ANSWERS TO THE REMAINING QUESTIONS.
Argument:--The Rájah's replies to the five remaining questions of the
Demon.
The Rájah replied:--The essences of time, vacuum and of force, are all
of intellectual origin; it is the pure intellect which is the source
of all, as the air is the receptacle of odours and dusts. (The mind
contains all things).
2. The supreme soul is as the universal air, which breathes out the
particles contained in the intellect; as the etherial air bears the
fragrance from the cells of flowers. (The soul is called _átmá_
corresponding with the Greek _atmos_ air, in which sense it is the same
with the spirit). (This is the answer to the second question).
3. The great Brahma of the conscious soul, passing through the dreaming
world (it being but a dream only passes from one scene to another
without changing its form). (The soul is conscious of the operations of
the mind, but never changes with the mental phenomena).
4. As the stem (stambha) of plantain tree, is a folding of its
pellicles plaited over one another, and having its pith hidden in the
inside; so everything in the world presents its exterior coats to the
view, while its substance of Brahma is deeply hid in the interior.
5. The words ens, soul and Brahma by which God is designated, are not
significant of his nature, who is devoid of all designations like the
empty void, and indescribable (avyapadesa) in any word in use. (So the
sruti: na tatra vak gachchhate, to Him no words can approach; _i.e._ no
words can express Him).
6. Whatever essence is perceived by one as the product of another, is
like the upper fold or plait of the plantain tree, produced by the
inner one; and all such coating are but developments of the Divine
Intellect lying at the bottom. (As the essence of the cloth is the
thread, which is the product of cotton produced by the pod of the
cotton plant, which is produced from the seed grown by the moisture of
the water &c., the last of which has the Divine essence for its prime
cause and source.)
7. The supreme soul is said to be a minute atom, on account of the
subtility and imperceptibility of its nature; and it is said also to be
the base of mountains and all other bodies, owing to the unboundedness
of its extent. (This is in answer to the fifth question).
8. The endless being though likened to a minute atom, is yet as large
as to contain all these worlds as its minutest particles; which are as
evident to us as the very many aerial scenes appearing in our minds
in the state of dreaming. (The small grain of the soul contains the
universe, as the particle of the mind contains the worlds in it).
9. This being is likened to an atom owing to its imperceptibleness, and
is also represented as a mountain on account of its filling all space;
though it is the figure of all formal existence, yet it is without any
form or figure of its own. (The Sruti says: "_neti-neti_, He is neither
this nor that").
10. The three worlds are as the fatty bulb of that pithy intelligence;
for know thou righteous soul! that it is that Intelligence which dwells
in and acts in all the worlds. (The Sruti says: the vacuity of the
heart is the seat of intelligence, which is the pith of the _mássa_ or
muscular body, and the vacuous air is the seat of the soul, whose body
is the triple world).
11. All these worlds are fraught with design of Intelligence, which is
quiet in its nature, and exhibits endless kinds of beautiful forms of
its own, know, O young vetála, that irresistible power, reflect this in
thyself and keep thy quiet.