Similarly, O mighty
king, and lord of the earth, abstention from doing injury to any
creature is seen to be important than good speech and vice-versa. Even
so it is, O king, depending on effects. And now, if thou hast anything
else to ask, say it all, I shall enlighten thee!' Yudhishthira said,
'Tell me, O snake, how the incorporal being's translation to heaven, its
perception by the senses and its enjoyment of the immutable fruits of
its actions (here below), can be comprehended.' The snake replied, 'By
his own acts, man is seen to attain to one of the three conditions of
human existence, of heavenly life, or of birth in the lower animal
kingdom. Among these, the man who is not slothful, who injures no one
and who is endowed with charity and other virtues, goes to heaven, after
leaving this world of men. By doing the very contrary, O king, people
are again born as men or as lower animals. O my son, it is particularly
said in this connection, that the man who is swayed by anger and lust
and who is given to avarice and malice falls away from his human state
and is born again as a lower animal, and the lower animals too are
ordained to be transformed into the human state; and the cow, the horse
and other animals are observed to attain to even the divine state.[3] O
my son, the sentient being, reaping the fruits of his actions, thus
transmigrates through these conditions; but the regenerate and wise man
reposes his soul in the everlasting Supreme Spirit.
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