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Srimad Bhagvata Mahapurana: Book 4: Chapter 29: Verses 55-65
The Dialogue between king Pracinabarhi and the sage Narada (continued)
Thus pondering the career of the deer, restrain your mind within the four walls of your heart and (the outward flow of) the stream of your ear in the mind. Bid adieu to the life of a householder, where you (mostly) hear stories of unrighteous (libidinous) people; (try to) please the Lord (the shelter of all living beings) and gradually withdraw from everything else. King Pracinabarhi said : I have heard and pondered, O holy sage, on what you have said. (Surely) my preceptors (who instructed me in the rituals) are not aware of this; (for) had they known it, wherefore should they have failed to teach the same to me? The great doubt raised in my mind by their words on this subject has been fully resolved (by you), O (worthy) Brahmana. Even sages are bewildered in a domain which is beyond the reach of the senses. Leaving here the body by which the Jiva performs (certain) actions, he reaps the (good and evil) consequences (of those actions) in a future life through another body. This doctrine of the knowers of Veda is heard of everywhere. (But how can this be ?) (Moreover) whatever action, recommended in the Vedas, is (actually) performed goes out of sight and is no longer visible. (How can a thing which has altogether disappeared yield good or evil consequences?) Narada replied : The Jiva itself experiences (the good and evil) consequences of its actions hereafter through the same subtle body, (mainly consisting of) the mind, by which he performs (those) actions and which continues uninterrupted (even in the lives to come) Just as (in a dream) a man ceases to identify himself with this (physical body)-which remains lying asleep and breathing (as heretofore)-and experiences the fruit of his actions, which are stored in his mind (in the form of impressions), so does he reap the fruit of his actions done in a previous life through another body similar to this or belonging to a different species. Whatever body the Jiva cleaves to with his mind, saying: "These (wife and children) are mine and this (body) is I", he (also) ascribes to himself the actions performed through that body, whence follows his rebirth. Just as (the existence of) a (directing) mind is inferred from both the types of activities of the Indriyas (viz., perception of the objective world and reacting upon the same), so are the actions wrought through a previous body (and surviving in the form of impressions) inferred from the (diverse) propensities of the mind. What has nowhere been experienced and is unseen and unheard of in this life is sometimes perceived with the mind in its actual form and character (in a dream or a reverie). Therefore, O king, be positive in your mind that such an object was experienced in a previous life by that Jiva identified with a subtle body; for an object that has not been experienced (before) can never (even) flash on the mind.
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