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body may be without the intervention of death of the persons at all. In the Purāņas, this is illustrated in the case of the evil action by the illustration of Nahușa and in the case of the good action by the illustration of Nandiśvara. To make it more clear, the existing body which is the result of Prarabdha Karma of the previous life is usually bound to continue till the prãrabdha which is generated, is exhausted. A new prārabdha can function after the current prarabdha is exhausted and death has occured but in the case of a very great Yogi the desired body to be assumed in future after death of the present body may be assumed in the immediate present. In such cases death is averted. In other words, the present body undergoes the process of physical transformation (Jātyantara Pariņāma ) as a result of which it is transformed totally into the body which was to have been assumed after death. This is affected with the help of the Prakṛti.
As said above we learn from the Puranas the story of NandiSvara and Nahuşa whose transformation took place in their present life without the intervention of death. It is said that Kumāra Nandiśvara on the strength of his exalted karma was able to have his present body transformed into a celestial body immediately without passing through the gates of death and rebirth. This is from Vyasa's commentary on Yogasūtra.1
As Nandiśvara's human body was converted into a celestial .body, in the same way Nahuṣa's celestial body was converted into the body of a serpent. The general view is that Dharma arrests the activity of adharma and vice-versa. There upon, the transformation takes place in nature's own course, as a result of which conversion of one body into another becomes possible.2 The story of Nahuṣa appears originally in the Mahābhārata,
1. Patanjali's Yogasūtra IV. 3
2. The story of Kumara Nandf is found in the Zanatkumara Samhita of Sivapurana, Chapter XLV, verses 134-Chapter L. Nandi was the son of
Sirad Muni, but his body was not of the ordinary type of a sexually born
.
