Yoga Vasistha (Yoga-Vasishtha Maharamayana)

6. All things that have their causality at any time or place, are of course of the nature of their causal influence; but how can there be a similarity of anything with God who is never the cause of an effect? 7. Brahma the uncausing uncaused cause of all, has no causality in him; therefore the meaning of the word world, is something that has no cause whatever. (Jagat means what is going on forever). 8. Therefore think thyself as Brahma, according to the view of the intelligent; but the world appears as some thing extended in the sight of men of imperfect understandings. 9. When the world is taken as one and the same with the tranquil intellect of God, it must be viewed in the light of the transparent spirit of Brahma. (i.e. spiritually and intellectually they are both the same). 10. Any other notion, Oh prince, which the mind may entertain about the nature of God, is said by the intelligent, to be the destruction of the right concept of the Deity.

11. Know O prince, that the destruction of the mind (or mental error), is tantamount to the destruction of the soul; and slight forgetfulness of the spirit, is hard to be retrieved in a whole kalpa. (He that loses the sight of his Lord for a moment, loses it forever). 12. No sooner you are freed from your personality, than you find yourself to be full of Divine knowledge, and your false personality flies away for your consummation in spirituality. 13. If you think the world to be existent from the meaning of the word viswa or all, then tell me how and whence could all this come into existence. 14. How can you call one to be a Brahman, who lifts up his arms and proclaims himself about to be a sudra? 15. He who cries himself saying that he is dead, after the sinking of his pulsation; take him for the dead, and his living to be mistaken for life. 16. All these erroneous appearances, that present themselves before us, are as false as a circle described by the whirling flame of a torch; and as delusive as the water in the mirage, a secondary moon in the mist, and the spectre of boys.

17. What then is the true name of this erroneous substance, misleading us to the wrong, which is commonly designated as the mind, and is wrapped in ignorance and error. 18. The mind is another name for ignorance, and an unreality appearing as a real entity. Here ignorance takes the name of the mind, and unreality passes under the title of reality. Ignorance is the want of true knowledge, as knowledge is the privation of ignorance. 19. Ignorance or false knowledge, is driven by our knowledge of truth; as the error of water in the desert, is dispelled by the knowledge of mirage. 20. As the knowledge of mirage removes the error of water in the sandy desert, so the knowledge of the mind as gross ignorance, removes the erroneous mind from the inward seat of the heart. (The heart and mind are often used for one another). 21. The knowledge of the want of a mind, serves to root out its prejudice at once; as the knowledge of the rope as no snake, removes the fear of the reptile in the rope.

22. As the knowledge of the privation of the snake in the rope, removes its bias from the mind; so the knowledge of the want of the mind, removes this offspring of error and ignorance from within us. 23. The knowledge of there being no such thing as the mind, removes its false impressions from the heart; because the mind and our egoism, are the brood of our ignorance only. 24. There is no mind nor egoism, seated in us as we commonly believe to be; there is one pure intelligence only both with and without us, which we can hardly perceive. 25. You who had so long the sense of your desire, your mind and your personality from your ignorance only; are quite set free from all of them at this moment, by your being awakened to the light of knowledge. 26. All the troubles that you have to meet with, owing to your fostering the inborn desire of your heart; are all driven away by your want of desire, as the wind disperses the flaming conflagration of the forest. 27. It is the dense essence of the Divinity that pervades the whole universe, as it is this circumambient ocean which surrounds all the continents of the earth.

28. There is nothing in existence as I, thou, this, or that or any other; there is no mind nor the senses, nor the earth nor sky; but they are all as the manifestations of the Divine spirit. 29. As the visibles appear in the forms of the frail pot and other fragile bodies on earth; so the many false invisible things appear to us in the forms of the mind, egoism and the like. 30. There is nothing, that is either born or dies away in all these three worlds; it is only the display of the Divine intellect, that gives rise to the ideas of existence and non-existence. 31. All these are but representations of the supreme soul, now evolved and now spread out from it; and there is no room for unity or duality, nor any error or fallibility in its nature. 32. Mind, O friend, that you are the true one, in the shape of your senses; and these will never be burnt at your cremation, nor will you be utterly destroyed by your death. 33. No part of thyself is ever increased or annihilated at any time, the entirety of thy pure self is immortal, and must remain entire for ever.

34. The powers of thy volition and nolition, and the other faculties of thy body and mind, are attributes of thyself; as the beams of moon, are the significant properties of that luminary. (The attributes are denotative of the subject). 35. Always remember the nature of thy soul, to be unborn and increate, without its beginning and end, never decaying and ever remaining the same; it is indivisible and without parts, it is the true essence, and existing from the beginning and never to have its end. (The immortality of the soul).

ADMONITION OF CHÚDÁLÁ. Argument. - Obligation of the Prince for the instructions of his Monitor. And his attaining the Jívan-mukta emancipation in lifetime. Vasishtha said: - After the prince had so far attended to the lectures of Kumbha, he remained for some time in silent and deep meditation of his soul as if in a state of trance. 2. He continued with his intent-mind and fixed eyes and quite speechless all the while, and resembled the figure of a silent sage, and a carved statue without its motion and sensation. 3. And then as he awoke after a while with his twinkling eyes, he was thus accosted by Chúdálá in her disguised form of Kumbha the Bráhman youth. 4. Kumbha said: - Say prince, how you enjoyed yourself in your short lived trance; did you feel in it that sweet composure of thy soul, as the yogis experience in their bed of steadfast meditation and unshaken hypnotism? 5. Say, were you awakened in your inmost soul, and set at large beyond the region of error and darkness; say, have you known the knowable one, and seen what is to be seen? 6. Sikhidhwaja replied - O Sir, it was by your good grace, that I have beheld a great glory in the most high heaven of heavens.

7. I have beheld a state of bliss which is full of ambrosial delight, never yet known to mortals, and whose sight is the most ultimate reward of the wishes of the best and most intelligent men, and of saints and mahátmas of great and high souls. 8. It is in your society today, that I have felt a delight, to which I have never experienced in my life before. 9. O lotus eyed sage! I have heretofore, never enjoyed such a degree of spiritual bliss which knows no bounds and is a sea of ambrosial delight. 10. Kumbha said: - The mind becomes composed and tranquil, after subordination of its desire of enjoyments, and its indifference to the taste of sweet and bitter, and its full control over the organs of sense. 11. There arises a peace in the mind, which is purer than any earth born delight; and is as delightsome as the dew drops falling from flowers under the bright beams of cooling moonlight night. 12. It is today, O prince, that your bad desires like the bitter taste of bodies, are bettered by your advancement in knowledge. 13. It is by your holiness, O lotus-eyed prince, that the filth of your person is purged out; like the fruits of trees, falling off after they are ripened.

14. As the desire of the impure heart, becomes purified by reason it is then only capable of receiving the instructions of the wise, as the pipe draws the water inside. (Else, advising the fool is folly or spreading pearls before swines). 15. After the bitterness of your disposition, was tempered by my lectures; you have been awakened today to your spiritual knowledge by me. 16. You are just now cleansed from your impurity, and immediately purified by your pure knowledge; even now it is that you have received my admonition, and have been instantly awakened to your knowledge. 17. You are purged today, from the merits and demerits of your good and bad conduct; and it is by the influence of good society, that you have got a new life in you. 18. It was before the midday of this day, that I have come to know the edification and regeneration of your soul to spiritual light. 19. I find you now, O prince, to be wakened in your mind, by your taking my words to your heart; and having now got rid of the feelings of your mind, you are awakened to your spiritual knowledge.

20. As long as the mind has its seat and operations in the heart of man, so long does it retain its companion of ignorance by its side; but no sooner doth the mind forsake its residence in the heart, than pure knowledge comes to shine forth in it as the midday light. 21. It is the suspense of the mind between unity and duality, that is called its ignorance; and it is the subsidence of these that is known as knowledge, and the way to the salvation of the soul. 22. You are now awakened and emancipated, and your mind is driven away from your heart; you are now the reality and rescued from your unreality, and are set beyond this world of unreality. (The spiritual state is held to be real and all else as unreal). 23. Rest in the pure state of thy soul, by being devoid of cares and anxieties; forsaking all society and relying your soul in no body and in nothing here; and by your becoming as the devout and Divine and silent sage or saint or muni.

24. Sikhidhwaja said: - So I see sir, that all ignorant people rely mostly on their minds; but the few that are awakened to the knowledge of God, do not mind their minds (i.e. they are not led away by the inclinations of their minds). 25. Now sir, please tell me, how the living liberated men conduct themselves in their lifetime in this world; and how do these unmindful men like yourself, manage yourselves herein. 26. O! tell me fully and dispel by the lustre of your glowing words, the deep darkness that is seated in my heart. 27. Kumbha replied: - All that you say prince, is exact and incontrovertible truth; the minds of the living liberated men are dead in themselves, and like blocks of stone, never vegetate nor sprout forth in the wishes. 28. The gross desire that germinates in its wishes, which become the causes of the regeneration of men in some form or other, is known by the name of mind; and which becomes altogether extinct in men, knowing the truly knowable one. 29. The desire which guides the knowers of truth, in this life of action (or the active life) in the world; is known by the name of goodness (satva), and which is unproductive of future birth.

30. The great-souled and living liberated men, being placed in their quality of goodness and having their organs under control; do not place any reliance in their minds. 31. The darkened mind is called the mind, but the enlightened one is known as the principle of goodness; the unenlightened rely in their minds, but enlightened men of great understanding confide in their goodness only. 32. The mind is repeatedly born with the body, but the nature of goodness is never reborn any more; the unawakened mind is under perpetual bondage, but the enlightened soul is under no restraint. 33. Now sir, you are become of the nature of goodness, and deserves the title of the forsaker of all things; and I understand you to have quite got rid of the propensities of your mind. 34. I find you today as brilliant as the full moon, freed from the shadows of the eclipse; and your mind to have become as lucid as the clear firmament, without any tinge in it. 35. You have got that equanimity, which is characteristic of the consummate yogi; this is called that total renunciation of all, which you exhibit in yourself.

36. The enlightened understanding is freed from the trammels, of its desire of heaven and future rewards, and its observance of austerities and charity, by means of its superior knowledge. (The divine knowledge is called the superior or parávidyá in opposition to the worldly or aparávidyá). 37. All austerities and mortifications, serve but to procure a short lived cessation of pain; but the happiness which is wholly free from its decay, is to be found only in one's equanimity and indifference under all circumstances of life. (The original word is samatá or the sameness or evenness of disposition at all times). 38. That thing must be truly good, which is different from the enjoyment of temporary bliss of heaven, and altogether different from an existent pleasure, which is both preceded as well as followed by pain. 39. We are all doubtful of the happiness, that most await on us hereafter in heaven; and what are our religious acts, but for the purpose of procuring some happiness to those, who are unacquainted with the consummate felicity of their souls, derived from their spiritual knowledge.

