Yoga Vasistha (Yoga-Vasishtha Maharamayana)

22. O! the greatest of our grief is, this sad and calamitous fall of ours at the hands of a single Hari, who has reduced us to this state of helpless impotency. 23. The gods now reposing under the thick and cooling shades of trees, are as cool as the rocks of the icy mountain (Himálaya); and do not burn with rage nor repine in grief like ourselves. 24. The gods protected by the power of Sauri (Hari), are raised to the pinnacle of prosperity, have been mocking and restraining us in these caves, as the apes on trees do the dogs below. (The enmity of dogs and apes is proverbial, as obstructing one another from alighting on or rising above the ground). 25. The faces of our fairies though decked with ornaments, are now bedewed with drops of their tears; like the leaves of lotuses with the cold dews of night. 26. The old stage of this aged world, which was worsted and going to be pulled down by our might, is now supported upon the azure arms of Hari, like the vault of heaven standing upon the blue arches of the cerulean sky.

27. That Hari has become the support of the celestial host, when it was about to be hurled into the depth of perdition; in the same manner as the great tortoise supported the mount Mandara, as it was sinking in the Milky ocean in the act of churning it. (Samudra manthana). This was the act of the post-diluvians reclaiming from the sea all that had been swept into it at the great deluge. 28. This our great father, and these mighty demons under him, have been laid down to dust like the lofty hills, that were levelled with the ground by the blasts of heaven at the end of the Kalpa. 29. It is that leader of the celestial forces, the peerless destroyer of Madhu (Satan), that is able to destroy all and every thing by the fire in his hands (the flaming lightnings preceding the thunder bolts of Indra). (The twin gods, the thundering (vajrapani) Indra and the flaming (analapani) Upendra, bear great affinity to Jupiter tonitruous or the thundering Jove, and his younger brother the trident-bearer Neptune).

30. His elder brother Indra baffles the battle axes in the hands of the mighty demons, by the force of the thunder-bolts held by his mightier arms, as the big male monkeys kill their male offspring. (These passages prove the early invention of fire arms by the Aryans, to have been the cause of their victory over Daityas or the demigods). 31. Though the missive weapons (lightnings), which are let fly by the lotus-eyed Vishnu be invincible; yet there is no weapon or instrument which can foil the force of the thunder: (lit. break the strong thunderbolt). (Vishnu the leader of Vishas or the first foreign settlers of the land, overpowered the earth-born Daityas by his fire and fire arms, and dispossessed them of their soil, and reduced them to slavery. The descendants of the Vishas are the Vaishyas, who settled in India long before the Aryans). 32. This Hari is inured in warfare, in the previous battles fought between him and our forefathers; in which they uprooted and flung great rocks at him, and waged many dreadful campaigns. 33. It cannot be expected that he will be afraid of us, who stood victorious in those continuous and most dreadful and destructive warfares of yore.

34. I have thought of one expedient only to oppose the rage of Hari, beside which I find no other way for our safety (lit. remedy). 35. Let us therefore with all possible speed, have recourse to him, with full contriteness of our souls and understanding; because that god is the true refuge of the pious and the only resort of every body. 36. There is no one greater than him in all the three worlds; for I come to know, that it is Hari only, who is the sole cause of the creation, sustentation and destruction or reproduction of the world. 37. From this moment therefore, I will think only of that unborn (increate) Náráyana for ever more; and I must rely on that Náráyana, who is present in all places, and is full in myself and filling all space. 38. Obeisance to Náráyana forms my faith and profession, for my success in all undertakings; and may this faith of mine ever abide in my heart, as the wind has its place in the midst of empty air. 39. Hari is to be known as filling all sides of space and vacuum, and every part of this earth and all these worlds; my ego is the immeasurable Spirit of Hari, and my inborn soul is full of Vishnu.

40. He that is not full with Vishnu in himself, does not benefit by his adoration of Vishnu; but he who worships Vishnu by thinking himself as such, finds himself assimilated to his god, and becomes one with him. (Or rather he loses himself in his God and perceives nought besides). 41. He who knows Hari to be the same with Prahláda, and not different from him, finds Hari to fill his inward soul with his spirit. (So says the Sruti:—Prahláda was the incarnate Hari himself). 42. The eagle of Hari (son of Vinatá) flies through the infinite space of the sky as the presence of Hari fills all infinity, and his golden body-light, is the seat of my Hari also. (Here the bird of heaven means the sun, which is said to be the seat of Hari). 43. The claws of this bird,—Kara (or rays) serve for the weapons of Vishnu; and the flash of his nails, is the flash of the Vishnu’s weapons. (Here Garuda bird of heaven, serves for a personification of the sun, and his claws and nails represent the rays of solar light).

44. These are the four arms of Vishnu and their armlets, which are represented by the four gemming pinnacles of mount Mandara which were grappled by the hands of Hari, at his churning of the milky ocean with it. 45. This moonlike figure with the chouri flapper in her hand and rising from the depth of the milky ocean, is the goddess of prosperity (Laksmi) and associating consort of Vishnu. 46. She is the brilliant glory of Hari, which was easily acquired by him, and is ever attendant on his person with undiminished lustre, and illuminates the three worlds as a radiant medicinal tree—mahaushadhi. 47. There is the other companion of Vishnu called Máyá or illusion, which is ever busy in the creation of worlds upon worlds, and in stretching a magical enchantment all about them. 48. Here is the goddess Victory (Jayá), an easy earned attendant on Vishnu, and shines as a shoot of the kalpa tree, extending to the three worlds as an all-pervading plant. 49. These two warming and cooling luminaries of the sun and moon, which serve to manifest all the worlds to view, are the two eyes situated on the forehead of my Vishnu.

50. This azure sky is the cerulean hue of the body of my Vishnu, which is as dark as a mass of watery cloud; and darkens the sphere of heaven with its sky blue radiance. The meaning of the word Vishnu was afterward changed to the residing divinity in all things from the root vish. 51. Here is the whitish conch in the hand of my Hari, which is sonant with its fivefold notes (panchajanya), and is as bright as the vacuum—the receptacle of sound, and as white as the milky ocean of heavens (the milky path). 52. Here I see the lotus in the hand of Vishnu, representing the lotus of his navel the seat of Brahmá, who rose from and sat upon it, as a bee to form his hive of the world. 53. I see the cudgel of my Vishnu’s hand (the godá) studded with gems about it, in the lofty peak of the mountain of Sumeru, beset by its gemming stones, and hurling down the demons from its precipice. 54. I see here the discus (chakra) of my Hari, in the rising luminary of the sun, which fills all sides of the infinite Space, with the radiant beams emanating from it.

55. I see there in the flaming fire, the flashing sword—nandaka of Vishnu, which like an axe hath cut down the gigantic bodies of Daityas like trees, while it gave great joy to the gods. 56. I see also the great bow of Vishnu (Sáranga), in the variegated rainbow of Indra; and also the quiver of his arrows in the Pushkara and Avarta clouds, pouring down their rains like piercing arrows from above. 57. The big belly (Jathara) of Vishnu, is seen in the vast vacuity of the firmament, which contains all the worlds and all the past, present, and future creations in its spacious womb. 58. I see the earth as the footstool of Virát, and the high sky as the canopy on his head; his body is the stupendous fabric of the universe, and his sides are the sides of the compass. 59. I see the great Vishnu visibly manifest to my view, as shining under the cerulean vault of heaven, mounted on his eagle of mountain, and holding his conchshell, discus, cudgel and the lotus in his hands (in the manner described above).

60. I see the wicked and evil minded demons, flying from me in the manner of the fleeting straws, which are blown and borne away after by the breath of the winds. (Lit.:—as the heaps of straw or hay tarna). 61. This sable deity with his hue of the blue sapphire and mantle yellow, holding the club and mounted on the eagle and accompanied by Lakshmí; is no other than the selfsame Imperishable One. (Vishnu latterly called (Krishna) is the queller of demons, like Christ in the battle of the gods and Titan, and is believed to be the only begotten Son of God). 62. What adverse Spirit can dare approach this all-devouring flame, without being burnt to death, like a flight of moths falling on a vivid fire? 63. None of these hosts of gods or demigods that I see before me, is able to withstand the irresistible course of the destination of Vishnu. And all attempts to oppose it, will be as vain as for our weak-sighted eyes to shut out the light of the sun. 64. I know the gods Brahmá, Indra, Siva and Agni (Ignis—the god of fire), praise in endless verses and many tongues, the Vishnu as their Lord.

65. This Lord is ever resplendent with his dignity, and is invincible in his might; He is the Lord beyond all doubt, dispute and duality, and is joined with transcendent majesty. 66. I bow down to that person, which stands as a firm rock amidst the forest of the world, and is a defence from all fears and dangers. It is a stupendous body having all the worlds situated in its womb, and forming the essence and substance of every distinct object of vision. (Here Vishnu is shown in his microcosmic form of Virát (Virat murti)).

THE SPIRITUAL AND FORMAL WORSHIP OF VISHNU. Argument. Prahláda’s Worship of Vishnu both in spirit and his Image. Witnessed by the gods, as the Beginning of Hero and Idol Worship. Vasishtha continued:—After Prahláda had meditated on Vishnu in the aforesaid manner, he made an image of him as Náráyana himself, and thought upon worshipping that enemy of the Asura race. (Here Vishnu—the chief of Vishas and destroyer of Asuras, is represented as the spirit of Náráyana, and worshipped in that form). 2. And that this figure might not be otherwise than the form of Vishnu himself, he invoked the Spirit of Vishnu to be settled in this his out-ward figure also. (This was done by incantation of Pranpratishthá, or the charm of enlivening an idol in thought). 3. It was seated on the back of the heavenly bird Garuda, arrayed with the quadruple attributes (of will, intelligence, action and mercy), and armed with the fourfold arms holding the conchshell, discus, club and a lotus. (This passage shows the fictitious representation of the person of Vishnu, with his fourfold arms of these, the two original arms with the cudgel and discus were in active use, while the two fictitious and immovable ones, with the conchshell and lotus, were clapped on for mere show).

4. His two eye-balls flashed, like the orbs of the sun and moon in their outstretched sockets; his palms were as red as lotuses, and his bow saranga and the sword nandaka hang on his two shoulders and sides. 5. I will worship this image, said he, with all my adherents and dependants, with an abundance of grateful offerings agreeable to my taste. Gloss. Things delectable to one’s taste, are most acceptable to the gods. 6. I will worship this great god always, with all kinds of offering of precious gems and jewels, and all sorts of articles for bodily use and enjoyment. 7. Having thus made up his mind, Prahláda collected an abundance of various things, and made offerings of them in his mind, in his worship of Mádhava—the lord of Lakshmí. (Má and Ráma are titles of Lakshmí). 8. He offered rich gems and jewels in plates of many kinds, and presented sandal pastes in several pots; he burnt incense and lighted lamps in rows, and placed many valuables and ornaments in sacred vessels. 9. He presented wreaths of Mandára flowers, and chains of lotuses made of gold, together with garlands of leaves and flowers of kalpa plants, and bouquets and nosegays studded with gems and pearls.

