CHAPTER XXXIII. CONSIDERATION OF EGOISM.
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Valmiki and Mitra, Viharilala
40. As long as the darkness of egoism reigns over the wilderness of human life, so long doth the goblin of selfishness infest it with its wanton revelry.
41. The vile man that is seized by the avaricious demon of selfishness, is at an utter loss of any moral precept, and any mantra of his religion to satisfy his wants.
42. Ráma said:—Tell me, O venerable Bráhman, how we may be enabled to suppress our egoism or selfishness, for evading the dangers and difficulties in our course through the world.
43. Vasishtha replied:—It is by seeking to settle mind in the resplendent soul, as it shines in the transparent mirror of the intellect, that it is possible for any body to suppress the consciousness, of his self or personal existence. (i.e. By losing one’s self in the self-existence of the Supreme Soul).
44. A closer investigation into human life, proves it to be a maze full with the false shows of magic. It is not worth loving or hating, nor capable of causing our egoism or pride.
45. He whose soul is free from egoism, and devoid of the impression of the phenomenals; whose course of life runs in an even tenor, is the man who can have no sense of egoism in him. (Whose life doth in one even tenor run, and end its days as it has begun. Pope.)
46. He who knowing his internal self to be beyond the external world, and neither desires nor dislikes anything in it, but preserves the serenity of his temper at all times, is not susceptible of egoism.
47. Whoso thinks himself to be the inward noumena, and distinct from the outward phenomena, and keeps the calm equanimity of his mind, is not ruffled by the feeling of his egoism.
48. Ráma said:—Tell me, sir, what is the form of egoism, and whether it consists in the body or mind or of both of these, and whether it is got rid of with the riddance of the body.
49. Vasishtha replied:—There are three sorts of egoism, Ráma! in this triple world, two of which are of superior nature, but the third is of a vile kind and is to be abandoned by all.
50. The first is the supreme and undivided Ego, which is diffused throughout the world; it is the Supreme soul (Paramátma), beside which there is nothing in nature.
51. The feeling of this kind of egoism, leads to the liberation of men, as in the state of the living-liberated; but the knowledge of the ego, as distinct and apart from all, and thought to be as minute as the hundredth part of a hair, is the next form of self-consciousness, which is good also.
52. This second form of egoism, leads also to the liberation of human souls, even in the present state of their existence, known as the state of living-liberation (Jívan-Mukta).
53. The other kind of egoism, which is composed of the knowledge of the body, with all its members as parts of the Ego, is the last and worst kind of it, which takes the body for the soul or self.
54. This third and last kind, forms the popular belief of mankind, who take their bodies as parts of themselves; it is the basest form of egoism, and must be forsaken in the same manner, as we shun our inveterate enemies.
55. The man that is debased by this kind of egoism, can never come to his right sense; but becomes subject to all the evils of life, under the thrall of the powerful enemy.
56. Possest with this wrong notion of himself, every man is incessantly troubled in his mind by various desires, which expose him to all the evils of life.
57. By means of the better egoisms, men transform themselves to gods; but the common form of it, debases a man to the state of a beast and its attendant evils.
58. That I am not the body, is the certainty arrived at by the great and good, who believing themselves to be of the first two kinds, are superior to the vulgar.
59. Belief in the first two kinds, raises men above the common level; but that in the lower kind, brings every misery on mankind.
60. It was owing to their baser egoism, that the demons Dáma, Vyála and others, were reduced to that deplorable state, as it is related in their tale.
61. Ráma said:—Tell me, sir, the state of that man, who by discarding the third or popular kind of egoism from his mind, attains the well being of his soul in both the present and future worlds.
62. Vasishtha replied:—Having cast off this noxious egoism, (which is to be got rid of by every body), a man rests in the Supreme Spirit in the same manner, as the believers in the two other sorts of it. (i.e. Of the Supreme and superior sorts of spiritual egoisms, consisting in the belief of one’s self, as the impersonal or personal soul—the undivided or individual spirit).
63. The two former views of egoism, place the egotist in the all pervasive or all exclusive spirit (in the Ego of the Divine Unity).
64. But all these egoisms which are in reality but different forms of dualism, being lost in the unity, all consciousness of distinct personality, is absorbed in the Supreme monism.
65. The good understanding should always strive to its utmost, to get rid of its common and gross egotism, in order to feel in itself the ineffable felicity of the unity.
66. Renunciation of the unholy belief of one’s self personality in his material body, is the greatest good that one can attain to for his highest state of felicity parama padam.
67. The man that forsakes the feeling of his egoism (or personality) from his mind, is not debased nor goes to perdition by either his indifference to or management of worldly affairs. (i.e. The doing or refraining from bodily or worldly actions, is equally indifferent to the philosophic mind).
68. The man who has got rid of his egoism by the subsidence of his selfishness in himself, is indifferent to pain and pleasure, as the satiate are to the taste of sweet or sour.
69. The man detesting the pleasures of life, has his full bliss presented before himself; as the mind cleared of its doubts and darkness, has nothing hidden from its sight.
70. It is by investigation into the nature of egoism, and forsaking this gross selfishness, that a man crosses over the ocean of the world of his own accord.
71. The man who having nothing of his own, and knowing himself as nothing, yet has all and thinks himself as all in all, and who though possessed of wealth and properties, has the magnanimity of his soul to disown them to himself; he is verily situated in the Supreme soul, and finds his rest in the state of Supreme bliss. (i.e. The world is the Lord’s, and human soul as a particle of the Divine, has its share in all and every thing).