40. Let them use their ornaments of brass, who have no gold ornaments for their persons; so let the ignorant adhere to their ritual and not the wise who are quite happy in their knowledge. But you, O prince, have happily come both to your knowledge and happiness in the company of Chúdálá and others. 41. Why therefore are you devoted in vain, to the observance of your austerities; because the mortifications and penance of asceticism, are prescribed for the expiation of the prior misdeeds of men (and neither for their salvation or eternal felicity of the souls). 42. The beginning and end of asceticism are both attended with pain, the middle alone promises a short and temporary happiness; and as mortifications are mere preparatory to the purification of the soul. (it is better to acquire this purity by divine knowledge, than by the painful practices of hermitage). 43. Remain steady in that pure knowledge, which is said to be the result of penitence; and the purity of the soul being had with the clearness of the intellectual sphere, all things and thoughts will be as perspicuous to view as in the clear light of the sky.

44. All things are seen to rise and disappear in the vacuous sphere of the divine intellect, and the thoughts of our good and bad actions, are as the drops of rain which mix with the waters of the immeasurable ocean of the Divine soul. 45. Therefore, O Sikhidhwaja, abandon the barren soil (of rituals), and resort to the abundant field (of divine knowledge); and ask of me to know your best good, as men desire to know of their best friends. 46. As a wife that requires her husband, refrains from asking petty things of him; so should you refrain from asking of trifling blessings from thy God, if thou dost require thy communion with him. And know the objects of thy desire, are not always for thy good. (Therefore let his will be done and not theirs). 47. As no wise man runs to grasp the sun, in his reflexion in the water; so should you never pursue after the pleasures of heaven or felicity of liberation, after thou hast found him in thy own spirit. (Better to posses the whole God than pray for a partial blessing).

48. Forsake what is unstable, though it may appear as stable to thee; and thou always stable, by leaving the unstable to perish by itself. (i.e. All adscititious properties are unstable). 49. Knowing the instability of things, preserve the stability of thy mind, because the motionless mind perceives no fluctuation of its thoughts, nor the changes and motions of things (as in sound sleep). 50. All our evils proceed from the acts of our bodies, as well as from the thoughts and action of our minds; these two are main springs of the miseries of men, in all places and times. 51. Curb the fickleness of your mind, and be ever calm and quiet; if you desire to enjoy the happiness of quiet and rest. 52. Know all motions and its want to dwindle into perfect rest, in the mind of the truly wise men; hold them therefore in equal light and be happy forever. 53. Sikhidhwaja said: - Tell me sir, how can the motion and force of a thing be one and the same with its immobility and rest; and you who are the remover of my doubts, will I dare say quickly clear this point to me.

54. Kumbha replied: - There is one thing only, which also the all and whole of this universe; it is as the water of the sea, and is agitated by its intelligence, as the sea water is agitated into billows. 55. The immensity of Brahma, which is named the only essence and is of the form of the pure intellect; is beheld in the shape of the formal world by the ignorant. 56. The agitation of the intellect is all in all in the world and constitute the moving principle of the universe (or the main spring of the cosmos). 57. The agitation of the intellect being concomitant with the divine spirit, it is alike to its stillness, and the unity of these two forms the spirit of God called Siva or Zeus. 58. The agitation of the divine spirit in the work of creation, vanishes before the sight of perfect understandings; though it appears to be in active operation to the ignorant, who view it as they do a false snake in the rope. 59. The intellect is ever busy and active, from which it derives its name (chit - intellect). But the inactive spirit which is all pervasive, is both inexpressible as well as inconceivable, owing to its devoid of all attributes (turíyátíta).

60. It is by long study of the sástras and association with the wise, as also by continued practice of yoga, that the light of the supreme spirit dawns in the inner soul, like the rising moon with her benign beams. 61. The supreme spirit is only to be perceived by our understanding, from the benign rays which it spreads over it; and this says by the wise to be the light of the holy spirit. 62. You have now known the essence of your soul, which is without its beginning, middle and end, and must for ever continue in it as your real and true state; there is no other distinct form of the great intellectual soul, wherefore know this as yourself, and remain from all sorrow and pain.

REPOSE OF SIKHIDHWAJA IN THE DIVINE SPIRIT. Argument: - Anxiety of the Prince at the Disappearance of Kumbha, and his falling to a trance in his deep and hypnotic meditation. Kumbha continued: - I have already related to you, O prince, how have all this phenomenon of the world sprung from Brahma, and how it disappears also in him. 2. Having thus heard from me, and understood and reflected in yourself all what I have said; you are at liberty, O sagely prince, to repose in the supreme bliss, which you have well known and felt within yourself. 3. I am now to repair to my heavenly abode, at this time of the conjunction of the moon, when it is very likely that the sage Nárada, may have come before the assemblage of the gods from his seat in the high heaven of Brahmá. 4. He may be angry in not finding me there, and it is not mannerly in youth to tease their superiors at any time. 5. May you ever abide at your ease, by your utter abandonment of every tint of desire, and by your firm reliance in these holy precepts, which the wise have always in their view.

6. Vasishtha said: - At hearing these words, as Sikhidhwaja was about to throw his handful of flowers, and make his obeisance to his departing monitor, he vanished immediately from his sight and mixed in the etherial air. 7. As one absorbed in meditation, does not see the things present before him even in his waking state; so the prince lost sight of Kumbha from before his presence. 8. The prince was plunged in deep sorrow, after the departure of Kumbha from before him; and remained as a painted picture, with his thoughts dwelling on his vanished friend. 9. He thought how marvellous it was, and how very inscrutable are the ways of providence, that it should bring him to the light of the self-manifest Lord, through the means of strange person of Kumbha. 10. Where is this sage Nárada, said he, and who is his son this Kumbha to me; and how came it to happen after so long, that I should come to be awakened by him. 11. O! how very fully has that son of the divine sage, explained every thing to me with his good reasons; and O how I am now awakened from my long slumber in ignorance.

12. How had I been plunged in the mud of my acts for such a long time, and was rolling on the wheels of distinguishing between what was right or wrong to be done. 13. O how very pure and cold, tranquil and quiet is my present state; and I find my essence to be as cooling to me, as I am washed in the cold bath of refrigeratory. 14. I am quite calm and lost in my trance, and sit alone as one with the unity; I have no desire for even a straw, but remain solely by myself. 15. Thinking thus in himself, he sat as quiet as a statue carved in wood or stone. 16. He then became silent, and had no desire nor refuge for his reliance; and remained in his immovable posture, like the peak of mountain. 17. Being then freed from fear in an instant, he remained a long time with the tranquillity of his soul and mind; and being united with the holy spirit in his hypnotism, he continued long in his sleepy trance, with his soul shining as the rising sun.

RETURN OF KUMBHA TO THE HERMITAGE OF SIKHIDHWAJA. Argument. - Chúdálá's return after three days, and her rousing the Prince from his trance. Vasishtha said: - Now hear me relate to you about Sikhidhwaja, sitting a block of wood on one side, and the reappearance of Chúdálá to him from the other. 2. After Chúdálá had hypnotized her husband Sikhidhwaja, in her guise of the sagely Kumbha; she disappeared from her, and traversed into the regions of air. 3. She forsook her form of the son of the Divine sage in the empty sky, and which she had took upon her by her magic spell. The enchanted form melted away in the air, and she appeared in her female form of beauteous fair. 4. She bent her airy course to her palace in the city, where she showed herself as their queen, before her assembled attendants and courtiers, and discharged the royal duties of her absent lord. 5. After three days she took again to her aerial journey, retook her enchanted form of Kumbha, and advanced to the hermitage of Sikhidhwaja in the forest. 6. She saw there the prince in his woodland retreat, and sitting in his posture of deep meditation and resembling a figure carved in wood.

7. Seeing him thus, she exclaimed repeatedly in herself; O heyday! that he is reposing here in his own soul, and is sitting quiet and tranquil in himself. 8. I must now awaken him from his trance in the supreme Being, or else his soul will soon forsake its mortal frame, owing to his disregard of it, and the end of his worldly bondage by his excessive devotion. 9. It is desirable that he should live some time longer, either with his royalty in the palace or with devotion in this forest; and then we both of us will depart together, by shuffling our mortal coils. 10. It would be difficult to instruct him, in all (seven) stages of devotion (saptama bhumi); and as there is no end of these things, I will try to train him in the practical part of yoga only. 11. Thus pondering in herself she made a loud shout, which startled the wild beasts; but did not rouse the entranced prince, though she repeated her loud shouts before him. 12. When neither her shouts and shrieks could rouse him, who remained unshaken as a stone in the rock; she shook him with her hands, to bring him back to his sense.

13. Though shaken and moved and thrown down on the ground, yet the prince neither awoke nor came to his senses; then Chúdálá thought on another expedient in his guise of Kumbha. 14. She said, Ah! I see my lord is absorbed in his prophetic trance, and I must find some expedient to rouse him to his sense. 15. Or why should I try to rouse him deified spirit back to its sensation, when he so well absorbed in his state of disembodied or abstract meditation (in which he enjoys himself and has forgotten his embodiment in the material frame and become as the disembodied or videha spirit). 16. I also wish to get rid of my female form, and to reach that state of supreme beatitude like him, which is free from further births and transmigrations. 17. Thus thinking in herself, Chúdálá was about to abandon her own body; when her better understanding recalled her undertaking that attempt. 18. Let me feel the body of the prince at first, she said, whether there is an end of his life, or there is any feeling or pulsation in his heart. 19. Should he be alive, he must come back to his sense; as the juicy root of trees, recalls the flowers in the flowering season of spring.

20. If he is alive he will walk about like myself, in his state of a living liberated soul; but if he be found to be no longer living, then I shall follow him to the next world. 21. With this mind Chúdálá felt his person, and examined it with her eyes; and then perceiving him to be living, she thus said rejoicingly to herself: 22. He has still the relic of his life, pulsating in his breast, the beating of the pulse and the throbbing of his breast, show his life to be not yet extinct. 23. Ráma said: - How can the little spark of the vital flame, be known to reside in the body of the self distracted yogi; whose mind is as cold as stone, and whose body becomes as callous as a clod of earth or a block of wood. 24. Vasishtha replied: - The relic of life remains in the heart, as an imperceptible atom and in the manner of sensibility; just as the future fruits and flowers, are contained in their seeds.

25. The calm and cold yogi, who is devoid of his knowledge of unity and duality, and views all things in the same light; who remains as quiet as a rock and without the pulsation of his heart, has yet the vibration of his intellect within him; (which keeps him alive). 26. The body of the temperate and tranquil minded man, never wastes or swells in bulk; it never decays nor grows up in heights, but ever remains in the same state. 27. The man whose mind vibrates with its thoughts of unity and duality (i.e. which perceives the difference of things); has the change and decay of his body, which is never the case with the yogi of unchangeful mind. (The action of the mind impairs the body, but its inaction preserves it entire). 28. The action of the heart, is the spring of the life of every body in this world, just as the honey in the flower cup, is the cause of its future fruit. 29. These frail bodies of mortals, are notwithstanding subject to the fits of joy and anger, and of the quickness and dulness every moment; and these, O Ráma! are the seeds of repeated births, and are hard to be checked or subdued.