10. He hung hangings of leaves and leaflets of heavenly arbors, and chaplets and trimmings of various kinds of flowers, as vakas and kundas, kinkiratas and white, blue and red lotuses. 11. There were wreaths of kahlara, Kunda, Kása and Kinsuka flowers; and clusters of Asoka, Madana, Bela and kánikára blossoms likewise. 12. There were florets of the Kadamba, Vakala, nimba, Sindhuvára and Yúthikas also; and likewise heaps of páribhadra, gugguli and Venduka flowers. 13. There were strings of priyangu, pátala, páta and pátala flowers; and also the blossoms of ámra, ámrataka and gavyas; and the bulbs of haritaki and vibhitaki myrabolans. 14. The flowers of Sála and tamála trees, were strung together with their leaves; and the tender buds of Sahakáras, were fastened together with their farinaceous pistils. 15. There were the ketakas and centipetalous flowers, and the shoots of ela cardamums; together with everything beautiful to sight and the tender of one’s soul likewise. 16. Thus did Prahláda worship his lord Hari in the inner apartment of his house, with offerings of all the richest things in the world, joined with true faith and earnestness of his mind and spirit.

17. Thus did the monarch of Dánavas, worship his lord Hari externally in his holy temple, furnished with all kind of valuable things on earth. (The external worship followed that of his internal worship in faith and spirit. These two are distinctly called the mánasa and bájhya pujas and observed one after the other by every orthodox Hindu, except the Brahmos and ascetics who reject the latter formality). 18. The Dánava sovereign became the more and more gratified in his spirit, in proportion as he adored his god with more and more of his valuable outer offerings. 19. Henceforward did Prahláda continue, to worship his lord god day after day, with earnestness of his soul, and the same sort of rich offerings every day. 20. It came to pass that the Daityas one and all turned Vaishnavas; after the example of their king; and worshipped Hari in their city and temples without intermission. 21. This intelligence reached to heaven and to the abode of the gods, that the Daityas having renounced their enmity to Vishnu, have turned his faithful believers and worshippers in toto. 22. The Devas were all astonished to learn, that the Daityas had accepted the Vaishnava faith; and even Indra marvelled with the body of Rudras about him, how the Daityas came to be so at once.

23. The astonished Devas then left their celestial abode, and repaired to the warlike Vishnu, reposing on his serpent couch in the milky ocean. 24. They related to him the whole account of the Daityas, and they asked him as he sat down, the cause of their conversion, wherewith they were so much astonished. 25. The gods said:—How is it Lord! that the demons who had always been averse to thee, have now come to embrace thy faith, which appears to us as an act of magic or their hypocrisy. 26. How different is their present transformation to the Vaishnava faith, which is acquired only after many transmigrations of the soul, from their former spirit of insurrection, in which they broke down the rocks and mountains. 27. The rumour that a clown has become a learned man, is as gladsome as it is doubtful also, as the news of the budding of blossoms out of season. 28. Nothing is graceful without its proper place, as a rich jewel loses its value, when it is set with worthless pebbles. (The show of goodness of the vile, is a matter of suspicion). 29. All animals have their dispositions conforming with their own natures; how then can the pure faith of Vishnu, agree with the doggish natures of the Daityas?

30. It does not grieve us so much to be pierced with thorns and needles in our bodies, as to see things of opposite natures, to be set in conjunction with one another. 31. Whatever is naturally adapted to its time and place, the same seems to suit it then and there; hence the lotus has its grace in water and not upon the land. 32. Where are the vile Daityas, prone to their misdeeds at all times; and how far is the Vaishnava faith from them that can never appreciate its merit? 33. O lord! as we are never glad to learn a lotus-bed to be left to parch in the desert soil; so we can never rejoice at the thought, that the race of demons will place their faith in Vishnu—the lord of gods.

PRAHLÁDA’S SUPPLICATION TO HARI. Argument. Hari’s Visit to Prahláda, and his Adoration of him. Vasishtha said:—The lord of Lakshmí, seeing the gods so clamorous in their accusation of the demons, gave his words to them in sounds as sonorous as those of the rainy clouds, in response to the loud noise of screaming and thirst-stricken peacocks. 2. The Lord Hari said:—Don’t you marvel ye gods! at Prahláda’s faith in me; as it is by virtue of the virtuous acts of his past lives, that pious prince is entitled to his final liberation in this his present life. 3. He shall not have to be born again in the womb of a woman, nor to be reproduced in any form on earth; but must remain aloof from regeneration, like a fried pea which does not germinate any more. 4. A virtuous man turning impious, becomes of course the source of evil; but an unworthy man becoming meritorious, is doubtless a step towards his better being and blessedness. 5. You good gods that are quite happy in your blessed seats in heaven, must not let the good deserts of Prahláda be any cause of your uneasiness. 6. Vasishtha resumed:—The Lord having thus spoken to the gods, became invisible to them, like a feather floating on the surface of waves.

7. The assemblage of the immortals then repaired to their heavenly abodes after taking their leave of the god; as the particles of sea water are borne to the sky by the zephyrs, or by the agitation of the Mandara mountain. 8. The gods were henceforth pacified towards Prahláda; because the mind is never suspicious of one who has the credit of his superiors. 9. Prahláda also continued in the daily adoration of his god, with the contriteness of his heart, and in the formulas of his spiritual, oral and bodily services. 10. It was in the course of his divine service in this manner, that he attained the felicity proceeding from his right discrimination, self-resignation and other virtues with which he was crowned. 11. He took no delight in any object of enjoyment, nor felt any pleasure in the society of his consorts, all which he shunned as a stag shuns a withered tree, and the company of human beings. 12. He did not walk in the ways of the ungodly, nor spent his time in aught but religious discourses. His mind did not dwell on visible objects, as the lotus never grows on dry land.

13. His mind did not delight in pleasures, which were all linked with pain; but longed for its liberation, which is as entire of itself and unconnected with anything, as a single grain of unperforated pearl. 14. But his mind being abstracted from his enjoyments, and not yet settled in its trance of ultimate rest; had been only waving between the two states, like a cradle swinging in both ways. 15. The god Vishnu, who knew all things by his all-knowing intelligence; beheld the unsettled state of Prahláda’s mind, from his seat in the milky ocean. 16. Pleased at Prahláda’s firm belief, he proceeded by the sub-terranean route to the place of his worship, and stood confest before him at the holy altar. 17. Seeing his god manifest to his view, the lord of the demons worshipped him with two-fold veneration, and made many respectful offerings to his lotus-eyed deity more than his usual practice. 18. He then gladly glorified his god with many swelling orisons, for his deigning to appear before him in his house of worship. 19. Prahláda said:—I adore thee, O my lord Hari! that art unborn and undecaying; that art the blessed receptacle of three worlds; that dispellest all darkness by the light of thy body; and art the refuge of the helpless and friendless.

20. I adore my Hari in his complexion of blue-lotus leaves, and of the colour of the autumnal sky; I worship him whose body is of the hue of the dark bhramara bee; and who holds in his arms the lotus, discus, club and the conch-shell. 21. I worship the god that dwells in the lotus-like hearts of his votaries, with his appearance of a swarm of sable bees; and holding a conch-shell as white as the bud of a lotus or lily, with the earrings ringing in his ears with the music of humming bees. 22. I resort to Hari’s sky-blue shade, shining with the starry light of his long stretching nails; his face shining as the full-moon with his smiling beams, and his breast waving as the surface of Ganges, with the sparkling gems hanging upon it. 23. I rely on that godling that slept on the leaf of the fig tree (when his spirit floated on the surface of the waters); and that contains the universe in himself in his stupendous form of Virát; that is neither born nor grown, but is always the whole by himself; and is possest of endless attributes of his own nature.

24. I take my refuge in Hari, whose bosom is daubed with the red dust of the new-blown lotus, and whose left side is adorned by the blushing beauty of Lakshmí; whose body is mantled by a coloured red coverlet; and besmeared with red sandal paste like liquid gold. 25. I take my asylum under that Hari who is the destructive frost to the lotus-bed of demons; and the rising sun to the opening buds of the lotus-bed of the deities; who is the source of the lotus-born Brahmá, and receptacle of the lotiform seat (cranium) of our understanding. 26. My hope is in Hari—the blooming lotus of the bed of the triple world, and the only light amidst the darkness of the universe; who is the principle of the intellect—chit, amidst the gross material world and who is the only remedy of all the evils and troubles of this transient life. 27. Vasishtha continued:—Hari the destroyer of demons, who is graced on his side by the goddess of prosperity; being lauded with many such graceful speeches of the demoniac lord, answered him as lovingly in his blue lotuslike form, as when the deep clouds respond to the peacocks’ screams.

PRAHLÁDA’S SELF KNOWLEDGE OF SPIRITUALISM. Argument. Prahláda’s meditations and attainment of spiritual knowledge by the blessing of Vishnu. The Lord said:—O thou rich jewel on the crown of the Daitya race! Receive thy desired boon of me for alleviation of thy worldly afflictions. 2. Prahláda replied:—What better blessing can I ask of thee, my Lord! than to instruct me in what thou thinkest thy best gift, above all other treasures of the world, and which is able to requite all our wants in this miserable life. 3. The Lord answered:—Mayst thou have a sinless boy! and may thy right discrimination of things, lead thee to thy rest in God, and the attainment of thy Supreme felicity, after dispersion of thy earthly cares, and the errors of this world. 4. Vasishtha rejoined:—Being thus bid by his god, the lord of demons fell into a profound meditation, with his nostrils snoring loudly like the gurgling waters of the deep. 5. As the lord Vishnu departed from his sight, the chief of the demons made his oblations after him; consisting of handfuls of flowers and rich gems and jewels of various kinds. 6. Then seated in his posture of padmásana, with his legs folded over one another, upon his elevated and elegant seat; and then chaunted his holy hymn and reflected within himself.

7. My deliverer from this sinful world, has bade me to have my discrimination, therefore must I betake myself to discriminate between what is true and falsehood. 8. I must know that I am in this darksome world, and must seek the light of my soul as also what is that principle (Ego), that makes me speak, walk and take the pains to earn myself. 9. I perceive it is nothing of this external world, like any of its verdant trees or hills; the external bodies are all of a gross nature, but my ego is quite a simple and pure essence. 10. I am not this insensible body, which is both dull and dumb, and is made to move for a moment by means of the vital airs. It is an unreal appearance of a transitory existence. 11. I am not the insensible sound, which is a vacuous substance and produced in vacuity. It is perceptible by the ear-hole, and is as evanescent and inane as empty air. 12. I am neither the insensible organ of touch, or the momentary feeling of taction; but find myself to be an inward principle with the faculty of intellection, and the capacity of knowing the nature of the soul.

