CHAPTER CI.
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Valmiki and Mitra, Viharilala
Admonition of Chúdálá.
Argument.—Obligation of the Prince for the instructions of his Monitor. And his attaining the Jívan-mukta emancipation in lifetime.
VASISHTHA said:—After the prince had so far attended to the lectures of Kumbha, he remained for some time in silent and deep meditation of his soul as if in a state of trance.
2. He continued with his intent-mind and fixed eyes and quite speechless all the while, and resembled the figure of a silent sage, and a carved statue without its motion and sensation.
3. And then as he awoke after a while with his twinkling eyes, he was thus accosted by Chúdálá in her disguised form of Kumbha the Bráhman youth.
4. Kumbha said:—Say prince, how you enjoyed yourself in your short lived trance; did you feel in it that sweet composure of thy soul, as the yogis experience in their bed of steadfast meditation and unshaken hypnotism?
5. Say, were you awakened in your inmost soul, and set at large beyond the region of error and darkness; say, have you known the knowable one, and seen what is to be seen?
6. Sikhidhwaja replied—O Sir, it was by your good grace, that I have beheld a great glory in the most high heaven of heavens.
7. I have beheld a state of bliss which is full of ambrosial delight, never yet known to mortals, and whose sight is the most ultimate reward of the wishes of the best and most intelligent men, and of saints and mahátmas of great and high souls.
8. It is in your society today, that I have felt a delight, to which I have never experienced in my life before.
9. O lotus eyed sage! I have heretofore, never enjoyed such a degree of spiritual bliss which knows no bounds and is a sea of ambrosial delight.
10. Kumbha said:—The mind becomes composed and tranquil, after subordination of its desire of enjoyments, and its indifference to the taste of sweet and bitter, and its full control over the organs of sense.
11. There arises a peace in the mind, which is purer than any earth born delight; and is as delightsome as the dew drops falling from flowers under the bright beams of cooling moonlight night.
12. It is today, O prince, that your bad desires like the bitter taste of bodies, are bettered by your advancement in knowledge.
13. It is by your holiness, O lotus-eyed prince, that the filth of your person is purged out; like the fruits of trees, falling off after they are ripened.
14. As the desire of the impure heart, becomes purified by reason it is then only capable of receiving the instructions of the wise, as the pipe draws the water inside. (Else, advising the fool is folly or spreading pearls before swines).
15. After the bitterness of your disposition, was tempered by my lectures; you have been awakened today to your spiritual knowledge by me.
16. You are just now cleansed from your impurity, and immediately purified by your pure knowledge; even now it is that you have received my admonition, and have been instantly awakened to your knowledge.
17. You are purged today, from the merits and demerits of your good and bad conduct; and it is by the influence of good society, that you have got a new life in you.
18. It was before the midday of this day, that I have come to know the edification and regeneration of your soul to spiritual light.
19. I find you now, O prince, to be wakened in your mind, by your taking my words to your heart; and having now got rid of the feelings of your mind, you are awakened to your spiritual knowledge.
20. As long as the mind has its seat and operations in the heart of man, so long does it retain its companion of ignorance by its side; but no sooner doth the mind forsake its residence in the heart, than pure knowledge comes to shine forth in it as the midday light.
21. It is the suspense of the mind between unity and duality, that is called its ignorance; and it is the subsidence of these that is known as knowledge, and the way to the salvation of the soul.
22. You are now awakened and emancipated, and your mind is driven away from your heart; you are now the reality and rescued from your unreality, and are set beyond this world of unreality. (The spiritual state is held to be real and all else as unreal).
23. Rest in the pure state of thy soul, by being devoid of cares and anxieties; forsaking all society and relying your soul in no body and in nothing here; and by your becoming as the devout and Divine and silent sage or saint or muni.
24. Sikhidhwaja said:—So I see sir, that all ignorant people rely mostly on their minds; but the few that are awakened to the knowledge of God, do not mind their minds (i.e. they are not led away by the inclinations of their minds).
25. Now sir, please tell me, how the living liberated men conduct themselves in their lifetime in this world; and how do these unmindful men like yourself, manage yourselves herein.
26. O! tell me fully and dispel by the lustre of your glowing words, the deep darkness that is seated in my heart.
27. Kumbha replied:—All that you say prince, is exact and incontrovertible truth; the minds of the living liberated men are dead in themselves, and like blocks of stone, never vegetate nor sprout forth in the wishes.
28. The gross desire that germinates in its wishes, which become the causes of the regeneration of men in some form or other, is known by the name of mind; and which becomes altogether extinct in men, knowing the truly knowable one.
29. The desire which guides the knowers of truth, in this life of action (or the active life) in the world; is known by the name of goodness (satva), and which is unproductive of future birth.
30. The great-souled and living liberated men, being placed in their quality of goodness and having their organs under control; do not place any reliance in their minds.
31. The darkened mind is called the mind, but the enlightened one is known as the principle of goodness; the unenlightened rely in their minds, but enlightened men of great understanding confide in their goodness only.
32. The mind is repeatedly born with the body, but the nature of goodness is never reborn any more; the unawakened mind is under perpetual bondage, but the enlightened soul is under no restraint.
33. Now sir, you are become of the nature of goodness, and deserves the title of the forsaker of all things; and I understand you to have quite got rid of the propensities of your mind.
34. I find you today as brilliant as the full moon, freed from the shadows of the eclipse; and your mind to have become as lucid as the clear firmament, without any tinge in it.
35. You have got that equanimity, which is characteristic of the consummate yogi; this is called that total renunciation of all, which you exhibit in yourself.
36. The enlightened understanding is freed from the trammels, of its desire of heaven and future rewards, and its observance of austerities and charity, by means of its superior knowledge. (The divine knowledge is called the superior or parávidyá in opposition to the worldly or aparávidyá).
37. All austerities and mortifications, serve but to procure a short lived cessation of pain; but the happiness which is wholly free from its decay, is to be found only in one's equanimity and indifference under all circumstances of life. (The original word is samatá or the sameness or evenness of disposition at all times).
38. That thing must be truly good, which is different from the enjoyment of temporary bliss of heaven, and altogether different from an existent pleasure, which is both preceded as well as followed by pain.