30. The mind being still and quiet, the body becomes as dull as it were lifeless; when it is subject to no passion nor change whatever; but remains as even as the still and clear firmament which nothing can disturb. 31. The man of even and dispassionate mind, is never ruffled nor tainted by any fault; but remains as calm as the waters of the billowless and breezeless ocean. 32. The body is never lifeless, nor is its life ever imperceptible, unless the mind is defunct in its action; and is in course of long practice, that the mind becomes inexcitable and numb in itself. 33. The body which is without the action of its mind and vitality, quickly melts away to rottenness; as the snow melts away under the solar heat. 34. The body of Sikhidhwaja was felt to be hot, though it was without its active mind; it was therefore known to be possessed of its vitality, which prevented it from wasting and rotting away. 35. The noble lady, having perceived the body of her husband to be in that plight; held it fastly with her hands, and began to consider what to do with it.

36. She said, I will try to raise him by infusion of my intellection into his mind; and this will no doubt bring him back to his senses. 37. If I do not raise him now, he must rise himself after sometime; but why should I wait till then, and must remain alone all the while. 38. Having thought so, Chúdálá left her body - the frame work of the senses; and entered into the body of the body and joined with the intellectual essence of the same. 39. She then gave a vibration to the intellection of her living lord, and after putting it in its action and motion, she returned to her own body; as a bird flits on the twig of a tree which is shaken thereby, it comes back to its own nest again. 40. She rose in her figure of the Bráhman boy Kumbha, and sat upon a flowery bed, where she began to chaunt her hymns of the sáma veda (psalmody); with her soft tunes resembling the melodious chime of buzzing bees. 41. The prince felt an intellectual exhilaration, on hearing the tuneful chime of the psalms; and his dormant life was awakened to its sensibility, as the lotus bud comes to bloom by the breath of the vernal season.

42. His eyelids oped to light, as the lotus bud blooms at the sunlight; and the whole body of the prince, became vivid with his renewed life. 43. He beheld the Bráhman boy Kumbha, singing sáma psalms before him; and appeared in his divinely fair form, as the divinity of music was present in person. 44. O fortunate am I, said he, to have found my friendly Kumbha again before me; and so saying, he picked up some flowers and offered them to him. 45. O how great is my good fortune, said he to his guest, to be thus recalled to your gracious memory; or what else is it, that could cause a divine personage like yourself, to be so favourably disposed towards me. 46. It is only the cause of my salvation, that has caused you to come to and call at mine, or else what else can it be to bring a godson down to revisit me. 47. Kumbha spoke: - O sinless prince, my mind was ever intent on thee, ever since I departed from thee; and now it has come back to me, to have found thee well in this place.

48. I do not reap so much delight in the ever delightful region of heaven, as I do here in your presence; because I have the great work of your redemption not pending before me. 49. I have no friend or companion, that is dearer to my soul than yourself; nor have I any faithful pupil, nor confidential disciple like you in this world. 50. Sikhidhwaja replied: - Ah! I see now that the arbours of this mountain, are about to yield the fruits of my meritorious acts, that have made a retired recluse like yourself to condescend to desire my company. 51. If these woods and trees and myself who am so devoted to you, should find favour in your sight than the bliss of your heavenly abode, then may you please to take your residence with me in this lonely forest. 52. For my part who am so blest with the gift of thy samádhi, that I have always my perfect repose in God even in this place; have no desire for heavenly delights (which cannot be better than my absorption in the Divine spirit). 53. Reclining in that state of pure effulgence, I enjoy my fill of heavenly bliss even in this earth below.

54. Kumbha interrogated: - Have you ever had your repose in the state of supreme felicity, and were you ever freed from the infelicity, which is ever attendant on the knowledge of duality. 55. Have you ever felt a disgust to all temporary enjoyments, and have rooted out your taste for insipid pleasures of this earth. 56. Has your mind ever rested in that state of even indifference, which has no liking for the desirable nor dislike to what is undesirable, but is ever content with whatever awaits upon it at any time? 57. Sikhidhwaja replied: - It is by your favour sir, that I have seen all what transcends human sights; that I have reached beyond the verge of the universe, and obtained the best obtainable and most certain bliss. 58. It is after long that I am freed from decay and disease, and gained all which is to be gained, and wherewith I am quite content. 59. I require no further advice, from anyone for my edification; I feel fully gratified with every thing in all places, and am quite at ease and out of disease everywhere.

60. I have nothing to know that is unknown to me, and nothing to obtain that is not obtained by one; I have forsaken whatever is not worth having, and my soul has its reliance in the supreme essence. 61. I rest quite aloof of all, being devoid of my fear and error and apathy at any thing; I am always manifest in the even and equal tenor of my mind, and in the equality of my soul with all others; I am free from all imagination, as the clear sky is free from all taint and cloud.

ON THE CONDUCT OF LIVING-LIBERATED MEN. Argument: - Kumbha and Sikhidhwaja's travel, and their conversation on various subjects; Kumbha's ideas of the predestined law of nature. Vasishtha related: - In this manner did these knowers of the knowable God, continue in their mutual conversation on spiritual matters, until the third watch of the day in that forest. 2. Then rising together they wandered in the delightful dales, and about in cooling lakes and pleasant rills. 3. In this manner they kept roving in that forest for full eight days, and passed their time in conversations on various subjects. 4. Then said Kumbha to the prince, let us walk to some other forest to which he gave his consent, with uttering the word om, and then they walked forward in each other's company. 5. In this manner they walked over many forest lands, and passed beside many jungles and shores; and they saw many lakes and thick woods, and rising hills and their thickets of dense woods and plants. 6. They traversed many woodland tracts and rivers, and saw many villages, towns and woods on their way; they passed by many sweet sounding rivers and groves, and many holy places and the abodes of men.

7. They were united together in equal love and friendship, and being of equal age and the same tenor of mind, they were of equal vivacity; and both walked or stayed together with their unanimity. 8. They worshipped the gods and the manes of their ancestors in the holy places, and ate what they got at any place; and lived together both in marshy and dry lands in concord and peace. 9. The loving pair bearing equal affection to one another in their hearts, dwelt together in mutual concord amidst the tamála woods and in the forests of the Mandara hills. 10. To them no place was their home or own, but they alike in all; nothing occurred to disturb their minds, which were always as undisturbed as a mountain amidst the winds. 11. They walked sometimes amidst the flying dust, and at others amidst the far stretching fragrance of sandal wood forests. They were now daubed with ashes, and then besmeared with the sandal paste. 12. They were sometimes clad in good garments, and sometimes in variegated raiments; now they were covered with the leaves of trees, and were decorated with flowers at another.

13. Remaining thus in mutual company for some days, and having the unanimity of their hearts and minds; the prince turned to be as perfected in his nature, as another Kumbha himself. 14. The holy and faithful Chúdálá, seeing the divine form of her husband Sikhidhwaja, began to reflect within herself in the following manner. 15. How divinely fair has my husband become, and how very charming are these wood-land scenes; by living long in this place, we must be an easy prey to the God of love. 16. I see that although one is liberated in his life time, yet the sense of his liberation, cannot give him freedom from his obligation of tasting the pleasures that are presented before him. I think it is ignorance to refuse the king of a proffered enjoyment. 17. Seeing the husband to be noble minded, and free from all bodily disease and debility; and having a flowery grove before, it must be a wretched woman, that rejects to advance to her lord at such a time. 18. That wretched woman is verily undone, who is seated in her bower of flowers and has her husband presented before her; and yet fails to approach to him for her satisfaction.

19. Accursed is the woman, who being wedded to a handsome husband, and having him alone in her company fails to associate with him. 20. Of what good is it to one acquainted with true knowledge, to reject a lawful pleasure that presents itself before that person. 21. So I must contrive some artifice in this forest, whereby I may be successful to make my husband join with me. 22. Having thought so in her mind, Chúdálá who was disguised in the from of Kumbha, thus uttered to the prince, as the female kokila mutters to her mate from her flowery bower in the forest. 23. This is the first day of the new moon of the lunar month of chaitra, and this is a day of great festivity in the court of Indra in heaven. 24. So I must have to repair to the synod of the gods, and present myself before my father in that assembly. So my departure is ordained by destiny, nor can it be averted by any means. 25. You shall have to expect my return till eve in this forest, and spend the meantime, by diverting yourself in these flowery arbours, which will lull your anxiety for me to rest.

26. I shall positively return here from the azure sky, by the dusk of this day; and soon join your company, which is ever delightful to me. 27. So saying, she gave a stalk of flowers of the Nandana forest to her beloved, to serve as a token of her affection for him (and as a pledge of her return to him before it fades away). 28. The prince said "you must return soon" to me; and she instantly, disappeared from his sight, and mixed with the air, as the light autumnal cloud vanishes in the empty sky. 29. He flung flowers after her, as she mounted in the sky; and these floated in the air, like icicles in the cold season. 30. Sikhidhwaja standing on the spot, first beheld her flight, and then her disappearance from him; as the peacock looks at the flight of a cloud with uplifted eyes (so immutable is the friendship of a true friend). 31. At last the body of Kumbha vanished from the sight of Sikhidhwaja, and mixed in the open air, as the waves of the sea subside in the still and smooth waters.

32. Chúdálá then reached her celestial city, resembling the garden of paradise with its Kalpa arbours in full bloom, and its shining turrets waving with flags, hoisted on both sides of its charming paths. 33. She entered secretly her private apartment, and met the company of the maids waiting for her; as the graceful beauty of the vernal season, meets the long expectant arbours of the forest. 34. She attended to her state affairs, and discharged them quickly; and then flew aloft in the air and dropped at Sikhidhwaja's abode, as the autumnal fruits and flowers drop on the ground. 35. She appeared there with a melancholy face, and as deeply dejected in her mind; just as the fair moon is darkened under the mist, and the beauteous lotus are hid under a fog. 36. Believing her as his Kumbha, Sikhidhwaja rose up and stood in his presence; but being troubled in his mind to see him so sad and sorry, he asked the cause and thus addressed him saying: - 37. I greet thee, O Kumbha, but why appearest thou so sad today; thou art the son of a deity and must not be sorry at anything, but please to take thy seat here.