13. I am not even my taste, which is confined to the relishing of certain objects, and to the organ of the tongue; which is a trifling and ever restless thing, sticking to and moving in the cavity of the mouth. 14. I am not my sight, that is employed in seeing the visibles only; it is weak and decaying and never lasting in its power, nor capable of viewing the invisible Spirit. 15. I am not the power of my smelling, which appertains to my nasal organ only, and is conversant with odorous substances for a short moment only. (Fragrance is a fleeting thing). 16. I am pure intelligence, and none of the sensations of my five external organs of sense; I am neither my mental faculty, which is ever frail and fruit; nor is there any thing belonging to me or participating of my true essence. I am the soul and an indivisible whole. 17. I am the ego or my intellect, without the objects of intellection (i.e. the thinking principle freed from its thoughts). My ego pervades internally and externally over all things, and manifests them to the view. I am the whole without its parts, pure without foulness and everlasting.

18. It is my intellection that manifests to me this pot and that painting, and brings all other objects to my knowledge by its pure light; as the sun and a lamp show everything to the sight. 19. Ah! I come to remember the whole truth at present, that I am the immutable and all pervading Spirit, shining in the form of the intellect (Gloss. The internal and intellectual Soul, is the Spirit of God). 20. This essence evolves itself into the various faculties of sense; as the inward fire unfolds itself into the forms of its flash and flame, and its sparks and visible light. 21. It is this principle which unfolds itself, into the forms of the different organs of sense also; as the all-diffusive heat of the hot season, shows itself in the shape of mirage in sandy deserts. 22. It is this element likewise which constitutes the substance of all objects; as it is the light of the lamp which is the cause of the various colours of things; as the whiteness or other of a piece of cloth or any other thing. (The intrinsic perceptivity of the soul, causes the extrinsic senses and their separate organs).

23. It is the source of the perception of all living and waking beings, and of everything else in existence; and as a mirror is the reflector of all outward appearances, so is the Soul the reflective organ of all its internal and external phenomena. 24. It is by means of this immutable intellectual light alone, that we perceive the heat of the sun, the coldness of the moon, solidity of the rock and the fluidity of water. 25. This one is the prime cause of every object of our continuous perceptions in this world; this is the first cause of all things, without having any prior cause of its own. (The soul produces the body, and not the body brings forth the soul). 26. It is this that produces our notions of the continuity of objects that are spread all around us, and take the name of objects from their objectivity of the soul; as a thing is called not from the heat which makes it such. 27. It is this formless cause, that is the prime cause of all plastic and secondary causes (such as Brahmá the creative agent and others). It is from this that the world has its production, as coldness is the produce of cold and the like.

28. The gods Brahmá, Vishnu, Rudra and Indra, who are causes of the existence of the world, all owe their origin to this prime cause, who has no cause of himself. 29. I hail that Supreme soul which is imprest in me, and is apart from every object of thought of the intellect, and which is self-manifest in all things and at all times. 30. All beings besides, stand in the relation of modes and modalities to this Supreme Being; and they immerge as properties in that intellectual Spirit. 31. Whatever this internal and intelligent Soul wills to do, the same is done every where; and nothing besides that self same soul exists in reality any where. 32. Whatever is intended to be done by this intellectual power, the same receives a form of its own; and whatever is thought to be undone by the intellect, the same is dissolved into nought from its substantiality. 33. These numberless series of worldly objects (as this pot, these paintings and the like), are as shades cast on the immense mirror of vacuum (or as air-drawn pictures represented on the canvas of empty Space). 34. All these objects increase and decrease in their figures under the light of the soul, like the shadows of things enlarging and diminishing themselves in the sun shine.

35. This internal Soul is invisible to all beings, except to those whose minds are melted down in piety. It is seen by the righteous in the form of the clear firmament. 36. This great cause like a large tree, gives rise to all these visible phenomena like its germ and sprouts; and the movements of living beings, are as the flitterings of bees about this tree. 37. It is this that gives rise to the whole creation both in its ideal and real and mobile or quiescent forms; as a huge rock gives growth to a large forest with its various kinds of big trees and dwarf shrubberies. (To him no high, no low, no great, no small, He fills, he bounds, connects, and equals all. Pope). 38. It is not apart from anything, existing in the womb of this triple world; but is residing alike in the highest gods, as in the lowest grass below; and manifests them all full to our view. 39. This is one with the ego, and the all-pervading soul; and is situated as the moving spirit, and unmoving dullness of the whole.

40. The universal soul is beyond the distinction, of my, thy or his individual spirit; and is above the limits of time, and place, of number and manner, of form or figure or shape or size. 41. It is one intelligent soul, which by its own intelligence, is the eye and witness of all visible things; and is represented as having a thousand eyes and hands and as many feet. (Wherewith he sees and grasps everything, and stands and moves in every place). 42. This is that ego of my-self, that wanders about the firmament, in the body of the shining sun; and wanders in other forms also, as those of air in the current winds. (The first person I is used for supreme Ego). 43. The sky is the azure body of my Vishnu with its accompaniments of the conchshell, discus, club and the lotus, in the clouds, all which are tokens of prosperity in this world by their blissful rains. (Vishnu is the lord of Lakshmí or prosperity, which is another name for a plenteous harvest. Her other name Srí the same with Ceres—the goddess of corn and mother of Prosperine in Grecian mythology).

44. I find myself as identic with this god, while I am sitting in my posture of padmásana and in this state of Samádhi—hypnotism, and when I have attained my perfection in quietism. (which is the form of Vishnu in the serene sky). 45. I am the same with Siva—the god with his three eyes, and with his eye-balls rolling like bees, on the lotus face of Gaurí; and it is I that in the form of the god, Brahmá, contain the whole creation in me, as a tortoise contracts its limbs in itself. (The soul in rapture, seems to contain the macrocosm in itself). 46. I rule over the world in the form of Indra, and as a monk I command the monastery which has come down to me. i.e. I am an Indra, when I reign over my domain; and a poor monk, when I dwell in my humble cell. 47. I (the Ego) am both the male and female, and I am both the boy and girl; I am old as regards my soul, and I am young with regard to my body, which is born and ever renewed.

48. The ego is the grass and all kinds of vegetables on earth; as also the moisture wherewith it grows them, like its thoughts in the ground of the intellect; in the same manner as herbs are grown in holes and wells by their moisture. i.e. The ego or soul is the pith and marrow of all substance. 49. It is for pleasure that this ego has stretched out the world; like a clever boy who makes his dolls of clay in play. (God forms the world for his own amusement). 50. This ego is myself that gives existence to all being, and it is I in whom they live and move about; and being at last forsaken by me, the whole existence dwindles into nothing. (The ego is the individual as well the universal soul). 51. Whatever image is impressed in the clear mirror or mould of my intellect, the same and no other is in real existence, because there is nothing that exists beside or apart from myself. 52. I am the fragrance of flowers, and the hue of their leaves; I am the figure of all forms, and the perception of perceptibles.

53. Whatever movable or immovable thing is visible in this world; I am the inmost heart of it, without having any of its desires in my heart. 54. As the prime element of moisture, is diffused in nature in the form of water; so is my spirit overspread in vegetables and all things at large in the form of vacuum. (Which is in the inside and outside of every thing). 55. I enter in the form of consciousness, into the interior of everything; and extend in the manner of various sensation at my own will. 56. As butter is contained in milk and moisture is inherent in water; so is the power of the intellect spread in all beings, and so the ego is situated in the interior of all things. 57. The world exists in the intellect, at all times of the present, past and future ages; and the objects of intelligence, are all inert and devoid of motion; like the mineral and vegetable productions of earth. 58. I am the all-grasping and all-powerful form of Virát, which fills the infinite space, and is free from any diminution or decrease of its shape and size. I am this all-pervading and all-productive power, known as Virát múrti or macrocosm (in distinction from the súkshma-deha or microcosm).

59. I have gained my boundless empire over all worlds, without my seeking or asking for it; and without subduing it like Indra of old or crushing the gods with my arms. (Man is the lord of the world of his own nature, or as the poet says:—“I am the Monarch of all I survey, and my right there is none to dispute”). 60. O the extensive spirit of God! I bow down to that spirit in my spirit; and find myself lost in it, as in the vast ocean of the universal deluge. 61. I find no limit of this spirit; as long as I am seated in the enjoyment of my spiritual bliss; but appear to move about as a minute mollusk, in the fathomless expanse of the milky ocean. 62. This temple of Brahmánda or mundane world, is too small and straitened for the huge body of my soul; and it is impossible for me to be contained in it, as it is for an elephant to enter into the hole of a needle. 63. My body stretches beyond the region of Brahmá, and my attributes extend beyond the categories of the schools, and there is no definite limitation given of them to this day.

64. The attribute of a name and body to the unsupported soul is a falsehood, and so is it to compress the unlimited soul within the narrow bounds of the body. 65. To say this is I, and this another, is altogether wrong; and what is this body or my want of it, or the state of living or death to me? (Since the soul is an immortal and etherial substance and my true-self and essence). 66. How foolish and short-witted were my forefathers, who having forsaken this spiritual domain, have wandered as mortal beings in this frail and miserable world. 67. How great is this grand sight of the immensity of Brahma; and how mean are these creeping mortals, with their high aims and ambition, and all their splendours of royalty. (The glory of God, transcends the glory of glorious sun). 68. This pure intellectual sight of mine, which is fraught with endless joy, accompanied by ineffable tranquility, surpasses all other sights in the whole world. (The rapture of heavenly peace and bliss, has no bounds). 69. I bow down to the Ego, which is situated in all beings; which is the intelligent and intellectual soul, and quite apart from whatever is the object of intellection or thought (i.e. the unthinkable spirit).

70. I who am the unborn and increate soul, reign triumphant over this perishing world; by my attainment to the state of the great universal spirit, which is the chief object of gain—the summum bonum of mortal beings, and which I live to enjoy. (This sublimation of the human soul to the state of the supreme spirit, and enjoyment of spiritual beatification or heavenly rapture, is the main aim and end of Yoga meditation). 71. I take no delight in my unpleasant earthly dominion, which is full of painful greatness; nor like to lose my everlasting realm of good understanding, which is free from trouble and full of perpetual delight. 72. Cursed be the wicked demons that are so sadly ignorant of their souls; and resort for the safety of their bodies, to their strongholds of woods and hills and ditches, like the insects of those places. 73. Ignorance of the soul leads to the serving of the dull ignorant body, with articles of food and raiment; and it was thus that our ignorant elders pampered their bodies for no lasting good. 74. What good did my father Hiranyakasipu reap, from his prosperity of a few years in this world; and what did he acquire worthy of his descent; in the line of the great sage Kasyapa?

75. He who has not tasted the blissfulness of his soul, has enjoyed no true blessing, during his long reign of a hundred years in this world. 76. He who has gained the ambrosial delight of his spiritual bliss, and nothing of the temporary blessings of life; has gained something which is ever full in itself, and of which there is no end to the end of the world. 77. It is the fool and not the wise, who forsakes this infinite joy for the temporary delights of this world; and resembles the foolish camel which foregoes his fodder of soft leaves, for browzing the prickly thorns of the desert. 78. What man of sense would turn his eyes from so romantic a sight, and like to roam in a city burnt down to the ground: and what wise man is there that would forsake the sweet juice of sugarcane, in order to taste the bitterness of Nimba? 79. I reckon all my forefathers as very great fools, for their leaving this happy prospect, in order to wander in the dangerous paths of their earthly dominion.

