Yoga Vasistha (Yoga-Vasishtha Maharamayana)

23. With his wakeful mind, he meets all the affairs of his concern with his spiritual unconcern; as the mirror receives the reflexions of objects, without being tainted by them. 24. In his waking he reposes in himself, and in his sleep he reclines amidst the drowsy world; in his actions he turns about as frolicsome boys, and his desires lie dormant in his soul. 25. O thou, great soul, thus continue to enjoy thy supreme bliss, for the period of a Kalpa (a day of Brahmá), by relying your mind in the victorious Vishnu, and with enjoying the prosperity of thy dominions by exercise of your virtues and good qualities. (The ultimate lesson is, to be observant of the duties which are paramount on every body, with relinquishment of all personal desire for oneself).

INSTALLATION OF PRAHLÁDA IN HIS REALM. Argument. Hari’s Inauguration of Prahláda with blessings, and appointment of him to the Government. Vasishtha said:—After Hari the receptacle of the three worlds, and observer of everything that passes in them; had spoken in the aforesaid manner in his lucid speech, shedding the coolness of moon beams: 2. Prahláda became full blown in his body, and his eyes shone forth as blooming lotuses; he then spoke out with full possession of his mental powers. 3. Prahláda said:—Lord! I was much tired with very many state affairs, and in thinking about the weal and woe of my people. I have now found a little rest from my labour. 4. It is by thy grace, my lord! that I am settled in myself; and whether I am in my trance or waking state, I enjoy the tranquility of my mind at all times. 5. I always see thee seated in my heart, with the clear sightedness of my mind; and it is by my good luck, that I have thee now in my presence and outside of it. 6. I had been all this time, sitting without any thought in me; and was mixed up as air in air, in my mind’s internal vision of thee.

7. I was not affected by grief or dulness, nor infatuated by my zeal of asceticism or a wish of relinquishing my body (that I remained in my torpid trance). 8. The One All being present in the mind, there is no room for any grief in it, at the loss of anything besides; nor can any care for the world, or caution of the body or life, or any fear of any kind, abide in his presence. 9. It is simply by pure desire of holiness, rising spontaneously of itself in me; that I had been situated in my saintlike and holy state. 10. Yes my Lord, I am disgusted with this world, and long to resign its cares; together with all the mutations of joy and grief, which rise alternate in the minds of the unenlightened. 11. I do not think that our embodied state is subject to misery, and that our being freed from the bonds of the body is the cause of our release: it is worldliness that is a venomous viper in the bosom, and torments the ignorant only and not the sage. (Because it is mind and not the body, that is addicted to pleasure, and feels the stings of pain).

12. It is the ignorant and not the learned, whose minds fluctuate with the thoughts, that this is pleasure and the other is pain, and that I have this and am in want of another. (The more they have, the more they crave). 13. The ignorant man thinks himself, to be a person distinct from another; and so all living beings devoid of the knowledge of truth, entertain and exult in their egoistic thoughts. 14. The erroneous idea that, such things are acceptable to me, and others are not so; serves only to delude the ignorant, and not the wise (who acquiesce to whatever occurs to them). 15. All things being contained by and situated in my all-pervading spirit, how can we accept one and reject another thing, as distinct from and undesirable to the selfsame One? (Shall we desire only good from God, and not the evil also? Job). 16. The whole universe whether real or unreal (or composed of its substantiality and vacuity), is a manifestation of Omniscience; we know not what is desirable or detestable in it to be accepted or rejected by us. (But must submit to the wise ordinance of providence).

17. It is only by discrimination of the natures of the viewer and the view (i.e. of the subjective soul, and the objective world); and by reflecting the Supreme Soul in one’s self, that the mind receives its rest and tranquility. 18. I was freed during my trance, of the consciousness of my being or not being, and of whatever is desirable or detestable to any one; and I continue also, in the same state of my mind even after I am awakened. 19. This state being familiar to me, I see every thing in the spirit within myself; and I act according as it pleaseth thee. (i.e. Not by mine but thy will). 20. O lotus-eyed Hari! thou art adored in all the three worlds; wherefore it behoveth thee to receive my adoration also, offered in the proper form. 21. Saying so, the lord of Dánavas, presented his platter of presents (arghya) before the god, as the lord of hills pays his offerings to the full-moon. (This hill is the mount of moon rising, which is hailed and welcomed by it). 22. He worshipped Hari first of all, together with his weapons and his Vehicle Garuda; and then he adored the bands of the gods and Apsaras that accompanied him and the three worlds contained in him.

23. After he had done worshipping the lord of the worlds, with the worlds situated within and without him; the Lord of Laxmí spoke to him saying:— 24. Rise, O lord of Dánavas! and sit upon your throne, until I perform your inauguration this very moment. 25. Hari then blew his pánchajanya shell summoning the five races, of the gods, siddhas, sádhyas and men and Daityas, to attend at the ceremony. 26. After this the lotus-eyed god placed him on the throne which he deserved, and whereon he caused him to sit as cloud rests on the summit of a mountain. 27. Hari then caused him to make his sacred ablution, with the waters of the milky and other oceans; and those of the Ganges and other holy rivers, which were presented before him. 28. All bodies of Bráhmans and Rishis, and all groups of Siddhas and Vidyádharas; with the Loka-pálas or regents of the quarters, attended and assisted at the ceremony. 29. Then Hari the immeasurable Spirit, anointed the great Asura in the kingdom of the Daityas; and the Maruta winds lauded his praise, as they do the hymns of Hari in heaven.

30. Then blessed by the gods and applauded by Asuras, Prahláda greeted them all in his turn; and was thus addressed at last by the slayer of Madhu—the demoniac Satan. 31. The Lord said:—Do thou reign here as sole monarch, as long as the mount Meru stands on the earth, and the sun and moon shine in the sky; and be fraught with all praiseworthy virtues of thine own. 32. Govern thy realm without any interested motive of thy own, and without showing any symptom of anger or fear on your part; but preserve your moderation and a tolerant spirit in all your affairs. 33. May you never have any disquiet, in this realm of excellent soil and plenteous provisions; nor do you create any disturbance to the gods in heaven, or to men on earth below. 34. Conduct yourself in your proper course at all events, which may occur to you at any time or place; and never allow yourself to be led astray, by the caprice of your mind or the freaks of fancy. 35. Keep in mind your spiritual being, and abandon your egoism and selfish views altogether; and then by managing your affairs in one even tenor, both in your want and prosperity, you will evade all the vicissitudes of fortune.

36. You have seen both the ways and dealings of this world, and measured also the immeasurable depth of spiritual knowledge. You know the state of every thing in every place, and require no advice of any body. 37. As you are now perfectly devoid of your anger, passions and fears, there is no more any chance of further broils between the gods and Asuras, under your rule over them in future. 38. No more will the tears of Asura females, wash the decorations on their faces; nor will the currents of rivers rise as high as lofty trees, with floods of tears from their weeping eyes. 39. The cessation of hostilities between the gods and demons, will render the earth as quiet from this day, as the unruffled ocean after its churning by the Mandara mountain. 40. The wives of the gods and demigods, will no more be led away in captivity by one another; but will rest fearless under the marital roofs of their husbands in future. 41. Let thy expectations now rise from their dormancy, of many long nights of dismal darkness, and be crowned with success and prosperity; and do thou, O progeny of Danu! enjoy thy unconquerable royal fortune, as in the company of thy charming consort.

SPIRITUALITY OF PRAHLÁDA. Argument. The merit of hearing the narrative of Vishnu, and the cause of Prahláda’s awaking from his trance. Vasishtha continued:—The lotus-eyed Hari, having said thus much to Prahláda, departed with the whole concourse of the assembled gods, Kinnaras and men, from the abode of the Asura. 2. Then did Prahláda and his associates throw handfuls of flowers on the departing god, as he was mounted on the back of the king of birds (Garuda—the eagle or bird of heaven). 3. The god crossed the heavenly Ganges and reached at the milky ocean, where he took his serpent couch as the black bee sits on the lotus-leaf. 4. The God Vishnu sat on his serpent seat with as much ease, as Indra sits in heaven in the assembly of the gods; and as the lord of the demons, was made to sit in the infernal region wholly devoid of all his cares. 5. I have now related to you, Ráma! the whole narrative of Prahláda’s coming to his sense, from the state of his insensibility; and this account is as charming to the holy hearer, as the cooling moon-beams are refreshing to the tired traveller.

6. The man that ponders in his mind, the manner of Prahláda’s resuscitation to life; is regenerated in that felicitous state, from the sinfulness of his former condition. 7. A cursory rehearsal of his narration, wipes off the sins of men; while the deep consideration of its spiritual sense, leads one to his eternal salvation. 8. The ignorant are released from their ignorance, and the deep thinker is released from his sins; therefore do not neglect to ponder well on it, for the remission of all your sins. 9. The man who considers well the manner of Prahláda’s gaining his proficiency, gets a remission of all the sins committed by him in his repeated previous states of life. 10. Ráma said:—Tell me sir, how the sound of the pánchajanya conch shell, roused the mind of the devout Prahláda from its immersion in holy meditation. 11. Vasishtha replied:—Know Ráma, that there are two states of liberation attending on sinless persons, the one is the emancipation of one in his embodied state in this life, and the other is after his departure from here. 12. The embodied liberation means one’s continuance in his living body, but with a state of mind freed from its attachment to worldly things, and liberated from the desire of fruition and reward of all his meritorious acts.

13. The disembodied liberation is obtained after the soul is released from the body, and is settled in the Supreme Spirit. It is an enfranchisement from the recurrence of future life and birth in this mortal world. 14. The living liberated man is like a fried grain, whose regerminating power is parched within itself, and the desire of whose heart is purified from every expectation of future reward or regeneration. 15. He remains in the pure, holy and magnanimous state of his mind, who resigns himself solely to the meditation of the Great soul, and continues as if he were asleep in his living and waking states. 16. Being thus entranced in his inward meditation, he continues in a torpid state for a thousand years, and wakes again to his senses, if he is allowed to live long ever after that period. 17. Prahláda remained thus with his holy thoughts suppressed within himself, until he was roused from his trance by the shrill sound of the conch-shell. 18. Hari is the soul of all beings, and he who assimilates himself to that god in his thought; becomes identified with the supreme soul, which is the cause of all.

19. No sooner the god thought that Prahláda should come to his sense, than his sensation came immediately to him at the divine will. 20. The world has no other cause, but the divine spirit; which with the assistance of the causal elements, takes different forms on itself at the time of creation; and therefore it is the spirit of Hari that constitutes the world. 21. The worship of God in spirit, presents Hari to the spiritual sight; and the worship of Hari in his outward form, represents the figure to the soul and the inner mind. 22. Do you, O Ráma! put out the visible sights from your view, and look at the inmost soul within yourself; being thus accustomed to spiritual meditation, you will soon have the sight of your God. 23. The world presents a scene of the gloomy rainy weather, with showers of woes falling on all sides; it is likely to freeze us in ignorance, unless we look to the sun of our reason (or, unless we abide under the sunshine of reason). 24. It is by grace of God that we can avoid the delusions of the world, as we may escape from a goblin by means of a spell.