38. Holy saints and the knowers of the knowable one like you, are never moved by joy or grief; but remain untouched by them, as the lotuses remain intact in the water. 39. Vasishtha said: - Being thus accosted by the prince, Kumbha sat on his seat, and then said in reply, with a voice as thin and soft as the sound of a bamboo flute. 40. I know that the knowers of truth, who are not patient under all bodily accidents and mental anxieties, are not truthful men, but cheats who cheat people by their pretended truthfulness. 41. Know prince that the most learned are the most ignorant, who expect foolishly to evade the condition in which they are exposed by their nature. 42. The sesame seed has naturally the oil inherent in it, and the body has also its incidents connatural with it; he who is not subject to his bodily accidents, is able to sever the wind and air with his sword. 43. It is of course to evade the evils that are incidental to the body, but it is to undergo patiently what is unavoidable by our bodily powers.

44. Again as long as we have our bodies, we must exert our bodily organs to their proper actions; and never attempt to suppress by our understanding, as it is done by many wise men. 45. Even the great Brahmá and the gods, are subject to the conditions of their bodily frames; nor have they with their great understandings, the power to avoid what is determined by irrevocable destiny. 46. It is beyond the power of both the wise and unwise, to deter the power of destiny; which makes all things to run in their destined course, as the waters of rivers run into the sea. 47. The same irrevocable destiny, determines equally the fates of the wise and unwise, and guides them as by her fingers to the same goal, until they get their release from the body. 48. The ignorant however, whether exposed to their states of prosperity and adversity, are always destined to undergo their effects upon their bodies. 49. Thus therefore it must be known by both the wise and unwise, that all beings are destined to roll in their re-iterated rotations of pleasure and pain (according to the results of their prior merits and demerits); and that there is no power to change the ever changeful ordinances of unchanging destiny.

METAMORPHOSES OF KUMBHA TO A FEMALE FORM. Argument: - Kumbha's relation of her transformation to a woman by right, and her attachment to the prince. Sikhidhwaja said: - If such is the case, sir, that destiny over rules all events, why should you be sorry for aught that has befallen to you, knowing that you are a godson and knowing the knowable also. 2. Kumbha replied: - Hear, O prince, the wonderful accident that has befallen on me; and I will relate to you all that has happened to me in body. 3. The heart becomes light when its griefs are imparted to a friend, as the thickened gloominess of the cloudy atmosphere, is dissipated after discharge of its waters in rains. 4. The troubled mind is restored to its serenity, by its communication with a sincere friend, as the turbid waters of a jar is cleared by its being filtered with kata seeds. 5. Hear now that after I departed from here, by handing over the spike of flowers to you; I traversed though the regions of air, till I reached the heavenly abode of the God. 6. There I met my father, and accompanied him to the court of the great Indra, where having sat a while, I got up with my father and then parted from him at his abode.

7. Leaving the seat of the Gods in order to come down on earth, I entered the region of air; and kept my pace with the fleet steeds of the chariot of the sun, in the airy paths of the skies. 8. Thus wafted together with the sun, I reached the point of my separation from him; and there took my path through the midway sky, as if I were sailing in the sea. 9. I saw there in a track before me, a path stretching amidst the watery clouds of air, and marked the indignant sage Durvása gliding swiftly by it. 10. He was wrapt in the vest of clouds, and girt with girdles of flashing lightnings; the sandal taints on his body were washed off by showering rains, and he seemed as a maiden making her way in haste, to meet her lover at the appointed place.

11. Or as a devotee he hastened to discharge in due time his fond devotion, on the beach of the river (Ganges), flowing under the shade of the beaching boughs of the rows of trees on the shore. (This refers to the custom of hastening to perform the sandhyá rites on the river side in the evening, as it is customary with other nations to hasten to the mosque or church at the call to prayers and the striking of the church-bell). 12. I saluted the sage from my aerial seat, and said, you, wrapt as you are in your blue vest of the cloud, seem to advance in haste, as an amorous woman to meet her lover (by hiding herself in her black mantle in the darkness of night). 13. Hearing this, the reverend sage was incensed and pronounced his curse upon me; saying, "Be thou transformed to an amorous woman as thou thinkest me to be." 14. "Go thy way, and bear my curse, that every night thou shall become a woman, with thy protuberant breasts and long braids of hairs on thy head, and fraught with all womanish grace and dalliance (and seek about thy lover)".

15. As I was thunderstruck and deeply dejected at this imprecation, I found the old muni had already disappeared from before me; and then I bent my course this way from the upper sky, being quite sick in my heart (at this direful fulmination). 16. Thus I have related to you all, regarding my being changed to a damsel at the approach of night; and my constant thought of the manner, how I shall manage myself under my womanhood. 17. How shall I divulge to my father, the shame of my being a swollen breasted maid at night; and can I reconcile myself to my dire fate, throughout the course of my life. O how wonderful is the decree of fate, that we are fated to bear in this world in the course of time! 18. I am now ill-fated to become a prey to young men, and the subject of fighting among them, like a piece of flesh among ravenous vultures. 19. O what a fun have I become to the ludicrous boys of the Gods in heaven, and ah! how shameful have I been before the sages, who must be quite ashamed of me, and how shall I remain anywhere and before any body in my female form at night.

20. Vasishtha said: - After saying so far, Chúdálá became as mute as a silent muni; and remained as quiet as if she were in a swoon. 21. The pretended Kumbha then, seeming to recover his senses and his patience also, thus spoke out to himself; ah! why do I wail like the ignorant (for this change in my changeful body), when my soul suffers no change by this? 22. Sikhidhwaja spoke: - Why sorrow you sir for the body, that art the son of a God; let it become whatever may become of it, it can never affect the intangible soul. 23. Whatever pain or pleasure betides us in this life, is all concomitant with the changing body, and can never touch the unchanging soul. 24. If you who are acquainted with the vedas, and fortified against all events; should allow yourself to be so much moved by these accidents, say what will be the case with others, at all the casualties of life, to which they are incessantly subject. 25. To be sorry in sorrow; is very sorrowful in the wise; and therefore you who have yourself spoken these precepts before, should now be overwhelmed in sorrow, but remain as unmoved, as you are wont to be unshaken all along.

26. Vasishtha related: - In this did the two hearty friends, continue to condole with one another; and console themselves by turns, under the cooling shade of the grove where they sat together. 27. At last the bright sun who is the light of the world, set down in darkness like an oilless lamp, by involving Kumbha under despondency of her female form. 28. The full blown lotuses closed their folia, like the closing eyelids of the busy worldlings; and the footpaths became as deserted by their passengers, as the hearts of loving wives are forlorn in the absence of their husbands, devoted to travelling and staying in distant countries. 29. The upper sky borrowed the semblance of the lower earth, by its spreading the curtain of darkness over the groups of its twinkling stars, like the outstretched nets of fishermen enfolding the finny tribe. (The similarity of the dark curtain of the sky overspreading its shining stars, to the black nets of fishers enveloping the silvery fishes under them). 30. The black vault of the sky, was smiling above with its train of shining stars, as the blue bed of lakes was rejoicing with its chain of blooming lilies below; and the sounding black bees and beetles on the land, resounded to the cries of the ruddy geese in the water.

31. The two friends then rose and offered their evening prayers at the rising of the moon, and chanted their hymns and muttered their mantras, and took their shelter under the sylvan retreat. 32. Afterwards Kumbha, changed as he was in the female form, and sitting before Sikhidhwaja, lisped his faltering speech to him in the following manner. 33. Sir, I seem to fall down and cry out and melt away in my tears, to see myself even now changed to my feminine figure in your presence. 34. See Sir, how quickly are the hairs on my head lengthened to curling locks, and to how they sparkle with strings of pearls fastened to them, like the brilliant clusters of stars in the azure sky. 35. Look here at these two snowy balls bulging out of my bosom, like two white lotus-buds rising on the surface of waters in the vernal season. 36. Look how my long robe is stretched down to the heels, and how it mantles my whole body, like the person of a female. 37. Look at these gemming ornaments and wreathes of flowers decorating my person, like the blooming blossoms of spring ornamenting the forest tree.

38. Lo! the moon-bright vest covering the crown of my head (like the disk of the moon resting on the hairy crest of Siva); and the necklaces hanging about my body (like the flowery wreathes of Káma). 39. Look at my features, how they are converted to their effeminate comeliness, and see how my whole frame, graced all over with feminine loveliness. 40. O! how very great is my sorrow, at this sudden change of mine to a woman; and ah! tell me friend, what am I to do, and where to go with this my female form. 41. I perceive also the change to take place in my inner parts, and in my thighs and posteriors; Kumbha said so far to her friend, and then remained quite mute and silent. 42. The prince also, seeing him thus, remained in his mute gaze and silence, and then after a while, he oped his mouth and spoke as follows: - 43. It is of course very sorrowful and pitiable, to see you thus transformed to a female; but you, sir, who know the truth, know also that there is no contending with fate.

44. Whatever is destined, must come to pass; and wise men must not be startled at or feel sorry for the same; because all those events betake the body only, and cannot affect the inward soul. 45. Kumbha replied - So it is, and I must bear with my feminine form, with an unfeminine soul. (So it is no disgrace to be an effeminate female, combined with the grace of a manly soul). 46. I will no more sorrow for, what is never to be averted; but must endure with patience what I cannot abjure. Relying on this principle, they alleviated their sorrow for what was impossible to avoid. 47. They passed their nights in peace, and slept in the same bed without touching one another; and Kumbha rose in the morning in his masculine form again, without any trace of his female features and feminine beauty or grace. 48. Kumbha was Kumbha again, by being shorn of his female form; and thus he passed as bisexual and biform being of the Bráhman boy Kumbha by day, and of Chúdálá the princess by night. 49. In his male form, Kumbha continued as a friend to the prince in the day time; and in female form of Chúdálá, he lived as a virgin maid with him at night.

50. Thus did Chúdálá cling to her husband, as a string of necklace hangs upon the neck and breast of a person. They then continued to wander in the company of one another, to different countries and over distant hills, to satisfy their curiosity.

MARRIAGE OF CHÚDÁLÁ WITH SIKHIDHWAJA. Argument. - The Gandharva form of marriage, its Courtship and ceremonial rites. Vasishtha resumed: - After the lapse of some days in this manner, Chúdálá thus bespoke to her husband, in her guise of the pretended Bráhman boy (or Kumbha). 2. Hear me, O lotus eyed prince, she said, what I tell you in good earnest; that since I am obliged to become a woman every night, and continue to be so for ever more. 3. I wish to fulfill the part of my womanhood, by joining myself to a husband by legal marriage for all that time. 4. I want to taste the pleasure of conjugal union, with a dear friend, who is of his own accord so very friendly to me, and without any endeavour on my part: so I hope you will interpose no difficulty in my way. 5. So I choose you sir, as my husband, of all others in the three worlds: therefore be pleased to accept me for your wife every night. 6. The delightsome pleasure of conjugal union, has come down to us ever since the commencement of creation; and therefore our obedience to the ordinance of nature, can entail no guilt on our part.

