[1775]
Upon the dissolution of the body, another body, which is as much
destructible as the one that is destroyed, is kept ready for the burnt
and destroyed creature (to migrate into) even as one boat goes to another
for transferring to itself the passengers of the other.[1776] In
consequence of an act of congress, a drop of the vital seed, that is
inanimate, is cast into the womb. I ask thee, through whose or what care
is the embryo kept alive? That part of the body into which the food that
is eaten goes and where it is digested, is the place where the embryo
resides, but it is not digested there. In the womb, amid urine and
faeces, one's sojourn is regulated by Nature. In the matter of residence
therein or escape therefrom, the born creature is not a free agent. In
fact, in these respects, he is perfectly helpless. Some embryos fall from
the womb (in an undeveloped state). Some come out alive (and continue to
live). While as regards some, they meet with destruction in the womb,
after being quickened with life, in consequence of some other bodies
being ready for them (through the nature of their acts).[1777] That man
who, in an act of sexual congress, injects the vital fluid, obtains from
it a son or daughter. The offspring thus obtained, when the time comes,
takes part in a similar act of congress. When the allotted period of a
person's life is at its close, the five primal elements of his body
attain to the seventh and the ninth stages and then cease to be.
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