25. It is at the will of the spirit, that the thick darkness of the mind, is dispersed and cleared off in time; the world is a net-work of delusion, which is scattered like a smoke by the breeze of reason.

REST AND REPOSE OF PRAHLÁDA. Argument. All knowledge is derived by one’s own attention and personal exertion, joined with his reliance on the grace of God. Ráma said:—Sir, your knowledge of all truths, and the light of your holy discourses, have gratified me as much, as the cooling moon-beams gratify the medicinal plants (whence the moon is called oshadhísa or lord of medicinal drugs). 2. Your gentle and purifying words are as gratifying to my ears, as the beautiful and sweet flowers delight the external senses (by their colours and odours). (Sweet words are often compared with flowers by Persian and Urdu poets: as, guleazrouzeijaved. Elahikar sakhur meriko up phol.) 3. Sir, if the exertions of men, as you said, be the causes of their success, how was it that Prahláda came to be enlightened without his effort or attempt? (in obtaining his divine knowledge without his learning or help of a preceptor). 4. Vasishtha replied:—Yes Ráma, it was by his manly exertion, that the highminded Prahláda had acquired his divine knowledge; and there was no other cause (of his knowing and having whatever he knew and possessed).

5. The soul of man is the same as the spirit of Náráyana, (which means abiding in man); and there is no difference between them, as there is none between the oil and the sesamum seed; and as the cloth and its whiteness, and the flower and its fragrance are not distinct things. (Because the spirit of God was breathed into the nostrils of man. Náráyana and Purusha both mean the spirit dwelling in man). 6. And Vishnu is the same with his spirit or the soul of man, and the human soul is the same with Vishnu (which means the inherent spirit); Vishnu and the soul are synonymous terms as the plant and the vegetable. 7. Prahláda came at first to know the soul by himself (of his own intuition), it was afterwards by means of his intellectual power, that he was led to the persuasion and made many proselytes after his own example. 8. It was by his own desert, that Prahláda obtained his boon from Vishnu; and it was by the exercise of his own reasoning, that he came to the knowledge of the eternal Mind.

9. Sometimes the soul is awakened of itself by one’s own intuition, and at others it is roused by the grace of the personal god Vishnu, owing to one’s faith in his person. (As it is said: “Thy faith will save thee”). 10. And though this god may be pleased with his prolonged service and devout worship, yet he is unable to confer spiritual knowledge to one devoid of his reasoning faculty. (Or to one who has no understanding. Hence gross idolators can have no salvation, which is to be had by spiritual knowledge only. Blind faith is of no good, without the light of reason). 11. Hence the primary cause of spiritual light is the intelligence of a man and which is gained by exertion of his mental powers only; the secondary causes may be the blessing and grace of a deity, but I wish you to prefer the former one for your salvation. (So it is knowledge and intrinsic merit which exalt a man, and not the mere favour of a patron, is ever able to raise the unworthy). 12. Exert therefore your manliness at first, to keep the quintuple organs of sense under proper control; and habituate yourself with all diligence to cultivate your understanding, and the power of reasoning.

13. For know whatever gain any one makes at any time, it is owing to his own endeavours only that he gains the same, and not by any other means whatever. 14. It is only by dependence on your manly powers, that you can surmount the insuperable barriers of your sensual appetites; and then by crossing over the ocean of this world, reach to the other shore of supreme felicity. 15. It requires no exertion or manly effort to see the figure of Vishnu; but the mere sight of the image is not sufficient to save you, or else the birds and beasts would all be saved by looking at it. 16. If it were in the power of the spiritual guide also to save his foolish followers by his preachings; it would be possible also to the leaders of camels and kine, to save their herds in their future lives. (This figure is set in many temples, and in stones also). 17. It is in the power of the mind only to acquire anything good for one’s self, and not the favour of Hari or that of Hara, or the influence of money, that is able to effect anything.

18. It is by means of constant practice, accompanied by self-resignation and self-controul, that one is enabled to effect anything; and whatever he is unable to do by these means, is impossible for him to do by any other in the three worlds. 19. Look to the spirit in the spirit, and adore the spirit in your own soul; behold the supreme soul in yourself, and have the universal soul in your own soul, and thus remain with it. 20. Fools flying from attending to the sástras, or practising their self-devotion and exercise of reason, have adopted to themselves the Vaishnava faith as a path leading to their better being (or a means towards the great object of final beatitude). 21. Practice and diligence are said to be steps to self-edification, and rites and ceremonies are represented as secondary courses resorted to for want of the former! 22. The senses being refractory what is the good of ceremonial observances, and these being under control, it is useless to observe the ritual. (In both ways the rituals are useless to men of virtuous and vicious habits; the former being in no need, of them and the latter not benefiting by them).

23. Without rationality and dispassionateness of his spirit, it is hard to have Hari (or spiritual felicity); and when there is the cool and calm reasoning of the mind, it is as useless to have the idol of Hari, as to place a lotus in the hand of the dead and liberated. 24. When you have the qualities of abstraction and composure in your mind, think you have every thing in yourself; for these being in your possession, you become an adept, or else you are an ass of the forest. (that is good for nothing). 25. Men are eager to find favour in the sight of the gods (and great men); but they do not seek the favour of their hearts and minds (which can give them whatever blessing is derived from any other). 26. Vishnu the indwelling spirit of the body, is situated in the inmost soul of every individual; it is the ignorant fool only that forsake the innermost Vishnu, and seek the outer form for its leading to the other (which is more closely allied to us than the latter).

27. The consciousness dwelling in the cavity of the heart, is the true body of the everlasting spirit; and the outward form of Vishnu, holding the conchshell, cudgel, lotus and the discus, is but a false representation of it. (A fabrication of the ignorant for the immaterial spirit, in a material form). 28. He who forsakes the real form, and follows the fictitious one, lets off the ambrosia pass from his hand, in pursuit of some promised confectionary. 29. He who is not settled amidst the charming scenery of his spiritual meditation, lets his frantic mind to rove at large, after every object that presents itself before him. 30. He who has not the abstract knowledge of the soul in himself, is under the subjection of his infatuated mind; and worships the image bearing the conch, discus, club and lotus in its hands, as the supreme Lord and God. 31. It is by practice of continued austerity, and a prolonged worship of this deity, that the mind of the devotee becomes purified in process of time, and gets rid of its turbulent passions at last.

32. But the daily practice of self-control and abstract meditation, gives the mind the same purity, and like the ámra or mango fruit, it gets its accompanying virtues one by one. (The virtues of the mango are its flavour, colour &c.). 33. So the soul is said to get in itself the virtues of peace, contentment and the rest, by means of the external adoration of Hari; and it is for this reason that the practice of idol worship is prescribed in the sástras. (As a preparatory step to holiness and spiritual worship). 34. He who obtains his boon from the all-powerful god, gets it in reward of his merit; as a fruit of the tree of his long practice. 35. It is mental labour (lit.: painstaking), which is the foundation of every improvement, and of all lasting good in life; just as the cultivated soil is the cause of the good condition of the harvest.

36. Even the digging of the ground, and the pulling of the hill (by bodily labour), is productive of no good without application of the mind. (Gloss. The digging of the ground alludes to the mining of the earth by the sons of Sagara; and the pulling of the hill refers to the churning of the sea with Mandara by the gods and demons. Both these hardy works were for the sake of obtaining the gems hid under them which required knowledge (of geology)). 37. Men may undergo a thousand transmigrations, and wander about the earth in various births and shapes, and yet find no rest composure of their minds. 38. They may worship Brahmá, Vishnu and the Rudras for ever, and gain their favour also, and yet can have no salvation owing to the perturbed state of their minds. 39. Leave off worshipping the visible form or image of Vishnu (or any other god), either internally or externally in your mind or before your sight; and put an end to your transmigration, by meditating on your consciousness alone.

40. Behold the unsullied form of One infinite God in your conscious self, and by forsaking all whatever it is conscious of. Relish the sweet essence of the one real entity, and go over the ocean of repeated births in the mortal world.

NARRATIVE OF GÁDHI AND HIS DESTRUCTION. Argument. Narrative of Gádhi in illustration of the Adoration of Vishnu. Vasishtha said:—Ráma; it is the government of the restless mind alone, that is able to destroy the delusion, which causes the interminable transmigrations in this mortal world. There is no other means to this end. 2. Hear attentively, O sinless Ráma! this story which I am going to relate to you, in order to show you the intricacy of understanding the nature of worldly delusions. 3. There is the large district of Kosala on the surface of this land, which is full of forests and fruitful trees, forming as groves of Kalpa arbors; and abounding with minerals like the Sumeru mountain. 4. There lived a learned Bráhman, known by the name of Gádhi; who was intelligent and versed in the Vedas, and remained as an image of virtue. 5. From his youth he continued with the calmness of his mind, and abstracted from and indifferent to worldly affairs; and was of as pure and unsullied a soul as the clear sky above. 6. Then intent on some fixed purpose of his mind, he left the company of his friends, and went out to a forest to perform his austere devotion.

7. He found there a lake filled with full blown lotuses, and the moon shining in the sky with the scattered stars about her; and all shedding their lustre like showers of rain. 8. He went down into the lake, and stood in the midst of the waters up to his neck; his body was below water, and his head floated over it as a lotus; and he stood upon his devotion, intent with a view to have the sight of Vishnu present before him. 9. He thus passed full eight months, continuing with his body immerged in the water of the lake; and his face was shrivelled and wan, like the lotuses of his lake for want of sun shine. 10. When he was emaciated by his austerities, his god Hari appeared before him, in the manner of a dark cloud of the rainy weather, appearing over the parched earth of the hot season. 11. The Lord said:—Rise O Bráhman! from amidst the water, and receive thy desired blessing of me; because the tree of thy vow, is now pregnant with its expected fruit.

12. The Bráhman replied:—I bow to thee, O my lord Vishnu! thou art the receptacle of the three worlds, and the reservoir of innumerable starry worlds, which rise as lotuses in the lake of thy heart, and whereon thou sittest like the black bee (to behold their beauty). 13. I want to behold my lord, the spiritual delusion which thou hast ordained to blind fold this world, and known as Vishnu Máyá. 14. Vasishtha said:—To this the god replied:—you shall verily behold this delusion, and get rid of it afterwards, by virtue of thy devotion. Saying so, the god disappeared from his sight as an aerial castle. 15. Vishnu being gone, the good Bráhman got up from his watery bed, in the manner of the fair and humid moon, rising from amidst the cool and white milky ocean. 16. He was glad in his soul at the sight of the lord of world, and his heart was as full blown with joy; as the Kumuda (selenian) lotuses unfold at the sight of the moon. 17. He then passed some days in that forest, overjoyed in his mind by the sight of Hari, and employed himself in discharge of his Bráhmanical duties.

