[115] As in sacrifices the gods derived sustenance from the ethereal portion of the burnt-offering, so, no doubt, the corporeal frame (especially when cremated) supplied an ethereal one for the disembodied soul, which was not yet entirely freed from the trammels of matter though released from the bonds of its grosser forms.
[116] There is a most important reason in favour of the special exception in regard to the performance of work in the case of sacrifices, for, as Krishna explains: “From food are all creatures; from rain is the production of food; rain is produced from sacrifice; and sacrifice is the outcome of work.”
[117] Neither the joys of heaven nor the pains of hell could, in the view of Hindu theologians, be eternal. When an embodied soul has, by good actions, austerities, etc., acquired sufficient merit, it is permitted to taste the joys of heaven for a length of time proportional to its deserts. When these are exhausted it returns to be born again on this earth. Similarly the embodied soul whose evil deeds deserve punishment serves its time in hell and then returns to be re-born on the earth. In either case there is after re-birth no recollection of previous existences or of former joys and sorrows. But, in heaven or in hell, a recollection would be retained of the last state on earth, of which, indeed, the celestial or infernal condition would be only a sort of continuation.
[118] “Absence of vanity, absence of ostentation, abstention from injury, forgiveness, uprightness, devotion to preceptor, purity, constancy, self-restraint, indifference to objects of sense, absence of egoism, perception of the misery and evil of birth, death, decrepitude and disease, freedom from attachment, absence of sympathy for son, wife, home, and the rest, and constant equanimity of heart on attainment of good and evil, unswerving devotion to me without meditation on anything else, frequenting of lonely places, distaste for concourse of men, constancy in the knowledge of the relation of the individual self to the supreme, perception of the object of the knowledge of truth—all this is called knowledge, all that which is contrary to this is ignorance. That which is the object of knowledge I will (now) declare (to thee) knowing which, one obtaineth immortality. (It is) the supreme Brahma, having no beginning, who is said to be neither existent nor non-existent, etc., etc.”—Krishna, in “Bhagavatgita.”
[119] Those who have a leaning towards esoterics and mysticism may read “Discourse on the Bhagavatgita,” by T. Subba Row, B.A., B.L., F.T.S. (Bombay, 1888), from which they will learn, pp. 56-58, that the Pandavas represent in reality the five elements which constitute man or rather Humanity; that “the Kauravas are no other than the evil propensities of man, his vices and their allies,” and that “the philosophy of Krishna teaches Arjuna that he must conquer these, however closely related to him they may be, before he can secure the kingdom or the mastery over self.”
[120] “Republic,” book x., chapters 614-621.
[121] “The name as commonly used applies to Vishnu, and is that under which he was first worshipped.”—Dowson’s “Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology.”
[122] Of Mandara the poet says: “Upwards it riseth eleven thousand Yojanas and descendeth downwards as much.”
[123] The goddess of fortune.
[124] If these poems are really ancient, I think we need not have any hesitation in concluding that the Zenana system was in force in India in early times, and was not introduced, as many Hindus declare, after the conquest of India by the Muhammadans. Possibly the purdah was made more strict after the Muslims established themselves south of the Himalayas.