80. Ah! how delightful is the view of flowering gardens, and how unpleasant is the sight of the burning deserts of sand; how very quiet are these intellectual reveries, and how very boisterous are the cravings of our hearts! 81. There is no happiness to be had in this earth, that would make us wish for our sovereignty in it; all happiness consists in the peace of the mind, which it concerns us always to seek. 82. It is the calm, quiet and unaltered state of the mind, that gives us true happiness in all conditions of life; and the true realm of things in all places and at all times, and under every circumstance in life. 83. It is the virtue of sunlight to enlighten all objects, and that of moonlight to fill us with its ambrosial draughts; but the light of Brahma transcends them both, by filling the three worlds with its spiritual glory; which is brighter than sun-beams, and cooler than moon-light. 84. The power of Siva stretches over the fulness of knowledge, and that of Vishnu over victory and prosperity (Jayas-Lakshmí). Fleetness is the character of the mental powers, and force is the property of the wind.

85. Inflammation is the property of fire, and moisture is that of water; taciturnity is the quality of devotees for success of devotion, and loquacity is the qualification of learning. 86. It is the nature of the aerials to move about in the air, and of rocks to remain fixed on the ground; the nature of water is to set deep and run downwards; and that of mountains to stand and rise upwards. 87. Equanimity is the nature of Saugatas or Buddhists, and carousing is the penchant of wine-bibbers; the spring delights in its flowering, and the rainy season exults in the roaring of its clouds. 88. The Yakshas are full of their delusiveness, and the celestials are familiar with cold and frost, and those of the torrid zone are inured in its heat. (This passage clearly shows the heaven of the Hindus, to have been in the northern regions of cold and frost). 89. Thus are many other beings suited to their respective climes and seasons, and are habituated to the very many modes of life and varieties of habits; to which they have been accustomed in the past and present times. 90. It is the one Uniform and Unchanging Intellect, that ordains these multiform and changing modifications of powers and things, according to its changeable will and velocity.

91. The same unchanging Intellect presents these hundreds of changing scenes to us, as the same and invariable light of the sun, shows a thousand varying forms and colour to the sight. 92. The same Intellect sees at a glance, these great multitudes of objects, that fill the infinite space on all sides, in all the three times of the present, past and future. 93. The selfsame pure Intellect knows at once, the various states of all things presented in this vast phenomenal world, in all the three times that are existent, gone by and are to come hereafter. 94. This pure Intellect reflects at one and the same time, all things existent in the present, past and future times; and is full with the forms of all things existing in the infinite space of the universe. 95. Knowing the events of the three times, and seeing the endless phenomena of all worlds present before it, the divine intellect continues full and perfect in itself and at all times.

96. The understanding ever continues the same and unaltered, notwithstanding the great variety of its perceptions of innumerables of sense and thought: such as the different tastes of sweet and sour in honey and nimba fruit at the same time. (i.e. The varieties of mental perception and conception, make no change in the mind), as the reflexion of various figures makes no change in the reflecting glass. 97. The intellect being in its state of arguteness, by abandonment of mental desires, and knowing the natures of all things by reducing their dualities into unity:— 98. It views them alike with an equal eye and at the same time; notwithstanding the varieties of objects and their great difference from one another. (i.e. All the varieties blend into unity). 99. By viewing all existence as non-existence, you get rid of your existing pains and troubles, and by seeing all existence in the light of nihility, you avoid the suffering of existing evils. 100. The intellect being withdrawn from its view of the events of the three tenses (i.e. the occurrences of the past, present and future times), and being freed from the fetters of its fleeting thoughts, there remains only a calm tranquility.

101. The soul being inexpressible in words, proves to be a negative idea only; and there ensues a state of one’s perpetual unconsciousness of his soul or self-existence. (This is the state of anæsthesia, which is forgetting oneself to a stock and stone). 102. In this state of the soul it is equal to Brahma, which is either nothing at all or the All of itself; and its absorption in perfect tranquilness is called its liberation (moksha) or emancipation from all feelings (bodhas). 103. The intellect being vitiated by its volition, does not see the soul in a clear light, as the hoodwinked eye has naught but a dim and hazy sight of the world. 104. The intellect which is vitiated by the dirt of its desire and dislike, is impeded in its heavenly flight, like a bird caught in a snare. (Nor love nor hate of aught, is the best state of thought). 105. They who have fallen into the snare of delusion by their ignorant choice of this or that, are as blind birds falling into the net in search of their prey. 106. Entangled in the meshes of desire, and confined in the pit of worldliness, our fathers were debarred from this unbarred sight of spiritual light and endless delight.

107. In vain did our forefathers flourish for a few days on the surface of this earth; only to be swept away like the fluttering flies and gnats, by a gust of wind into the ditch. 108. If these foolish pursuers after the painful pleasures of the world, had known the path of truth they would never fall into the dark pit of unsubstantial pursuits. 109. Foolish folks being subjected to repeated pains and pleasures by their various choice of things; follow at last the fate of ephemeral worms, that are born to move and die in their native ditches and bogs (i.e. as they are born of earth and dust so do they return to dust and earth again). 110. He is said to be really alive who lives true to nature, and the mirage of whose desires and aversion, is suppressed like the fumes of his fancy, by the rising cloud of his knowledge of truth. 111. The hot and foul fumes of fancy, fly afar from the pure light of reason, as the hazy mist of night, is dispersed by the bright beams of moon-light.

112. I hail that soul which dwells as the inseparable intellect in me; and I come at last to know my God, that resides as a rich gem enlightening all the worlds in myself. 113. I have long thought upon and sought after thee, and I have at last found thee rising in myself; I have chosen thee from all others; and whatever thou art, I hail thee, my Lord! as thou appearest in me. 114. I hail thee in me, O lord of gods, in thy form of infinity within myself, and in the shape of bliss within my enraptured soul; I hail thee, O Supreme Spirit! that art superior to and supermost of all. 115. I bow down to that cloudless light, shining as the disk of the full-moon in me; and to that self-same form, which is free from all predicates and attributes. It is the self risen light in myself, and that felicitous selfsame soul, which I find in myself alter ego.

MEDITATION ON BRAHMA IN ONE’S SELF. Argument. Pantheistic Adoration of the universal soul. Prahláda continued:—Om is the proper form of the One, and devoid of all defalcation; that Om is this all, that is contained in this world. (The Sruti says:—Om is Brahma, and Om is this all, it is the first and last &c.). 2. It is the intelligence, and devoid of flesh, fat, blood and bones; it abides in all things, and is the enlightener of the sun and all other luminous bodies. 3. It warms the fire and moistens the water (i.e. gives heat and moisture to the fire and water). It gives sensation to the senses, and enjoys all things in the manner of a prince. (Warms in the sun, refreshes in the breeze, &c. Pope). 4. It rests without sitting, it goes without walking; it is active in its inactivity, it acts all without coming in tact with any thing. 5. It is the past and gone, and also the present and even now; it is both the next moment, and remote future also; it is all that is fit and proper, and whatever is unfit and improper likewise. (Changed through all, and yet in all the same. All Discord, harmony not understood, tends to universal good. Pope).

6. Undaunted, it produces all productions, and spreads the worlds over one another; it continues to turn about the worlds, from the Sphere of Brahma to the lower grounds of grass. (So Pope:—Spreads through all extent, spreads undivided, operates unspent). 7. Though unmoving and immutable, yet it is as fleeting and changeable as the flying winds; it is inert as the solid rock, and more transparent than the subtile ether. “These as they change, are but the varied God.” Thomson. 8. It moves the minds of men, as the winds shake the leaves of trees; and it directs the organs of sense, as a charioteer manages his horses. 9. The Intellect sits as the lord of this bodily mansion, which is carried about as a chariot by the equestrians of the senses; and sitting at its own ease as sole monarch, it enjoys the fruitions of the bodily actions. 10. It is to be diligently sought after, and meditated upon and lauded at all times; because it is by means of this only, that one may have his salvation from the pains of his age and death, and the evils of ignorance.

11. It is easily to be found, and as easy to be familiarised as a friend; it dwells as the humble bee, in the recess of the lotus-like heart of every body. 12. Uncalled and uninvoked, it appears of itself from within the body; and at a slight call it appears manifest to view. (So the Sruti:—The soul becomes palpable to view). 13. Constant service of and attendance on this all-opulent Lord, never make him proud or haughty, as they do any other rich master to his humble attendants. 14. This Lord is as closely situated in every body, as fragrance and fluidity, are inherent in flowers and sesamum seeds; and as flavour is inseparably connected with liquid substances. 15. It is by reason of our unreasonableness, that we are ignorant of the Intellect, that is situated in ourselves; while our reasoning power serves to manifest it, as a most intimate friend to our sight. 16. As we come to know this Supreme Lord, that is situated in us by our reasoning; we come to feel an ineffable delight in us, as at the sight of a beloved and loving friend.

17. As this dearest friend appears to view, with his benign influence of shedding full bliss about us; we come to the sight of such glorious prospects, as to forget at once all our earthly enjoyments before them. 18. All his fetters are broken loose and fall off from him, and all his enemies are put to an end; whose mind is not perforated by his cravings, like houses dug by the injurious mice. 19. This one in all (to pan) being seen in us, the whole world is seen in Him; and He being heard, every thing is heard in Him: He being felt, all things are felt in Him; and He being present, the whole world is present before us. 20. He wakes over the sleeping world, and destroys the darkness of the ignorant; He removes the dangers of the distressed, and bestows His blessings upon the holy. (So the sruti: suptesujágarti. God never sleeps. Jones. The ever wakeful eyes of Jove. To wake over the sleeping worlds. Iliad).

21. He moves about as the living soul of all, and rejoices as the animal soul in all objects of enjoyment; it is He that glows in all visible objects in their various hues. (Shines in the sun, and twinkles in the stars; blazes in the fire, and blushes in flowers. Pope). 22. He sees himself in himself, and is quietly situated in all things; as pungency resides in peppers, and sweetness in sugar &c. 23. He is situated as intelligence and sensations, in the inward and outward parts of living beings; and forms the essence and existence of all objects, in general, in the whole universe. 24. He forms the vacuity of the sky, and the velocity of the winds; He is the light of igneous bodies, and the moisture of aqueous substances. 25. He is the firmness of the earth, and the warmth of the fire; He is the coldness of the moon, and the entity of every thing in the world. 26. He is blackness in inky substances, and coldness in the particles of snow; and as fragrance resides in flowers, so is he resident in all bodies.

