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. CHAPTER XL, 16-XLI, 4.
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that of a soul of the righteous is undecaying, immortal, and undisturbed, full of glory and full of enjoyment, for ever and everlasting, with the angels and archangels and the guardian spirits of the righteous. 31. And the bridge 2 and destruction 3 and punishment of the wicked in hell are for ever and everlasting 4. 32. And the wicked soul, apart from the punishment, contemplates the existence, and even the appearance, with the demons and fiends just as, in the worldly existence, a healthy man does that with him who is very grievously sick.'
CHAPTER XLI. 1. The sage asked the spirit of wisdom (2) thus : • Which man is the mightier ? 3. Which road is the morę dreadful ? 4. Which account is the more
1 The guardian spirits are the spiritual representatives of each individual being and thing of the good creation, which are supposed to have been all created by Allharmazd in the beginning (see Chap. XLIX, 23, Bd. I, 8).
2 That is the investigation into the character of the soul at the Kindvar bridge (see Chap. II, 115, 162). L19 omits this mention of the bridge.
* Reading drûs, as in L19, but this is doubtful.
+ This phrase can be used either with reference to time or to eternity. Time which lasts for ever must end at the resurrection, as in this case (see Chap. II, 193), because time then ceases to exist. But eternity which lasts for ever can never end. If this phrase had the same meaning here as in $ 30, it would contradict all the other statements regarding the fate of the wicked, which are to be found in Pahlavi literature, including those of the author himself.
L19 has the wicked soul contemplates being apart from the punishment, and also apart from appearance.!
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| SR No. | 007677 |
| Book Title | Saddharma Pundarika |
| Original Sutra Author | N/A |
| Author | H Kern |
| Publisher | Oxford |
| Publication Year | 1884 |
| Total Pages | 2546 |
| Language | English |
| Classification | Book_English |
| File Size | 46 MB |