CHAPTER XVIII. LIVING LIBERATION OR TRUE FELICITY OF MAN IN THIS LIFE.
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Valmiki and Mitra, Viharilala
Argument. The True Enfranchisement of the Soul, in the Living state of man in this world.
Vasishtha continued:—I will now relate to you, O Ráma! the nature of those great men, who conduct themselves in this world, with their desires under their subjection, and whose minds are not blemished by evil inclinations.
2. The sage whose mind is freed in his life-time, conducts himself unconcerned in this world; he smiles secure at its occurrences, and is regardless of the first, last and middle stages of his life (namely: the pains of his birth and death, and the whole course of his life).
3. He is attentive to his present business, and unmindful of every other object about him; he is devoid of cares and desires, and his thought is of his internal cogitations only.
4. He is free from anxiety in all places, who tolerates whatever he happens to meet with; he sees the light of reason in his soul, and walks in the romantic groves of his musings.
5. He rests in that transcendental bliss, with prospects as bright as the cooling beams of the full-moon, who is neither elated nor depressed in any state of his life, nor droops down under any circumstance.
6. Whose generosity and manliness do not forsake him, even when he is beset by his bitterest enemies; and who is observant of his duties to his superiors, such a man is not crest-fallen in this world.
7. Who neither rejoices nor laments at his lot, nor envies nor hankers after the fortune of another; but pursues his own business in quiet silence, is the man that is never down-cast in this world.
8. Who, when asked, says what he is doing, but unasked remains as a dead block; and is freed from desire and disgust; he is never depressed in his heart and mind. (The Urdu poet expresses this sort of unconcern, more beautifully, when he says:—Should one ask you of aught, look to his face and reply him not. Koi kuch’h puchhe to munh dekh kar chup rahjana &c. And who so understands the hearts of men, is never sick at his heart).
9. He speaks agreeably to every one, and utters gently what he is required to say; he is never put out of countenance, who understands the intentions of others. (Speaking agreeably or his questioners means what pleases every body, be it good or bad for him as it is said in Chánakya’s excerpta: सत्यं ब्रुयात् प्रियम्ब्रुयात्, न ब्रुयात् सत्यमप्रियं. Because says Bháraví: ‘It is rare to have a useful saying, which is delectable also at the same time’. हितं मनोहारिचदुर्लमवचस).
10. He sees the right and wrong dealings of men, and the acts of the depraved desires of their minds; but knowing all human affairs as clearly as in a mirror in his hand, he holds his peace with every one.
11. Standing on his firm footing (of nonchalance), and knowing the frailty of worldly things, he smiles at the vicissitudes of nature with the cold frigidity (sang froid) of his heart (like the laughing philosopher).
12. Such is the nature, Ráma, of the great souls, who have subdued their minds, and know the course of nature, as I have described to you.
13. I am unable to describe to you, the fond beliefs of the minds of the ignorant populace, who are plunged in the mud of their sensual enjoyments (like earthly worms). (Who are of ungoverned minds).
14. Women, devoid of understanding, and graced with their personal charms, are the idols of these people; who are fond of their golden forms, without knowing them to be the flames of hell fire.
15. Wealth, the fond object of the foolish people, is fraught with every ill and evil desire; its pleasure is poison and productive of misery, and its prosperity is replete with dangers.
16. Its use in the doing of meritorious deeds, and various acts of piety, is also fraught with a great many evils, which I have not the power to recount. (The works of merit being productive of pride and passions, and those of piety being the source of transmigration).
17. Therefore Ráma! keep your sight on the full view (clairvoyance) of your spirit, by retracting it from the external visibles and internal thoughts; and conduct yourself in this world as one liberated in his life-time.
18. Being free from all your inward passions and feelings of affection, and having given up all your desires and expectations; continue in the performance of your outward duties in this world.
19. Follow all your duties in life with a noble pliability of your disposition; but preserve the philosophic renunciation of everything in your mind, and conduct yourself accordingly in this world.
20. Think well on the fleeting states of all earthly things, and fix your mind in the lasting nature of your soul; and thus conduct yourself in this transitory stage, with the thoughts of eternity in your mind.
21. Conduct yourself, Ráma, with your inward indifference and want of all desire: but show your outward desire for whatever is good and great. Be cold blooded within yourself but full of ardour in your external demeanour.
22. Conduct yourself among men, O Ráma! with a feigned activity in your outward appearance, but with real inaction in your mind; show yourself as the doer of your deeds, but know in your mind to be no actor at all.
23. Conduct yourself such, O Ráma! with your full knowledge of this world, as if you are acquainted with the natures of all beings herein; and go wherever you please with your intimate acquaintance of everything there.
24. Demean yourself with mankind, with a feigned appearance of joy and grief, and of condolence and congratulation with others, and an assumed shape of activity and action among mankind.
25. Manage yourself, O Ráma! with full possession of your mind, and untinged by pride and vanity, as if it were as clear as the spotless sky.
26. Go on through your life unshackled by the bonds of desire, and join in all the outward acts of life, with an unaltered evenness of your mind under every circumstance.
27. Do not give room to the thoughts of your bondage or liberation in this world, nor of the embodiment or release of your soul here; but think the revolving worlds to be a magic scene, and preserve perfect tranquility of your mind.
28. Know all this as an illusion, and it is ignorance only, that presents the false appearance of the world to sight; and yet we take them for true, as you view the water in the burning beams of the sun in a desert.
29. The unobstructed, uniform and all pervading soul, can have no restriction or bondage; and what is unrestricted in itself, cannot have its release also.
30. It is want of true knowledge, that presents the false view of the world before us; but the knowledge of truth disperses the view; as the knowledge of the rope, dispels the fallacy of the snake in it.
31. You have known the true essence of your being by your right discernment (that it is He—the Sat); you are thereby freed from the sense of your personality, and are set free as the subtile air.
32. You have known the truth, and must give up your knowledge of untruth, together with the thoughts of your friends and relatives, all which are unreal in their natures.
33. Such being the case, you must consider yourself (your soul), as something other than those: and that you have received the same, from the Supreme source of all.
34. This soul bears no relation to your friends or possession, to your good or evil actions, or to anything whatever in this world;
35. When you are convinced that this very soul constitutes your essence; you have nothing to fear from the erroneous conception of the world, which is no more than a misconception.
36. You can have no concern, with the weal or woe of a friend or foe, who is not born so to you; for every one being born for himself, you have no cause of joy or grief for any body (whether he is friendly or not to you).
37. If thou knowest that thou hadst been before (creation), and shalt be so for everafterwards (to eternity); you are truly wise.
38. Shouldst thou feel so much for the friends, by whom thou art beset in this life; why dost thou then not mourn for them, that are dead and gone in thy present and past lives?
39. If thou wert something otherwise than what thou art at present, and shalt have to be something different from what now thou art, why then shouldst thou sorrow for what has not its self-identity? (i.e. the body which is changed in all its transmigrations).