Shloka 18
Matsya Purana — Dialogue of Aṣṭaka and Yayāti: Exhaustion of Merit
*ययातिरुवाच हित्वा सो ऽसून् सुप्तवन्निष्ठितत्वात् पुरोधाय सुकृतं दुष्कृतं च अन्यां योनिं पुण्यपापानुसारां हित्वा देहं भजते राजसिंह //
*yayātiruvāca hitvā so 'sūn suptavanniṣṭhitatvāt purodhāya sukṛtaṃ duṣkṛtaṃ ca anyāṃ yoniṃ puṇyapāpānusārāṃ hitvā dehaṃ bhajate rājasiṃha //
Yayāti said: “Having abandoned the vital breaths—like one who has fallen asleep, through the body’s cessation—carrying forward one’s merit and demerit, the being attains another womb in accordance with virtue and sin; leaving one body behind, O lion among kings, it takes up another.”
FAQs
It does not describe cosmic pralaya; it explains the individual “dissolution” at death—leaving one body and taking another according to accumulated merit and demerit.
By stressing that sukṛta and duṣkṛta follow the person beyond death, it urges rulers and householders to govern and live dharmically, since ethical choices shape one’s future birth.
No Vāstu or temple-ritual rule appears here; the focus is doctrinal—karma, death, and rebirth—often used as a moral foundation for later ritual and dharma discussions.