27. It is his essence which fills all space, as the essence of time fills all duration; and it is his omnipotence that is the fountain of all forces, as it is his omnipresence that is the support of every thing in every place. (This is the pervasion, of omnipresence wrongly called as pantheism). 28. As the Lord unfolds everything to light, by the external organ of sight and the internal organ of thinking; so the Great God enlightens the gods (sun, moon, Indra and others) by his own light. (The Natural Theism which represented the visible heavens and heavenly bodies as gods, maintained also the doctrine of the One Invisible God, as shining and supporting them all by his presence. Gloss). 29. I am that I am, without the attributes (of form or figure or any property) in me; and I am as the clear air, unsullied by the particles of flying dust; and as the leaves of lotuses, untouched by their supporting and surrounding waters. 30. As a rolling stone gathers no moss, so there is nothing that touches or bears any relation to my airy mind; and the pain and pleasure which betake the body, cannot affect my form of the inner soul.

31. The soul like a gourd fruit, is not injured by the shower of rain falling on the outer body resembling its hard crust; and the intellect like the flame of a lamp, is not to be held fast (or fastened) by a rope. 32. So this ego of mine which transcends every thing, is not to be tied down by any thing to the earth; nor does it bear any relation with the objects of sense or my mental desires, or anything existent or not in existence in this world. 33. Who has the power to grasp the empty vacuum; or confine the mind? You may cut the body to a thousand pieces, but you cannot divide the invisible and the indivisible vacuous Spirit rising in me. 34. As the pot being broken or bored, or removed from its place, there is no loss sustained by its containing or contained air; so the body being destroyed, there is no damage done to the unconnected soul; and the mind is as false a name, as that of a demon or Pisácha.

35. The destruction of the gross body, does not injure the immaterial soul; and what is the mind, but the perceptive power of my desires and gross pleasures and pains. (The organ of the mind is destroyed with the body). 36. I had such a percipient mind before, but now I have found my rest in quiescence. I find it is another thing beside myself, because it perceives and partakes of the enjoyments of life, and is exposed to the dangers that betake the body. 37. There is another one in me (i.e. the soul or intellect), which beholds the actions of the other (i.e. of the mind) as a theatric act; and witnesses the exposure of the body to peril, as its last sad and catastrophe. 38. It is the wicked spirit, that is caught in ignorance; but the pure spirit has nothing to suffer: and I feel in myself neither the wish of my continuing in worldly enjoyments, nor a desire of forsaking them altogether. (I enjoy my life while it lasts).

39. Let what may come to pass on me, and whatever may happen to pass away from me; I have neither the expectation of pleasures for me, nor an aversion to the suffering of pain. (in my gain or loss of any thing, in my resignation of myself to God). 40. Let pleasure or pain betake or forsake me as it may, without my being concerned with or taking heed of either; because I know the fluctuating desires, to be incessantly rising and setting in the sphere of my mind. 41. Let these desires depart from me, for I have nothing to do with them, nor have they any concern with me. Alas! how have I been all this time, misled to these by ignorance, which is my greatest enemy. 42. It is by favour of Vishnu, and by virtue of my pure Vaishnava faith, rising in me of itself, that my ignorance is now wholly dispelled from me, and the knowledge of the True One is revealed unto me. 43. My knowledge of truth has now driven away my egoism (or knowledge of myself) from my mind; as they drive a spirit from its hiding-place in the hollow of a tree.

44. I am now purified by admonition (mantra) of divine knowledge to me, and the arbour of my body is now set free from egoism, which sat as a demon (Yaksha) in it. 45. It is now become as a sacred arbour, blooming with heavenly flowers; and freed from the evils of ignorance, penury, and vain wishes, which infested it erewhile. 46. Loaded with the treasure of sacred knowledge, I find myself sitting here as one supremely-rich; and knowing all that is to be known, I see the sights that are invisible to others. 47. I have now got that in which nothing can be wanting, and wherein there is no want besides; it is by my good fortune that I am freed from all evils, and the venomous serpents of worldly cares. 48. My chill and frigid ignorance is melted down, by the light of knowledge; and the hot mirage of my desires, is now quenched and cooled by my quietude: I see the clear sky on all sides without any mist or dust and I rest under the cooling umbrage of the tranquility of my soul.

49. It is by my glorification of God, and my thanksgivings to Vishnu, my holy rites and also by my divine knowledge and quietism; that I have obtained by grace of my God, a spacious room and elevated position in spirituality. 50. I have got that god in my spirit, and have seen and known him also in his spiritual form. He is beyond my own ego, and I remember him always in this manner. 51. I remember Vishnu as the great Spirit, and eternal Brahma in his nature; while my egoism or selfishness is confined as a snake, in the holes of my organic frame, which is wholly the land of death. (The animal soul is born to die with the mortal body). 52. It is entangled in the bushes of its pricking desires, resembling the prickly karanja ferns; and amidst the tumults of raging passions, and a thousand other broils of this world. 53. It is placed amidst the conflagration of calamities, and is encircled by the flames of smart pain at all times; it is subjected to continual ups and downs of fortune, and repeated risings and fallings in its journey in this world.

54. It has its repeated births and deaths, owing to its interminable desires; and thus I am always deceived by this great enemy—my own egoism. 55. The animal soul is powerless at night, as if it were caught in the clutches of a demon in the forest; so I feel it now to be deprived of its power and action, while I am in this state of my meditation. (The animal spirit is dormant in its states of physical and spiritual trance). 56. It is by grace of Vishnu, that the light of my understanding is roused; and as I see my God by means of this light, I lose the sight of my demoniac egoism (i.e. I become unconscious of my existence at the sight of my Lord). 57. The sight of the demoniac egoism dwelling in the cavity of my mind, disappears from my view in the like manner; as the shadow of darkness flies from the light of a lamp, and as the shade of night is dispersed by day light. 58. As you know not where the flame of the lighted lamp is fled, after it is extinguished; so we know not where our lordly egoism is hid, at the sight of our God before us.

59. My rich egoism flies at the approach of reason, as a heavy loaded robber, flies before the advance of day light; and our false egoism vanishes as a demon, at the rising of the true Ego of God. 60. My egoism being gone, I am set at ease like a tree, freed from a poisonous snake rankling in its hollow cavity. I am at rest and in my insensibleness in this world, when I am awakened to my spiritual light. 61. I have escaped from the hand of my captor, and gained my permanent ascendency over others; I have got my internal coldness sang froid, and have allayed the mirage of my thirst after vain glory. 62. I have bathed in the cold bath of rain water, and am pacified as a rock after the cooling of its conflagration; I am cleansed of my egoism, by my knowledge of the true meaning of the term. 63. What is ignorance and what are our pains and affliction? what are our evil desires, and what are our diseases and dangers? All these with the ideas of heaven and liberation, together with the hope of heaven and the fear of hell, are but false conceptions proceeding from our egoism or selfishness (or the cravings and loathings of our hearts).

64. As a picture is drawn on a canvas and not in empty air, so our thoughts depend on our selfish principle and upon its want. And as it is the clear linen, that receives the yellow colour of saffron; so it is the pure soul that receives the image of God. It is egoism which vitiates the soul with the bilious passions of the heart, as a dirty cloth vitiates a goodly paint, with its inborn taint. 65. Purity of the inward soul, is like the clearness of the autumnal sky; it is devoid of the cloudiness of egoism, and the drizzling drops of desires. (i.e. A pure soul is as clear as the unclouded sky). 66. I bow down to thee, O my soul inmost! that art a stream of bliss to me, with pure limpid waters amidst, and without the dirt of egoism about thee. 67. I hail thee, O thou my soul! that art an ocean of joy to me, uninfested by the sharks of sensual appetites, and undisturbed by the submarine fire of the latent mind. 68. I prostrate myself before thee, O thou quick soul of mine! that art a mountain of delight to me, without the hovering clouds of egoistic passions, and the wild fires of gross appetites and desires.

69. I bow to thee, O thou soul in me! that art the heavenly lake of Manas to me, with the blooming lotuses of delight, and without the billows of cares and anxieties. 70. I greet thee my internal spirit! that floatest in the shape of a swan (hansa) in the lake of the mind (manas) of every individual, and residest in the cavity of the lotiform cranium (Brahmárandhra), with thy outstretched wings of consciousness and standing. 71. All hail to thee, O thou full and perfect spirit! that art the undivided and immortal soul, and appearest in thy several parts of the mind and senses; like the full-moon containing all its digits in its entire self. 72. Obeisance to the sun of my intellect! which is always in its ascendency and dispels the darkness of my heart; which pervades everywhere, and is yet invisible or dimly seen by us. 73. I bow to my intellectual light, which is an oilless lamp of benign effulgence, and burns in full blaze within me and without its wick. It is the enlightener of nature, and quite still in its nature.

74. Whenever my mind is heated by cupid’s fire, I cool it by the coolness of my cold and callous intellect coolness; as they temper the red-hot iron with a cold and hard hammer. 75. I am gaining my victory over all things, by killing my egoism by the Great Ego; and by making my senses and mind to destroy themselves. 76. I bow to thee, O thou all subduing faith, that dost crush our ignorant doubt by thy wisdom; dispellest the unrealities by thy knowledge of the reality, and removest our cravings by thy contentedness. 77. I subsist solely as the transparent spirit, by killing my mind by the great Mind, and removing my egoism by the sole Ego, and by driving the unrealities by the true Reality. 78. I rely my body (i.e. I depend for my bodily existence), on the moving principle of my soul only; without the consciousness of my self existence, my egoism, my mind and all its efforts and actions. 79. I have obtained at last of its own accord, and by the infinite grace of the Lord of all, the highest blessing of cold heartedness and insouciance in myself.

80. I am now freed from the heat of my feverish passions, by subsidence of the demon of my ignorance; from disappearance of the goblin of my egoism. 81. I know not where the falcon of my false egoism has fled, from the cage of my body, by breaking its string of desires to which it was fast bound in its feet. 82. I do not know whither the eagle of my egotism is flown, from its nest in the arbor of my body, after blowing away its thick ignorance as dust. 83. Ah! where is my egoism fled, with its body besmeared with the dust and dirt of worldliness, and battered by the rocks of its insatiable desires? It is bitten by the deadly dragons of fears and dangers, and pierced in its hearts by repeated disappointments and despair. 84. O! I wonder to think what I had been all this time, when I was bound fast by my egoism in the strong chain of my personality. 85. I think myself a new born being to-day, and to have become highminded also, by being removed from the thick cloud of egoism, which had shrouded me all this time.

86. I have seen and known, and obtained this treasure of my soul, as it is presented to my understanding, by the verbal testimonies of the sástras, and by the light of inspiration in my hour of meditation (samádhi). 87. My mind is set at rest as extinguished fire, by its being released from the cares of the world; as also from all other thoughts and desires and the error of egoism. I am now set free from my affections and passions, and all delights of the world, as also my craving after them. 88. I have passed over the impassable ocean of dangers and difficulties, and the intolerable evils of transmigration; by the disappearance of my internal darkness, and sight of the One Great God in my intellect.

