CHAPTER LXXIV. Lecture on Apathy or Stoicism.
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Valmiki and Mitra, Viharilala
80. Those who are acquainted with truth, took upon fairy forms and features in no better light than as paintings and pictures with respect to their outward bodies.
81. The sable locks and crimson lips of the fairy, are portrayed as in black and red in a picture; so there is no difference of the figure in its living form or in painting.
82. The idea of sweetness which is accompanied with that of molasses, is not to be separated in the mind even by its separation from the body; in the same manner the idea of bliss is inseparably accompanied with that of the soul, which is indestructible by the destruction of the body.
83. Spiritual felicity may be enjoyed in this corporeal body, in the same manner, as one enjoys the pleasure of imagination, while he is occupied with his bodily functions.
84. Thus a man who is steadfast in his spiritual meditation, and intent upon the supreme soul, is not to be turned away from it by the power of the gods, or by the jealousy of Indra (for the preservation of his dignity, from its being superceded by an austere devotee).
85. As there is no lover of a licentious woman, that can turn her heart from the dearest object of her love; so there is nothing in the world that can alienate the fickle mind, from its love of spiritual joy.
86. There is no such joy in the whole world, which is able to divert the mind of the magnanimous philosopher, from its reliance on the delight of intellectual light.
87. As a domiciled woman who is subject to all domestic toils and privations, and is constantly employed in her household drudgeries, and subjected to maltreatment under the subjection of her husband and father-in-law:—
88. Has still the comfort of thinking on her sweet heart, and dissipate her sorrows with the thought of her favourite lover; such is the mystic love of spiritualists (as that of Persean Mystic poets).
89. So the man who is bound to the cares of worldly affairs, has the consolation of his soul and spiritual bliss, by freeing his mind from ignorance, and conducting himself in the right way, by his comprehensive view of all things. (The worldly man may have the blessing of spiritualism).
90. He does not break under his bodily torture, nor does he wail with his bleeding heart and weeping eyes; he is not burnt by the flame of his martyrdom, nor does he die when perishing under the scourge of the stake and stock of persecution. (As the crucifixion of Mandavy did not alter the tenor of his mind. Gloss. Nor the unity of Mansur belief was changed by the cruciating pains of the cross. So says Hafiz. Kashad maqshe Ana-al Haq bar Zamin Khun; cho Mansur ar Kuni bar daram imshab).
91. The mind is free from the pain and pleasure which befal to the lot of humanity, and is unmoved amidst all the mishaps of fortune. The devotee rejoices in the region of his spiritual bliss, whether he remains in his hermitage in the forest, or wanders about in deserts, or ranges wide over mountains.