7. I desire this that we may do as we like, without desiring or disliking anything; and be far from expecting the consequence of what we like or dislike. 8. Sikhidhwaja answered: - I see friend, neither any good nor evil, of accepting your proposal; so you are at liberty to do as you like. 9. Being possessed of the indifference of my mind, at every thing in the world; I see everything in the same and in an equal light: so I let you have your option as you may like. 10. Kumbha replied: - If so, then I say that this day is very favourable for celebrating the marriage ceremony; it is the full moon of Srávana, and all lucky asterism according to my best calculation. 11. On this day of the full moon, our marriage may take place both in the day as well as night-time in the Gándharva form (by mutual choice and consent). 12. It will be celebrated either on the summit of the Mahendra mountain, or on the delightful table-land there abouts; or in the grotto of some mineral mine, and in the light of the shining gems and mineral ores in the mountain; (serving as lamps and candle lights in the festivity).

13. The rows of stately trees all around, will shed their flowers at the nuptial ceremony; and the twining creepers on them, will represent the dance of nanch girls by their tremulous shaking. (Dance and music being necessary accompaniments of marriage festivities). 14. Let the bright luminary of the night, accompanied by his consort train of shining stars, witness our marriage from the high sky with their wide open and glaring eyes. 15. Rise, O prince, for your marriage; and let us both hie to cull the forest flowers, and prepare the sandal paste and collect the scattered gems, in order to deck our nuptial seats therewith. 16. Saying so, they both rose together, and culled the flowers and collected the gems. 17. Then in a short time, they repaired to the gemming steppe, and heaped it with flowers of various kinds. 18. They had their marriage vests and necklaces ready on the spot, and the God of love helped with the supply of every thing required on the occasion. 19. Having thus prepared the paraphernalia of their nuptials, and stored them in a golden grotto of the mountain, they both repaired to the sacred stream of the heavenly Ganges Mandákiní, for making their holy ablutions therein.

20. Here Kumbha served as the priest, to lave the holy water profusely on the lofty head and elevated shoulders of the prince; as the elephantine clouds of Indra, pour the rain water in plenteous showers, on the towering tops and height of hills. 21. So also did the prince act the part of the ministering prince, and washed the body of his beloved princess now in the form of Kumbha. Thus did the two friends anoint and absterge by turns, the persons of their quondam and future consorts. 22. Bathed and purified, they adored the gods, the munis and the manes of their ancestors, for the sake of their honour, and without any desire of getting any good or gain from them: for they well knew that they could benefit nothing their service, as the deities, the deified spirits and the divine sages. 23. They took their frugal and repast, as their nature and the course of the world required; and seasoned with the nectarine juice of their good and refined intelligence. 24. They wore the whitish barks of Kalpa trees, as their clean marriage raiments, and ate its fruits as their wedding cakes; then they repaired to the altar for their nuptial ceremony.

25. At this time the sun descended below his setting mountain, as if to consummate their conjugal union in secret. 26. As it now became dark and dusk they discharged their evening service and offered their prayers; and groups of stars now appeared on the plain of the firmament, to witness their union in marriage. 27. Then came the sable night the only friend of the happy pair, spreading the veil of darkness over the face of nature, and smiling with the blushing of snow white lotuses and lilies of the valley. 28. Kumbha collected the rich stones, and placed those gemming on the table land of the mountain, while Brahmá lighted his two lamps of the sun and moon together in the heavens. 29. Being then changed to the female form, Kumbha anointed the prince with the fragrant sandal paste, agallochum, camphor powder and pulverised musk. 30. She adorned his person with strings, bracelets and wristlets of flowers, and dressed in a robe of the thin bark of Kalpa tree. 31. His body was also decorated with the filaments of Kalpa plant, and clusters of párijáta flowers and with many other flowers and gems from his head to foot.

32. She appeared also at this time in her bridal garb and maiden like figure, with her big and swollen breasts, and with all her youthful grace and blandishments. 33. She thought that as she was now attired and appeared as a nuptial bride, she must now offer herself to a husband worthy to her. 34. Here am I as a lovely bride, said she to herself, and there is my husband in my presence; I must ask him to accept my hand, nor is this time to be slipped from hand. 35. So saying, she approached her husband sitting apart from her in the wood; and appeared as Rati - the goddess of love, was advancing towards her loving Káma. 36. She went to him and said: - "I am Madaniká by name and thy loving wife I therefore bow down at your feet, with the regard due to a husband." 37. So saying, the beauteous lady, bent down her head with female bashfulness; and made her obeisance to her lord, with the pendant locks on her head. 38. And then she said to him: - "O thou my lord! do thou adorn me with ornaments also, and then light the nuptial fire, to attest thy acceptance of my hand."

39. Thou appearest as exceedingly fair to my eyes, and makest me quite fond of thee; and thou seemest to me to surpass the God of love in the beauty of person, even when he wedded his Rati at first in his youthful bloom. 40. O prince, these wreathed flowers on thy person, appear as the brightsome beams in the body of the moon; and those strings of flowers pendant on thy bosom, seem to me as the stream of Ganges, gliding on the breast of the Sumeru mountain. 41. With the flowing braided hairs on thy head, thou appearest as the mount of Mandara, with the clusters of creepers hanging down from its top; while thy head itself appears as golden lotus, with its hanging hairs resembling the filaments of the flower, and studded with strings of blackening bees. 42. The gemming ornaments and flowery decorations of thy person, add to it the lustre and gracefulness of the mount Meru, with its mineral ores on one side and its floral beauty on the other. 43. After her flattering speech was over, the new bride and bridegroom, and future husband and wife sat contented together, unmindful and forgetful of their past conjugal relation.

44. The brave princess now Madaniká by name, and the noble prince Sikhidhwaja the saint, both sat together on a golden seat (of the mineral mountain); which added fresh lustre to the beauty and decoration of their persons. 45. They were bedecked with their head dresses, garlands of flowers and ornaments of gems and pearls, and were furnished with flowers and ointments, and clad in fine cloths all over their bodies. 46. The young lady Madaniká blazed as Venus with her maddening beauty, and appeared as the goddess Gowrí - the surpassing paragon of beauty, at her wedding festivity. 47. The noble lord having embellished his noble lady with his own hands, thus spoke to her after her toilet; "O thou fawn eyed fairy, thou art as graceful as the goddess of grace and prosperity". 48. I pray for all that prosperity to attend on thee, as it does with Sachí. - The queen of heaven, in the company of her lord Indra; and as it subsisted between the mutual pairs of Hara and Gowrí; and Hari and his consort Lakshmí - the goddess of fortune.

49. Thou appearest as a limpid lake of lotuses, with thy breasts blooming like lotus buds; and thy black blue eyes resembling the cerulean lotuses (nilumbiums); and the sweet fragrance of thy lotus like person, inviting the buzzing bees fluttering all about thee. 50. Thou appearest likewise as a tender shoot of the Kalpa plant of Cupid, with thy rubicund palms resembling its reddish leaves; and thy swollen breasts likening to its blooming buds, and every part of thy body, is as delicate as its delicious fruits. 51. With thy cold and cooling body, and thy moon like face and its smiles as moon beams, thou art as beautiful as the full-moon, and equally delightful to sight. 52. Rise therefore my beauteous lady and ascend on the matrimonial altar, and there perform the marriage ceremony, standing on the slab of stone, marked with creeping plants and their fruits. (The gloss says, that this stone or stool, is also painted with the colours of the nine sorts of precious gems nava-ratna, that are sacred to the nine planets). 53. Vasishtha said: - The altar was studded with strings of pearls, and bunches of flowers suspended on all sides; and it had four large cocoanut fruits, hang over the four sides of its square.

54. There were pots filled with the holy water of Gangá set about it, and the sacred matrimonial fire was lighted amidst it, and fed with the fuel of the sandal wood and other fragrances. 55. They turned round the flaming fire by the right hand side, and then sat on seats of leaves with their faces turned towards the east. 56. After sitting on the altar, the matrimonial couple kindled the nuptial fire, and made offerings of sesame seeds, and fried rice upon its flames. 57. The married pair turned again about the sacred fire, and offered to each other their own selves and loves as their marriage dowries. 58. They showed to one another their shining faces, as their nuptial presents; and completed the ceremony by going round the fire, and scattering the fried rice upon it. 59. The husband and wife now parted other hands, from their hold of the palms of one another; and their smiling faces, appeared as the lunar disk on the new moon. 60. After this they went to sleep on a flowery bedstead which they had newly prepared before, when the moon had already run her course of the first watch of the night.

61. She cast her beams to fall aslant on the bedstead, as when the attendant women cast their glances askance on the bridal bed. 62. She next spread her bright beams all about the leafy bower of the pair; as if to listen to the pleasant conversation, of the new married couple. 63. The pair having sat there awhile, in the light of the mineral lamps, retired to their sleeping bed, which they had prepared beforehand in a secluded spot. 64. It was a bedding of flowers, and beset by heaps of flowers of various kinds. (It is called the pushpa-talpa and is still in vogue even in the present form of marriage). 65. There were heaps of lotuses of golden hue, as also mandára and other sorts of flowers, to drive away fatigue by their fragrance. 66. The flat of the flowery bed of the bridal pair, resembled the plane of the broad and bright moon, and a level surface covered by the cooling ice. 67. It bore likewise the resemblance of the wide sea, whose waters are impregnated by the bright moon, and whose surface supplies a bed to Ananta - the sleeping spirit of the endless God.

68. The loving pair then lay themselves down, and rolled upon their snow white bed of flowers; as when Mandara mountain, rolled about and churned the Milky ocean. 69. They passed their bridal night in mutual caresses and conversation on topics of love, and the live long night glided before them as a few moments only.

THE ADVENT OF FALSE INDRA IN THE COTTAGE OF THE HAPPY PAIR. Argument. - The travels of the pair, and their meeting the false Indra, and their call to Heaven. Now as the orient sun, gilded the world with his golden rays; the queen consort of Sikhidhwaja, changed her form of Madaniká to that of the Bráhman boy Kumbha. 2. She stood confest as such before her friend, sitting in the cavern of Mandara, where they lived in conjugal union together, as a pair of sylvan deities by night. 3. They roved about in the daytime, amidst the sylvan forests and amongst the trees and plants loaded with fruits, and flowers of various hues. 4. They passed the day as the two loving friends together, and spent the night as a wedded couple; and never separated from the company of one another either by day or night. 5. They rambled about the caverns and arbours of the mountain, and sported under the bowers of támala and mandára trees. 6. They roved about the skirts of Dardura, Kailása, Mahendra, Malaya, Gandhamádana, Vindhádri and Lokáloka.