18. Once on a time as he had been bathing in the lake, overspread with full-blown lotuses, he thought upon the words of Vishnu, as the great sages reflect in their minds the sense of texts of Vedas. 19. Then in the act of his discharging his sacerdotal functions in the midst of sacred water, he made his mental prayer for the expurgation of his sins. (This is the ceremony agha-marshna). 20. As he was performing this act in the midst of the water, he chanced to forget his sacred mantras (texts), and was drowned in deep water in the confusion of his mind. 21. He thought that his body had fallen down like a mountain tree, in the dale below by a blast of wind; and that his dead corpse was taken up and mourned over by his friends. 22. He thought that his vital breath had fled away from his being, and the members of his body were as motionless as the shrubs of sugar cane; laid down on the ground by a hurricane. 23. He thought his countenance to have faded away, and grown as pale as the withered leaf of a tree; and that his body now turned to a carcass, was lying on the ground like a lotus-bud torn from its stalk.

24. His eye balls were as dull and dim, as the stars of the morning are shorn of their beams; and the ground seemed to be as dry to him as in a drought of rain water, and filled with flying dust on all sides. 25. He believed his dead body was beset all about by his kind friends, weeping upon it with their sad and sorrowful countenances, and loudly lamenting and crying over it like birds upon trees. 26. He thought his faithful wife sitting at his feet as handsome lotus flower, and weeping as profusely with a shower of tears from her lotus-like eyes, as the rushing of waters at the breaking of an embankment. 27. His sorrowing mother with her loud wailing and mournful ditties, was buzzing like the humming bee; and holding the chin newly over grown with whiskers in her tender hand. 28. His friends were sitting by his side with their dejected looks, and with trickling tears dropping down their faces and cheeks; and these washed his dead body, as the melting dews on withered leaves, bedew the parent tree. 29. The members of his body now ceased to befriend him, like strangers who decline to become friends for fear of future separation, or turning unfriendly ever afterwards in life.

30. The open lips leaving the teeth bare, seemed to deride at the vanity of human life; as the white and bony teethed ascetics and cynics do on fickleness of worldly events. 31. His mouth was as speechless, as that of a devotee in his meditation; and the body was as motionless, as it was made of mud and clay; it slept to wake no more, like a sage absorbed in his hypnotism. 32. It remained quiet with its lifted ears, as if to listen to the cries and wailings of the mourning friends; in order to judge the degrees of their affection and grief for him. 33. Then the relatives raised their loud lamentations, with the sobbing and beating of their breasts, swooning and rising, and shedding floods of tears from their leaky eyes. 34. Afterwards the sorrowful relations, removed the disgusting corpse with their bitter cries for its funeral, seeing it no more in future in this passing world. 35. Then they bore the body to the funeral ground with its rotten flesh and entrails, and daubed all over with mud and dust, and placed it on the ground, strewn over with unnumbered bones and skeletons, and dried and rotten carcasses.

36. Flights of flying vultures shaded the sunbeams on high, and the burning piles drove the darkness below; the fearful glare of open mouthed jackals flashed on all sides, as they were flames of living fire. 37. There the ravens were bathed in floods of blood, and the crows dipping their wings in it; ravenous birds were tearing the entrails, and the old vultures were entrapped in those strings. 38. The friends of the dead burnt the corpse in the funeral flame and reduced to ashes; and the moisture of the body flew in fumes, as the waters of the ocean are evaporated by the marine fire. 39. The burning wood of the funeral pile, consumed the dead body with loud cracking noise; and the dry fuel of the pile, flashed in ambient flames with curling smoke over them. 40. The devouring fire gnawed down the bones with crackling noise, and filled the atmosphere with the filthy stink and stench. It gorged up all that was soft or hard, as the elephant devours the reeds with the moisture contained in their cellular vessels.

GÁDHI REBORN AS A CHANDÁLA, AND MADE KING OVER THE KIR TRIBE. Argument. Gádhi reborn in a Chandalí, His Life and Election as King of Kir. Vasishtha said:—Then Gádhi, standing as he was amidst the water with his sorrowful heart, saw many other occurrences in the clearness of his mind. 2. He saw a village in the vicinity of Bhuta mandala (Butan) full of its inhabitants, and that he was reborn there in the womb of a Chandála woman, in which he remained with great pain. 3. Confined in the cavity of the womb, he felt his body pressed by the pressure of the intestines, while his senses were sorely annoyed by being constrained to abide the stink of the ordure and filth in the intestinal parts of Chandála woman. 4. After the foetus was matured, he was born in proper time, with its black complexion like a dark cloud of the rainy season, and soiled with filth all over its body. 5. It grew up to childhood and then to boyhood in the Chandála’s house, and moved about here and there like a pebble thrown up by the current of the Yamuna stream. 6. It reached its twelfth and then its sixteenth year of age, and had its body fully developed like a rainy cloud increasing in its size.

7. Then accompanied by a pack of hounds, the lad roved from one forest to another, and continued to hunt after and kill the wild deer, in his occupation of a huntsman. 8. He was then joined with a Candáli spouse, as black as the leaf of a tamála plant, and who with her budding breasts, and palms, resembled the newly sprouting stalks and leaves of trees. 9. She was black and swarthy in her whole complexion, except her two rows of milk white teeth, and had all her limbs as brisk and supple as the tender creepers of the forest. 10. They sported together in the skirts of the forest in their youthful dalliance, and wandered about the flowery meadows, like a couple of nigrescent bees. 11. When tired they took their seats on beds of leaves and creepers, which were spread over the plains, like those strewn over the skirts of the Vindhya hills, by the driving winds. 12. They reposed in woodland groves, and slept in the caverns of mountains; they sat on heaps of leaflets, and had their abode under shrubberies and bowers of creeping plants.

13. They decorated their heads with kinkirata flowers, and their necks and bosoms with blossoms of various kinds. They hung ketaka flowers in their earholes, and made necklaces of amra florets. 14. They rolled on beds of flowers and roved about the foot of the mountain; they knew all the arbours where to resort, and were skilled in archery and hunting the deer. 15. They begot many children as the offshoots of their race in the hilly region; and they were as rude and rough as the prickly thorns of the khadira plant. 16. After passing their youth in family life, they came gradually to their decay and decline; till at last they were overtaken by decrepit old age, which was as dry of pleasure as the parched ground of the desert. 17. Then returning to their native village in the Bhuta or Bhota district, they built for themselves a poor hut of leaves and straws, and there lived as recluse hermits (passing their lives in holy devotion). 18. Gádhi found his body worn out with age, and grown as thin and lean as a dry leaf, and as a withered tamála tree growing in a mountain cave; which for want of moisture soon dwindles into decrepitude.

19. He saw his Chandála family increasing in its members, and himself becoming cramped in his means and crabbed in his speech in his extreme old age. 20. As Gádhi found himself to be the oldest man alive among the Chandálas, and had his comfort in the members of his family in his dotage:— 21. He came to see at last all his family to be swept away by the cruel hand of death, as the rain water carries away the fallen leaves of the forest. 22. He continued to lament over their loss, with his heart rent with sorrow; and his eyes were suffused in tears, like those of a stag deer separated from its companions. 23. Thus passing some days in that forest with his heart overflown with grief, he left at last his natal land, as the aquatic fowls quit their native lake, when its waters and the lotus plants are dried up. 24. He travelled through many countries with his sad and sickly heart, without finding a spot of rest and repose; and was driven to and fro, as a cloud is carried by contrary winds. 25. On one time he entered the opulent city of the Kirs, and observed the birds flying over it, like so many balloons hanging in the air.

26. There he saw rows of trees on both sides of the road, waving their variegated leaves and clusters of flowers like enamelled cloths and gems; and the path strewn over with beautiful flowers of various kinds up to the heels. 27. He then came to the royal road, resembling the milky path of heaven; and found it filled by soldiers and citizens, and their women without number. 28. He saw there the auspicious royal elephant decorated with its gemming and embroidered trappings; and appearing as the golden mountain of the gods moving on the earth. 29. He learnt it to be rambling about in search of a new king, to be elected in lieu of the last king who was lately dead. The royal elephant was employed as a jeweller to select the best gem to be placed on the royal throne. 30. The Chandála remained to look steadfastly on the elephant with his curious eye, and found it to be no other than a hill in motion. 31. As he was looking on it with amazement, the elephant came to him and lifted him with his trunk; then setting him on his head with respect, bore him as the mount Meru bears the sun on its top.

32. Seeing him to be sitting on the animal’s head, the people sounded their trumpets; the noise whereof was as loud as that of the resounding ocean, to the roaring of the diluvian clouds in the sky. 33. Then the acclamation of ‘Victory to the king,’ rose from the assembled throng and filled the air around; and seemed as it were the united cry of matutinal birds over the waking (or rising) world. 34. Next rose the loud voices of the panegyrists, which, moved in the air like the dashing waves of the sea. 35. Then the matrons joined to anoint him as their king, and moved about him like the waves of the sea; surrounding the Mandara mountain after its labour of churning. 36. The respectable ladies adorned him afterwards with many ornaments of various gems, as the sea laves the rock on its shore; with the many coloured waves under the beams of the rising sun. 37. Youthful maidens poured cooling ointments on him, as the raining clouds pour down their waters, on the tops of mountains. 38. Other women decorated his person with wreaths of fragrant flowers, with their tender hands; as the season of spring adorns the forest with variety of flowers, with her hands of the tender stalks and branches.

39. They put a great many paints and pastes upon his person, which decorated it, as the rays of the sun, paint the mountain with the many colours of its minerals. 40. His body being decorated with ornaments made of gems and gold, attracted all hearts unto him; as the mount Meru is attractive of all hearts, by the variegated clouds of evening shining upon it. 41. He was adorned by beauteous maids, with shoots of creeping plants; which gave him the appearance of the kalpa tree, entwined by its creepers. 42. Being thus anointed and decorated, he was attended to by all the royal family and subjects; as a shady and flowering tree, is resorted to by the travellers. 43. They all assembled and installed him on the throne, as the gods join together, to place Indra on the throne, after he is borne on the back of the Airávata elephant. 44. In this manner, was the Chandála made a king in the city of the Kirs; and he was as much overjoyed at his unexpected good fortune, as a raven is delighted to find a stout dead deer in the forest.

45. His feet were rubbed by the lotus-like hands of the Kiri queen, and his body daubed with odorous powder of frankincense, which gave it the brightening appearance of the evening with the crimson clouds. 46. He flaunted in the Kir city and in the midst of their women, as a lion struts in the company of lionesses in the flowery forest. 47. He now forgot his former pains and sorrows; and his person was as much cooled, as by wearing a necklace of pearls, dropped from the heads of elephants killed by lions. And he was as much delighted at the enjoyment of the luxuries in company with these good people, as a sun-burnt elephant is refreshed, in a lake full of water and forage. 48. He reigned here for sometime in his self-gotten kingdom, having extended his power and mandates on all sides; he ruled the state through the medium of the ministers, and was himself known by the name of Gávala throughout his dominions.

