31 One who steals honey becomes an eagle.
32 One who steals flour, rice, etc. is born a monkey.[61]
The state of the soul after death depends upon a man’s good or bad actions in life.
The souls of the righteous leave the body without any trouble. The messengers of the god of death present themselves to these souls in the form of saints and carry them to that part of the heaven which is presided over by their favourite deity, by the eastern, northern, or western gates. They are received there with great respect. Here they enjoy the fruits of their merit, after which they return to this world and are born either in the family of a wealthy virtuous man or in that of a poor Brāhman who has attained the knowledge of God. In this new life they accumulate further merit, in virtue of which they are endowed with a higher spiritual life in the following birth, and so on until they attain final emancipation.
After attaining moksha or salvation the soul becomes free from the wheel of birth and rebirth.
To the souls of the sinful, who leave their bodies with a great struggle, the messengers of the god of death present themselves in a terrible form. They are carried to hell by the southern gate, being constantly lashed on the way. There they are relegated to one of the twenty-eight pits (of hell) appropriate to their misdeeds, to suffer retribution for their sins.[62]
The soul is carried to Dharmarāja after it leaves the body. Thence, with the permission of the god, it returns to this world and halts for thirteen days at the threshold of its house. On the thirteenth day an earthen jar filled with water is emptied on a pipal tree (Ficus religiosa) after which its connection with this world ceases. Then it returns to the heavenly judge of actions (Dharmarāja), and is again born in the species prescribed by him. The soul of a strictly spiritual being merges into the divine entity and becomes free from birth and rebirth.
Moksha or Mukti, that is final emancipation is of two kinds, sāyujya or merging into the divine form and sāmishya or entering the divine order and living in this state so long as one’s merits allow.[62]
Dharmarāja keeps an account of the good and bad actions of all men in his book called siddhi karan, and dispenses justice according to it. A man guilty of adultery is sentenced to embrace a redhot image of a woman; one who has slaughtered animals is devoured by those animals; while those who have committed the sin of murdering Brāhmans are relegated to hell for ever.[63]
There are seven rungs to the ladder which leads to the next world. The first is covered with a thick forest. The second bristles with pointed spears. The third is strewn with gokharu (a species of thorns). The fourth has piercing blasts. On the fifth runs the river Vaitarna. The sixth is full of red-hot iron. The seventh is covered with deep streams.[64]