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.