GÁDHI’S LOSS OF HIS VISIONARY KINGDOM. Argument. Continuation of Gádhi’s Vision:— Vasishtha continued:—Thus was Gádhi surrounded by his courtiers, and attended by his ministers; the chiefs paid their homage to him, and the royal umbrella was raised above his head and the chouri flapped about him. 2. He attained great dignity on seeing his mandates were carried out on every side. He was delighted to learn the state affairs, and to be informed that his subjects were happy and lived fearless within his dominion. 3. The pæans of the panegyrists, made him forget himself and his former state; and the excess of his delight, made him as giddy as if by intoxication. 4. He reigned for full eight years over the Kiri kingdom, and managed himself in an honourable manner all along that time. 5. He was once sitting at his pleasure and without his regal attire in the open air; and was looking at the clear firmament, which was devoid of clouds and darkness, and without the light of the sun, moon and stars. 6. His heart was full with the enjoyment of royal dignity, and did not think much of the trinkets and ornaments, which were loaded upon him.

7. He went abroad at one time in this naked state of his body, and beheld the setting sun bending his course below the horizon from his wonted path of glory. (The setting sun refers to his present state and his impending fall). 8. He saw there a band of chandálas of black complexions and big bodies, singing like melodious cuckoos the approach of the vernal season. 9. They were striking the strings of their wired instruments—lyre, with the strokes of their trembling fingers; as the swarm of sweet sounding bees, shake the tremulous leaves of trees with their fluttering and buzzing. 10. There stood an old man among them, who seemed to be the leader of the band; and appeared with his grey head and ruby eyes, like the mount Meru with his snow covered top and gemming caverns. 11. He accosted the king saying:—How is it, O Kálanjaka! that you came to be here, has the king of this place taken you for his associate on account of your skill in music? 12. Does he take a liking for sweet songsters, as they do for the musical kokilas, and does he load upon them his favours, with presents of household cloths and seats?

13. I am as much glad to see you here today (in this happy condition of yours), as men are pleased to see the mango tree, fraught with its fruits and flowers in spring. 14. I am as glad in my heart as the budding lotus at the sight of the rising sun, and the selenian or medicinal plants at moon rise; and as great men are pleased with all their best gains, so am I pleased at seeing thee here, because the highest limit of joys is the sight of a friend. 15. As the Chandála was addressing the king in the said manner, he acquainted him of the manner in which the wheel of time turned to his favour. (Here is a misprint of avadhírana for avadhárana, which would alter the meaning and express, that he felt ashamed at the speech). 16. At this instant his consorts and servants that were standing at the window, overheard their conversation, and were in deep sorrow to learn that he was a Chandála by birth. 17. They were as sick at heart as the lotus-flowers under a shower of frost, and as a tract of land under a draught; and the citizens were as cheerless upon learning this, as upon seeing the conflagration of a mountain wood.

18. He hurled his defiance at these words of the old Chandála, as the lion lying on the ground, shows his teeth at the sneering of a cat on the top of a tree. 19. He fled in haste into the inner apartment, and among its sorrowful inmates, with as much palpitation of his heart, as the reluctant swan enters a lake of withering lotuses, in the dry season. 20. His limbs grew stiff, and his countenance became pale with fear; and his knees tottered with inward rage, as the trunks of trees shake with the burning fire in their hollows. (The sami or sáin tree is an instance of it. Gloss). 21. He beheld all persons there sitting in a melancholy mood, with their downcast looks and drooping heads; like the bending tops of plants, eaten up at the root by mice and rats. 22. The ministers, the ladies of the harem and all people of the city, refrained from touching his person, as they avoid the touch of a dead body lying in the house. 23. The servants ceased to minister unto him, and the ladies with all their love and sorrow for him, loathed his company.

24. They looked upon his cheerless face and dark complexion with its departed lustre, as the funeral ground which every one loathes to look upon. 25. Though the people sorrowed for his darksome body, now smoking with fumes of his grief; yet they durst not approach his person, which appeared to burn as a volcano amidst its smoke. 26. The courtiers left him with the heavings of their hearts, nor were his orders obeyed any more, than those of quenching the cool ashes with water. 27. The people fled from him as from a heinous Rákshasa, who is the cause of evil and danger only. 28. Thus was he shunned by all, and left lonesome amidst the populous city; and became as an unbefriended traveller passing through a foreign country, without money or skill to support him. 29. Though he called and accosted every body, yet he got no answer from any one; as the hollow sounding reed, is never returned with a reply by any of the passers by. 30. They all said to one another, that the guilt of their long association with the Chandála, cannot be expiated by any other penance, than by the act of burning themselves alive on the funeral pile in the form of self-immolation.

31. Being so resolved, the ministers and citizens all joined together, and raised for themselves piles with heaps of dry wood. 32. These being lighted, blazed all about the ground like stars in the sky, and the city was filled with loud wailings of the people all around. 33. The wailing wives were shedding showers of tears with their loud and piteous cries; and the weeping people were heaving their heavy groans with their choked voices, all about the burning furnaces. 34. The plaintive cries of the dependants of the self-cremating ministers, rose as the swell of whistling winds amidst the forest trees. 35. The bodies of great Bráhmans, that were burnt on the piles, sent forth their fatted fumes in the air; which were scattered about by the winds, and overcast the landscape as with a portentous mist. 36. The winds bore aloft and spread far and wide in the open sky, the stench of the burning fat and flesh of men; which invited flocks of the flying fowls of the air to the feast, and the disk of the sun was hid under the wide extending shadow of the winged tribe.

37. The flame of the burning pile, borne by the winds to the sky, burned as a conflagration on high; and the flying sparks of fire scattered in the air, appeared as falling meteors blazing in the horizon. 38. Here the helpless boys were crying for their ornaments being robbed by atrocious robbers, owing to their want of guardians; and there the citizens were threatened with the loss both of their lives and properties by the dacoits. 39. On one side the people were seen to lament the loss of their relatives (in the destructive fire); on the other were the bands of thieves, lurking and prying unobserved about the houses for plunder and booty. 40. As adverse fate brought on this direful change on the devoted city; its horrified inhabitants remained in mute amazement; as on the last doom of nature. 41. Gavala, the Chandála prince, whose mind was purified and whose manners were refined in the society of the great men of the palace; witnessed the sad catastrophe of the state, and mourned in himself with a pensive heart.

42. It is all owing to me, said he, that all this woe has befallen on this state; and that time has brought on the untimely dissolution of the doomsday; both on this realm and the royal family and its ministerial officers. 43. What is the good of this miserable life of mine? My death is a blessing to me than living in this wretched state. It is better for the mean and base to die away, than live to be reviled by others. 44. Thus resolved, Gavala prepared a pile for himself, and made an offering of his body in the burning furnace, like the poor moth dropping on fire, without betraying a sigh. 45. As Gavala cast his body (nick named as Gavala) amidst the flame, and was pulling his limbs singed by the fire; their violent motion and his painful emotion, roused the dreaming Gádhi from his reverie amidst the water. 46. Válmíki said:—As the sage was saying these things, the day departed with the setting sun to its evening devotion; the congregation broke with mutual salutations, for the performance of their evening ablutions, and assembled again with the rising sun after dispersion of the gloom of night.

VERIFICATION OF GÁDHI’S VISION. Argument. Gádhi learns from a guest the report of the Keri people, and goes out to inquire into the fact on the spot. Vasishtha resumed:—Gádhi was soon afterwards relieved from the perturbation of his mind at the delusions of the world; and he was set at rest from his perturbed state, like the disturbed sea after subsidence of its waves. 2. His mind being freed from its painful thoughts, regained its repose after the troublesome dream, had passed away, and he resumed his calmness, as the god Brahmá had his rest, after the labour of his creation was over at the end of the kalpa (the time of his creative will or the duration of creation). 3. He regained his senses slowly, as a man upon waking from his sleep; and as one gains his sobriety after the passing off of his ebriety. 4. He then said to himself, I am the same Gádhi and in the same function (of my sacred ablution in the water). All this is nothing that I had been seeing so long, and this I see as clearly as men see things after dispersion of the shade of night.

5. Remembering himself what he was (i.e. coming to himself), he lifted his feet from amidst the water (i.e. got out of it); as the lotus-bud lifts its head above the water, after the frost is over in spring. 6. He said again, this is the same water, sky and earth (where I stood before); but what I was just seeing, is quite astonishing to me. 7. What am I and what do I see now, and what was I and had been doing all this time? With these thoughts he remained a long time with his knitted brows and staring eyes. 8. It was my weakness, said he, that showed me this delusion; and knowing it for certain, he came out of the water, as the rising sun appears above the horizon. 9. Then rising on the bank, he said:—Ah! where is that mother and wife of mine, who attended on me at the moment of my death. 10. Or were my parents dead in the ignorant state of my boyhood, like the parent plant of a young shoot, cut off by the sword of death? 11. I am unmarried and know not the form of a wife, and am as ignorant of conjugal love, as a Bráhman is stranger to the pernicious taste of forbidden liquors.

12. I am too far from my country and know none of my friends and relatives; unto whom I shall return and there to die. 13. Therefore all these scenes that I have come to see, are no more than the forms of the fairy land pictured in my fancy. 14. Be it as it may, all this is but delusion and dream, and we are living dead among our friends; it is all magic and delusion, and nothing is true or real herein. 15. Our minds are as wild beasts, roaming furiously in the forest of error; which presents endless scenes of delusion to living beings at large. 16. Reflecting on these delusions in his mind, Gádhi passed some days at his own house amidst the woods. 17. Once on a time he happened to entertain a Bráhman at his house as his guest, who resorted there to take his rest from his travels. 18. He was highly gratified with feasting upon fruits and syrup of flowers, and was as refreshed supplied with sap as the tree which is supplied by the bounteous spring, and shoots forth in its foliage and fruitage in time. 19. They then performed their evening service, and turned their beads, and afterwards took to their beds made of tender leaves and grass.

20. There they began to talk on divine subjects, with which they were conversant; and the words fell from the lips, like the sweets of the vernal season. 21. Then Gádhi asked his guest in the course of their conversation, saying: why is it sir, that you are so thin and lean and appear to lie so very weary. 22. The guest replied:—Hear me sir, relate to you the cause both of my leanness and weariness, and I will tell you the true facts, and not as a travelling teller of tales deals and lies. 23. There is on the surface of this land, and in the woody tracts of the north, the great district of the Kir (Kirgis?), which is far renowned for its richness. (Kir the land of the Gees in Afghanistan). 24. I lived in the city there; and was honoured by its inhabitants, and the gust of my soul and mind were mightily pleased with the variety of dainty food that I used to get there. 25. There it was once related to me by some one in the way of gossip, that a chandála had once been the king of that country for the space of eight years.

