The Yoga-Vasishtha Maharamayana of Valmiki, vol. 3 (of 4) part 2 (of 2)-30

72. Chúdálá said:—I have travelled far and wide over many

countries on the surface of this earth, and have never met with

so hearty a reception and such honors; as I have now received

from thee.

73. Thy humility, courtesy and complacence bespeak thee

to be highly favoured of the Gods, and betoken thee to be attended

with long life on earth. (Because the meek and gentle

are said to be long lived on earth).

74. Tell me O devotee, whether you have ever applied your

mind towards the acquirement of your final liberation and extinction;

after the abandonment of all your earthly desires, by

the magnanimity and tranquillization of your soul for a long time.

(It is true you have long forsaken the vanities of the world,

but have you set your heart to seek the eternal emancipation of

your soul?).

75. You have, my dear Sir, chosen a very painful alternative

for your final liberation, that you have made the vow of your

undergoing the hardship of this forest life, by forsaking the

care of your large dominion. (The care of the state is painful,

but the pains of hermitage are much more so).

76. Sikhidhwaja replied:—I wonder not that thou must

know all things, being a God thyself and thou wearest this form

of the Bráhman boy, yet the supernatural beauty of thy person,

bespeaks thee to be an all-knowing deity.

77. Methinks these members of the body, are bedewed[Pg 483]

with the ambrosial beam of moonlight, or how could thy very

appearance shed such nectarious peace even at the first sight.

78. O handsome boy! I see in thy person a great resemblance

of the features of my beloved one, who is now reigning

over my kingdom (and whom perhaps I will see no more in

this life).

79. Please now to refresh thy fair and fatigued frame, with

wearing these flowery chaplet from the head to foot; as the

vest of a hoary cloud, invests a mountain from its top to

bottom.

80. I see thy face as beautiful, as the stainless moon; and

thy limbs as delicate, as tender petals of flowers; and I find

them now waning and fading under the solar gleams.

81. Know pretty youth that it was for the service of the

gods, that I had wreathed the flowers together; and now I

offer and bequeath them to thee, that art no less a God to me.

82. My life is crowned today with its best luck by its

service of a guest like thyself, for it is said by the wise that

attendance on guests is meritorious than the merit of attending

on the Gods. (Hence the law of Hospitality is not less binding

on the Hindu than it is with the Bedouin Arabs).

83. Now deign O moon faced deva (deity) to reveal unto

me what God thou art, and the progeny of what deity that

dost deign to dignify me with thy visit; please tell me all this

and remove the doubts that disturb my breast.

84. The Bráhman boy replied:—Hear me, prince, relate

to thee all that thou requirest to know of me; for who is there

so uncivil, that will deceive and not comply to the request of

his humble suppliant.

85. There lives in this world, the well known, the holy

saint Nárada by name; who is the snowy spot of pure camphor,

on the face of those that are famed for the purity of their

lives.

86. It was at one time that this Godly saint sat in his devotion

in a cavern of the golden mountain; where the holy river

of Gangá, fast flows with her running current and huge billows

dashing against the shore.

[Pg 484]

87. The saint stepped out once to the beach of the river,

to see how it glided on in its course; like a necklace of gems

torn down from the mountain on high.

88. He heard there at once the tinkling sound of trinkets

and bracelets, and a mixed murmur of vocal voice; and felt the

curiosity to know what it was and whence it came.

89. He lightly looked towards the sacred stream and observed

there an assemblage of young ladies, who equalled the

celestial nymphs Rambhá and Tilottamá in the beauty of their

persons; who had come out to sport by and bathe in the clear

waters of the holy river.

90. They plunged and played in the waters removed from

the sight of men, and were all naked with their uncovered

breasts; blooming as the buds of golden lotuses in the lake.

91. These were jogging to and fro and dashing against one

another like the ripened fruits of trees, and seemed to be filled

with flavoured liquor for the giddiness of their observers.

92. Their swollen bosoms formed the sanctuary of the God

of love, and were washed by the pure waters of the sacred

river.

93. Their fullness with luscious liquor, put to blush the

sweet waters of the sacred river of Gangá; they were as mound

in the garden of paradise, and as the wheels of the car for the

God Káma to ride upon.

94. Their buttocks were as pillars of the bridge in water,

obstructing and dividing the free passage of the waters of the

Ganges; and their upper part of the body, gives a lustre of

world's beauty.

95. The shadow of one another's body was clearly visible to

the naked eye, on the limpid waters of the Gangá; like a

Kalpa tree in rainy season, with all its branches.

96. The thick verdure of the verdant season, had put to

shade the light of the day; and the flying dust of flowers, had

filled the forest air with fragrance.

97. Water-fowls of various kinds were sporting on the

banks, as they do by the sea side and about the watering places[Pg 485]

round the trees; while the budding breasts of these dames,

had put to blush the blooming buds of lotuses.

98. They held up their faces, which were as beautiful as a

bud of lotuses; while their loosened hairs hung by them, like

swarms of bees; and the loose glances of their eye-balls, were

playing as the fluttering black-bees.

