Text 58
karmāṇy ārabhate yena
pumān iha vihāya tam
amutrānyena dehena
juṣṭāni sa yad aśnute
karmāṇi — fruitive activities; ārabhate — begins to perform; yena — by which; pumān — a living entity; iha — in this life; vihāya — giving up; tam — that; amutra — in the next life; anyena — another; dehena — by a body; juṣṭāni — the results; saḥ — he; yat — that; aśnute — enjoys.
The results of whatever a living entity does in this life are enjoyed in the next life.
A person generally does not know how one body is linked with another body. How is it possible that one suffers or enjoys the results of activities in this body in yet another body in the next life? This is a question the King wants Nārada Muni to answer. How may one have a human body in this life and not have a human body in the next? Even great philosophers and scientists cannot account for the transferal of karma from one body to another. As we experience, every individual soul has an individual body, and one person’s activities or one body’s activities are not enjoyed or suffered by another body or another person. The question is how the activities of one body are suffered or enjoyed in the next.