26. I inquired of the village people about the truth of this report, and they all told me with one voice, that a chandála, had really reigned there for full eight years. 27. But being discovered at last as such, he immolated himself on the burning pile; which was followed by the self-immolation of hundreds of Bráhmans on the funeral pyre. 28. Hearing this news from their mouths, I departed from that district, intending, O Bráhman, to do my penance, by making a pilgrimage to Prayága (Allahabad, on the doab or confluence of the two sacred streams of Gangá and Jamuna). 29. I made my chándráyana fast for three days and nights, and had to break my fast only this day. It is for this reason, that have become so very thin and lean, as you find me at present. 30. Vasishtha said:—Gádhi on hearing this, made a hundred inquiries of his guest about the matter, to which he answered everything in verification of the fact. 31. Gádhi was quite surprised at this narration, and passed the night till sunrise in great palpitation of his heart. 32. Waking in the morning, he made his ablution and discharged his matins; then took leave of his guest, and began to reflect in himself with his bewildered understanding.

33. He said to himself, what I saw in my delusion, is ratified as a fact by my Bráhman guest. I am puzzled to think, whether this be a magic, or a fascination of the conjurer Sambara. 34. What I saw about my death amidst my relatives, was undoubtedly a delusion of my mind; but the latter part of my vision (of becoming a Chandála), is verified by the Bráhman’s observance of the penance Chándráyana for his having entered the Chandála city. 35. I must therefore learn fully the particulars of the Chandála, and proceed immediately to the Bhuta country (Bhutan?) with an undaunted mind. 36. Thus determined, Gádhi rose to visit the distant district, as the sun rises over the horizon to visit all the sides of Sumeru (the Altain chain, at the bottom of which the country of the Kirgis is situated). 37. He travelled onward, and obtained at last the sight of the country he had seen in his dream; as intelligent and wayfaring men, reach to their desired destinations in distant regions. 38. Finding everything, however unattainable it may appear at first, to be attained by perseverance, Gádhi was resolved to make a test of the truth of his delusive dream.

39. He had proceeded from his home, with the swiftness of a current rivulet in the rainy weather; and traversed through many unknown countries, as a cloud passes over distant realms on the back of its airy steed. 40. At last he came to the country of the Bhatas (Bhoteas), a people following their own debased customs; and thought himself to be got amongst a savage people, as a camel is confounded to find itself, fallen in a karanja forest, in quest of thorny thistles. (The camels or cramelas are called kantaka_ bhojes_, from their browsing the brambles). 41. There he saw in its vicinity a city, as what he had seen in his delusion; and resembling in every respect the habitation of the Gandharva race. 42. Proceeding onward, he saw at the further end, the locality of the chandálas, resembling the hell-pit of the infernal region. (The out-castes are always located at the filthy outskirts of towns). 43. It was as spacious a place as what he had seen in his vision, and beheld his own likeness in the dream appearing in the figures of the chandálas, as one sees the shape of a Gandharva or ghost, in his dream or delirium.

44. He saw in that place the habitation of chandálas, as what he had seen before in his delusion, and observed with grief and coldness of his mind (the deserted abodes of his fellow Chandálas). 45. He saw his own residence flooded over by rain water grown with sprouts of barley and brambles; his house was left roofless, and his bedstead was almost indiscernible. 46. His hut presented the picture of poverty and wretchedness, and its compound was a scene of ruin and desolation (as if it was laid waste by the hand of oppression and pillage). 47. Gádhi stood long gazing upon the dry white bones of bulls and cows, buffaloes and horses, which lay strewn over the plains round about his hut; and which he remembered to be the remains of the beasts of his prey and slaughter (lit.:—the bones broken under the teeth and jaws of men and wild beasts). 48. He saw the dry hollow skulls lying on the ground, which had served for his eating and drinking vessels before; and which still lay unmoved on the spot, and were filled with rain water (as if to supply him with drink).

49. He saw strings of the dried entrails of the beasts of his victims, lying like parched plants on the plain, and pining with thirst for the rain-water. 50. Gádhi who was conscious of himself (as Gádhi), the Bráhman looked long at his former house and its environs, resembling the dry and dilapidated skeleton of a human body, lying unburied on the naked land. 51. He stood amazed at what he saw, and then withdrew himself to the adjacent village; as when a traveller repairs to the habitation of the Aryas, from his sojourning in the land of barbarians (Mlech’chas). 52. There he asked some one saying, sir, do you remember anything concerning the former state of yonder village, and the lives of its chandála inhabitants? 53. I have heard all good people say, that knowing men are conversant with the annals of all places, as they know every spot on a globe in their hand. 54. If you recollect aught of the good old chandála that, lived retired at yonder spot, and if you remember his adventures, as every one does the past accidents of his own life:—

55. If you are acquainted with the particulars thereabouts, then please to relate them unto me; for it is said there is great spirit in directing a stranger, and in dispelling the doubts of one hanging in suspense. 56. The village people being one by one importuned in this manner by the strange Bráhman; they were as much surprised at his odd request, as physicians are concerned at the abnormal complaint of a patient. 57. The villagers said:—It is an undeniable truth, O Bráhman! as you say, that there lived a chandála of hideous shape by name of Katanjala at that place. 58. He was beset by a large family, consisting of his sons, grandsons, friends and servants; and had other relatives and kinsmen besides. His children were as many as the fruits of a mango tree. 59. But cruel fate snatched all his family in course of time, as a conflagration burns down a mountain forest with all its fruits and flowers at once. 60. He then deserted his native land and went over to the city of the Kirs, of which he became the king; and reigned there for the space of twice four years.

61. The citizens coming to know his mean birth afterwards, drove him from there at last; as they remove a noxious and poisonous tree from the garden. 62. Gádhi seeing the people immolating themselves on funeral piles entered into a burning pyre, which he had prepared for himself; and was thus purified with others by the sacred fire pávaka. 63. But tell us, O Bráhman, why you are so curiously inquisitive about the chandála, and as to whether he was any friend of yours, or you had contracted any friendship with him. 64. Being accosted in this manner, Gádhi made many more inquiries of them concerning the chandála, and passed a whole month in their several houses on his inquiry. 65. He also told the village people, all that he knew of the chandála in his dream; and they heard him attentively relating the whole story from first to last. 66. Gádhi being informed of all the particulars regarding the chandála, both from the hearsay of the people as well as from his personal observations; returned equally ashamed and astonished to his abode, with the disgraceful reflection of his past vileness, which was stamped like the black spot of the moon upon the tablet of his mind.

ON THE WONDROUS POWER OF ILLUSION. Argument. Devotion of Gádhi after his return, and Vishnu’s exhibition of the extraordinary power of delusion to him Vasishtha continued:—Gádhi was bewildered in his mind, at all that he heard and observed about the Chandála and his residence, and felt uneasy to learn more about them. 2. He went back to the place, and observed the abodes that lay scattered upon the plain; as when the lotus-born Brahmá looks over the ruins, made by the great deluge at the end of a kalpa age. 3. He said to himself, those bones lying scattered about the ruined huts in this forest, look like little imps (pisáchas), gathered round the trees standing on the burial ground. 4. These posts and pegs of elephant’s tusks, that are fastened to and upon the walls of the ruined houses; look like the craigs of mount Meru, drowned under the waters of the kalpa deluge. 5. Here the Chandála feasted on his meat food of monkey’s flesh, and dressed with the sprouts of young bamboos; and there he caroused on his country grog, in company with his drunken friends.

6. Here he slept in the embrace of his murky spouse, on his bed of the lion’s skin; being drunk with the better liquor mixed with the ichor, exuding from the frontal proboscis of the elephant. 7. There was a pack of hounds, tied to the trunk of the withered Bharaeda tree, and fed with the rotten flesh of the putrid carcasses. 8. Here I see three earthen vessels covered with the hides of buffaloes, resembling fragments of dark clouds; and which had once contained the precious pearls falling from the sculls of slain elephants. (The low and poor people, use earthen pots and boiling kettles for boxes and chests). 9. I see the site of the place which I had seen in my dream, and where the Chandála boys played on the dust, with as much glee and gaiety, as the cuckoos have in flitting on the tufts of mango leaves. 10. I see the place I had seen in my vision, where the boys sang responsive to the tune of their bamboo pipes; and drank the milk of bitches, and adorned themselves with flowers from the funeral grounds.

11. Here the families of the wedding parties, met together to celebrate their marriage festivity; and danced and sang as loudly, as the noise of the dashing waves of the sea. 12. There I find the bamboo cages, still suspended on high; which were laid before, for catching the flying birds of the air; in order to be killed for the food (of their slayers). 13. Vasishtha resumed:—Thus Gádhi remained for a long time on the spot, observing all what he remembered to have seen in his dream; and was lost in wonder, to think on the miraculous disclosure of these things in his dream. (Lit.:—heart-strings palpitated with surprise &c.). 14. He then departed from that place, and travelled through many countries beyond the boundaries of Butan, for a long time. 15. He passed over many rivers and rocks, and through many deserts and forests; until he reached to the snowy mountain, and the habitation of humankind beyond its borders. 16. He then arrived at the city of a great monarch, the towers of which rose as hills upon the earth; and there stopped after his long journey, as when Nárada rests in his heavenly dome, after the fatigue of travelling through the numerous worlds.

17. He beheld in that city all the places answering to the romantic thoughts in his mind, and those as he had seen and enjoyed in his dream, and then asked the citizens in a respectful manner. 18. Good Sirs, said he, do you remember any thing regarding the Chandála king that reigned here for sometime, which, if you do, be pleased to relate unto me in its proper order. 19. The citizens replied:—Yes, O Bráhman, there reigned here a Chandála king for full eight years, and he was elected to its government, by the auspicious elephant of the realm. 20. Being at last discovered to be of so vile a race, he committed his self-immolation on the funeral pyre; and it is now a dozen of years, since the direful event has taken place. 21. In this manner the inquisitive Gádhi continued in his inquiry of every man he met with, and was satisfied to learn the same information from the mouth of every body there. 22. He then beheld the king of that city coming with his body guards and vehicles, and whom he recognized to be no other than the god Vishnu and his attendants as he had seen in his devotion, and were now going out of the city.