7. On every third day or night, when Chúdálá found the prince to be fast asleep; she used to take upon herself her former form of the princess, and repair to her royal palace, whence she returned to her husband in the forest, soon after her discharge of the state affairs as before. 8. Thus the loving pair lived as two friends by day, and as husband and wife at night; both decked in flowers, and sleeping on their flowery bed. 9. They remained for a month in a gemming grotto of the Mahendra, and under the shade of the delightful sarala trees; where they were greatly endeared by the sylvan deities and the Kinnara foresters. 10. They lived a fortnight in the arbour of Suktimat mountain, beset by mandára trees and Kalpa plants; and feasted upon the fruits which they could reach with their hands. 11. They passed two months on the southern ridge of the winged mountain of Maináka, and its bowers overhung by the fruits and flowers of the celestial párijata trees. 12. They dwelt a month in the valley of Jammu, at the foot of Himálayan range and beside the Jambu river; they regaled on the fruits of Jám, which gave its name to the whole country (Jambudwípa).

13. They travelled through the northern Kuru country for ten days, and for seven and twenty days, they sojourned in the districts lying north of Kosalá. (Oudh). 14. In this manner they passed over many countries and hilly districts, living together as two friends by day, and as a conjugal pair at night. 15. Thus many months rolled away in their travels through many places, till there arose a thought in the mind of Chúdálá, to make a trial of her associate, and said: - 16. I will make a trial of the heart of my partner, and see whether it is liable to have any attraction toward beauty and pleasurable objects. 17. Thinking so, Chúdálá showed by her magic skill the god Indra, sporting in the company of celestial nymphs in that forest. 18. Sikhidhwaja seeing the god with his companion there, advanced before him and worshipped him, as he deserved, and said: - 19. "O lord of gods!" will you deign to reveal unto me, the cause of your advent to this forest from your seat in the high and far distant heaven. 20. Indra replied: - It is the attraction of the virtues, that has brought us down to these woods, as the flying kites of the air are drawn on earth, by the string fastened in their breasts.

21. Now rise from here, and proceed with us to heaven; where the celestial nymphs are in eager expectation of seeing thee, since they have heard of your wondrous virtues. 22. Wear these sandals and hold the sword, and anoint thy body with the ointment of these pills, and ascend to the upper sky and thence to heaven, in the manner of siddhas and perfect yogis. 23. On reaching to the region of the gods, you will enjoy all sorts of delights, which awaits on the living liberated souls in this world and the next, and to which I come to invite you at present. 24. No holy man like yourself, doth ever neglect the proffered occasion to their prosperity, nor should you scorn to take your heavenward course with ourselves at his moment. 25. Let there be no impediment to your ascent to and enjoyment of heaven, where you will enjoy your full bliss, and which will be blessed by your presence as the three worlds by that of Hari. 26. Sikhidhwaja said: - I know O lord of gods, the delights that there abound in heaven; but I have my heaven every where, and there is no particular place which I deem as heaven.

27. I am content every where, and am pleased with every place; and my soul being desirous of nothing from its fulness in itself, I am fully satisfied every where. 28. O God! if it be forever to remain in one place and in the same state, what you call heaven; then pardon me for I decline to it (because I am at liberty here to go wherever I like). 29. Indra answered: - I know, O holy saint! that those that have known the knowable, and are perfect in their understandings, are indifferent to their sensual gratification; it is however not the part of the wise to reject an enjoyment, which offers itself unto him by the gracious allotment of his destiny. 30. After the God had said so, the prince remained silent and returned no answer; when the God told him saying, "If you are resolved not to leave this place, then I must leave you here, and take my way to heaven". 31. Sikhidhwaja said: - I must not go there now ("though I may do so on some future occasion"). Upon this the God made farewell to Kumbha (who had invoked him down by his spell, and disappeared from the spot).

32. All the other Gods that were in the train of Indra, vanished also from view upon the disappearance of their chief; as the huge surges of the sea, subside in the deep together with their foaming froths, and the shoals of whales and fishes that played and lashed about the main, after a lull of the gales that had raised them.

MANIFESTATION OF CHÚDÁLÁ IN HER OWN FORM. Argument: - Chúdálá's artifices to deceive Sikhidhwaja, and Sikhidhwaja's strength of mind. Vasishtha related: - The princess retracted the enchantment by which she had presented the God Indra before the prince; and was glad to find, that he had subdued (lit. - put to blush) his desire of enjoyment. 2. He remained with perfect tranquillity and equanimity of his mind, at the advent and in the presence of the God Indra, and was fearless and indifferent to and unmoved even by the persuasion of that God. 3. I will again try to know by some artifice or other, whether this prince is subject to the passions of anger or annoyment or any other feeling, which serve at best but to blind-fold the understanding. 4. With this intention she took upon her the form of the chaste Madaniká, at the approach of night; and when the moon had already appeared above that forest land. 5. The wind was blowing gently, bearing the sweet fragrance of flowers; and Sikhidhwaja was sitting by the side of a river, to perform his evening devotion. 6. At this time she entered her bower formed by the twining creepers, and decorated with garlands of flowers, resembling the covert of a sylvan goddesses.

7. She slept there on the bed of flowers decked by herself, and adorned with wreaths of flowers on her own person; she had her beloved one seated in her heart; and laid her on a pillow. 8. Sikhidhwaja sought for her in the gardens and groves, and found her out at last sleeping in the bower, with the pretty paramour enfolding her neck in his arms. 9. He had his hairs hanging on his neck and shoulders, and his beauteous body daubed with pasted sandal wood. He had a chaplet of flowers on his head, which was distorted from his crown, and lay loose on the pillow over which it rolled. 10. The flowing tresses of the mistress, fell in two fold braids, on her shoulder blades of golden hue; and hung over her ears and eye-brows and her cheeks and face. 11. He beheld the amorous pair, with their smiling faces; and both kissing and embracing one another, as when the ivy entwines a large tree. (Their bodies and lip-like leaves are joined together). 12. They lay with their wreathed flowers, hanging loosely on their persons; and both were enamoured of one another by the mutual contact of their bodies, which infused their reciprocal passion in the heart of each other.

13. They were both infatuated and ravished by their mutual love, and were both bruising their breasts on the bosoms of one another. 14. Seeing this, Sikhidhwaja felt no change in his disposition; but was rather pleased to find them sleeping so very happily in one another's embrace. 15. "Remain ye lovers, he said, as you are in your hearts' content; and I will put no obstacle in your way, nor make you afraid of me by my presence in this place." Saying so, he withdrew from there. 16. Immediately at this time, she also withdrew her charm, and disclosed herself as the beauteous Venus, and loving spouse of the prince. 17. She came out and saw the prince sitting in a crag of the mountain, in the posture of his intense meditation, and with both his eyes open. 18. The lady Madaniká advanced towards him with a bashful countenance, and then sat silent by his side with her down cast look and melancholy appearance; as if abashed and ashamed of her past misconduct. 19. Then as Sikhidhwaja was released after a moment from his meditation, he cast his eyes upon her; and spoke to her with an exceedingly sweet voice, which bespoke the frankness of his mind.

20. Lady, said he why do you come so soon to me, and leave off the enjoyment of thy happiness? Oh! happiness is the end and aim of all beings on earth. (Oh happiness! our being's end and aim. Pope). 21. Go, return to thy lover, and gratify him with all thy endearments; because mutual love which is so much desired by all, and is hard to be had by any in this world. 22. Think not, madam, that I am at all angry or sorry for this affair; as I am always contented in myself, with knowing the True One, that is only to be known. 23. Myself and my companion Kumbha, are always dispassionate in our dispositions; but thou that art sprung from the curse of Durvása as a woman, art ever at liberty to do whatever thou likest, without incurring any displeasure of ours. 24. Madaniká replied: - So it is! Oh highly favoured one of Heaven, who knowest that women by their nature are ten times more passionate than men, and should not therefore be chid on account of their gratification of their natural passions.

25. I am but a frail woman, and find you absorbed in deep meditation, I could not choose other wise than take me a partner as you saw, in the depth of the forest and in the night: (Solitude and the darkness of night, being so very favourable to love affairs). 26. The weak sex in general, and the maidens in particular, are ever fond of paramour by their very nature for the gratification of their lust, which they can never have the power to check. 27. A woman becomes graceful in the company of man, and no anathema or prohibition, nor the menaces of men, nor regard of chastity, is of any avail to retard them from it. 28. I am a damsel and a weaker vessel and an ignorant and independent lass, therefore sir, it becomes you to forgive my fickleness, because forgiveness is the most prominent feature of holiness. 29. Sikhidhwaja replied: - Know my belle, that anger has no seat in my heart, as there grows no plant in the sky; and it is only for fear of incurring the ignominy of good people, that I must decline to take thee as my spouse.

30. But I can associate with thee as before in mutual friendship for ever more, without bearing any yearning or grudge in our hearts, either for or against one another (but remain in disinterested amity for life). 31. Vasishtha replied: - After Sikhidhwaja had consented to continue in his indifference and disinterested friendship, with his only companion in the forest; Chúdálá was highly pleased to wit the nobleness of his mind, and thus said to herself. 32. O the transcendent tranquillity, which this lord of mine has gained, and whose dispassionateness has set him above anger, and his living liberation hath attained. 33. No delight doth attract his heart, nor any excellence ever allures his soul; whose mind is not elated by pleasure or prosperity, nor depressed by pain or calamity. 34. Methinks all the imaginable perfections, have jointly met in his person; as the goddess of prosperity, is united with the personage of Náráyana. (The Lord is the model of all excellence and perfection). 35. It is now the proper time for me, to bring to his remembrance all and every thing relating to myself; by relinquishing my figure of Kumbha, and disclosing myself to him in my form of Chúdálá. 36. With this thought, she shuffled off her shape of Madaniká, and took the complexion of Chúdálá upon herself.

37. She then issued forth as Chúdálá, from out of the body of Madaniká, and stood confest before him, as a jewel when taken out of the chest and exposed to view. 38. The prince beheld her unblemished and lovely figure, and found his beloved Madaniká transformed to his wedded spouse Chúdálá again. 39. He saw his own wife present before him, like a lotus flower blooming in the spring; and as the goddess of prosperity rising out of the earth, or as a brilliant gem laid open from its casket.

APPEARANCE OF CHÚDÁLÁ IN THE PRESENCE OF HER LORD. Argument: - Recognisance of Chúdálá, relation of her adventures and reunion with her lord. Vasishtha related: - Sikhidhwaja was surprised to see princess, so suddenly appearing before him; he looked upon her with his eyes staring with mute astonishment, and then broke his silence, with uttering the following words in his faltering speech. 2. What art thou, O lotus eyed maid, and whence comest thou to this place? why comest thou here, and how long hast thou been herein? say for what purpose dost thou abide in this forest. 3. Thy gait and figure, thy features and thy form, thy sweet smiles, manners and courtesy, bespeak thee plainly, to be an ectype or counterpart of the image of my wedded wife. 4. Chúdálá replied: - So it is my lord, as thou thinkest me to be thy lawful consort; I am no doubt thy princess Chúdálá, who has met thee today in her natural and undisguised form, as thou also hast found her as the same. 5. I assumed to me the counterfeit forms of Kumbha and others, only to remonstrate with thee on thy mistaken course; and used every art and stratagem to recall thee only to the right path.

