Book Title: Questions of King Milinda Part 02
Author(s): T W Rhys Davids
Publisher: Oxford


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Page 1142
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III ADHYAYA, I PÂDA, 24.
24. (The descending souls enter) into (plants) animated by other (souls), as in the previous cases, on account of scriptural declaration.
129
In the description of the souls' descent we read, after their coming down in raindrops has been mentioned, 'Then they are born as rice and corn, herbs and trees, sesamum and beans.'-Here a doubt arises whether, at this stage of their descent, the souls to which a remainder of their works continues to cling really pass over into the different species of those immoveable things (plants) and enjoy their pleasures and pains, or if they enter merely into a state of conjunction with the bodies of those plants which are animated by different souls.-The pûrvapakshin maintains that they pass over into those species and enjoy their pleasures and pains, on account of the remainder of works still attaching to them; firstly, because that enables us to take the verb 'to be born' in its literal sense; secondly, because we know from Sruti and Smriti that the condition of a plant may be a place of enjoyment (of the fruits of actions); and thirdly, because sacrifices and similar actions, being connected with harm done to animals, &c., may lead to unpleasant results. We therefore take the 'being born as rice,' &c., of those to whom a remainder of their works attaches, in its literal sense, and consider the case to be analogous to that of a man who is born either as a dog or a hog or a Kândâla, where we have to understand that the man really becomes a dog, and so on, and experiences the pleasures and pains connected with that condition.
To this reasoning we reply as follows:-The souls to which a remainder attaches enter merely into conjunction with rice plants, &c., which are already animated by other souls; and do not enjoy their pleasures and pains; 'as in the previous cases.' As the souls' becoming air, smoke, &c., was decided to mean only that they become connected with them 1, so here too their becoming rice, &c. merely means that they
1 This does not agree well with what had been said above about the souls becoming similar to ether, air, &c.
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