HYMN TO THE SOUL. Argument. Prahláda getting the light of his internal soul, delights himself as one in the company of his sweet-heart. Prahláda continued:—I thank thee, O lord and great spirit! that art beyond all things, and art found in myself by my good fortune. 2. I have no other friend, O my Lord, in the three worlds except thee; that dost vouchsafe to embrace and look upon me, when I pray unto thee. 3. It is thou that preservest and destroyest all, and givest all things to every body; and it is thou, that makest us move and work, and praise thy holy name. Now art thou found and seen by me, and now thou goest away from me. 4. Thou fillest all being in the world with thy essence; thou art present in all places, but where art thou now fled and gone from me? 5. Great is the distance between us, even as the distance of the places of our birth, it is my good fortune of friend! that has brought thee near me today, and presented thee to my sight (so fleeting is spiritual vision).

6. I hail thee, thou felicitous one! that art my maker and preserver also; I thank thee that art the stalk of this fruit of this world, and that art the eternal and pure soul of all. 7. I thank the holder of the lotus and discus, and thee also that bearest the crescent half moon on thy forehead—great Siva. I thank the lord of gods—Indra, and Brahmá also, that is born of the lotus. 8. It is a verbal usage that makes a distinction betwixt thee and ourselves (i.e. between the Divine and animal souls); but this is a false impression as that of the difference between waves and their elemental water. 9. Thou showest thyself in the shapes of the endless varieties of beings, and existence and extinction are the two states of thyself from all eternity. 10. I thank thee that art the creator and beholder of all, and the manifester of innumerable forms. I thank thee that art the whole nature thyself. 11. I have undergone many tribulations in the long course of past lives, and it was by thy will that I became bereft of my strength, and was burnt away at last.

12. I have beheld the luminous worlds, and observed many visible and invisible things; but thou art not to be found in them. So I have gained nothing (from my observations). 13. All things composed of earth, stone and wood, are formations of water (the form of Vishnu), there is nothing here, that is permanent, O god, beside thyself. Thou being obtained there is nothing else to desire. 14. I thank thee lord! that art obtained, seen and known by me this day; and that shalt be so preserved by me, as never to be obliterated (from my mind). 15. Thy bright form which is interwoven by the rays of light, is visible to us by inversion of the sight of the pupils of our eyes, into the inmost recesses of our heart. 16. As the feeling of heat and cold is perceived by touch, and as the fragrance of the flower is felt in the oil with which it is mixed; so I feel thy presence by thy coming in contact with my heart. 17. As the sound of music enters into the heart through the ears, and makes the heart strings to thrill, and the hairs of the body to stand at an end; so is thy presence perceived in our hearts also.

18. As the objects of taste are felt by the tip of the tongue, which conveys their relish to the mind; so is thy presence felt by my heart, when thou touchest it with thy love. 19. How can one slight to look and lay hold on his inner soul which shoots through every sense of his body; when he takes up a sweet scenting flower, perceptible by the sense of smelling only, and finally decorating his outer person with it. 20. How can the supreme spirit, which is well known to us by means of the teachings of the Vedas, Vedánta, Sidhántas and the Puránas, as also by the Logic of schools and the hymns of the Vedas, be any way forgotten by us? 21. These things which are pleasant to the bodily senses, do not gladden my heart, when it is filled by thy translucent presence. 22. It is by thy effulgent light, that the sun shines so bright; as it is by thy benign lustre also, that the moon dispenses her cooling beams. 23. Thou hast made these bulky rocks, and upheld the heavenly bodies; thou hast supported the stable earth, and lifted the spacious firmament.

24. Fortunately thou hast become myself, and I have become one with thyself, I am identic with thee and thou with me, and there is no difference between us. 25. I thank the great spirit, that is expressed by turns by the words myself and thyself; and mine and thine. 26. I thank the infinite God, that dwells in my unegoistic mind; and I thank the formless Lord, that dwells in my tranquil soul. 27. Thou dwellest, O Lord! in my formless, tranquil, transparent and conscious soul, as thou residest in thy own spirit, which is unbounded by the limitations of time and space. 28. It is by thee that the mind has its action, and the senses have their sensations; the body has all its powers, and the vital and respirative breaths have their inflations and afflations. 29. The organs of the body are led by the rope of desire to their several actions, and being united with flesh, blood and bones, are driven like the wheels of a car by the charioteer of the mind. 30. I am the consciousness of my body, and am neither the body itself nor my egoism of it; let it therefore rise or fall, it is of no advantage or disadvantage to me.

31. I was born in the same time with my ego (as a personal, corporeal and sensible being); and it was long afterwards that I had the knowledge of my soul; I had my insensibility last of all, in the manner of the world approaching to its dissolution at the end. 32. Long have I travelled in the long-some journey of the world; I am weary with fatigue and now rest in quiet, like the cooling fire of the last conflagration. (i.e. Of the doomsday). 33. I thank the Lord who is all (to pan), and yet without all and everything; and thee my soul! that art myself likewise. I thank thee above those sástras and preceptors, that teach the ego and tu (i.e. the subjective and objective). 34. I hail the all witnessing power of that providential spirit, that has made these ample and endless provisions for others, without touching or enjoying them itself. 35. Thou art the spirit that dwellest in all bodies in the form of the fragrance of flowers, and in the manner of breath in bellows; and as the oil resides in the sesamum seeds. 36. How wonderful is this magic scene of thine, that thou appearest in everything, and preservest and destroyest it at last, without having any personality of thy own.

37. Thou makest my soul rejoice at one time as a lighted lamp, by manifesting all things before it; and thou makest it joyous also, when it is extinguished as a lamp, after its enjoyment of the visibles. 38. This universal frame is situated in an atom of thyself, as the big banian tree is contained in the embryo of a grain of its fig. 39. Thou art seen, O lord, in a thousand forms that glide under our sight; in the same manner as the various forms of elephants and horses, cars and other things are seen in the passing clouds on the sky. 40. Thou art both the existence and absence of all things, that are either present or lost to our view; yet thou art quite apart from all worldly existences, and art aloof from all entities and non-entities in the world. 41. Forsake, O my soul! the pride and anger of thy mind, and all the foulness and wiliness of thy heart; because the highminded never fall into the faults and errors of the common people.

42. Think over and over on the actions of thy past life, and the long series of thy wicked acts; and then with a sigh blush to think upon what thou hadst been before, and cease to do such acts anymore. 43. The bustle of thy life is past, and thy bad days have gone away; when thou wast wrapt in the net of thy tangled thoughts on all sides. 44. Now thou art a monarch in the city of thy body, and hast the desire of thy mind presented before thee; thou art set beyond the reach of pleasure and pain, and art as free as the air which nobody can grasp. 45. As thou hast now subdued the untractable horses of thy bodily organs, and the indomitable elephant of thy mind; and as thou hast crushed thy enemy of worldly enjoyment, so dost thou now reign as the sole sovereign, over the empire of thy body and mind. 46. Thou art now become as the glorious sun, to shine within and without us day by day; and dost traverse the unlimited fields of air, by thy continued rising and setting at every place in our meditation of thee.

47. Thou Lord! art ever asleep, and risest also by thy own power; and then thou lookest on the luxuriant world, as a lover looks on his beloved. 48. These luxuries like honey, are brought from great distances by the bees of the bodily organs; and the spirit tastes the sweets, by looking upon them through the windows of its eyes. (The spirit enjoys the sweets of offerings, by means of its internal senses). 49. The seat of the intellectual world in the cranium is always dark, and a path is made in it by the breathings of inspiration and respiration (pránápána), which lead the soul to the sight of Brahmá (lit.: to the city of Brahmá. This is done by the practice of pránáyáma). 50. Thou Lord! art the odor of this flower-like body of thine, and thou art the nectarious juice of thy moonlike frame, the moisture of this bodily tree, and thou art the coolness of its cold humours: phlegm and cough. 51. Thou art the juice, milk and butter, that support the body, and thou being gone (O soul!), the body is dried up and become as full to feed the fire.

52. Thou art the flavour of fruits, and the light of all luminous bodies; it is thou that perceivest and knowest all things, and givest light to the visual organ of sight. 53. Thou art the vibration of the wind, and the force of our elephantine minds; and so art thou the acuteness of the flame of our intelligence. 54. It is thou that givest us the gift of speech, and dost stop our breath, and makest it break forth again on occasions. (Speech—Vách—vox in the feminine gender, is made Váchá by affix á according to Bhaguri). 55. All these various series of worldly productions, bear the same relation to thee, as the varieties of jewelleries (such as the bracelets and wristlets); are related to the gold (of which they are made). 56. Thou art called by the words I, thou, he &c., and it is thyself that callest thyself such as it pleaseth thee. (The impersonal God is represented in different persons). 57. Thou art seen in the appearances of all the productions of nature, as we see the forms of men, horses and elephants in the clouds, when they glide softly on the wings of the gentle winds. (But as all these forms are unreal, so God has no form in reality).

58. Thou dost invariably show thyself in all thy creatures on earth, the blazing fire presents the figures of horses and elephants in its lambent flames. (Neither has God nor fire any form at all). 59. Thou art the unbroken thread, by which the orbs of worlds are strung together as a rosary of pearls; and thou art the field that growest the harvest of creation, by the moisture of thy intellect. (The divine spirit stretches through all, and contains the pith of creation). 60. Things that were inexistent and unproduced before creation, have come to light from their hidden state of reality by thy agency, as the flavour of meat-food, becomes evident by the process of cooking. 61. The beauties of existences are imperceptible without the soul; as the graces of a beauty are not apparent to one devoid of his eyesight. 62. All substances are nothing whatever without thy inherence in them; as the reflection of the face in the mirror (or a picture in painting), is to no purpose without the real face or figure of the person. 63. Without thee the body is a lifeless mass, like a block of wood or stone; and it is imperceptible without the soul, as the shadow of a tree in absence of the sun.

64. The succession of pain and pleasure, ceases to be felt by one who feels thee within himself; as the shades of darkness, the twinkling of stars, and the coldness of frost, cease to exist in the bright sunlight. 65. It is by a glance of thy eye, that the feelings of pain and pleasure rise in the mind; as it is by the beams of the rising sun, that the sky is tinged with its variegated hues. 66. Living beings perish in a moment, at the privation of thy presence; as the burning lamp is extinguished to darkness, at the extinction of its light. (Light and life are synonymous terms, as death and darkness are homonyms). 67. As the gloom of darkness is conspicuous at the want of light; but coming in contact with light, it vanishes from view. 68. So the appearances of pain and pleasure, present themselves before the mind, during thy absence from it; but they vanish into nothing at the advance of thy light into it. 69. The temporary feelings of pleasure and pain, can find no room in the fulness of heavenly felicity (in the entranced mind); just as a minute moment of time, is of no account in the abyss of eternity.

70. The thoughts of pleasure and pain, are as the short-lived fancies of the fairy land or castles in air; they appear by turns at thy pleasure, but they disappear altogether no sooner thy form is seen in the mind. 71. It is by thy light in our visual organs, that things appear to sight at the moment of our waking, as they are reproduced into being; and it is by thy light also poured into our minds, that they are seen in our dream, as if they are all asleep in death. 72. What good can we derive from these false and transient appearances in nature? No one can string together the seeming lotuses that are formed by the foaming froth of the waves. 73. No substantial good can accrue to us from transitory mortal things; as no body can string together the transient flashes of lightning into a necklace. (This is in refutation of the usefulness of temporary objects maintained by the Saugatas). 74. Should the rationalist take the false ideas of pain and pleasure for sober realities; what distinction then can there be between them and the irrational realists (Buddhists).