23. He saw the sky shadowed by the cloud of dust raised by the feet of the passing procession; and remembered with grief the like state of his pomp under his past kingship. 24. He said to himself, here are the same Kiri damsels with their rosy skins, resembling the petals of lotuses; and those with their bodies blazing as liquid gold, and their cerulean eyes trembling like blue lotuses. 25. The waving of the chouri flappers, flashes with the light of bright moonbeams; and resembles the falling waters of a cascade, and clusters of kása flowers. 26. Beautiful maidens, waving the snow white fans in their beauteous hands, resembled the forest plants with pearly flower on their branches. 27. The rows of furious elephants, standing on both sides of the land, are like thick lines of kalpa trees, growing on ridges of the Sumeru mountains. 28. These chieftains resembling the gods Yama, Kuvera and Varuna—the lord of waters, are like the regents of the different quarters of the sky, accompanying Indra—the lord of heaven. 29. These long extending lines of goodly edifices, which are full of a great variety of things, and abounding in all sorts of comforts, resemble a grove of kalpa trees, conferring all the objects of desire.

30. In this royal city of the Kirs, and in the manners of its assembled people, I see exactly the same customs and usages, as those of the kingdom of my past life. 31. Truly this is but a vision in my dream, and appearing as a reality in my waking state; I cannot understand why this delusive magic show is spread out before me. 32. O yes, I am as fast bound by my ignorance, and captivated by my reminiscence, as a captive bird in a net, that has lost all power over itself. 33. O fie! that my silly mind is so deluded by its desires, that it is always wont to mistake the shadow for the substance, of people dwelling in their aerial castles. 34. This extraordinary magic, I ween is shown to me by Vishnu—the holder of the discus, of whom I recollect to have asked the favour of showing Máyá or delusion to me. 35. I will now betake myself to austere devotion in the cavern of a hill, in order to learn the origin and subsistence of delusion (i.e. how the deceitful delusion sprang from the truthful God, and where in it consists).

36. Having long thought in this manner, Gádhi went out of the city, and came to the cavern of mountain; where he rested after all his travels and travail of thought, like a lion tired with his roaming for forage. 37. He remained there for a whole year, living only on the water of the cataract collected in the hollow of his palm; and devoted himself to the worship of Vishnu, the holder of the Sáringi bow. 38. Then the lotus eyed god appeared to him in his watery form, which was as clear and graceful to sight, as the limpid lake of autumn with the blue lotuses full blown upon it. 39. With this form, the god approached to the hermit’s cell in the mountain, and stood over it in the likeness of a transparent watery cloud, resting on the humid atmosphere. 40. The lord spoke to him saying:—Gádhi thou hast fully seen the great spell of my magic (máyá); and known the network or delusion, which is spread by destiny over all the affairs of this world. (i.e. Man is destined, and to be deluded to think the false scenes of the world as real ones).

41. Thou hast now well understood the nature of delusion, which thou didst desire in thy heart to know, what is it again that thou wantest to know, by these austerities of thine in this mountain cave? 42. Vasishtha said:—Gádhi the best of Bráhmans, seeing Hari addressing him in this manner, honoured him duly with strewing plentiful of flowers at his divine feet. 43. After Gádhi had made his offering of flowers, with due obeisance and turning round the deity; he addressed him with his words, sounding as sweet as notes of the chátaka to the blooming lotus. 44. Gádhi said:—Lord! I have seen the dark delusion, that thou hast shown me in her form of gloominess; I pray thee now to show her unto me in her fair form, as the sun appears after the gloom of night. 45. The mind which is vitiated by the dirt of its desires, views a great many errors, rising before it like false phantoms and visions in a dream; but how is it my lord! that the same visions continue to be seen in the waking state also (or as waking dreams likewise)?

46. It was for a moment only that I thought to have seen some thing as false as a dream, when I stood amidst the waters but how was it, O thou enlightener of the mind, that it became manifest to my outward sense and sight? 47. Why was not the delusion of my birth and death as a Chandála, which took place long ago, and lately verified by many visible vestiges, confined in my memory only, as well as other idle creations of the brain, but became palpable to my naked eyes? 48. The lord replied:—Gádhi! it is the nature of delirium as of one’s desires, to present many false appearances to view; and to make one believe what he has never seen before, to be present to his external sight, which in reality is a vision of his mind only. 49. There is nothing on the outside of any body as the earth, sea, hills and the sky; they are all contained in the mind as the fruits, flowers and leaves of trees, are born in the seed and grow from its germ.

50. Like fruits and flowers growing out of the seed and its sprout, this earth and all other things are the productions of the mind alone, and not distinct from it in their essences (i.e. all sensible perceptions are not reflexions of the inborn ideas of the mind). 51. Know it for certain that this earth and all other things, are situated in the mind and not outside of it; as the fruit, flowers and leaves are all contained in the inside of the seed and not without it. 52. The sight of things present, and the thoughts of the absent past and unseen future, are all but acts of the mind, as the making and unmaking of pots, are both of them the doings of the pot maker. 53. Whatever notions there are in the minds of men from their youth to age are alike to the phantoms of their dream or the deliriums of their ebriety or some (mental) disease. 54. The settled desires of the mind present a thousand appearances before its sight, as the rooted plants on earth, abound with fruits and flowers of various kinds, on the surface of the ground.

55. But the plants being rooted out of the ground, there remains no vestige of a fruit or flower or leaf upon earth: so the desires being driven out of the mind, there is no more any trace of anything left behind them; nor is there any probability of future transmigrations, when the reminiscence of the past is utterly obliterated from the soul. 56. It is no wonder for the shifting stage of the mind, to present you the single scene of the Chandála, when it has in store, and can with equal ease show you an infinity of appearances at its pleasure. (The drama of life exhibits but a partial scene at a time). 57. It was the impression (eidolon) in thy mind, that made thee think thyself as the Chandála, in the manner of the many phantoms, that rise before the mind in the delirium of a sickly person. 58. It was the same phrenzy that made thee see the advent of thy Bráhman guest, and entertain him with board and bed; and all thy conversation with him, was no other than the phantasies of thy mind.

59. Then the thoughts of thy departure from home, and arrival at the district of the Bhootas, thy sight of the Bhotias and their villages and habitations, were but aberrations of thy mind. 60. Next thy sight of the ruins of the former abode of Katanjala, and the account that thou didst get of him from the mouths of the people, were all the fumes of thy fancy. 61. Afterwards thy visit to the city of the Kirs, and the tale told thee of the Chandála’s reign by the people, were the excogitations of thy own mind. 62. Thus all that thou didst hear and see, was the net-work of thy imagination, and what thou dost believe as true is as false as a phantom of thy brain. 63. The mind infatuated by its hopes and desires sees everything before it, how far soever it may be removed from it; as one dreams of objects as present before him, which would take a whole year for him to reach at. 64. There was neither the guest nor the city, nor were there the Bhotias or the Kiris that thou didst see in reality. It was all a day dream, that thou didst see with thy mind’s eye.

65. The truth is, that on thy way to the country of the Bhotias at one time, thou didst halt in the cave of this mountain, as a stag rests himself in a forest, after his long wandering. 66. There being tired with the fatigue of thy travel, thou didst fall into a sound sleep; and dreamt of the Bhotia city and the Chandála, in thy reverie without seeing anything in reality. 67. It was there and in the same state of thy mind that thou sawest the city of the Kirs; and it was the delusion of thy mind that showed thee those things at the time of thy devotion in the water. 68. In this manner thou dost see many other things, wherever thou goest at any time; as a high flier sees his vagaries on all sides about him. (All worldly sights, are but vagaries of imagination). 69. Rise therefore and remain unshaken in the discharge of thy duties, without being misled by the vagaries of thy mind; because it is practice of one’s profession that leads him to success, and not the ideals or his mind. (i.e. Mind thyself what thou art, and not what thou dost fancy to be).

70. Vasishtha said:—So saying the lotus-naveled Hari, who is worshipped by the saints and sages in all places, went to his abode in the sea, where he was received by the hands of the gods and holy sages, who led him to his residence. (Vishnu is called lotus-naveled पद्मलाभः on account of Brahma’s birth from it, who is thence named the lotus-born पद्मयोनी ।).

GÁDHI’S GAINING OF TRUE KNOWLEDGE. Argument. Gádhi gains his knowledge and Liberation from Hari in his Life-time. Vasishtha continued:—Vishnu being gone, Gádhi began to wander again about the Bhota country, as a cloud continues to move about in the air. 2. Having collected many informations about himself in the life of the chandála, he betook himself again to the worship of Vishnu in the cave of a mountain. 3. In course of a short time, Hari appeared to him again; as it is his nature to be pleased with a little devotion, made with sincerity of heart. 4. The god spoke to Gádhi with as much complaisance, as the watery cloud addresses the peacock; and asked him what he wanted again by his repeated devotion. 5. Gádhi replied:—Lord! I have again wandered about the countries of the Bhotas and Kirs for these past six months, and found no discrepancy in the accounts, they gave of me lately from the former ones. 6. Thou hast told me, Lord! all this to be mere delusion, (which prove to be positive facts by the testimony of every body). I know the words of the great, serve to dissipate and not increase the delusion (as it is done by thy words).

7. The Lord said:—It often happens that many things are of simultaneous occurrence at the one and same time; as the kákatálíya sanyoga or the synchronous flying of the crow and the falling of the fruit upon him. Thus it was that the idea of the Chandála was of contemporaneous growth in the minds of all the Bhotas and Kirs as of thyself: as there are many men that are prepossessed with the same opinion with others, however wrong it may be. 8. It was by cause of this, that they corresponded with thy thoughts, and related thy story as thou didst reflect it thyself: because a cogitation or reflection of something cannot be otherwise at the same time (but it must appear to every body alike). 9. It is true that a Chandála had erected a house at the border of the village, which thou didst see to be now reduced to ruins; but it was an erroneous conception of thine, to think thyself the very man, and to have built the very house. (It was the mistake of thy personality for another, as it often overtakes the minds of many men).

10. Sometimes the same mistake lays hold on many minds, as the multitude is seen to be led astray, by the simultaneous current of the same opinions in many ways. 11. In this manner many men see at once the same dream, as the giddy heads of drunken men, fall equally into the same kind of dizziness at the same time, of seeing the earth and skies turning and rolling round them. 12. Many boys are seen at once to join in the same sport, and a whole herd of stags is observed to meet together in the same verdant field. 13. Many men are seen simultaneously to pursue the same employment, for the purpose of gaining the like object of their pursuit (as it is seen in the flight and fighting of an army for their safety or victory). 14. It is commonly said, that time is the giver (or producer) and obstructer of the objects of human pursuits as of all other events; but time is as quiescent as the supreme spirit, and it is the desire and exertion of people, that are the causes of their desired effects.

15. Time is a formless void, and is identic with the nature and form of the increate great Lord God himself. It is neither the giver nor taker of anything to or from any one at any time. 16. Time according to its common reckoning by years, kalpas and yuga-ages, is classed among the categories of substance; but time far from being a substance, is the source of all substances. 17. Men of deluded understanding are subject to the errors, arising from the like cause of their fallacy; and it was owing to this false conception, that the Bhota and Kiri people, fell into the very same error. (Like cause means, the same kind of bias or prejudice &c.). 18. Therefore employ thyself to do thy duty, and try to know thy true-self; get rid of the error of thy personality (as so and so), and move about as freely as I do by myself (as a free aerial spirit). 19. Saying this, the lord Vishnu disappeared from his sight; and Gádhi remained in his cave, with great perplexity of his mind. 20. He passed some months on the same hill, and then resumed his devotion to Vishnu with redoubled fervency.

