" Brahma is not a deity who has
created the world; he is the very substance of the world.
=Transmigration of Souls.=--There is, then, a soul, a part of the soul
of Brahma, in every being, in gods, in men, in animals, in the very
plants and stones. But these souls pass from one body into another;
this is the transmigration of souls. When a man dies, his soul is
tested; if it is good, it passes into the heaven of Indra there to
enjoy felicity; if it is bad, it falls into one of the twenty-eight
hells, where it is devoured by ravens, compelled to swallow burning
cakes, and is tormented by demons. But souls do not remain forever in
heaven or in the hells; they part from these to begin a new life in
another body. The good soul rises, entering the body of a saint,
perhaps that of a god; the evil soul descends, taking its abode in
some impure animal--in a dog, an ass, even in a plant. In this new
state it may rise or fall. And this journey from one body to another
continues until the soul by degrees comes to the highest sphere. From
lowest to highest in the scale, say the Brahmans, twenty-four millions
of years elapse.
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