Consider how the ancestors were, look how those who come after are. Like grain the mortal ripens, and like grain is born again.

Here Yama presents the cyclical nature of mortal existence. Saṃsāra is like the cycle of agriculture: endless death and rebirth. The mortal (martyaḥ) crumbles like ripe grain, but also germinates again. This agricultural metaphor illustrates punarjanma (rebirth) as a natural process, but also points to the possibility of transcendence: the grain sacrificed in the fire of knowledge does not return to the cycle.