Argument.--Investigation in the doubts respecting living liberation.
Vasishtha said:--Great minded men that are certain of these truths,
are purified from their sins, and finding their tranquillity in the
reliance on truth, enjoy the delight of the even equanimity of their
souls, both in their prosperity and adversity. (Truthfulness and
equanimity are god-like attributes).
2. So the wise men of perfect understandings, being evenly
dispassionate in their minds; feel themselves neither glad nor sad,
either in the enjoyment or deprivation of their lives (which are alike
to them, because death is but the beginning or continuance of life in
another state or world).
3. They remain as unseen and marvelously mighty, as the arms of
Náráyana (god); and as straight and firm and yet as low and fragile as
the body and broken rocks of mount Meru on earth.
4. They roam about at pleasure in woodlands and over islands and amidst
cities also, and like the gods of paradise they wander about the
beautiful groves and sceneries of nature.
5. They roved in flowery gardens shaken by the playful breezes, and
also in the romantic forests on the skirts and tops of mountains.
6. They conquer also their enemies, and reign in their realms with the
chouri and umbrella ensigns of their royalty; they enjoy the various
produce and wealth of their kingdom, and observe the various customs
and usages of their country. (The wise man freely enjoy all things
without being bound into them).
7. They follow all the rules and rites, established by the laws of
their countries; and inculcated as duties for the observance of all.
8. They do not disdain to taste the pleasures, that would make the
beauties smile at; nor are they averse to the enjoyment of luxuries,
that they can rightly use and enjoy.
9. They smell the fragrance of mandara-flowers, and taste the sweet
juice of mango-fruits; they regale themselves with the sweet songs of
Apsaras, and revel in the arbours of Nandara or pleasure garden.
10. They never disregard the duties that bind all mankind to them, nor
neglect to perform the sacrifices and observe the ordinances that are
imperious on domestic life.
11. But they are saved from falling into dangers and evils of all
kinds, and escape the danger of falling under the feet of murderous
elephants, and avoid the uproar of trumpets and the imminent death in
battle-fields (_i.e._ Wise men avoid the dangers to which the ignorant
are liable).
12. They abide with those that are afflicted in their hearts, as among
the marauding plunderers of the country; they dwell among the oppressed
cowardly people, as also amongst their oppressors. Thus they are
conversant with the practices of all opposing parties, without mixing
with any one of them.
13. But their minds are clear of doubts and free from errors unaffected
by passions and affections, and unattached to any person or thing. They
are quite discrete and disengaged, free and liberated, tranquil and
serene, inclined to goodness reclining and resting in Supreme spirit.
14. They are never immerged in great dangers, nor are they ever
involved in very great difficulties. But remain as the boundary
mountains, remaining unimmersed amidst the water of a circumjacent lake.
15. They are never elated with joy, at the fluctuating favours of fond
and fascinating fortune; nor are they swollen, like the sea at the
increasing digits of the moon.
16. They do not fade away under sorrow or sickness, like plants under
the scorching sun beams, nor are they refreshed by refreshments, like
medicinal plants under the refreshing dews of night.
17. They are employed calmly and without anxiety in the discharge of
their duties and in the acts of fruition karma, and neither long for
nor relinquish the fruition, which is attendant upon them (_i.e._ They
do what is to be done, not for reward but as a matter of course).
18. They are neither elated with the success of their undertakings,
nor are they depressed by the mishap of their efforts, they are not
joyous at their joy and hey-day, nor do they sink under in danger and
difficulty.
19. They do not droop down under despondence, nor are they dejected in
despair, they are not merry in their prosperity, nor do they wail and
weep in their adversity.
20. They discharge their customary duties as prescribed by law and
usage, but their minds remain as firm and unmoved, as a mountain at all
the efforts of the body.
21. Now Ráma! Remove your sight for thy own egoism, and keep it fixed
on the true ego which is a destroyer of all sins; and then go on with
your ordinary course of conduct as thou mayest like.
22. Look at these creations and their various creatures, as they have
existed in their successive stages and phases; but do you remain as
firm as rock and as deep as the sea, and get rid of your errors.
(_i.e._ Your observation of nature can only remove your errors).
23. Know this grand whole as the reflexion of one sole Intellect,
beside which there is nothing as a reality or unreality, or as some
thing or nothing. (_Jo kuch hai ohi hai, nehinaur kuch'he_. Whatever
there is, is he himself, and there is _nil_ beside his _ens_ or self).
24. Ráma! have thy greatness as the great Brahma, and preserve the
dignity of human nature about thee; reject all whatever as unworthy of
thee, and with an unattached heart to every thing, manage thyself with
gentleness every where, and thus pass the days here. (As an heir of
eternity).
25. Why dost thou weep with thy heart full of sorrow and grief, and
why dost thou lament like the deluded, and why rovest thou with thy
wandering mind, like a swimming straw to the whistling eddy.
26. Ráma replied--Verily sir, the dart of my doubts is now rubbed
out of my mind, and my heart is awakened to its good senses by thy
kindness, as the lotus is enlivened by thy rising sun-light.
27. My errors are dispersed as the morning fog in autumn; and my doubts
are set down by your lectures; which I will always adhere to.
28. I am now set free from the follies of pride, vanity, envy and
insensibility; and I feel lasting spiritual joy rising within me after
the subsidence of all my sorrows. And now if you are not tired, please
deliver your lectures with your clear understanding, and I will follow
and practice them without fear or hesitation.