“Vrihaspati said, ’Earth, Wind, Ether, Water, Light, Mind, Yama (the king of the dead), Understanding, the Soul, as also Day and Night, all together behold as witnesses the merits (and demerits) of all living creatures.  With these, Righteousness follows the creature (when dead).[508] When the body becomes bereft of life, skin, bones, flesh, the vital seed, and blood, O thou of great intelligence, leave it at the same time.  Endued with merit (and demerit) Jiva (after the destruction of this body) attains to another.  After the attainment by Jiva of that body, the presiding deities of the five elements once more behold as witnesses all his acts good and bad.  What else dost thou wish to hear?  If endued with righteousness, Jiva enjoys happiness.  What other topic, belonging to this or the other world, shall I discourse upon?’

“Yudhishthira said, ’Thy illustrious self has explained how Righteousness follows Jiva.  I desire to know how the vital seed is originated.’

“Vrihaspati said, ’The food that these deities, O king, who dwell in the body, viz., Earth, Wind, Ether, Water, Light, and Mind eat, gratifies them.  When those five elements become gratified, O monarch, with Mind numbering as their sixth, their vital seed then becomes generated, O thou of cleansed soul!  When an act of union takes place between male and female, the vital seed flows out and causes conception.  I have thus explained to thee what thou hast asked.  What else dost thou wish to hear?’

“Yudhishthira said, ’Thou hast, O illustrious one, said how conception takes place.  Do thou explain how the Jiva that takes birth grows (by becoming possessed of body).’

“Vrihaspati said, ’As soon as Jiva enters the vital seed, he becomes overwhelmed by the elements already mentioned.  When Jiva becomes disunited therewith, he is said to attain to the other end (viz., death).  Endued as Jiva becomes with all those elements, he attains, in consequence thereof, a body.  The deities, that preside over those elements behold as witnesses all his acts, good and bad.  What else dost thou wish to hear?’

“Yudhishthira said, ’Leaving off skin and bone and flesh, and becoming destitute of all those elements, in what does Jiva reside, O illustrious one, for enjoying and enduring happiness and misery?’

“Vrihaspati said, ’Endued with all his acts, the Jiva quickly enters the vital seed, and utilizing the functional flow of women, takes birth in time, O Bharata.  After birth, the Jiva receives woe and death from the messengers of Yama.  Indeed, misery and a painful round of rebirth are his inheritance.  Endued with life, O king, the Jiva in this world, from the moment of his birth, enjoys and endures his own (previous) acts, depending upon righteousness (and its reverse).  If the Jiva, according to the best of his power, follows righteousness from the day of his birth, he then succeeds in enjoying, when reborn, happiness without interruption.  If, on the other