CHAPTER LXXXXIII. Universal Indifference or Insouciance.
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Valmiki and Mitra, Viharilala
79. So is he who watches over a thing as if he winks at it; and smells a thing as if he has no smell of the same; and while his senses are engaged with their respective objects, his soul and mind are quite aloof from them.
80. This absence of mind is well known to persons sitting at their homes, and thinking of their lodging in another land; and this case of the wandering attention, is known even to boys and to ignorant people also.
81. It is attention which is the cause of the perception of sensible objects, and it is the attachment of the mind which is the cause of human society; it is mental concern that causes our desires, and it is this concernedness of ours about other things, that is the cause of all our woe.
82. It is the abandonment of connections, which is called liberation, and it is the forsaking of earthly attachments, which releases us from being reborn in it; but it is freedom from worldly thoughts, that makes us emancipate in this life. (Freedom in this state, makes us free in the next).
83. Ráma said:—Tell me briefly my lord, that dost like a gale blow away the mist of my doubts; what are these connections that we are to get rid of, in order to be freed both in this life and in the next.
84. Vasishtha answered:—that impure desire of the pure soul, for the presence or absence of something which tends to our pleasure or pain, is called our attachment to the same. (The desire of having the desirable and avoiding the contrary, is the cause of our attachment to the one, and our unconnection with the other).
85. Those who are liberated in their lifetime, foster the pure desire which is unattended by joy or grief; and is not followed by future regeneration (or metempsychosis of the soul).
86. Thus the pure desire being unconnected with any worldly object, is styled unworldly and is apart from the world; it continues through life, and whatever actions are done by it, they do not tend to the bondage of the soul, nor lead it to future transmigrations.
87. The ignorant men that are not liberated, in their present state of existence in this world, entertain impure desires causing their pleasure and pain in this life, and conducing to their bondage to repeated transmigrations in future.
88. This impure desire is expressed also by the term attachment, which leads its captive soul to repeated births; and whatsoever actions are done by it, they tend to the faster bondage of the miserable soul.
89. Abandon therefore thy desire for, and thy attachment to anything of this kind, which is at best but to the trouble of the soul; and thy freedom from them will keep thy mind pure, although thou mayst continue to discharge thy duties of life, with a willing mind and unenslaved soul.
90. If thou canst remain unaffected by joy or grief, or pleasure or pain, and unsubjected by passions, and unsubdued by fear and anger; thou becomest impassible and indifferent.
91. If you do not pine in your pain, or exult in your joy, and if you are not elated by hope, nor depressed by despair; you are truly unconcerned about them.
92. If you conduct your affairs with equanimity, both in your prosperity and adversity; and do not lose your temper in any circumstance of life, you are truly insensible and regardless of them.
93. When you can know the soul, and by knowing it you can see the same in yourself; and manage yourself with evenness, under any circumstance as it may happen to thee; you are then unconscious of them.
94. Rely Ráma, in your easily obtainable insouciance and stick firmly to your liberation in this life; be passionless and even tempered, and rest in your peace for ever.
95. That man is honourable, who is free from the feverish passions of pride, giddiness and envy in his mind; and possessing his liberation, taciturnity and full mastery over his organs of sense.
96. So is he who retains his equanimity and meekness of mind, in all things which are presented before him; and never deviates from the connate duties of his caste, to do others which bear no relation with him.
97. One who attends to his hereditary duties, which are co-natural with him, and discharges them with a mind freed from all concern and expectation, is truly happy in himself.
98. Whether under the trial of troubles and tribulations, or under the temptations of rank and prosperity; the great minded man, does not transgress his intrinsic nature, as the Milky ocean does not tarnish its whiteness, though perturbed under the charming Mandara mountain.
99. Whether gaining the sovereignty of the earth, or elevated to the dignity of the lord of gods; or degraded to grovel upon the earth, or lowered to a creeping worm underneath the ground; the great minded man remains unchanged at his rise and fall, as the bright sun remains the same, both in his elevation and culmination.
100. Freed from tumults and differences of faith, and exempted from pursuits for different results, employ your great mind, O Ráma! to the highest duty of investigation into the nature of the soul, and securing your ultimate liberation by it.
101. Live by the clear and purpling stream of your investigation, and you will come to rely in the undecaying and unsullied state of the pure soul; and then by coming to the knowledge and sight of the Supreme Spirit, by the light of your understanding; you will no more be bound to the bonds of future births upon this earth.