6. Ever since thy foolish renunciation of thy kingdom, for the purpose of the performance of thy ascetic austerities in the forest. I have had recourse to the employment of every art, in order to reclaim thee to the right path of religion. 7. I awakened to the light of truth in my form of Kumbha, and all the other forms which I took upon myself, were chiefly intended for thy instruction (and rousing thee from thy lethargy). 8. The forms of Kumbha and others, were no real but magical appearance before thee; and thou that knowest the knowable, can very well discern the whole affair in your meditation. 9. You will be convinced of all this, if you will but look into it by the light of your meditation and not otherwise. After Chúdálá said so far, the prince sat in his meditative mood and in the posture of his meditation - yogásana. 10. He saw the whole affair, rising and exhibiting itself plainly before his mental vision; ever since the renunciation of his royalty, until his meeting with Chúdálá at the end (from first to last). 11. All these he saw rising in his soul, in one moment of his meditation; and the successive events appeared before it, since the resignation of his kingdom to the present instant.

12. The prince felt glad in himself, at seeing all these in his meditation; and he greatly rejoiced with his full open eyes, when his meditation was over at the end of the scene. 13. He extended both his arms with the hairs standing at an end of his body through joy, and his countenance shining with the gladness of his heart; while the fondness of his heart had its vent, in the tears trickling in his eyes, and his limbs slackened by his want of self-control. 14. And then embraced her to his bosom, as a weasel does its mate for a long time; and this continued embrace of theirs, indicated the permanency of their passion for one another. 15. No body nor even the hundred hooded Vásuki serpent, can express with its hundred tongues, the height of the happiness which the happy pair felt on this occasion of their reunion; when their two bodies met together, like the two orbs of the sun and moon in their conjunction; or as their two disks were joined in one, by adhesion of some paste or clay. 16. The two constant lovers continued in their close contact, like two contiguous rocks sticking to one another; till at last they parted apart, with the profuse perspiration of their bodies.

17. They then gradually relaxed their arms from their mutual embraces, and their hearts which had ere long over flowed with delight, became now as light as two empty pots of water. 18. They loosened their arms, and stared at one another with their fixed and mute gaze of amazement; and they sat silent with their deep felt love, after the fervour of their delight was over. 19. Then did the prince lay his hand under the chin of his legal and royal consort, and bespoke to her in soft and sweet words distilling with honey. 20. Matrimonial love, is righteous and sweeter far than the celestial ambrosia itself; how then was it, O my moon faced love, that thou couldst continue so long without tasting its sweets? 21. Thou hast doubtless undergone much privation, and suffered great pains in the absence of thy husband, and so also was the toil exceedingly great, that thou hast taken on thyself, in order to redeem me from the dungeon of the world. 22. I know not with whom to compare thee, for the great wisdom that thou hast displayed in thine act of my redemption, for even the pious ladies Sachí and Arundhatí and the great goddesses Gourí, Gáyatrí and Sri (Ceres) and Sarasvatí, fall short of thy admirable qualities.

23. I see, my love, that even the personified powers of understanding and prosperity, the persons of the graces and clemency, and the virtues of forgiveness, sympathy and universal love, are unequal to thy unequalled virtues and beauty. 24. I know no adequate recompense, that will compensate thy labour and repay my gratitude to thee, that hast spared no patience nor persevering pains, in the cause of my instruction and redemption. 25. O say, what retribution will requite thy pains, and gladden thy mind; for thy redeeming me from the dark pit of ignorance, and reclaiming me from the boundless wilderness of errors. 26. It is the true virtue of faithful wives, to raise their fallen husbands much more than the sástras or learning, riches, the spiritual guide and his teaching, can serve to save a man from his degradation. (Such accomplished wife, is very hard to be in India found in these days of degeneration). 27. Faithful and affectionate wives, are by far more serviceable to their husbands, than a brother or relation or any friend or servant, or even a guru or one's riches ever can be.

28. The faithful wife is the best guide of man, and her person serves to be his best abode and attendant than anything else in this world. Therefore the wife deserves to be always regarded above all others, with utmost diligence and attention. 29. The happiness of both worlds depends entirely on the person of the disinterested and virtuous wife, who serves as a raft to her husband, for his going across the wide ocean of the perilous world. 30. How shall I, O virtuous lady! repay the recompense of what thou hast done for me, and whom I now regard as the wisest and best of all the virtuous ladies in the whole world. 31. Thy name must ever afterwards remain foremost of virtuous women in the world, in all future narratives of female virtues and respectable character among female sex. 32. Methinks the virtuous lady Arundhatí and others, whose names are immortalized for their virtues, in the record of sacred history, will feel jealous of thee as they came to learn thy chastity and other admirable qualities. So my dear, let me embrace thee again to my bosom. 33. Vasishtha related: - Saying so, Sikhidhwaja again held Chúdálá to his fast embrace, as the weasel does his mate in their mutual fondness.

34. Chúdálá said: - My lord, I was sorry to find you entirely devoted to your dry ceremonial duties, and it was for that reason, that I took so much pains to dissuade you from them, and lead you to the knowledge of the intelligent soul. 35. Now tell me, my lord, what shall we do in this place and what is the use of your extolling my virtues so far. 36. Sikhidhwaja replied: - O you most excellent among women, you are here at your liberty to do whatever you think best; as it is the prerogative of respectable ladies, to manage everything in their own way. 37. Chúdálá answered: - Now my lord! as you have come to know, that you are released from the network of this world, and are set free on the shore from all its broils: you must have perceived now that your past austerities were all in vain and gone for nothing. 38. You must have known that it is all in vain, when you say "I do this or that, and will get its reward, and will thus be settled in life etc."; say, do you smile to think of these and other vagaries of your simple understanding.

39. Do you know that these vagaries are the creatures of your avarice, and mere creations of your fancy? (because there is nothing that can do or bring out of your will or by your own power). 40. Don't you yet perceive that these false creations of your imagination, are as unreal as the situation or appearance of mountains in the empty air? 41. Say what is it that you have learnt after all, what is it that you depend upon, and what is the object that you seek at present, and in what light you view all your bodily acts either of your past or future life. 42. Sikhidhwaja replied: - O dear lady, with thy blooming eyes, resembling the leaves of a full blown blue lotus, I am likewise situated in and at the same place, wherein thou art located also. 43. I am tranquil and alike (or likened to) the object of my meditation, and am situated in the true ego long after leaving the sense of my personality: I am arrived to that state (of rapturous delight) which is known to and felt by the heart only (lit, by way of the heart).

44. There is no power any where, nor even that of Hari and Hara, that is able to obstruct that heart-felt joy of mine, which makes me think myself as nothing else or less than the very intellect (or a particle - chinmátra) itself. 45. I am now free from errors, and liberated from the trammels of the world; I am neither this nor that, nor am I glad nor sorry at any thing or at any event in the world. 46. I am neither any gross or subtile matter, nor am I like a ray of the solar light, that emanates from the body of the sun, and falls below by traversing through the midday sky. (i.e. The human soul is the image of God, and not a particle of the undivided essence of the Deity). 47. I am of the essence of that glorious light, which is ever without its increase or decrease; I am always tranquil and ever even in my nature, and I am quite at ease, having no desire of mine own, nor anything to expect from any body. 48. O thou most chaste lady, know me to be of that essence, which exists as extinct every where; I am what I am and what I cannot describe, and no other than this.

49. O beauteous lady, with thy eye balls glancing like the flitting waves of rivulets! I bow down to thee as my instructor; because it is by thy good grace that I have come across the turbulent ocean of the world. 50. I shall no more be soiled with the dirt of the earth, after being cleansed from it like a bit of gold from its alloy by repeated burnings. 51. I am quite calm and easy, quiet and free from passions, and never divided in my attention nor distracted in my mind. I am beyond all things, I am ubiquitous and all pervading, and am situated as I am (without any change in me). 52. Chúdálá said: - If you remain in this manner, O thou lord of my life, and dearly beloved one of my heart, then tell me, my lord, what is it that is now best agreeable to your most noble disposition. 53. Sikhidhwaja answered: - I know of nothing, O good lady, that is either delectable or detestable to me; I do the same as you do, and am exactly of the same mind like yours in every thing.

54. O thou that art as fair as the firmament, know that I have nothing to choose for myself, beyond what I am possest of; and leave it to you to choose and do whatever you think proper for us. 55. I will act as you will do, like your shadow or reflexion in the mirror; because my mind being devoid of its desire and effort, I will patiently bear with whatever comes to pass on me. 56. I will neither excite nor prevent, nor praise or blame thee for aught thou doest; but leave thee at thy full liberty, to do whatever thou best choosest for thyself. 57. Chúdálá replied: - If it is so as you say, then hear me tell you what is best to be done by you at present; you are to set yourself to imitate the conduct of living-liberated persons, and set yourself released from your ignorance, by knowing the unity of the Deity, pervading all things in every place. 58. We are both as devoid of desires, as the empty void of the sky is without its population; but that which I wish to do is what you do not wish at all. (i.e. I wish to manage the state, which you dislike to do).

59. Say what man is there, who neglects his life and livelihood, and remains only, in his intellect? (No one can make his intellectual culture without having his life and living). And as there are three stages of human life, namely, its beginning or boyhood, its middle or youth, and its end or old age, and we being situated in the midst of it, must do the duties appertaining to this state, before we proceed to the last stage of our being. 60. And as we are by birth the prince and princess of a realm, it is paramount on us to rule our state, and pass our days in the discharge of the duties of our royalty until our end. 61. Sikhidhwaja said: - Tell me, O fickle minded lady, what you mean by the three stages; and how we stand at the midmost one, without having a whit to care for the final one. 62. Chúdálá replied: - Know prince, that we are royal personages by births, and must all along continue as such from the first to the last stage of our lives.

63. Why then do you allow the imbecility and hermitage of old age, to overtake you in the prime of your youth; when it is your duty to remain in your city and palace, and govern your princely state. 64. And then I will reign there as thy consort queen, and crown the ladies in the royal apartment; and all young maidens of the city will dance about in jovialty, to see their prince and princess again in the royal palace. 65. And then the city glittering with its uplifted flags, and resounding with its loud beating drums, and decorated with wreaths of flowers hanging all about it; will resemble a vernal garden, smiling with its verdant plants, blooming buds and blushing flowers all around. 66. Vasishtha related: - Hearing these words of the princess, the king smilingly spoke to her in his mellifluous words, which bespoke them to proceed from the simplicity and frankness of his soul. 67. If such is your pleasure, O long sighted (eyed) lady, to incite me to earthly pleasures, then tell me what cause had I to slight the heavenly happiness, which was proffered to me by god Indra.

