Reading section 39

23. Life is as fickle as a drop of water pending on a mass of clouds blown away by the winds. Our enjoyments are as unsteady as the lightning that flickers in the midst of clouds. The pleasures of youth are as slippery as water. With these reflections in my mind, I have subdued them all under the province of peace and tranquility.

CHAPTER XXX.

SELF-DISPARAGEMENT.

Seeing the world thus ingulphed amidst the abyss of hundreds of rising dangers and difficulties, my mind is immerged in the mire of anxieties.

2. My mind is wandering everywhere and I am struck with fear at every thing; my limbs are shaking with fear like the leaves of a withered tree.

3. My mind is bewildered by impatience for its want of true contentment, just as a young woman is afraid in a desert for want of the company of her strong handed husband.

4. The thoughts of my mind are entangled in my desire for worldly enjoyments, as stags are caught in the pit strewn with grass over it.

5. The senses of an unreasonable man, ever run astray to the wrong and never turn to the right way; so the eyes of a blind man lead him but to fall into the pit.

6. Human thoughts are linked to the animal soul as consorts to their lords. They can neither sit idle nor ramble at liberty, but must remain as wives under the control of their husbands.

7. My patience is almost worn out, like that of a creeper under the winter frost. It is decayed, and neither lives nor perishes at once.

8. Our minds are partly settled in worldly things, and partly fixed in their giver (the Supreme soul). This divided state of the mind is termed its half waking condition.

9. My mind is in a state of suspense, being unable to ascertain the real nature of my soul. I am like one in the dark, who is deceived by the stump of a fallen tree at a distance, to think it a human figure.

10. Our minds are naturally fickle and wandering all about the earth. They cannot forsake their restlessness, as the vital airs cannot subsist without their motion.

11. Tell me Oh sage, what is that state of life which is dignified above others, which is unassociated with the troubles (incident to birth and death), unqualified by the conditions of humanity, and apart from errors, and wherein griefs are unknown.

12. (Tell me also) how Janaka and the other good men, who are conspicuous for their ceremonious acts, and distinguished for their good conduct, have acquired their excellence (in holy knowledge).

13. (Tell me likewise) Oh source of my honor, how a man, who is besmeared all over his body with the dirt of worldliness, may yet be cleansed and get rid of it.

14. Tell me what is that knowledge, by resorting to which, the serpents of worldliness, may be freed from their worldly crookedness, and become straight in their conduct.

15. Tell me how the foulness of my heart may regain its clearness, after it is so much soiled by errors and tainted with evils, like a lake disturbed by elephants and polluted with dirt.

16. How is it possible for one engaged in the affairs of the world, to be untainted with its blemishes, and remain as pure and intact as a drop of water on the lotus leaf.

17. How may one attain his excellence by dealing with others as with himself, and minding the goods of others as straws, and by remaining aloof from love.

18. Who is that great man that has got over the great ocean of the world, whose exemplary conduct (if followed) exempts one from misery.

19. What is the best of things that ought to be pursued after, and what is that fruit which is worth obtaining? Which is the best course of life in this inconsistent world.

20. Tell me the manner by which I may have a knowledge of the past and future events of the world, and the nature of the unsteady works of its creator.

21. Do so, that my mind which is as the moon in the sky of my heart, may be cleared of its impurities.

22. Tell me what thing is most delectable to the mind, and what most abominable to it; as also how this fickle and inconstant mind may get its fixedness like that of a rock.

23. Tell me what is that holy charm, which can remove this cholic pain of worldliness, that is attended with numberless troubles.

24. Tell me how can I entertain within my heart, the blossoms of the arbor of heavenly happiness, that sheds about it the coolness of the full-moon beams.

25. Oh ye good men! that are present and learned in divine knowledge, teach me so that I may obtain the fullness of my heart, and may not come to grief and sorrow any more.

26. My mind is devoid of that tranquility which results chiefly from holy happiness, and is perplexed with endless doubts, that disturb my peace as the dogs molest smaller animals in the desert.

CHAPTER XXXI.

