Men's actions follow them; and
influenced by these, they are born again." The Brahmana enquired, "Why
does the spirit take its birth, and why does its nativity become sinful
or virtuous, and how, O good man, does it come to belong to a sinful or
virtuous race?" The fowler replied, "This mystery seems to belong to the
subject of procreation, but I shall briefly describe to you, O good
Brahmana, how the spirit is born again with its accumulated load of
_karma_, the righteous in a virtuous, and the wicked in a sinful
nativity. By the performance of virtuous actions it attains to the state
of the gods, and by a combination of good and evil, it acquires the
human state; by indulgence in sensuality and similar demoralising
practices it is born in the lower species of animals, and by sinful
acts, it goes to the infernal regions. Afflicted with the miseries of
birth and dotage, man is fated to rot here below from the evil
consequences of his own actions. Passing through thousands of births as
also the infernal regions, our spirits wander about, secured by the
fetters of their own _karma_. Animate beings become miserable in the
next world on account of these actions done by themselves and from the
reaction of those miseries, they assume lower births and then they
accumulate a new series of actions, and they consequently suffer misery
over again, like sickly men partaking of unwholesome food; and although
they are thus afflicted, they consider themselves to be happy and at
ease and consequently their fetters are not loosened and new _karma_
arises; and suffering from diverse miseries they turn about in this
world like a wheel.
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