THE WANDERINGS OF THE MENDICANT.
Arguments:--The wanderings of men agreeably to their pursuits,
described in the character of the mendicant.
Válmíki related:--After the sages Vasishtha and Viswámitra had taken
their seats in the court hall, there met the groups of celestials and
siddhas of air, and the monarch of earth and chiefs of men.
2. Then came Ráma and Lakshmana with their companions in the court;
which shone as a clear lake of lotus-beds unshaken by the gentle
breeze, and brightened by the moonbeams glistening amidst it.
3. The sire of sages opened his mouth unasked by any body, and not
waiting for the request of any one; because wise men are always kind
hearted, and ready to communicate their knowledge to others of their
own accord. (Here the sage spoke impromptu, to keep his promise of
answering to Ráma's query in the preceding chapter, on a future
occasion. Gloss).
4. Vasishtha said:--O. Ráma! that art the moon in the sphere of Raghu's
family, I have yesternight came to see the mendicant, with the all
seeing eye of my intellectual vision after a long time.
5. I revolved over in my mind, and wandered wide and afar to find out
where that man was, and so I traversed through all the continents and
islands, and passed over all the hills and mountains on earth.
6. I had my head running upon the search, but could not meet anywhere a
mendicant of that description; because it is impossible to find in the
outer world, the fictions of our air built castle.
7. I then ran in my mind at the last watch of the night, and passed
over the regions on the north, as the fleet winds fly over the waves of
the ocean.
8. There I saw the extensive and populous country of _Jina_ (China)
lying beyond the utmost boundaries of Valmika (Bhalika or Bulkh); where
there is a beautiful city, called as Vihara by the inhabitants.
9. There lives a mendicant, named Dírgha drik or foresighted whose head
was silvered over with age, and who continues in his close meditation
confined in his homely and lovely cottage.
10. He is used to sit there in his meditative mood, for three weeks
together at a time, and keep the door of his cell quite fast, for
fear of being disturbed in his silent devotion, by the intrusion of
outsiders.
11. His dependants are thus kept out of doors for the time, that he is
absorbed in meditation.
12. He thus passed his three weeks of deep meditation in seclusion, and
it is now a thousand years, that he has been sitting in this manner, in
communion with his own mind only.
13. It was in olden times, that there had been a mendicant of his kind,
as I have already related unto you; this is the living instance of that
sort, and we know not where and when a third or another like this may
be found to exist.
14. I was long in quest like a bee in search of flowers, to find such
another, in the womb of this lotus like earth, with all possible
inquiry on my part.
15. I passed beyond the limit of the present world, and pierced through
the mist of future creations, and there I met with what I sought of the
resemblance of the present one.
16. As I looked into the world lying in the womb of futurity, and
deposited in the intellectual sphere of Brahma; I met with a third one
resembling to Brahmá in his conduct.
17. So passing through many worlds one after another, I saw many things
in futures, which are not in esse in the present world.
18. There I beheld the sages that are now sitting in this assembly, and
many more Brahmans also, that are of the nature of these present, as
also different from them.
19. There will be this Nárada with his present course of life, as also
differing from the same; so likewise there will be many others also,
with their various modes of life.
20. So likewise there will appear this _Vyása_ and this _Suka_; and
these Saunaka, Pulaha and Krutu, will reappear in future creations,
with their very same natures and characters. (This doctrine of
reappearance in a future world, is disbelieved in the sense of the
transmigration of souls, but it is taken as strict article of faith
by all Christians and Moslems, in the name of regeneration and
resurrection which imply the same thing).
21. The same Agastya and Pulastya and the self-same Bhrigu and
Angirasa, all of them and all others, will come to re-existence, with
their very forms and traits of character. (The dead will rise again in
their very bodies &c. Gospel).
22. They will be born and reborn sooner and later, so long as they
are under the subjection of this delusion of regeneration and
resuscitation; and will retain their similar births and modes of life,
like all others to be reborn in this or the future world. (As a Brahman
who is twice born on earth, retains his habits as before).
23. So the souls of men revolve repeatedly in the world, like waves
rolling for ever in the waters of the sea; some of which retain their
very same forms, while others are very nearly so in their reappearance.
24. Some are slightly altered in their figures, and others varying
entirely in their forms, never regain their original likeness; so doth
this prevailing error of regeneration, delude even the wise to repeated
births (from which can never get their liberations). (The desire of
revivification or regeneration, is so deeply implanted in all living
souls, that no body wants to die but with desire to live again in some
future state. "Ye shall not die." Gospel).
25. But what means the long meditation, of twenty days and nights of
the mendicant, when a moment's thought of ours, and the results of our
bodily actions, are productive of endless births and transformations.
26. Again where is the reality of these forms, which are mere
conceptions of the mind; and these ideas and reflexions, growing ripe
with their recapitulation, appear as full blown flowers to sight; and
resemble the water lily at morn, beset by the busy murmur of humming
bees.
27. The gross form is produced from pure thought (_i.e._ the material
from the immaterial mind); as a pile of flaming fire is kindled by a
minute spark or a ray of sun beam. Such is the formation of the whole
fabric of the world.
28. All things are manifest as particles of divine reflexion, and
each particle exhibiting in it a variety of parts (in its atoms and
animalcules); nor are these nor those together are nothing at all, but
they all exist in the universal, which is the cause of all cause, and
the source of all sources.