75. Should you, like the Nominalist, take everything which bears a name for a real entity; I will tell you no more than that, you are too fond to give to imaginary things a fictitious name at your own will. (Gloss:—according to the ideas and desires of one’s own mind, or giving a name to airy nothing). 76. But the soul is indivisible and without its desire and egoism, and whether it is a real substance or not we know nothing of, yet its agency is acknowledged on all hands in our bodily actions. 77. All joy be thine! that art boundless in thy spiritual body, and ever disposed to tranquility; that art beyond the knowledge of the Vedas, and art yet the theme of all the sástras. 78. All joy to thee! that art both born and unborn with the body, and art decaying undecayed in thy nature; that art the unsubstantial substance of all qualities, and art known and unknown to every body. 79. I exult now and am calm again, I move and am still afterwards; I am victorious and live to win my liberation by thy grace; therefore I hail thee that art myself.

80. When thou art situated in me, my soul is freed from all troubles and feelings and passions; and is placed in perfect rest. There is no more any fear of danger or difficulty or of life and death, nor any craving for prosperity, when I am absorbed in everlasting bliss with thee.

DISORDER AND DISQUIET OF THE ASURA REALM. Argument. As Prahláda was absorbed in Meditation, his dominions were infested by robbers for want of a Ruler, and the reign of terror. Vasishtha said:—Prahláda the defeater of inimical hosts, was sitting in the said manner in divine meditation, and was absorbed in his entranced rapture, and undisturbed anaesthesia or insensibility for a long time. 2. The soul reposing in its original state of unalterable ecstatis, made his body as immovable as a rock in painting or a figure carved on a stone (in bas relief). 3. In this manner a long time passed upon his hybernation, when he was sitting in his house in a posture as unshaken as the firm Meru is fixed upon the earth. 4. He was tried to be roused in vain, by the great Asuras of his palace; because his deadened mind remained deaf to their calls like a solid rock, and was as impassive as a perched grain to the showers of rain. 5. Thus he remained intent upon his God, with his fixed and firm gaze for thousands of years; and continued as unmoved, as the carved sun upon a stone (or sundial).

6. Having thus attained to the state of supreme bliss, the sight of infelicity disappeared from his view, as it is unknown to the supremely felicitous being. (So the Sruti: In Him there is all joy and no woe can appear before Him). 7. During this time the whole circuit of his realm, was overspread by anarchy and oppression; as it reigns over the poor fishes. 8. For after Hiranyakasipu was killed and his son had betaken himself to asceticism, there was no body left to rule over the realms of the Asura race. 9. And as Prahláda was not to be roused from his slumber, by the solicitations of the Daitya chiefs, or the cries of his oppressed people:— 10. They—the enemies of the gods, were as sorry not to have their graceful lord among them; as the bees are aggrieved for want of the blooming lotus at night (when it is hid under its leafy branches). 11. They found him as absorbed in his meditation, as when the world is drowned in deep sleep, after departure of the sun below the horizon. 12. The sorrowful Daityas departed from his presence, and went away wherever they liked; they roved about at random, as they do in an ungoverned state.

13. The infernal regions became in time the seat of anarchy and oppression; and the good and honest dealings bade adieu to it all at once. 14. The houses of the weak were robbed by the strong, and the restraints of laws were set at naught; the people oppressed one another and robbed the women of their robes. 15. There were crying and wailing of the people on all sides, and the houses were pulled down in the city; the houses and gardens were robbed and spoiled, and outlawry and rapacity spread all over the land. 16. The Asuras were in deep sorrow, and their families were starving without food or fruits; there were disturbance and riot rising every where, and the face of the sky was darkened on all sides. 17. They were derided by the younglings of the gods, and invaded by vile robbers and envious animals; the houses were robbed of their properties, and were laid waste and void.

18. The Asura realm became a scene of horror, by lawless fighting for the wives and properties of others; and the wailings of those that were robbed of their wealth and wives, it made the scene seem as the reign of the dark Kali age, when the atrocious marauders are let loose to spread devastation all over the earth.

SCRUTINY INTO THE NATURE OF GOD. Argument. Hari’s care for preservation of the order of the world, and his advice to Prahláda. Vasishtha continued:—Now Hari who slept on his couch of the snake, in his watery mansion of the Milky ocean, and whose delight it was to preserve the order of all the groups of worlds;— 2. Looked into the course of world in his own mind, after he rose from his sleep at the end of the rainy season for achieving the objects of the gods. (Vishnu rises after the rains on the eleventh day of moon उत्थानैकादशी ।). 3. He surveyed at a glance of his thought the state of the triple world, composed of the heaven, the earth and the regions below; and then directed his attention to the affairs of the infernal regions of the demons. 4. He beheld Prahláda sitting there in his intense hypnotic meditation, and then looked into the increasing prosperity of Indra’s palace. 5. Sitting as he was on his serpentine couch in the Milky Ocean, with his arms holding the conch-shell, the discus, and the club and lotus in his four hands;—

6. He thought in his brilliant mind and in his posture of padmásana, about the states of the three worlds, as the fluttering bee inspects into the state of the lotus. 7. He saw Prahláda immerged in his hypnotism, and the infernal regions left without a leader; and beheld the world was about to be devoid of the Daitya race. 8. This want of the demons, thought he, was likely to cool the military ardour of the Devas; as the want of clouds serves to dry up the waters on earth. 9. Liberation which is obtained by privation of dualism and egoism, brings a man to that state of asceticism; as the want of moisture tends to dry up and deaden the promising plant. 10. The Gods being at rest and contented in themselves, there will be no need of sacrifices and offerings to please and appease them; and this will eventually lead to the extinction of the gods (for want of their being fed with the butter and fat of the sacrifices). 11. The religious and sacrificial rites, being at an end among mankind, will bring on (owing to their impiety), the destruction of human race, which will cause the desolation of the earth (by wild beasts).

13. What is the good of my providence, if were I to allow this plenteous earth to go to ruin by my neglect? (It would amount to Vishnu’s violation of duty to preserve the world). 14. What can I have to do in this empty void of the world, after the extinction of these created beings into nothing, than to charge my active nature to a state of cold inactivity, and lose myself into the anaesthesia of final liberation or insensibility. 15. I see no good in the untimely dissolution of the order of the world, and would therefore have the Daityas live to its end. 16. It is owing to the struggles of the demons, that the deities are worshipped with sacrifices and other religious rites for their preservation of the earth; therefore they are necessary for the continuation of these practices in it. 17. I shall have therefore to visit the nether world, and restore it to its right order; and appoint the lord of the demons to the observance of his proper duties; in the manner of the season of spring returning to fructify the trees.

18. If I raise any other Daitya to the chieftainship of the demons, and leave Prahláda in the act of his meditation; it is sure that he will disturb the Devas, instead of bearing obedience to them. Because no demon can get rid of his demoniac nature like Prahláda. 19. Prahláda is to live to old age in his sacred person, and to reside therein to the end of the kalpa age, with this very body of his (without undergoing the casualties of death and transmigration). 20. So it is determined by Destiny, the divine and overruling goddess; that Prahláda will continue to reign to the end of the kalpa, in this very body of his. 21. I must therefore go, and awaken the Daitya chief from his trance, as the roaring cloud rouses the sleepy peacocks, on the tops of hills and banks of rivers. 22. Let that self ridden (swayam-mukta) and somnolent (samádhistha) prince, reign unconcerned (amanaskára) over the Daitya race; as the unconscious pearl reflects the colours of its adjacent objects. 23. By this means both the gods and demigods, will be preserved on the face of the earth; and their mutual contention for superiority, will furnish occasion for the display of my prowess.

24. Though the creation and destruction of the world, be indifferent to me; yet its continuation in the primordial order, is of much concern to others, if not to my insusceptible self. 25. Whatever is alike in its existence and inexistence, is the same also in both its gain and loss (to the indifferent soul). Any effort for having any thing is mere foolishness; since addition and subtraction presuppose one another. (Gain is the supplying of want, and want is the privation of gain). 26. I shall therefore hasten to the infernal region, and awaken the Daitya prince to the sense of his duty; and then will I resume my calmness, and not play about on the stage of the world like the ignorant. (The sapient God is silent; but foolish souls are turbulent). 27. I will proceed to the city of the Asuras amidst their tumultuous violence, and rouse the Daitya prince as the sunshine raises the drooping lotus; and I shall bring the people to order and union, as the rainy season collects the fleeting clouds on the summits of mountains.

ADMONITIONS OF HARI TO PRAHLÁDA. Argument. Hari enters into the Daitya city, blows his conch-shell, and directs Prahláda to reign and rule over his realm. Vasishtha continued:—Thinking thus within himself, Hari started from his abode in the Milky Ocean with his companions, and moved like the immovable Mandara mountain with all its accompaniments. 2. He entered the city of Prahláda resembling the metropolis of Indra, by a subterranean passage lying under the waters of the deep. (This passage, says the gloss, leads to the sweta dwípa or white island of Albion—Britain; but literally it means the underground passage of waters). 3. He found here the prince of the Asuras, sitting under a golden dome in his hypnotic trance, like Brahmá sitting in his meditative mood in a cavern of the Sumeru mountain. (This shows Brahmá the progenitor of mankind or of the Aryan Brahmanic race, to have been a mountaineer of the Altai or N. polar ranges, called Sumeru contra Kumeru—the S. pole). 4. There the Daityas being tinged in their bodies, by the bright rays of Vishnu’s person, fled far away from him, like a flock of owls from the bright beams of the rising sun. (The Daityas are night rovers or nisa charas, and cannot maintain their ground at sun rise).

5. Hari then being accompanied by two or three Daitya chiefs entered the apartment of Prahláda, as the bright moon enters the pavilion of the sky at eve, in company with two or three stars beside her. (Moon in Sanskrit is the male consort of the stars, and called Tará-pati). 6. There seated on his eagle and fanned with the flapper of Lakshmí, and armed with his weapons, and beset by the saints hymning his praise:— 7. He said, O great soul! rise from thy trance; and then blew his pánchajanya shell, which resounded to the vault of heaven. 8. The loud peal of the Conch, blown by the breath of Vishnu, roared at once like the clouds of the sky, and the waves of the great deluge with redoubled force. 9. Terrified at the sound, the Daityas fell flat and fainting on the ground; as when the flocks of swans and geese, are stunned at the thundering noise of clouds. 10. But the party of Vaishnavas, rejoiced at the sound without the least fear; and they flushed with joy like the Kurchi flowers, blooming at the sound of the clouds. (Kurchi buds are said to blossom in the rains).

