the Book of the Dead ( PDF )

The Doctrine Of Eternal Life.
and which has always hitherto been translated by "soul." The ba is not incorporeal, for although it dwells
in the ka, and is in some respects, like the heart, the principle of life in man, still it possesses both
substance and form: in form it is depicted as a human-headed hawk, and in nature and substance it is
stated to be exceedingly refined or ethereal. It revisited the body in the tomb and re-animated it, and
conversed with it; it could take upon itself any shape that it pleased; and it had the power of passing into
heaven and of dwelling with the perfected souls there. It was eternal. As the ba was closely associated
with the ka, it partook of the funeral offerings, and in one aspect of its existence at least it was liable to
decay if not properly and sufficiently nourished. In the pyramid texts the permanent dwelling place of the
ba or soul is heaven with the gods, whose life it shares
1. sek Unas per em hru pen em aru maa en
Behold Unas cometh forth on day this in the form exact of
ba anx
a soul living.[2]
[1. See Trans. Soc. Bib. Arch., vol. vi., pp. 307, 308.
2. Recueil de Travaux, t. iv., p. 52 (l. 455).]
{p. lxv}
2. ba-sen met Unas
Their soul[1] is in Unas.[2]
3. aha ba-k emma neteru
Standeth thy soul among the gods.[3]
4. ha Pepi pu i-nek maat Heru metu-s thu
Hail, Pepi this! cometh to thee the eye of Horus, it speaketh with thee.
i-nek ba-k am neteru
Cometh to thee thy soul which is among the gods.[4]
5. uab ba-k am neteru
Pure is thy soul among the gods.[5]
6. anx Ausar anx ba din Netat anx Pepi pen
As liveth Osiris, and as liveth the soul in Netat, so liveth Pepi this.[6]
7. ta-s baiu-k Pepi pen xent paut neteru em
It[7] placeth thy soul Pepi this among the greater and lesser cycles of the gods in
tut arat am-tha hat-k
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