CHAPTER XLIX. GÁDHI’S GAINING OF TRUE KNOWLEDGE.
Project Gutenberg EPUB edition
Valmiki and Mitra, Viharilala
40. The heart is the nave or axis of the wheel of delusion; if thou canst stop the motion of this central power, there is nothing to disturb thee any more. (self-regret, says the gloss, serves to stop the motion of the heart).
41. Now rise and repair to the sacred bower on this mountain, and there perform your austerities for full ten years with a steady mind; so that thou mayst attain to thy perfect knowledge at the end of this period.
42. So saying, the lotus-eyed god disappeared from that place, as a flimsy cloud or candle-light or the billow of Jamuna, is put out by a slight gust of the wind.
43. Gádhi then gradually gained his dispassionateness, by means of his discrimination; as the trees fade away for want of moisture, at the end of autumn.
44. Now getting rid of the vagaries of his mind, Gádhi remained to reflect upon and blamed himself, for his fostering the false thoughts of the Chandála and the like.
45. He then with his heart melting in pity and sorrow for himself, repaired to the Rishya-mukha mount, for the purpose of making his penitence; and he sat there in the manner of a rainy cloud, stopping on the top of a mountain.
46. He relinquished all his desires, and performed his austere devotion (as it was his duty); and at last he attained the knowledge of his self, after the expiration of the tenth year of his penitence.
47. Having obtained his knowledge of himself like the great-souled Brahmá, and getting rid of his fears and sorrows in this world of retribution; he wandered about with the joy of a living liberated being, and with perfect tranquility of his mind, resembling the serene lustre of the full-moon, revolving in the sphere of the sky.