CHAPTER XXXIV. PRAHLÁDA’S SELF KNOWLEDGE OF SPIRITUALISM.
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Valmiki and Mitra, Viharilala
80. Ah! how delightful is the view of flowering gardens, and how unpleasant is the sight of the burning deserts of sand; how very quiet are these intellectual reveries, and how very boisterous are the cravings of our hearts!
81. There is no happiness to be had in this earth, that would make us wish for our sovereignty in it; all happiness consists in the peace of the mind, which it concerns us always to seek.
82. It is the calm, quiet and unaltered state of the mind, that gives us true happiness in all conditions of life; and the true realm of things in all places and at all times, and under every circumstance in life.
83. It is the virtue of sunlight to enlighten all objects, and that of moonlight to fill us with its ambrosial draughts; but the light of Brahma transcends them both, by filling the three worlds with its spiritual glory; which is brighter than sun-beams, and cooler than moon-light.
84. The power of Siva stretches over the fulness of knowledge, and that of Vishnu over victory and prosperity (Jayas-Lakshmí). Fleetness is the character of the mental powers, and force is the property of the wind.
85. Inflammation is the property of fire, and moisture is that of water; taciturnity is the quality of devotees for success of devotion, and loquacity is the qualification of learning.
86. It is the nature of the aerials to move about in the air, and of rocks to remain fixed on the ground; the nature of water is to set deep and run downwards; and that of mountains to stand and rise upwards.
87. Equanimity is the nature of Saugatas or Buddhists, and carousing is the penchant of wine-bibbers; the spring delights in its flowering, and the rainy season exults in the roaring of its clouds.
88. The Yakshas are full of their delusiveness, and the celestials are familiar with cold and frost, and those of the torrid zone are inured in its heat. (This passage clearly shows the heaven of the Hindus, to have been in the northern regions of cold and frost).
89. Thus are many other beings suited to their respective climes and seasons, and are habituated to the very many modes of life and varieties of habits; to which they have been accustomed in the past and present times.
90. It is the one Uniform and Unchanging Intellect, that ordains these multiform and changing modifications of powers and things, according to its changeable will and velocity.
91. The same unchanging Intellect presents these hundreds of changing scenes to us, as the same and invariable light of the sun, shows a thousand varying forms and colour to the sight.
92. The same Intellect sees at a glance, these great multitudes of objects, that fill the infinite space on all sides, in all the three times of the present, past and future.
93. The selfsame pure Intellect knows at once, the various states of all things presented in this vast phenomenal world, in all the three times that are existent, gone by and are to come hereafter.
94. This pure Intellect reflects at one and the same time, all things existent in the present, past and future times; and is full with the forms of all things existing in the infinite space of the universe.
95. Knowing the events of the three times, and seeing the endless phenomena of all worlds present before it, the divine intellect continues full and perfect in itself and at all times.
96. The understanding ever continues the same and unaltered, notwithstanding the great variety of its perceptions of innumerables of sense and thought: such as the different tastes of sweet and sour in honey and nimba fruit at the same time. (i.e. The varieties of mental perception and conception, make no change in the mind), as the reflexion of various figures makes no change in the reflecting glass.
97. The intellect being in its state of arguteness, by abandonment of mental desires, and knowing the natures of all things by reducing their dualities into unity:—
98. It views them alike with an equal eye and at the same time; notwithstanding the varieties of objects and their great difference from one another. (i.e. All the varieties blend into unity).
99. By viewing all existence as non-existence, you get rid of your existing pains and troubles, and by seeing all existence in the light of nihility, you avoid the suffering of existing evils.
100. The intellect being withdrawn from its view of the events of the three tenses (i.e. the occurrences of the past, present and future times), and being freed from the fetters of its fleeting thoughts, there remains only a calm tranquility.
101. The soul being inexpressible in words, proves to be a negative idea only; and there ensues a state of one’s perpetual unconsciousness of his soul or self-existence. (This is the state of anæsthesia, which is forgetting oneself to a stock and stone).
102. In this state of the soul it is equal to Brahma, which is either nothing at all or the All of itself; and its absorption in perfect tranquilness is called its liberation (moksha) or emancipation from all feelings (bodhas).
103. The intellect being vitiated by its volition, does not see the soul in a clear light, as the hoodwinked eye has naught but a dim and hazy sight of the world.
104. The intellect which is vitiated by the dirt of its desire and dislike, is impeded in its heavenly flight, like a bird caught in a snare. (Nor love nor hate of aught, is the best state of thought).
105. They who have fallen into the snare of delusion by their ignorant choice of this or that, are as blind birds falling into the net in search of their prey.
106. Entangled in the meshes of desire, and confined in the pit of worldliness, our fathers were debarred from this unbarred sight of spiritual light and endless delight.
107. In vain did our forefathers flourish for a few days on the surface of this earth; only to be swept away like the fluttering flies and gnats, by a gust of wind into the ditch.
108. If these foolish pursuers after the painful pleasures of the world, had known the path of truth they would never fall into the dark pit of unsubstantial pursuits.
109. Foolish folks being subjected to repeated pains and pleasures by their various choice of things; follow at last the fate of ephemeral worms, that are born to move and die in their native ditches and bogs (i.e. as they are born of earth and dust so do they return to dust and earth again).
110. He is said to be really alive who lives true to nature, and the mirage of whose desires and aversion, is suppressed like the fumes of his fancy, by the rising cloud of his knowledge of truth.
111. The hot and foul fumes of fancy, fly afar from the pure light of reason, as the hazy mist of night, is dispersed by the bright beams of moon-light.
112. I hail that soul which dwells as the inseparable intellect in me; and I come at last to know my God, that resides as a rich gem enlightening all the worlds in myself.
113. I have long thought upon and sought after thee, and I have at last found thee rising in myself; I have chosen thee from all others; and whatever thou art, I hail thee, my Lord! as thou appearest in me.
114. I hail thee in me, O lord of gods, in thy form of infinity within myself, and in the shape of bliss within my enraptured soul; I hail thee, O Supreme Spirit! that art superior to and supermost of all.
115. I bow down to that cloudless light, shining as the disk of the full-moon in me; and to that self-same form, which is free from all predicates and attributes. It is the self risen light in myself, and that felicitous selfsame soul, which I find in myself alter ego.