CHAPTER XXXII. ON GOOD CONDUCT.
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Valmiki and Mitra, Viharilala
Argument. Passing from the meaner to higher births, is the way to the attainment of Liberation, and supreme felicity.
Ráma said:—Tell me sir, how Dáma, Vyála and Kata obtained their liberation at last like all other virtuous souls, and got released from the torments of hell, like children getting rid of the fear of Yakshas and Pisáchas.
2. Vasishtha replied:—Hear, O thou support of Raghu’s race! what Yama said in respect of Dáma, Vyála and their companions, when they besought for their liberation through his attendants in hell.
3. That Dáma and others would obtain their liberation, upon their release from their demoniac bodies by death; and upon hearing the account of their lives and actions.
4. Ráma said:—Tell me sir, how, when and from what source, Dáma and others, came to learn the accounts of their lives, and in what manner they obtained their release from hell.
5. Vasishtha replied:—These demons being transformed to fishes in a pool, by the bank of the great lotus lake in Kashmere, underwent many miserable births, in their finny forms in the same bog.
6. Being then crushed to death in that marshy ground under the feet of buffaloes, they were transformed afterwards to the shapes of cranes, frequenting that lake of lotuses.
7. There they fed upon the moss and mushrooms and tender petals of lotuses, and had to live upon the leaves of aquatic plants and creepers, that floated on the surface of the waves.
8. They swung in cradles of flowers, and rested on beds of blue lotuses; and dived in vortices of the waters, or flew under the cooling showers of rainy clouds.
9. These charming cranes and herons, were at last becleansed of their brutish foulness, by their vegetable food of sweet fruits and flowers, and by their pure beverage of the crystal lake, the food of holy saints.
10. Having by these means obtained a clear understanding, they were prepared for their release from the brutish state, as men when enabled to distinguish and get hold of the qualities of satva and rajas (i.e. of goodness and virtue), from that of tamas or wrong and evil, are entitled to their liberation.
11. Now there is a city by name of Adhisthána, in the happy valley of Kashmere, which is beset by mountains and trees on all sides, and very romantic in its appearance.
12. There is a hill in the midst of that city known as Pradyumna Sekhara, which bears resemblance to a pistil, rising from the pericarp within the cell of a lotus-flower.
13. On the top of that hill, there is an edifice towering above all other buildings; and piercing the sky with its high turrets, which appears like pinnacles above its summit.
14. On the north-east corner of that edifice, there is a hollow at the top of its towering head; which is overgrown with moss, and is continually resounding to the blowing winds.
15. There the demon Vyála built his nest in the form of a sparrow, and chirped his meaningless notes, as one repeats the Vedic hymns without knowing their meanings. (This chanting is elsewhere compared with the croaking of frogs).
16. There was at that time a prince in the same city, by name of Yasaskara or the renowned, who reigned there like Indra over the gods in heaven.
17. Then the demon Dáma became a gnat and dwelt in that dwelling, and continued to buzz his low tune in the crevice of a lofty column of that building.
18. It then came to pass, that the citizens of Adhisthána, prepared a play ground by name of Ratnávatí-vehara in that city.
19. There the minister of the king known as Narasinha by name, took his residence. He understood the fates of human kind, as the astronomer knows the stars of heaven on a small celestial globe, which he holds in his hand.
20. It happened at that time, that the deceitful demon Kata, is as reborn as a parrot, and became the favourite of the minister, by being kept in a silver cage in his house.
21. It then turned out that the minister recited this poetical narrative of the Titan war to the inmates of the house.
22. And the parrot Kata, happening to hear it, remembered his past life, whereby he was absolved of his sins, and attained his final liberation.
23. The sparrow dwelling on the top of the Pradyumna hill, also chanced to hear the narration of his life in that place, and obtained his emancipation thereby.
24. Dáma who in the form of a gnat, resided in the palace, happened also to hear the minister’s recital of his tale, and obtained thereby his peace and release.
25. In this manner, O Ráma! the sparrow on the Pradyumna mount, the gnat in the palace, and the parrot on the play ground, had all their liberation.
26. Thus I have related to you the whole of the story of the demon Dáma and others, which will fully convince you of the vanity of the world.
27. It is the ignorant only that are tempted to vanity by their error, as they are led to the delusion of water in a mirage; and so the great also are liable like these demons, to fall low from their high stations by their error.
28. Think of one of these, that reduced the high Meru and Mandara mountains with a nod of his eyebrows, was constrained to remain as a contemptible gnat in the chink of a pillar in the palace. (So the huge Satan entered the body of the small and hateful serpent, and the gigantic devils in the hateful bodies of the herd of swine).
29. Look at another who threatened to destroy the sun and moon with a slap, living at last as a poor sparrow in a hole of the peak of the Pradyumna mountain.
30. Look at the third who balanced the mount Meru like a flower bouquet in his hand, lying imprisoned as a parrot in the cage at the house of Nrisingha.
31. When the sphere of the pure intellect, is tinged with the hue of egotism, it is debased to another form without changing its nature (by another birth).
32. It is because of the wrong desire of a man that he takes the untruth for truth, as if by the excessive thirst of a person, that he mistakes the mirage for water, and thereby loses both his way and his life.
33. Those men only can ford across the ocean of the world, who by the natural bent of their good understanding, are inclined to the study of the sástras, and look forward to their liberation, by rejecting whatever is vicious and untrue.
34. Those who are prone to false reasoning and heresy, by rejecting the revelations, are subject to various changes and miseries, and fall like the running water into the pit, by loss of their best interests in life.
35. But those who walk by the dictates of conscience, and follow the path pointed by the Ágama (Veda), are saved from destruction, and attain their best state (of perfection and bliss).
36. O highminded Ráma! he whose mind always longs after having this thing and that, loses the best gain of his manliness (parama purushártha) by his avarice, and leaves not even ashes or traces behind.
37. The high-minded man regards the world as a straw, and shuns all its concerns as a snake casts off its slough.
38. He whose mind is illumined by the wondrous light of truth, is always taken under the protection of the gods, as the mundane egg is protected by Brahmá (or rather under the wings of Brahmá’s swan, hatching over its egg).
39. Nobody should walk in paths which are long and wearisome, crooked and winding, and encompassed by dangers and difficulties; because Ráhu—the ascending node, lost its life by its curvilinear course, to drink the nectarine beams of the moon.