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DÂDISTÂN-I DINIK.
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future existence1. 7. When the punishment of the three nights is undergone the soul of the righteous attains to heaven and the best existence, and the soul of the wicked to hell and the worst existence. 8. When they have undergone their punishment at the renovation of the universe they attain, by complete purification from every sin, unto the everlasting progress, happy progress, and perfect progress of the best and undisturbed existence.
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CHAPTER XV.
1. The fourteenth question is that which you ask thus: Is the eradication of life the gnawing of dogs and birds upon the corpse? And does the sin of those who suppose it3 a sin proceed from that origin, or not?
2. The reply is this, that the decrease of sin and increase of good works, owing to good thoughts, good words, and good deeds, arise really from the effort and disquietude which come on by means of the religion the soul practises, and through the strength in effort, steadfastness of religion, and
The three days and nights of final punishment, after the resurrection and before the final purification in melted metal (see Bd. XXX, 13, 16, 20), which is mentioned again in § 8.
2 This does not refer to the final punishment of §§ 6 and 8, but to the previous three nights' tribulation just after death, and to the fate of the soul before the resurrection (see Chaps. XXIV, XXV).
3 The exposure of the dead, apparently; but the construction of this question and its relation to the reply are by no means clear at first sight. From §§ 2, 5, 6 we have to infer that the exposure is a meritorious action rather than a sin; and from §§ 3, 4 we have to gather that as loss of life occurs to every one, and exposure of the corpse only to some, the former cannot be caused by the latter.
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