or be down-cast with dejectedness in life) nor should get confused. He should understand the nature and the course of jīva and should move about (lead his life) without any attachment.
48. By the power of his intellect capable of properly grasping the truth, and reinforced by the practice of Yoga and non-attachment, he should place his body in this world created by Māyā (i.e. he should give up attachment to his body) and go about the world.
Thus ends the Thirty first discourse entitled “Creation of Rudra, the mind-born Sons and of Manu and Śatarūpā”, in Book Three of the great and glorious Bhāgavata Purāṇa, otherwise known as the Paramahaṁsa-Saṁhitā (the book of the God-realized Souls).