QUERIES OF RÁMA.

Ráma said:—I have no reliance on the durability of life, which is as transient as a drop of water that sticks to the point of a shaking leaf on a lofty tree; and as short as the cusp of the moon on Siva’s forehead.

2. I have no credit in the durability of life, which is transient as the swelling that take place in the pouch of a frog while it croaks in the meadow. Nor have I any trust in the company of friends, which are as dangerous as the treacherous snare of hunters.

3. What can we do under the misty cloud of error (overhanging our minds), and raising our tempestuous desires which flash forth in lightnings of ambition, and burst out in the thunder claps of selfishness?

4. How shall we save ourselves from the temptations of our desires dancing like peacocks (and displaying their gaudy train) around us; and from the bustle of the world breaking in upon us as thickly as the blossoms of the _Kurchi_ plant.

5. How can we fly from the clutches of cruel Fate, who like a cat kills the living as poor mice, and falls unwearied and unexpectedly upon his prey in the twinkling of an eye.

6. What expedient, what course, what reflections, and what refuge must we have recourse to, in order to avoid the unknown tracks of future lives?

7. There is nothing so trifling in this earth below, or in the heavens above, which ye gifted men cannot raise to consequence.

8. How can this accursed, troublesome and vapid world, be relished by one unless he is infatuated by ignorance?

9. It is the fusion of desires, which produces the milky beverage of contentment, and fills the earth with delights as the spring adorns it with flowers.

10. Tell me O sage, how the mist of our desires, which darkens the moon of our intellects, is to be dispelled from our minds, so as to make it shine forth in its full brightness.

11. How are we to deal in this wilderness of the world, knowing well that it is destructive both of our present and future interest?

12. What man is there that moves about in this ocean of the earth, who has not to buffet in the waves of his passions and diseases, and the currents of his enjoyments and prosperity.

13. Tell me, O thou best of sages, how one may escape unburnt like mercury (in its chemical process), when fallen upon the furnace of the earth.

14. (How can one get rid of the world) when it is impossible for him to avoid dealing in it, in the same manner as it is not possible for aquatic animals to live without their native element.

15. Our good deeds even are not devoid (of their motives) of affection and hatred, pleasure and pain, similarly as no flame of fire is unaccompanied by its power of burning.

16. As it is not possible to restrain the mind from thinking on worldly matters, without the process of right reasoning, deign to communicate to me therefore, the dictates of sound reason for my guidance.

17. Give me the best instruction for warding off the miseries (of the world), either by my dealing with or renouncing (the affairs of life).

18. Tell me of that man of enlightened understanding who had attained to the highest state of holiness and tranquility of his mind of yore, and the deeds and manner by which he achieved the same.

19. Tell me good sir, how the saints (of old) fled out of the reach of misery, that I may learn the same for suppression of my erroneous conceptions.

20. Or if there be no such precept (as I am <in> need of) in existence, or being _in esse_, it is not to be revealed to me by any body.

21. And should I fail of myself (by intuition) to attain that highest state of tranquility, then I must remain inactive (as I am), and avoid my sense of egoism altogether.

22. I will refrain from eating and drinking even of water, and from clothing myself with apparels; I will cease from all my actions of bathing and making my offerings, as also from my diet and the like.

23. I will attend to no duty, nor care about prosperity or calamity. I will be free from all desires except that of the abandonment of this body.

24. I must remain aloof from all fears and sympathies, from selfish feelings and emulation, and continue to sit quietly as a figure in painting.

25. I will gradually do away with the inspiration and respiration of my breath and outward sensations; till I part with this trifle—the seat all of troubles—this the so called body.

26. I do not belong to this body, nor does it belong to me, nor is any thing else mine; I shall be null and void like the oil-less lamp, and abandon every thing with this body.

27. Válmíki said:—Then Ráma who was as lovely as the moon, and whose mind was well fraught with reasoning, became silent before the assemblage of the eminent men, as the peacock ceases from his screaming before the gathering clouds in awe.

CHAPTER XXXII.

PRAISES ON RÁMA’S SPEECH.