21. He saw his god appearing again to his view, when he bowed down before him, and addressed him as follows:— 22. Gádhi said:—O Lord! I am quite bewildered with the thought of my Chandálship, and my reflection on the delusions of this world. 23. Do thou deign to extricate me from my errors, and employ me to the only act of adoring the Holy one. 24. The lord said:—This world, O Bráhman! is a delusion, like the enchantment of the conjurer Sambara; all things here, are the wondrous productions of imagination, and proceed from forgetfulness of the self. 25. It was your error that made you see many things, in your sleeping and waking dreams. 26. The Kirs were led also to see the same things like thyself, and to mistake those falsities as true, owing to the same error laying hold of all of you at the same time. (As the tricks of a juggler are thought to be true by the observers). 27. Now hear me tell you the truth as it was for your own good; and whereby your error will fade away, like a creeping plant in the chilling month of November. 28. The Chandála Kátanjaka, whom thou thinkest to be thyself, was a man really existent in the same locality before.

29. Who being bereaved of his family there, went out from that place to wander about in foreign parts; when he became king of the Kiris, and afterwards immerged himself in the fire. 30. This state of Kátanjaka entered into thy mind, when thou hadst been standing amidst the water in thy devotion; and the thoughts of the whole career of the Chandála, had altogether engrossed thy mind. 31. Things which are seen or thought of once, can hardly escape from the memory; and it sometimes happens that the mind comes to see many things in its imagination, which it has never seen before its eyes. 32. In the manner of a man’s vision of a kingdom in his dream, and like the delirium caused by the vitiated humours, of the body; the mind sees many day dreams and deliriums in its waking and healthy states also. 33. The past conduct of Kátanja presented itself to your mind, as the past and future events of the world, are present before the mental vision of an oracle (lit.:—a seer of the three times).

34. That this is I, and these things and those friends are mine; is the mistake of those that are devoid of their self-knowledge; (as thou didst think that Kátanja to be thyself, and his house, goods and relatives to be thine also). 35. But that ‘I am all in all’ is the belief of the truly wise, which prevents them from falling into such mistakes; and keeps them from the wrong notions of individualities and particularities, from their belief in the generality of all persons and things. 36. This general and œcumenical view of all things, preserves people from the mistaken notions of pleasure and pain; and makes the drowning wretch as buoyant, as the floating gourd or bottle tied to a sinking net. 37. But thou art entangled in the snare of thy desire, and art lost to thy good sense; nor canst thou be at thy perfect ease, as long as thou dost suffer under the symptoms of thy sickness. 38. It is because of thy imperfect knowledge, that thou art incapable to ward off the errors of thy mind; just as it is impossible for a man to protect himself from the rain, without his endeavours to raise a shed or shelter for himself.

39. Thou art easily susceptible of every impression of thy untutored mind, as a small tree is easily over-reached by a tall person. 40. The heart is the nave or axis of the wheel of delusion; if thou canst stop the motion of this central power, there is nothing to disturb thee any more. (self-regret, says the gloss, serves to stop the motion of the heart). 41. Now rise and repair to the sacred bower on this mountain, and there perform your austerities for full ten years with a steady mind; so that thou mayst attain to thy perfect knowledge at the end of this period. 42. So saying, the lotus-eyed god disappeared from that place, as a flimsy cloud or candle-light or the billow of Jamuna, is put out by a slight gust of the wind. 43. Gádhi then gradually gained his dispassionateness, by means of his discrimination; as the trees fade away for want of moisture, at the end of autumn. 44. Now getting rid of the vagaries of his mind, Gádhi remained to reflect upon and blamed himself, for his fostering the false thoughts of the Chandála and the like.

45. He then with his heart melting in pity and sorrow for himself, repaired to the Rishya-mukha mount, for the purpose of making his penitence; and he sat there in the manner of a rainy cloud, stopping on the top of a mountain. 46. He relinquished all his desires, and performed his austere devotion (as it was his duty); and at last he attained the knowledge of his self, after the expiration of the tenth year of his penitence. 47. Having obtained his knowledge of himself like the great-souled Brahmá, and getting rid of his fears and sorrows in this world of retribution; he wandered about with the joy of a living liberated being, and with perfect tranquility of his mind, resembling the serene lustre of the full-moon, revolving in the sphere of the sky.

INTENTIONS OF RÁMA. Argument. On subjection of the mind and greatness of knowledge; and stoutness of the heart as the cause of all evil. Vasishtha continued:—Know Ráma, this delusion to be as extensive in its form, as it is inexplicable in its nature; it is fraught with ignorance; it is a spiritual illusion and no sensible deception. 2. Look on the one hand at the erroneous dream of the Bráhman for a couple of hours, and his transformation into the state of Chandála which lasted for many years. 3. Observe how the false conception of the Bráhman, appeared as present to his sensible perception; and see how the false thought appeared as true to him, and his true knowledge of him-self vanishing at last into untruth. 4. I say therefore this illusion, to be utterly inexplicable in its nature; and how it leads the unguarded mind, to a great many errors and difficulties and dangers at last. 5. Ráma asked:—How Sir, can we put a stop to the wheel of delusion, which by its rapid rotation, is constantly grinding every part of our body? (Figuratively used for every good quality of the mind. Gloss).

6. Vasishtha said:—Know Ráma, this revolving world is the wheel of delusion, and the human heart is the nave or axis of this great wheel; which by its continual rotation produces all this delusion within its circle. 7. If you can by means of your manly exertion, put a stop to the motion of your heart, as it were by fixing a peg to the loop-hole of the wheel, you stop the rotation of the circle of delusion at once. 8. Again the mind is the nave of the wheel of ignorance; and if you can stop its motion, by binding it fast by the rope of your good sense; you escape the danger of falling into the vortiginous rotation of errors. 9. Ráma, you are well skilled in the art of fighting by hurling the discus, and cannot be ignorant of preventing its motion by stopping it at the central hole. 10. Therefore, O Ráma! be diligent to stop the nave of your mind; and you will be enabled thereby to preserve yourself, both from the revolution of the world and vicissitudes of time. 11. The soul that rejects this counsel, is exposed to interminable misery; while by keeping it always before the sight of the mind, it avoids all difficulties in this world.

12. There is no other medicine for any body, to heal the disease of his worldliness, save by restraining the mind to its own pivot. 13. Forsake therefore, O Ráma! your acts of holy pilgrimage, and observance of austerity and charity (which are of no avail to the peace of the soul); but keep the mind under your control, for attainment of your supreme felicity. 14. The world is situated in the mind, as the air is confined in a pot; but the mind being restricted to itself, the world is lost to it; as the pot just broken, lets out the air to mix in endless vacuity. 15. You who are for ever confined in the imaginary world of your mind, like a gnat confined in the hollow of a pot; will get your release only by breaking out of this confinement, like the gnat flying into the open air. 16. The way to get rid of the delusions of the mind, is to fix your attention only to the present moment; and not to employ your thoughts about the past and future events. (This will keep your attention close to yourself).

17. You will then arrive to the state of that holy unmindfulness called non-chalance, when you cease to pursue at once any of the objects of your desire or imagination. 18. The mind is obscured so long, as it has the mist of its desires and fancies flying over it; as the sky is overcast as long as the watery clouds overspread upon it. 19. As long as the intelligent soul is joined with the faculty of the mind, so long it is subject to its gross desires and thickening train of its fancies; as the sky is filled with bright moon-beams as long as the moon shines in it. (i.e. As there is no moon-light without the moon, so there is no fancy without the mind, nor is there any mind which is devoid of its fancies). 20. When the intelligent soul is known without the medium of the mind (i.e. when the soul is seen face to face) then the existence of the world, is rooted out from the mind, like trees burnt down to their roots. 21. Intelligence unappertaining to the mind, is called perspicacity (pratyak chetana); which is of a nature unconnected with intellectuality, and freed from the foulness of the fumes of fancy. (i.e. quite clear of all mental thought).

22. That is verily the state of truth and of true felicity. It is the true state of spirituality, and a manner of omniscience; having all-sightedness of its own, and seeing all things in itself. It is quite unconnected with any mental operation, and is enlightened by the light of the spirit. 23. Whenever there is the action of the mind, it is invariably accompanied with the train of desires and the sense of pleasure and pain; and the feelings and passions are its concomitants, as the ravens are accompaniments of the burning ground. (The mind is the sensorium of feelings). 24. The minds of the intelligent are not, without their action, but they are aloof of those feelings, by their knowledge of the vanity of earthly things. And though these feelings are contained like plants in the seed vessel of their mind; yet they are not allowed to germinate in its sterile soil. 25. They (the wise), have come to know the unsubstantiality and uncertainty of all worldly things and events, both by their knowledge of the natures of things; and by means of their acquaintance with the sástras; as also by their association with holy men, and their habitual observance of the practices of a pious and saintly life.

26. They have forcibly withdrawn their minds from ignorance, by their determined exertions to gain the true knowledge of things; and have strenuously applied them to the study of sástras, and the good conduct of righteous people. 27. But it is the purity of the soul only, that has the sight of the Supreme spirit; as it is the brilliancy of the gem itself, that makes it discernable amidst the waters of the deep, and enables it to be redeemed from darkness. (i.e. Human soul being a reflexion of the Supreme, lends its light to the vision of the other). 28. As the soul naturally desires to get rid of things, which it has come to know to be attended with pain to it; so the soul is the sole cause of knowing the Supreme (by its discarding the knowledge of the gross objects, which interposes between it and the Divine; and obstructs the view of the latter). 29. Be therefore freed from your thoughts of all other things, both in your waking and sleeping states, and when you talk to or think of any body, give or receive anything to or from another. Rely and reflect on your consciousness alone, and watch constantly its secret admonitions and intuitions.

30. Whether when you are born or going to die, or do anything or live in this world, be steadily attentive to your conscious self, and you will perceive the clear light of the soul (and have your clairvoyance). 31. Leave off thinking that this is I and that is another, because all are alike before the Lord of all; and give up wishing this for thyself and that for others, for all things belong to God. Rely solely on the one, and that is thy internal consciousness alone. 32. Be of one mind in your present and future states of life, and continue to investigate into its various phases in your own consciousness. (i.e. Know yourself in all the varying circumstances of your life). 33. In all the changes of your life from boyhood to youth and old age, and amidst all its changing scenes of prosperity and adversity, as also in the states of your waking, dreaming and sound sleep, remain faithful to your consciousness. (i.e. Never lose the knowledge of your self-identity (as the one and unchanging soul)). 34. Melt down your mind as a metal, and purify it of its dross of the knowledge or impression of external things; break off the snare of your desires and depend on your consciousness of yourself.

