MELTING DOWN OF THE MIND.
Argument.--The Dissolation of the Mind and its Affections, as the only
way for salvation of the soul.
Ráma said:--O all-knowing sage please to tell me, what becomes of the
essence of the soul after one's egoism is lost in his mind, and both of
them are dissolved into nothing.
2. Vasishtha replied:--However great and predominant is one's egoism
over himself, and how much so ever its concomitant evils of pride and
ignorance, may overpower on man; yet they can never touch the pure
essence of the soul, as the water of the lake can not come in contact
with the lotus-leaf.
3. The purity of the soul appears vividly in the bright and placid
countenance of a man, after his egoism and its accompanying faults are
all melted down in his mortified mind.
4. All the ties of our passions and affections are cut asunder and
fall off, upon breaking the string of our desires, our anger becomes
weakened, and our ignorance wears out by degrees (our desire or
greediness being the root of all evils).
5. Our cupidity is weakened and wearied, and our covetousness flies
away far from us; our limbs become slackened, and our sorrows subside
to rest.
6. It is then that our afflictions fail to afflict as our joys cease to
elate us; we have then a calm every where and a coldness in our heart.
7. Joy and grief now and then overcast his countenance, (as a cloud
and sunbeam hide the face of the sky); but they cannot over shadow his
soul, which is bright as eternal day.
8. The virtuous man becomes a favourite of the Gods, after his mind is
melted down with its passions; and then there rises the calm evenness
of his soul, resembling the cooling beams of the moon.
9. He bears a calm and quiet disposition, offending and opposing to
none, and therefore loved and honored by everyone; he remains retired
and assiduous to his task, and enjoys the serenity of his soul at all
times.
10. Neither wealth nor poverty, nor prosperity or adversity, however
opposite they are to one another; can ever affect or mislead or elate
or depress the minds of the virtuous (who have already melted them down
in themselves).
11. Accursed is the man that is drowned in his ignorance, and does not
seek the salvation of his soul, which is easily obtainable by the light
of reason, and which serves to save him from all the difficulties of
this world. (Reliance in the immortality of the soul, supports a man
amidst all earthly calamities).
12. He that wants to obtain his longed for felicity, by getting over
the waves of his miserable transmigrations in the vast ocean of this
world; must always inquire in himself as what am I, and what is this
world and what am I to be afterwards; what means this short lived
enjoyments here, and what are the fruitions of my future state. These
inquiries are the best expedients towards the salvation of the soul.