11. The lord of the Dánavas, was slowly roused from his sleep; in the manner of the kadamba flowers, opening their florets by degrees at the intervals of rain. 12. It was by an act of the excretion of his breathing, that he brought down his vital breath, which was confined in the vertical membrane of the cranium; in the manner that the stream of Ganges gushes out from the high-hill, and mixes and flows with the whole body of waters into the ocean. (So it is with our inspiration and respiration, which carry up and down our vital breath, to and from the sensory of the brain). 13. In a moment the vital breath circulated through the whole body of Prahláda; as the solar beams spread over the whole world soon after they emanate from the solar disk at sun rise. 14. The vital breath, having then entered into the cells of the nine organs of sense; his mind became susceptible of sensations, received through the organs of the body like reflexions in a mirror. 15. The intellect desiring to know the objects, and relying in the reflexions of the senses, takes the name of the mind; as the reflexion of the face in the mirror, refracts itself again to the visual organ.

16. The mind having thus opened or developed itself, his eyelids were about to open of themselves; like the petals of the blue lotus, opening by degrees in the morning. 17. The breathings then, by conveying the sensations to the body, through the veins and arteries, give it the power of motion; as the current breeze moves the lotuses. 18. The same vital breath, strengthened the powers of his mind in a short time; as the billows of a river, become more powerful when it is full of water. 19. At last his eyes being opened, his body shone forth with vivacity, by its mental and vital powers; as the lake blushes with blooming lotuses at the sun’s rising above the horizon. 20. At this instant, the lord bade him awake instantly at his word; and he rose as the peacock is awakened, at the roar of a cloud. 21. Finding his eyes shining with lustre, and his mind strong with its past remembrance; the lord of the three worlds, spoke to him in the manner, as he had formerly addressed the lotus-born Brahmá himself. 22. O holy youth! remember your large (dominions), and bring to your mind your youthful form and figure; then think and ponder, why you causelessly transform yourself to this torpid state.

23. You who have no good to desire nor any evil to shun, and look on want and plenty in the same light; you must know that what is destined by God, is all for your good. 25. You shall have to live here, in the living liberated state of your mind, and in full possession of your dominions, for a kalpa period; and shall have to pass your time with this body of yours, and without any anxiety or earthly trouble whatever. 26. The body being decayed by this time, you shall have still to abide with your greatness of soul to the end; till the body being broken down like an earthen vessel, the vital life like the contained air of the pot, come to mix with the common air of vacuum. 27. Your body which is liberated in its life time, is to endure in its purity to the end of the kalpa, and will witness generations passing before it without any diminution of itself. 28. The end of the kalpa or dooms day, is yet too far when the twelve suns will shine together; the rocks will melt away, and the world will be burnt down to ashes. Why then do you waste away your body even now?

29. Now the winds are not raging with fury, nor is the world grey with age and covered with ashes over it. The marks on the foreheads of the immortals are still uneffaced, why then waste your body before its time? 30. The lightnings of the deluging clouds, do not now flash nor fall down like asoka flowers, why then do you vainly waste your precious body so prematurely? 31. The skies do not pour out their showers of rain-water on earth, so as to overflood the mountain tops, nor do they burst out in fire and burn them down to ashes; why then do you waste away your body in vain? 32. The old world is not yet dissolved into vapour, nor fused to fumes and smoke; neither are the deities all extinct, after leaving Brahmá, Vishnu and Siva to survive them; why then do you waste yourself in vain? (If they are all alive, you should learn to live also). 33. The earth on all sides is yet so submerged under the water, as to present the sight of the high mountains only on it, why then waste you away your body in vain (before the last doom and deluge of the earth?).

34. The sun yet does not dart his fiery rays, with such fury in the sky, as to split the mountains with hideous cracks; nor do the diluvian clouds rattle and crackle in the midway sky; (to presage the last day, why then in vain waste you your body, that is not foreboded to die?). 35. I wander everywhere on my vehicle of the eagle, and take care of all animal beings lest they die before their time, and do not therefore like your negligence of yourself. 36. Here are we and there the hills, these are other beings and that is yourself; this is the earth and that the sky, all these are separate entities and must last of themselves; why then should you neglect your body, and do not live like the living? 37. The man whose mind is deluded by gross ignorance, and one who is the mark of afflictions, is verily led to hail his death. (So the Smriti says:—Very sick and corpulent men have their release in death). 38. Death is welcome to him, who is too weak and too poor and grossly ignorant; and who is always troubled by such and similar thoughts in his mind. (The disturbed mind is death and hell in itself).

39. Death is welcomed by him, whose mind is enchained in the trap of greedy desires and thrills between its hopes and fears; and who is hurried and carried about in quest of greed, and is always restless within himself. 40. He whose heart is parched by the thirst of greed, and whose better thoughts are choked by it, as the sprouts of corn are destroyed by worms; is the person that welcomes his death at all times. 41. He who lets the creeping passions of his heart, grow as big as palm trees, to overshadow the forest of his mind, and bear the fruits of continued pain and pleasure, is the man who hails his death at all times. 42. He whose mind is festered by the weeds of cares, growing as rank as his hair on the body; and who is subject to the incessant evils of life, is the man that welcomes death for his relief. 43. He whose body is burning under the fire of diseases, and whose limbs are slackened by age and weakness, is the man to whom death is a remedy, and who resorts to its aid for relief.

44. He who is tormented by his ardent desires and raging anger, as by the poison of snake biting, is as a withered tree, and invites instant death for his release. 45. It is the soul’s quitting the body that is called death; and this is unknown to the spiritualist, who is quite indifferent about the entity and nonentity of the body. 46. Life is a blessing to him, whose thoughts do not rove beyond the confines of himself; and to the wise man also who knows and investigates into the true nature of things. 47. Life is a blessing to him also, who is not given to his egotism, and whose understanding is not darkened by untruth, and who preserves his evenness in all conditions of life. 48. His life is a blessing to him, who has the inward satisfaction and coolness of his understanding, and is free from passions and enmity; and looks on the world as a mere witness, and having his concern with nothing. 49. He is blest in his life, who has the knowledge of whatever is desirable or detestable to him, and lives aloof from both; with all his thoughts and feelings confined within himself; (literally, within his own heart and mind).

50. His life is blest, who views all gross things in the light of nothing, and whose heart and mind are absorbed in his silent and conscious soul. (i.e. Who witnesses and watches the emotions and motions of his heart and mind). 51. Blessed is his life, who having his sight represses it from viewing the affairs of the world, as if they are entirely unworthy of him. 52. His life is blessed, who neither rejoices nor grieves at what is desirable or disadvantageous to him; but has his contentment in every state of his life whether favourable or not. 53. He who is pure in his life, and keeps company with pure minded men; who spreads the purity of his conduct all about, and shuns the society of the impure; is as graceful to behold, as the hoary swan with its snow white wings, in the company of the fair fowls of the silvery lake. 54. Blessed is his life, whose sight and remembrance, and the mention of whose name, give delight to all persons. 55. Know the life of that man, O lord of demons, to be truly happy, whose lotus-like appearance is as delightsome to the bee-like eyes of men, as the sight of the full moon is delightful to the world.

RESUSCITATION OF PRAHLÁDA. Argument. On the necessity of the observance of duty, both in the secular as well as Religious Life. The Lord continued:—It is the soundness of the body, which men call life; and it is the quitting of the present body for a future one, which they call death. (Activity is the life of the body). 2. You are released from both these states, O high minded youth! and have nothing to do with your life or death any more. (Because the living liberated are freed from the cares of life, and future transmigrations also). 3. It is for your acquaintance, that I relate to you the components of life and death; by knowledge of which you will not have to live nor die, like other living beings on earth (in pain and misery). 4. Though situated in the body, yet you are as unembodied as the disembodied spirit; and though embosomed in vacuity, yet are you as free and fleet as the wind, on account of your being unattached to vacuum. (Unattachment of the soul to the body and vital spirit, constitutes its freedom).

5. Your perception of the objects of the touch, proves you to be an embodied being; and your soul is said to be the cause of that perception; as the open air is said to be the cause of the growth of trees, for its putting no hindrance to their height. But neither the soul is cause of perception, nor the air of the growth of trees. (It is the mind which is the cause of the one, as moisture of the other). 6. But the perception of outward things, is no test of their materiality to the monoistic immaterialist; as the sight of things in a dream, is no proof of their substantiality, nor of the corporeality of the percipient soul. (All external perceptions, are as those in a dream). 7. All things are comprehended, in yourself, by the light of your intellect; and your knowledge of the only One in all, comprehends every thing in it. How then can you have a body either to take to yourself or reject it from you? 8. Whether the season of the spring appears or not, or a hurricane happens to blow or subside; it is nothing to the pure soul, which is clear of all connection whatever. (The soul is unconnected with all occurrences).

9. Whether the hills fall headlong to the ground, or the flames of destruction devour all things; or the rapid gales rend the skies, it is no matter to the soul which rests secure in itself. 10. Whether the creation exists or not, and whether all things perish or grow; it is nothing to the soul which subsists of itself. (The increate soul is self existent and ever lasting). 11. The Lord of this body, does not waste by waste of its frame, nor he is strengthened by strength of the body; neither does it move by any bodily movement, nor sleep when the body and its senses are absorbed in sleep. 12. Whence does this false thought rise in your mind, that you belong to the body, and are an embodied being, and that you come to take, retain and quit this mortal frame at different times? 13. Forsake the thought, that you will do so and so after doing this and that; for they that know the truth, have given up such desires and vain expectations. (Since God is the disposer of all events).

14. All waking and living persons, have something or other to do in this world, and have thereby to reap the results of their actions; but he that does nothing, does not take the name of an active agent, nor has anything to expect (but lives resigned to the will of Providence). 15. He who is no agent of an action, has nothing to do with its consequence; for he who does not sow the grains, does not reap the harvest. (For as you sow, so you reap). 16. Desinence of action and its fruition, brings on a quiescence, which when it has become habitual and firm, receives the name of liberation (which is nothing to have or crave, save what God gave of his own will, agreeably to the prayer, “Let not mine, but thy will be done”). 17. All intellectual beings and enlightened men, and those that lead pure and holy lives, have all things under their comprehension, wherefore there is nothing for them left to learn anew or reject what they have learnt. (The gods and sages are all knowing, and have nothing to know or unknow any more).

18. It is for limited understandings and limited powers of the body and mind, to grasp or leave out some thing; but to men of unbounded capacities, there is nothing to be received or left out. (Fulness can neither be more full, nor wanting in any thing). 19. When a man is set at ease after cessation of his relation of the possessor or possession of any external object, and when this sense of his irrelation becomes a permanent feeling in him, he is then said to be liberated in his life time. (Total unconnection is perfect freedom). 20. Great men like yourself, being placed in this state of perpetual unconcern and rest; conduct themselves in the discharge of their duties, with as much ease as in their sleep. (Here is the main precept of the combination of internal torpitude with bodily action in the discharge of duties). 21. When one’s desires are drowned in his reliance on God, he views the existing world—shining in his spiritual light. 22. He takes no delight in the pleasing objects about him, nor does he regret at the afflictions of others; all his pleasure consisting in his own soul (at its total indifference).