35. Get rid of the disease of your desire, of whatever is marked as good or bad for you; and turn your sight from all, which may appear as favourable or unfavourable to you; and rely on your consciousness of pure intelligence. (This is having perfect mastery of yourself). 36. Leave untouched whatever is tangible to the touch, and obtainable to you by your agency or instrumentality; remain unchanged and unsupported by any thing in the world, and depend only on your own consciousness (as the intangible spirit). 37. Think yourself as sleeping when you are awake, and remain as calm and quiet as you are insensible of any thing; think yourself as all and alone, and as instinct with the Supreme Spirit. 38. Think yourself free from the changing and unchanging states of life (i.e. from the states of life and death and of waking and sleep); and though engaged in business, think yourself as disengaged from all concerns. 39. Forsake the feelings of your egoism and nonegoism (as this is mine and that is others); and be undivided from the rest of the world, by thinking yourself as the macrocosm of the cosmos, and support yourself on the adamantine rock of your consciousness, by remaining unshaken at all events.

40. Continue to cut off the meshes of the net of your internal desires, by the agency of your intellect and its helpmate of patience; and be of the profession of belonging to no profession; (of any particular faith or creed or calling). 41. The sweet taste of trusting in the true faith of consciousness, converts even the poison of false faiths to ambrosia (i.e. belief in soul is the soul of all creeds). 42. It is then only, that the great error of taking the false world for true, prevails over the mind; when it forgets to remember the pure and undivided self-consciousness (and takes the outward forms for true). 43. Again the progress of the great error, of the substantiality of the world, is then put <to> an end; when the mind relies its trust, in the immaculate and undivided consciousness or intelligence. 44. One who has passed over the great gulf of his desires, and known the true nature of his soul; has his consciousness shining within himself, with the full blaze of the luminous sun.

45. One who knows the nature of his soul, and is settled in the transcendental bliss of knowing the peerless One; finds the most nectarious food as a poison to him. (i.e. The taste of spiritual bliss, is sweeter far than that of the daintiest food). 46. We revere those men, who have known the nature of the soul, and have reached to their spiritual state; and know the rest bearing the name of men, as no better than asses in human shape. 47. Behold the devotees going from hill to hill, and roving like bigbodied elephants, for the performance of their devotions; but they are far below the spiritualist, who sits as high above them as on the top of the mountain. 48. The heavenward sight of consciousness, reaching beyond the limits of all regions to the unseen and invisible God; derives no help from the light of the sun and moon (which can never reach so far, as the highest empyrean). 49. The lights of the luminaries fade away like candle lights, before the sight of consciousness; which sees the great lights of the sun and moon and all, within the compass of its knowledge.

50. He who has known the truth of God, stands highest above the rest of men, by reason of his self-sacrifice, and the greatness of his soul, by means of his practice of yoga; and is distinguished from others by the brightness of his person. (The eternal light shines in the body also). 51. Like Him whose effulgence shines forth unto us, in the lustre of the sun, moon, stars, gems and fire, the pre-eminent among men shine among mankind, in their knowledge of what is knowable, and worthy to be known. (The sapient shine with their knowledge, as luminous bodies before us). 52. Those that are ignorant of truth (or the true natures of things), are known to be viler than the asses, and other brute creatures that live upon the land; and are meaner than the mean insects that dwell in the holes beneath the earth. (Knowledge of truth ennobles man-kind, above their fellow-creatures). 53. So long is an embodied being said to be a devil of darkness, as he is ignorant of spiritual knowledge, but no sooner is he acquainted with his soul, and united with his self in his intellection, than he is recognized as a spiritual being.

54. The unspiritual man is tossed about on earth as a carcass, and is consumed with the fuel of his cares, as a dead body is burnt away by the flames of its funeral fire; but the spiritualist knowing the nature of his soul, is only sensible of his immortality. 55. Spiritualism flies afar from the man, whose heart is hardened in this world; just as the glory of sunshine, is lost under the shadow of the thickening clouds in the sky. 56. Therefore the mind is to be gradually curbed and contracted in itself, by a dislike of all earthly enjoyments; and the knower of his self should try by long practice of abstinence, to desiccate his spirit of its moisture, to the dryness of a faded leaf. 57. The mind is thickened and fattened by consolidating itself with those of others; and staining it with the affections, of wife and those of offspring, relations and friends.

58. The passions and feelings also are often the causes, of the solidity and stolidity of the mind; and these are its egotism and selfishness, gaiety and impurity of thoughts, and its changing tempers and affections. But most of all it is the sense of meity that this is mine, that nourishes it to gross density. (The mind is puffed up with the increase of possessions). 59. The mind is swollen on coming to prosperity, even under the deadly pains of old age and infirmity; as also under the poisonous pangs of penury and miserliness. (Stinginess is a painful pleasure). 60. The mind grows lusty in its expectation of some good in prospect, even under the afflictions of disease and danger. It grows stout with enduring what is intolerable, and doing what ought not to be done. 61. The heart too becomes stout with its affection for others, and also with its desire and gain of riches and jewels; it becomes lusty with its craving after women, and in having whatever is pleasant to it for the moment.

62. The heart like a snake, is big swollen with feeding on false hopes as air; and by breathing the empty air of passing delights and pleasures. It is pampered by drinking the liquor of fleeting hope, and moves about in the course of its endless expectations. 63. The heart is stanch in its enjoyment of pleasures, however injurious they are in their nature; and though situated inside the body, yet it is subject to pine in disease and uneasiness, under a variety of pains and changes. 64. There grows in the heart of the body, as in the hollow of a tree, a multitude of thoughts like a clump of orchids; and these bearing the budding blossoms of hope and desire, hung down with the fruits and flowers of death and disease. 65. Delay not to lop off the huge trunk of the poisonous tree of avarice, which has risen as high as a hill in the cavity of thy heart, with the sharp saw of thy reason; nor defer to put off the big branch of thy hope, and prune its leaves of desires, without the least delay.

66. The elephantine heart sits with its infuriate eyes, in the solitary recess of the body; and is equally fond of its ease as of its carnal gratification: it longs to look at the lotus bed of the learned, as also to meet a field of sugarcanes composed of fools and dunces. 67. Ráma! you should, like a lion, the monarch of the forest, destroy your elephantine heart which is seated amidst the wilderness of your body, by the sharp saws of your understanding; and break the protruding tusks of its passions, in the same manner as they break down all big bodies. 68. Drive away the crowlike ravenous heart, from within the nest of your bosom. It is fond of frequenting filthy places, as the ravens hover over funeral grounds, and crows squat in dirty spots, and fatten their bodies by feeding on the flesh of all rotten carcasses. It is cunning in its craft and too cruel in its acts. It uses the lips like the bills of the crow only to hurt others, and is one eyed as the crow, looking only to its own selfish interest; it is black all over its body for its black purposes and deeds.

69. Drive afar your ravenlike heart, sitting heavy on the tree of your soul, intent on its wicked purposes, and grating the ear with its jarring sound. It flutters on all sides at the scent of putrid bodies, to pollute its nest with foul putrescence of evil intents. 70. Again there is the pernicious hideous demon—avarice, roving at large like a goblin, or lurking in ambush in the dark cavity of the heart, as in a dreary desert. It assumes a hundred forms, and appears in a hundred shapes (in repeated births), pursuing their wonted courses in darkness (without any knowledge of themselves and their right course). 71. Unless and until you drive away this wicked goblin of your heart, from the abode of your intelligent soul (i.e. the body) by means of your discrimination and dispassionateness, and your power of mantras and tantras, you cannot expect to be successful (siddha) in your endeavours. (For perfection सिद्धि Siddhi). 72. Moreover there is the serpentine mind, hid under the slough of the body; which with its poisonous thoughts, frothing at the mouth as the destructive venom of mankind, is continually breathing in and out as a pair of bellows, and inhaling and exhaling the air as a snake, for the destruction of all other persons.

73. You must subdue, O Ráma, this great serpent of the mind, lying hid in a cell of the cellular simal tree of your body, by some mantra formula, pronounced by the Garuda of your intelligence; and thus be free from all fear and danger for ever. 74. Repress, O Ráma! thy vulture-like heart, that bears an ominous figure by its insatiate greediness for dead bodies; it flies about on all sides and being annoyed by the hungry crows and kites, it rests in desolate cemeteries. (The greedy mind dwells on the ruin of others). 75. It ransacks all quarters in quest of its meat of living and dead bodies, and lifts its neck to watch for its prey, when it is sitting silently with patience. The vulturous heart flies afar from its resting tree of the body, and requires to be restrained with diligence from its flight. 76. Again the apish mind is wandering through the woods on all sides, and passing fastly beyond the limits of its natal horizon in search of fruits; it outruns the bounds of its native land and country, and thus being bound to nowhere, he derides at the multitude, that are bound to their homely toil, and confined in their native clime and soil.

77. The big monkey of the mind that sports on the tree of the body, with its eyes and nose as the flowers of the tree, and having the arms for its boughs, and the fingers for its leaves, ought to be checked for one’s success in any thing. 78. The illusion of the mind rises like a cloud with the mists of error, for laying waste the good harvest of spiritual knowledge. It flashes forth lightnings from its mouth to burn down every thing and not to give light on the way: its showers are injurious to ripened crops, and it opens the door of desire (to plunge the boat of the body in the whirlpool of the world). 79. Forsake to seek the objects of your desire, which are situated in the airy region of your mind; and exert your energy to drive off the cloud of your mind, in order to obtain the great object of your aim. 80. The mind is as a long rope, that binds mankind to their incessant acts. It is impossible to break or burn its knots in any other way except by means of one’s self knowledge. Its bond of transmigration is painful to all, until they obtain their final emancipation.

81. Break boldly, O Ráma! by the instrumentality of your inappetency the bondage of your mind, that binds fast in infinite number of bodies to the chain of their transmigration; and enjoy your freedom without any fear for evermore. 82. Know avarice as a venomous snake, which destroys its votaries by the poison of its breath, and never yields to the good counsel of any body. It is this serpent that has ruined mankind, by its deceit and by laying in wait for its prey, it emaciates the body to a stick. 83. Avarice which is hid in the body, and lurks unseen in its cells, is as a dark cobra or hydra in its form; it is to be burnt to death by the fire of lukewarmness, for your safety and security from all evil. 84. Now put your heart to rest by the intelligence of your mind, and gird yourself with the armour of purity for your defence; forsake your fickle-mindedness for ever, and remain as a tree uninfested by the apes of passion.

85. Purify both your body and mind with the sanctity of your soul, and be dauntless and quiet by the aid of your intelligence and calm composure of your intellect. Think yourself as lighter and meaner than a straw, and thus enjoy the sweets of this world by going across it to the state of beatitude in this life.