(3) 'But, if after the spirit has departed from them, one shoves them together with a poker, and burns them to pieces, no one would say, Thou offendest thy father, mother, brother, sister, tutor or a Brâhmana.

(11) Again, at the death of those discipline -holding abbots and doctors in metaphysical discourses [who remain uninstructed in these Bardo teachings], however assiduously they may have devoted themselves to religious practices, and however in the human world, there will not come any phenomenal signs such as rainbow-halo [at the funeral-pyre] nor bone-reliques [from the ashes]. This is because when they lived the mystic [or esoteric] doctrines were never held within their heart, and because they had spoken contemptuously of them, and because they were never acquainted [through initiation] with the deities of the mystic [or esoteric] doctrines; thus, when these dawn on the Bardo, they do not recognize them. Suddenly [seeing] what they had never seen before, engendered, they pass into the miserable states because of that. Therefore, if the observers of the disciplines, and the [or esoteric] doctrines, such signs as the rainbow-halo come not, nor are bone-reliques and seed-like bones ever produced [from the bones of their funeral-pyre]: these are the reasons for it.

(3) £ Yajnavalkya/ said he, 'when the voice of a dead man goes into fire, his breath into wind, his eye into the sun, his mind into the moon, his hearing into the quarters of heaven, his body into the earth, his soul (atman) into space, the hairs of his head into plants, the hairs of his body into trees, and his blood and semen are placed in water, what then becomes of this person (purusa)? ' 'Artabhaga, my dear, take my hand. We two only will know of this. This is not for us two [to speak of] in public/ The two went away and deliberated. What they said was karma (action). What they praised was karma. Verily, one becomes good by good action, bad by bad action. Thereupon Jaratkarava Artabhaga held his peace.

(8) 'A Brâhmana that dwells in the house of a foolish man without receiving food to eat, destroys his hopes and expectations, his possessions, his righteousness, his sacred and his good deeds, and all his sons and cattle.'

(26) Thy living relatives may — by way of dedication for the benefit of thee deceased — be sacrificing many animals, and performing religious ceremonies, and giving alms. Thou, because of thy vision not being purified, mayst be inclined to grow very angry at their actions and bring about, at this moment, thy birth in Hell: whatever those left behind thee may be doing, act thou so that no angry thought can arise in thee, and meditate upon love for them.

(1) Now next, the Transmission. — When a man thinks he is about to depart, he says to his son: ' Thou art holy knowledge. Thou art sacrifice. Thou art the world.' The son replies: ' I am holy knowledge. I am sacrifice. I am the world/ Verily, whatever has been learned [from the Vedas], the sum of all this is expressed by the word c knowledge ' (brahma}. Verily, whatever sacrifices have been made, the sum of them all is expressed by the word hended under the word ' world. So great, verily, is this all. occurs at Kaush. 2. 15. [the father considers]. Therefore they call 'world-procuring' a son who has been instructed. Therefore they instruct him. When one who has this knowledge departs from this world, he enters into his son with these vital breaths [i.e. faculties: Speech, Mind, and Breath]. Whatever wrong has been done by him, his son frees him from it all.. Therefore he is called a son (putra)? By his son a father stands firm in this world. Then into him [who has made over to his son his mortal breaths] enter those divine immortal breaths. 1 8. From the earth and from the fire the divine Speech enters him. Verily, that is the divine Speech whereby what- ever one says comes to be.

(4) There a father becomes not a father; a mother, not a mother; the worlds, not the worlds; the gods, not the gods; the Vedas, not the Vedas; a thief, not a thief. There the destroyer of an embryo becomes not the destroyer of am embryo 3; a Candala [the son of a Sudra father and a Brahman mother] is not a Candala; a Paulkasa [the son of a Sudra father and a Kshatriya mother] is not a Paulkasa; a mendicant hard.' Com. says * chase.' Cf. Chand. 8. 10. 2 and note. is not a mendicant, an ascetic is not an ascetic. He is not followed by good, he is not followed by evil, for then he has passed beyond all sorrows of the heart.

(41) Therefore, going near [the body of] one who hath passed out of this life — if the body be there — impress this [upon the spirit of the deceased] vividly, again and again, until blood and the yellowish water-secretion begin to issue from the nostrils. At that time the corpse should not be disturbed. The rules to be observed for this [impressing to be efficacious] are: no animal should be slain on account of the deceased; nor should relatives weep or make mournful wailings near the dead body; [let the family] perform virtuous deeds as far as possible.

(4) Thereupon, because of the power of bad karma, the glorious blue light of the Wisdom of the Dharma- Dhdtu will produce in thee fear and terror, and thou wilt [with to] flee from it. Thou wilt beget a fondness for the dull white light of the devas.

(2) Not knowing whether [he be] dead or not, [a state of] lucidity cometh [to the deceased. If the instructions be successfully applied to the deceased while he is in that state, then, by the meeting of the Mother-Reality and the Offspring-Reality, karma controlleth not. Like the sun's rays, for example, dispelling the darkness, the Clear Light on the Path dispelleth the power of karma.

(26) Again, when any recitation of the Kamkani Mantra is being made on thy behalf as a funeral rite, or when any rite for the absolving of bad karma liable to bring about thy birth in lower regions is being performed for thee, the sight of their being conducted in an incorrect way, mixed up with sleep and distraction and non-observance of the vows and lack of purity [on the part of any officiant], and such things indicating levity — all of which thou wilt be able to see because thou art endowed with limited karmic power of prescience — thou mayst feel lack of faith and entire disbelief [in thy religion]. Thou wilt be able to apprehend any fear and fright, any black actions, irreligious conduct, and incorrectly recited rituals. In thy mind thou mayst think, 'Alas! Thy are, indeed, playing me false'. Thinking thus, thou wilt be extremely depressed, and, through great resentment, thou wilt acquire disbelief and loss of faith, instead of affection and humble trustfulness. This affecting the psychological moment, thou wilt be certain to be born in one of the miserable states.