DEMONSTRATED CONCLUSION OF THE DOUBTFUL TRUTH.
Argument:—Act, actor and action are one the same, the word Daiva
and its explanation; oscillation of intellect is the cause of
creation.
Ráma said:—Please sir, explain to me moreover regarding the acts of men,
which become the causes of their repeated births, as seeds are sources
of the germs of future trees; and those to which the word daiva or
divian is applied, imply the Divine dispensation, destiny or fate.
2. Vasishtha replied:—The meaning of daiva or destiny, is as that of a
potter in producing the pottery; it is the act of intelligence (samvid),
and not of blind chance, nor of human effort or manliness.
3. How is it possible for any action to be done by manly exertion only,
without some effort of the understanding directing human energy to
action; it is this intelligent power that makes the world and all what
it contains.
4. The prosperity of the world depends on the understanding, exerting
itself with a desire to bring about some certain end; and it ceases with
the course of the course of the world, upon the exertion of the
understanding to no purpose.
5. The insouciance or want of desire in the mind, is called its negative
act, and the mind that merely moves on without engaging in any pursuit,
is as a current stream without its undulation. (So mere living is no
life without its action).
6. There is no difference between a thinking and unthinking soul, unless
the mind of one is actuated by its imagination, to the invention of some
manly art or work.
7. As there is no essential duality or difference in the water and its
waves, and between desire and its result; so there is no distinction
betwixt the intellect and its function, nor is there any difference in
the actions from the person of their agent.
8. Know Ráma, the action as the agent, and the actor the same with his
action; both these are quite alike as the ice and coldness. (_i.e._ Man
is known by his act, and the actions bespoke the man).
9. As the frost is cold and coldness the same with frost, so the deed is
the same as its doer, and the doer is alike the deed done by him. (Every
one is accountable for his deed, and the deed recurs to the doer of it).
10. The vibration of the Intellect (_i.e._ the divine will), is the same
as destiny which is also the agent of action; these are synonymous terms
expressing the same thing, and destiny, deed and other words have no
distinct meaning.
11. The oscillation of the intellect is the cause of creation, as the
seed is the source of the germ of a tree; want of this vibration is
productive of nothing, wherefore intellectual activity contains in it
the germinating seed of the whole world. (_i.e._ The action of the mind
causes all things, and its inaction is the cause of total suspense).
12. The divine mind contains in its infinite expanse all the ample space
of time and place; and is of its own nature sometimes in its
fluctuation, and at others at a stand still like the vast ocean on earth.
13. The causeless and uncausing seed of the intellect, being moved by
desire, becomes cause of the minutiae of material bones, as the seed
becomes productive of its germs and sprouts.
14. All vegetable productions as the grass and all sorts of plants and
creepers, vegetate from within their particular seeds as their origin;
and these seed originate from the pulsation of the divine mind, which
is increate and without any for it. (The pulsation of the divine
mind is its creative will, which is the seed or source of creation).
15. There is no difference between the seed and its sprout, as there is
no distinction of the heat from fire; and as you find the identity of
the seed and its sprout, so must you know the identity of man with his
acts. (_i.e._ Actions make the man, and the man does his actions like
himself).
16. The divine Intellect exerts its power in the bosom of the earth, and
grows the sprouts of the unmoving vegetable creation as from its seed;
and these become great or small, straight or crooked as the waves of the
sea as it would have them to be.
17. What other power is there beside that of the intellect, to grow the
sturdy oaks and arbors from the soft clay and humid moisture, which
compose the bosom of the earth?
18. It is this Intellect that fills the seeds of living beings with the
vital fluid, as the sappy juice abiding in the inside of plants, gives
growth to the flowers and fruits on the outside.
19. If this all inhering intellect, were not almighty also at the same
time, say then what other power is there, that could produce the mighty
gods and demigods in air, and the huge mountains on earth.
20. The divine mind contains in it the seeds of all moving and unmoving
beings, which have their being from the movement of this intellectual
power, and from no other source whatever.
21. As there is no difference in the alternate production of the seed
and the germ or fruit from one another, so there is no difference in the
commutual causation of man and his acts and the _vice versa_. In this
manner also there is no shade of difference, betwixt the swelling waves
and the sinking waters of the sea. (Man is but a bubble of its own
blowing in the vast ocean of Eternity).
22. Fie to that silly and beastly being, who does not believe in the
reciprocality of man and his action or of the agent and the act, by the
law of _mutatis mutandis_ inculcated in the vedas.
23. The prurience that is inherent in one’s consciousness, is the
embryonic seed of his resuscitation to life; in the manner of the
germination of plants: it is therefore meet to render this seed abortive
by frying it in the fire of inappetency.
24. The doing of a thing with listlessness, and the performance of an
act whether good or bad without taking it to the mind, is what is called
lukewarmness by the learned.
25. Or it is exemption from desire, that is said to loosen a man from
all connection; therefore try by all means in your power, to create in
your mind a total unconcern for every one, and indifference to all
things whatsoever.
26. In whatever manner you think it possible for you to rid of your
lickerish desires, whether by means of your theoretical or practical
yoga (the rája and hatha yogas), or by means of your manly exertion; you
must root every desire from your heart, in order to secure your best
welfare and perfect felicity.
27. But then you must endeavour to the utmost of your manly power, to
suppress some portion of your egoism, in order to prevent the rise of
selfish passions and desires within your health.
28. There is no other course of fording the unfordable expanse of the
world, save by the exercise of our manly virtues; nor is there any other
way of extinguishing our ardent desires, except by the extinction of
egoism.
29. It is the inherent consciousness of the ever existent soul, which is
both the prime seed as well as the first germ of the world; the same is
the source both of action as also of its cause and effect of the person
of man. It is that which is designated as destiny and the weal and woe
of all.
30. In the beginning there was no other seed nor its sprout, nor even
any man nor his action; nor was there any such thing as destiny or doom
or any other prime cause, but all that existed was the Supreme intellect
which is all in all.
31. There is neither any seed nor its germ in reality, nor is there any
action or its active agent _de facto_; but there only one Supreme
intellect in absolute and positive existence, and it is under the
auspices of this hallowed name, that you see O sage! all these gods and
demigods, and all men and women, are performing their respective parts
as actors on the stage of the world.
32. Knowing this certain truth, and thinking thyself as the imperishable
one, be freed from thy thoughts of the agent and action; give up all thy
desires and false imagination, and live to reflect with thy body of
self-consciousness alone. (Consider thyself as an intellectual being,
and not the dull corporeal body).
33. Remain fearless, O Ráma, and be more graceful with the calm
composure of thy mind. Allay all thy desires and lay aside thy fears
with them. Rely on thy clear intellect and continue to do thy endless
acts (by guidance of the same). Be full in thyself with the Supreme
soul, and thus thou shalt have the fulness of thy desires fulfilled in
thee.