O revered one, you alone, beloved of the wise, have illuminated the merits of giving villages and performing virtuous deeds. Yet, at the time of the cosmic dissolution, all worlds vanish, and a deep doubt arises within me—one that only you are worthy to dispel. “Excellent, excellent!” comes the reply, “O greatly wise one, this question touches the most secret of all secrets. Nārāyaṇa is imperishable and infinite, the supreme and eternal light. Though transcending all qualities, he appears as if endowed with them, embodying supreme bliss. In the threefold distinctions that arise from the adjuncts of qualities, he creates as Brahmā, protects as Viṣṇu, and at the end of dissolution, Janārdana himself arises in the form of Brahmā. O foremost of Brāhmaṇas, wherever beings—whether immovable or otherwise—are situated, know this: every deed, whether virtuous or sinful, persists. No action, whether enjoyed or not, is destroyed, even after hundreds of millions of aeons. The eternal one experiences the fruits of all actions in full. He creates, protects, and consumes all, being the enjoyer and the cause of the dissolution of all.” Those beings known as ‘immovables’ are enveloped in great delusion. In their state upon the earth, seeds are produced. When water is sprinkled and conditions are right, the sun’s heat ripens them. They swell, become roots, then sprouts; from sprouts arise leaves, stalks, and stems, which grow further and bear flowers. Some flowers yield fruit, others do not; some are the cause of fruit. When flowers mature, husks arise from their roots. Within these husks, by the combination of the enjoyers’ actions and the sun’s rays, the essence of the plant enters, attains the state of milk, and in due time becomes rice. According to the enjoyers’ actions, in a year, they become fruitful. Then, these beings become worms, afflicted with suffering, living for only half a moment and dying in half a moment, unable to ward off torment from others, overwhelmed by cold, wind, hunger, thirst, and wandering in filth and urine, experiencing pain. From there, they enter the womb of the lotus-born, agitated by strong pain, filled with useless anxiety, always hungry and thirsty, wandering in forests—even among mothers—driven by sense-objects, afflicted by wind and other torments. In some births, they eat grass; in others, flesh and impure things; in others, roots, tubers, and fruits, always harming weaker beings and experiencing suffering. Among those born from eggs, some eat wind, flesh, and impure things, always harming others and afflicted with suffering. Even as domestic animals, they suffer separation from their kind, bear heavy loads, are bound, beaten, yoked to ploughs, and so on. Yet, by special merit, some attain human birth in due course. Even in human birth, suffering persists: as tanner, outcaste, hunter, sweeper, potter, blacksmith, goldsmith, weaver, tailor, ascetic, mendicant, washerman, scribe, servant, menial, pauper, or one with bodily defects, and from fever, heat, cold, phlegm, tumors, pain in feet, eyes, head, womb, sides, and so on. When a man and woman unite, semen enters the womb, and by the force of karma, the being enters with the semen and begins to develop in the mixture of semen and blood. Assuming the form of a lump, in a month it attains the size of a finger’s breadth. From then on, lacking consciousness due to the force of wind, it suffers greatly in the mother’s womb, unable to remain in one place, tossed about. At the end of the second month, it attains human form; at the end of the third, limbs such as hands and feet develop; after four months, joints are distinguished; after five, nails begin to appear; after six, nail joints become clear. Nourished by the navel cord, its body is soaked with impure urine, bound by the womb, polluted by blood, bones, worms, fat, marrow, sinews, hair, and so on. Seeing itself thus polluted and scorched by the mother’s intake of pungent, sour, salty, and excessively hot foods, the embodied being, remembering previous births and the sufferings of hell, is burned within by inner pain and scorched without by the mother’s body, and thus grieves in its mind. It laments: “Alas, I am extremely sinful! In previous births, out of intense attachment to servants, children, friends, wives, houses, fields, wealth, and grain, for the sake of supporting my wife, I looked at the wealth and fields of others, and by means such as theft, blinded by desire, committed great sins like abducting others’ wives. Because of those sins, I alone, having experienced the torments of hell and then great suffering among plants and other beings, am now enveloped by the womb, burning with inner and outer pain. The wives whom I supported have, by the force of their own karma, gone elsewhere. Alas, suffering indeed belongs to embodied beings. For the sake of servants, children, and wives, I took the wealth of others. Seeing another’s prosperity, I was always disturbed by envy. By body, mind, and speech, I caused harm to others; by that sin, I alone am burned, exceedingly afflicted.” Thus, while still in the womb, the being laments in many ways, either aloud or within. Consoling itself, after birth, through association with the good and by hearing the deeds of Viṣṇu, with a purified mind, performing virtuous acts, worshipping with devotion the lotus feet of Lakṣmīpati Nārāyaṇa—the inner soul of all worlds, composed of truth, knowledge, and bliss, whose power upholds all realms, worshipped by all gods, demons, yakṣas, gandharvas, rākṣasas, serpents, munis, and kinnaras—holding in the heart the secret of the Vedas and Upaniṣads, which is the means to cut the unbearable bondage of saṃsāra, he resolves: “I will cross over this house of suffering, the abode of saṃskāras.” O sage Nārada, at the time of birth, the embodied being, still in the womb, is afflicted by the wind, causing pain to his mother, and, bound by the fetters of karma, is compelled to exit through the birth passage, experiencing all torments at once. Because of this extreme suffering, as he emerges from the womb, he falls into unconsciousness. Immediately upon contact with the external air, all the sufferings previously experienced are forgotten due to loss of memory, and he does not recognize them, yet he endures intense pain in the present because of the absence of knowledge. Thus, entering infancy, the creature, whose body is smeared with its own excrement and urine, is afflicted by internal and other pains, unable to speak, tormented by hunger and thirst. When it cries, those around try to give it breast milk and such, thinking it should be soothed. In this way, experiencing many bodily sufferings dependent on others, he is unable even to ward off biting insects and the like. Having reached childhood, he suffers inner pain of this kind: being beaten by mother, father, or teacher, always wandering about, playing in dust, ashes, and mud, constantly quarreling, being unclean, forced into many activities, and unable to avoid them. Such is the journey of the embodied soul, bound by karma, through suffering and hope, ever striving for liberation and the grace of Nārāyaṇa.