CHAPTER CLXXXIII. Description of the seven continents.
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Valmiki and Mitra, Viharilala
40. Upon his saying so, the curse felt ashamed in itself, and fled away from the presence of the god; as the ghosts and goblins fly away from the air, at the dispersion of darkness from the sky.
41. Then the other blessing (which was given by the goddess Gaurí to the ladies of these brothers), concerning the restriction of their departed ghosts, to the confines of their house, came forward and presented itself before Brahmá in lieu of the curse, and began to plead his case, as a substitute does for his constituent.
42. He said:—I know not, O Lord of gods, how human souls can fly over the seven continents of the earth, after their separation from their dead bodies (Deign to explain this therefore unto me.)
43. I am the same blessing of the goddess, that promised unto them their dominion over the seven continents in their own house; and also their conquest of the whole earth within its confines.
44. Now tell me, O Lord of gods, how am I to restrain their spirits to the narrow limits of their own abodes; and at the same time confer the domain of the septuple earth, to each and every one of them (as it is destined to them by the blessing of the God of day.)
45. Brahmá responded:—Hear me, O thou blessing of conferring the realms of the seven continents on each of them; and thou the boon of detaining their departed spirits within the confines of these mansions; that both of you are successful in executing your respective purposes on them.
46. Now do you retire from this place with full assurance in yourselves, that the delivered ghosts of these brothers; will never quit nor ever depart from their present abodes after their demise; but continue to reside there forever more; with the belief of their being the Lords of the seven regions of this earth. (It is the firm belief of the mind of the possession of anything, that makes it the true possessor thereof, much more than its actual enjoyment of the same).
47. Their souls will remain at proper distances from each other, after the loss and extinction of their frail bodies; and will deem themselves as lords of the seven regions of earth, though dwelling in the empty air of their own abodes.
48. How could there be the eight regions and seven continents of the earth, when to all appearance the surface of the earth, presents but a flat level everywhere.
49. Tell us Lord! where are these different divisions of the earth situated, and in what part of their petty abode; and is it not as impossible for the small place of their house to contain this wide earth in it, as it is for the little cell of a lotus bud to hide an elephant in its pericarp.
50. Brahmá replied:—It being quite evident to you as to ourselves also, that the universe is composed of an infinite vacuity only; it is not impossible for its being contained within the hollow of the human heart, as in the minute particle of the vacuous mind, which contains all things in it in the manner of its dreams.
51. If it were possible for the minute granule of their vacuous minds, to contain the figures of their houses and their domestic circles within itself, why should it be thought impossible for them, to compress the greater and lesser circle of this earth also, within their ample space.
52. After the demise of a person, the world exhibits itself in the same form as it is, in the minute atom of his mind; and this is but a vacuous mass of the visible and material world, in its invisible and imaginary figure.
53. It is in this invisible particle of the mind, that the world is seen in its abstract form, within the precincts of the body and abode of every body; and this earth appears to be drawn in it as in a map, with all its sevenfold continents and the contents thereof.
54. Whatever is manifest in the mind, is a mere mental conception and inborn in the mind, and there is no such thing as an extraneous or material world in reality. It is the vacant mind that presents these vagaries of the world and all other visibles before its vision, as the vacuous firmament shows the variety of atmospherical appearances to our sight.
55. The personified benediction, having learnt this abstract truth, from the mouth of the divine Brahmá, who had conferred this boon to the Bráhmanical brothers, abandoned his erroneous conception of the material world, and repaired to the abode of the deceased brethren, that had been released from the mistake of their mortal bodies.
56. The personated blessing bowed down to the bounteous Brahmá, and departing from his presence with speed, entered into the parlour of the eight brother kings, in his eight-fold spiritual personality (called the ashta siddhi).
57. They beheld the brothers there in their respective residences, each sitting as the Lord of the earth with its septuple continents, and all of them employed in the performance of their sacrifices and enjoyment of their blessings, like the eight Lordly Manus for the whole period of a day of Brahmá.
58. They were all friendly to each other, though unacquainted with the respective provinces of one another; each of them was employed in his concern with the world, without clashing with the authority of another over it.
59. One of them who was handsome in the bloom of his youth; held his happy reign over the great city of Ujjain, which was situated in the precincts of his own house, or rather in the environs of his own mind.
60. Another one of them had his domain over the country of Scythia (sáka), where he settled himself for his conquest of the Nágas (saccae); he cruises as a corsair in the wide outlandish seas, for his victory on every side.
61. Another reigns secure in his capital of Kusadwípa, and confers perfect security to his subjects from all alarm; and like a hero who has quelled his enemies, he rests in peace on the bosom of his beloved, after all his conquest.
62. Some one of them indulges himself to sport, in company with the celestial Nymphs of Vidyádhara; in skimming over the waters of the lakes on mountain tops, and in the gushing water falls on their side.
63. Another one is engaged these eight days in conducting his horse sacrifice in his royal abode at Krauncha dwípa, which he has greatly aggrandised with his accumulated gold, from the other continents.
64. Another one is employed in waging a battle in the Sálmali continents, where his war elephants have assembled, and have been uprooting the boundary mountain from their bases with robust tusks.
65. The Monarch of the Gomedha continent, who had been the eighth and last of the Bráhman brothers, was smitten with love for the princess of the Pushkara dwípa; upon which he mustered a large armament for ravishing her in warfare.
66. The monarch of the Pushkara continent, who was also the master of the Mountainous regions of Lokáloka; set out with his deputy to inspect the land of the gold mines.
67. Thus every one of these brothers, thought himself to be the Lord of his respective province, as his imagination portrayed unto him in the region of his mind.
68. The Blessings then, having relinquished their several forms and personalities, became united and one with the consciousness of the Bráhmans, and felt and saw whatever passed in them, as if they were passing in themselves likewise. (The divine blessing on them being no other than the approbation of their conscience).
69. So these brothers became and found in themselves, what they had long been longing after, in their respective lordship over the seven regions of the earth, which they continued to enjoy ever since to their heart’s content.
70. It was in this manner that these men of enlarged understandings, obtained what they sought in their minds, by means of their austere devotion and firm devotedness to their purpose. So it is with the learned that they find everything beside them, whatever they are intent upon in their minds, by means of their acting upon the same principle, and using the proper means conducing to that end.