68. Chúdálá replied: - Know prince, that I also have no taste in earthly enjoyments, nor any great zest for its grandeur or greatness. I depend upon the bounty of nature, and live as I receive from her hand. 69. Hence I have no relish for heavenly joys or earthly royalty, nor do I derive any pleasure from the performance of virtuous and manly acts. My delight is in the undisturbed equanimity of my mind, and the positive rest of my position. 70. It is only after I have lost my feeling of pleasure in something, and that of pain in another, that I gain my equanimity and indifference to both, and am settled in my perfect rest and tranquillity. 71. Sikhidhwaja responded: - You have rightly said, O large eyed dame, with your calm and cool understanding; that it is all alike, whether we get or lose a kingdom, since we derive no lasting good nor suffer great evil, either from its gain or loss. 72. Let us remain in perfect ease, by shunning all thoughts of pleasure or pain; and getting release of the envy, emulation and jealousy; and continue in the same state of thoughtlessness as we are at present. (Lovely lasting peace of mind, sweet delight of human kind; that neither envy nor ambition knows &c. see ode on contentment).

73. In this manner did the conjugal pair, pass the day in their sweet endearments and mutual conversation; and the day glided on swiftly and sweetly over their feast of reason and flow of the soul. 74. They rose on the departure of the day, to discharge their duties on the parting days; and though they were ill provided for the emergencies of night, yet they well knew how to suit themselves to every occasions in every place. 75. Disdaining heavenly bliss, the loving pair lived together in perfect contentment with their conjugal bliss; and they both slept in the same bed-stead, loving and loved by one another. 76. The live long night passed away swiftly in their heaven like happiness of conjugal enjoyment, and upon their conferral of reciprocal love and affection; and by exciting their anxiety for mutual embrace.

FINAL EXTINCTION OF SIKHIDHWAJA. Argument: - Return of the Royal pair and retinue to their realm, their long reign therein until their ultimate extinction in the Divine source. Vasishtha related: - Then rose the orient sun above the horizon, like a brilliant gem appearing out of its containing casket; and dispelled the darkness of the sky, as the blazing gem enlightens the room with its rays. 2. His dawning rays pierced the eyes of sleeping men, and oped their eyelids, as they open the folia of the closed lotuses; and they roused the lazy world to activity, as if the sun beams gave the sound of the morning bell. (The áráti bell is rung at dawn, like the matin cry of the Muezzin, to raise the sleeping men to their morning service). 3. The loving pair rose from their bed of flowers, in the grotto of the mount brightened by its mineral gold; and sat on their soft and cool leafy seats, to make their morning prayers and discharge their matin functions. 4. Then rose Chúdálá and stood before a golden urn of water, where she made the presence to take his solemn oath by the names of seven oceans of the earth. (This oath is more binding than swearing by the water of Ganges).

5. She then made him sit by the sacred water pot, and facing towards the rising sun in the east; and performed the rite of his installation to his kingdom, in this sequestered retreat. 6. After the solemnity of the ceremony was over, they both sat on the same bedding (vishtara), when the god like Chúdálá spoke to her husband in the following manner: - 7. Now my lord, leave off your quiet character of a muni or hermit, and assume the vigour of the eight rulers of the upper skies and nether world. (These ruling powers are Indra, Varuna &c.). 8. After Chúdálá had done speaking in this manner, the prince assented to what she said; and told her that he will do as she bade him, and return to my realm with you. 9. He then said to the princess, who was standing at the post of the warder (i.e. who was in attendance); on her inaugurated lord. "Now will I, my dear, install you in the rank of the queen regent in my turn and return for yours." 10. Saying so, he caused holy lavation in an adjacent pool, and inaugurated as the regnant Regina of his royalty and realm.

11. Then the prince requested her to exert the powers, of her consummation in yoga meditation; and to produce and bring to their presence a large force and retinue, as they wanted and thought suitable to their royal dignity. 12. Hearing these words of prince, the praiseworthy princess produced by the power of her yoga, a body of forces, as large and over-spreading as bodies of out-stretching clouds in the rainy season. 13. They beheld their cloud like forces, to be composed of lines of horses and elephants, and flags flying in the air in the form of scattered clouds, while the forest land was covered over by the feet of foot-soldiers. 14. The sound of music, resounded in the hollow caves of mountains and woods; and the flash of the coronets on the head of the soldiers, drove away the darkness of the sky. 15. Then the royal pair mounted upon a royal elephant, which exuded with the perfume of its ichor; escorted by the army on both sides of their procession. 16. The prince Sikhidhwaja sat with the princess on the same seat, and was accompanied by a mighty force composed of foot-soldiers and chariots, that furrowed the ground as they drove on forward.

17. The mighty force gushed out like a rolling mountain, and seemed to blow off and break down the rock and highlands, as the cyclone carries off every thing in its way. 18. The prince then proceeded from the Mahendra mountain, seeing on both sides the mountains and flatlands, rivers, forests and habitations of men, as he went onward with his great array. 19. He showed and pointed out to his royal consort, the places where he sojourned before, on his way from out of his city, which he now beheld in his heavenly brightness, upon his arrival there in a little time. 20. All his chiefs and chieftains, advanced to meet their prince; and welcomed with shouts of his victory, from their heart felt joy or from the revival of their hopes; on the occasion of his happy return. 21. The prince entered the city, accompanied by his two regiments on both sides, and attended by bands of musicians playing in concord with the singing and dancing party. 22. He passed through the market place, and beheld the beauty of the shops one after the other; and was hailed by groups of the city women, who pelted their handfuls of flowers and fried rice at him, as he passed on by them.

23. He saw numbers of flags and banners hoisted on every side, and beheld strings of pearls hung over the doorways of houses. The women of the city were singing and dancing in merriment all around, and giving it the appearance of Kailasa - the happy abode of gods. 24. He entered his royal palace with all his retinue, and was welcomed by the congratulations of his courtiers and attendants. He gave due honors to all his servants, and then dismissed the train, as he entered the inner apartment. 25. He ordered a festivity to be observed for a week, and then employed himself to the management of the state affairs, and in conducting his meditation in the inner apartment. 26. He reigned over his realm, for the period of a thousand and ten rains; and desisted from bearing the burthen of their bodies, and expired together with his royal consort about the same time. 27. Having quitted his mortal frame, he obtained his extinction like an oilless and extinguished lamp, and attained the state, whence the high minded soul, has no more to return and be reborn on earth.

28. It was by his observance of equanimity, that he enjoyed the peaceful reign of above a thousand years; and had the good fortune to live and die together with the princess, with whom he became extinct in the deity at last. 29. It was by his sama-drishti or view of all persons and things with an even sight and in the same light, and his avoidance of fear and sorrow, together with his want of pride, envy and enmity, and the dispassionateness of his disposition, also his observance of the duties to which he was bound by his birth, that made him put off his death for more than a thousand cold seasons (years), and a peaceful reign for all time, with the co-partner of his felicity. 30. Now Ráma, try to imitate this prince, and be like him in every thing; whose virtues had made him the crown of all other Kings on earth; who enjoyed all the enjoyments of life, and lived a long life until he attended his final state of immortality. Do you, O Ráma! pursue your own callings, and never be sorry at any accident in life. Be ever prompt and vigilant in your duties, and enjoy the prosperity both of temporal enjoyments and spiritual liberations at once.

STORY OF KACHA AND HIS ENLIGHTENMENT BY THE BRIHASPATI Argument: - His coming to knowledge of himself by the instruction of his father Brihaspati. Vasishtha related: - Now I have narrated to you fully, and finished my relation of the narrative of Sikhidhwaja; and hope you will imitate his example, to set you free from all sorrow and misery. 2. Shut out the visible world from thy sight, and shut in thy passions and affections in close confinement within thy heart; and continue with the dispassionateness of thy mind, for ever attached to the supreme spirit. 3. Reign in thy kingdom with the leteration of Sikhidhwaja, and conduct yourself in a manner, that may secure to you the fruition of both worlds (namely - the peace and tranquillity of thy mind in this and the liberation of the soul in the next). 4. As Sikhidhwaja came by degrees to attain his enlightenment, so also did Kacha the son of Brihaspati receive the light of his reason, as I shall now relate unto you. 5. Ráma said, please to tell me sir, in short, how this Kacha the saintly son of the sage Brihaspati, came to his reason and right understanding, after he was deluded before by error as Sikhidhwaja.

6. Vasishtha began by saying: - Hear Ráma, another tale as interesting as that of Sikhidhwaja, and the manner in which Kacha the progeny of the god like Brihaspati was awakened to the light of truth. 7. As he has passed the period of his youth, and was about to enter the career of worldly life, and had ere this acquired the full knowledge of worlds and things, he proposed the following query to his father. 8. He said, tell me, O father, that knowest all righteousness, how the animal spirit that is bound to the body by means of the too thin thread of life, is released from the bondage of it in this temporary world. 9. Brihaspati replied: - The soul, my son, is well able to fly away easily and swiftly over the perilous ocean of the world, by means of its abandonment of concerns with it. 10. Vasishtha added: - Kacha hearing this holy dictum of his father, abandoned all his earthly properties and expectations, and left his house and went to the forest where he took his shelter. 11. Brihaspati was filled with sorrow at his departure; because it is the nature of good hearted men, to feel equal anxiety both at the union as well as the separation of their friends and inmates.

12. After the sinless Kacha had passed three and five years in his solitude, he came to meet unawares his reverent father, seeking for him in the wood. 13. The son rose and did homage to his venerable father, who embraced him in his arms and to his breast; and then bespoke to his father - the lord of speech, in words that flowed like honey from his lips. 14. Kacha said: - You see father, that I have for these full eight years, forsaken every thing and betaken myself to this solitary retreat, and still why is it, that I do not enjoy the lovely and lasting peace of mind which I have been seeking so long? 15. Vasishtha related - Upon hearing these sorrowful words of Kacha, the lord of speech for Brihaspati told him again to abandon his all, and then left him and made his way to the upper sky. 16. After his father's departure, Kacha cast off his mantle made of the bark and leaves of trees; when his frail body appeared out of it like the clear autumnal sky, after the setting of the sun and the stars of heaven.

17. He then removed to another forest, where he took shelter in the cave of a rock, that defended him from rains and rainy clouds, as the autumnal sky protects the landscape from the floods of rain. 18. He lived afterwards all apart on one side of a wood, with his naked body and tranquil and vacant mind, and breathed only the breath of his life; and as he was afflicted on one occasion in this state of his body and mind, he happened to see his father standing before him. 19. The pious son rose from his seat, and did reverence to his sire with all the marks of filial piety; being then clasped in his close embrace, he asked him in his faltering words as follows: - 20. Kacha said: - Behold my father how I have forsaken every thing, and have even cast away my ragged wrapper and my shelter of reeds and weeds; and yet why is that I do not find my rest in my god, and what must I yet do to attain to that state.