99. Their swollen breasts resembling the aureate lotuses,

which were used by the Gods as golden cups to hide their ambrosial

nectar; therein for fear of its being ravished by the demons

and demi-Gods.

100. They were now seen to be hiding themselves in the secret

bowers and caverns of the mountain, like lotuses hidden under

foliage; and now hastening to the cooling beach of the river, to

leave their lovely limbs in its limpid stream.

101. The saint saw the bevy of the young ladies, resembling

the body of the full moon complete with all its digits; and his

mind was ravished with their beauty (as the minds of men are

turned to the delirium of lunacy by looking at the moon-light).

102. He lost the balance of his reason, and became elated

with giddiness; and his breath of his life throbbed in his heart,

by impulse of the delight that raged and boiled in his breast.

103. At last the excess of his rapture, gave effusion of his

passion; as the fullness of a cloud in summer, breaks out in water

in the rainy weather.

104. The saint turned as wan as a waning moon, and as the pale

moon-light in frost; and like a fading plant, torn from its supporting

tree.

105. He faded as the stalk of a creeper parted in two, and

withered away as a sapling after it has lost its juicy sap.

106. Sikhidhwaja asked:—How is it that the pure and

peerless saint, who is liberated in his life time and acquainted

with all knowledge; who is void of desires and devoid of passions,

and who is as pure as the clear air both in the inside

as well as outside of his body?

107. How is it that even he the holy Nárada himself, could

lose his patience and countenance who leads his life of celibacy

all along?

[Pg 486]

108. Chúdálá replied:—Know, O princely sage! that all

living beings in the three worlds not excepting even the Gods;

have their bodies composed of both ingredients (of good and

evil) by their very nature.

109. Some remain in ignorance, and others in knowledge to

the end of their lives; and some remaining in happiness, and

others in misery to the end of their days.

110. Some thrive in happiness with their virtue of contentment

and the like, and are enlightened in their minds like a

room by the light of the lamps; and as the bosom of the sea by

the light of the luminaries of heaven.

111. Some are tormented by their hunger and poverty, and

are involved in misery like the face of nature under the darkness

of clouds.

112. The true and pure reality of the soul (divine spirit),

being once lost to one's sight (the visible or phenomenal world):

makes its appearance before him, like a dark and thick cloud of

rainy weather.

113. Though one may be employed in his continuous investigation

into spirituality, yet a moment's neglect of his

spiritualism is sure to darken his spiritual light; as the apparition

of the world appears to sight.

114. As the succession of light and darkness makes the

course of the day and night, so the return of the pain and

pleasure indicates the progress of life. (This variety kills the

monotony of life).

115. Thus the two states of pleasure and pain, are known to

accompany over lives from birth to death; as the results of our

prior acts (of merit and demerit).

116. This impression of past life marks the lives of the

ignorant entirely, as the red colouring sticks for ever in a

cloth; but it is not so with the intelligent, whose knowledge of

truth wipes off the stigma of their pristine acts.

117. As the eternal hue of a gem, whether it be good or

bad, is exhibited on the outside of it; and also as a crystal

stone, however clear it may be, takes the colour of the outward[Pg 487]

object in it (so the ignorant exhibit their inherent nature

in their outward conduct, and partake also the qualities of their

surroundings).

118. But it is not so with the intelligent knower of truth

(tatwajna), whose soul is free from all inward and outward impressions

in his life time; and whose mind is never tinged like

that of the ignorant, by the reflexion of anything about him.

(Knowledge of truth is vitiated by nothing).

119. It is not only the contiguity or presence of things or

pleasures, that taint the minds of the ignorant; but the absence

and loss also are causes of great regret, from the stain they leave

in the memory; as it is not only a new paint that paints a thing,

but also the vestiges that it leaves behind, give it also a colouring.

(The remembrance of past things, gives a colouring to the

character of man).

120. Thus as the minds of the ignorant are never cleansed

from the taint of their favourite objects, so they are never free from

their bondage in this world; like the liberated sage by his want

of earthly attachment. Because it is the parvitude of our desires

that contributes to our liberation, while the amplitudes of our

wishes lead us to our continued bondage in this world. (This

passage presents us with the pains of memory, instead of the

pleasures which some poets have portrayed on its face).

121. Sikhidhwaja said:—Tell me my lord, why men feel

sorry or joyous at their pain or pleasure, to which they are

bound by their birth in this world; and for what is far off from

them (either as past or gone and what is in their expectation

in future, since both the past and future are absent from us)?

122. I find your words my lord to be as clear as they are

pretty and full of meaning, and the more I hear them so much

the more do I thirst to listen to them; as the peacock is insatiate

with the roarings of clouds.

123. Chúdálá answered:—It is pleasant to inquire into the

cause of our birth, and how the soul being accompanied with

the body, derives its knowledge through the senses, and feels

thereby a delight which is apparent in babes. (We see by[Pg 488]

observation how babies are pleased with the exercise of their

limbs and senses).

124. But the living soul (or the vital principle), which is

contained in the heart and runs through the Kundaliní artery

as the breath of life; is subject to pain and sorrow by its very

birth. (Hence we see, new born child coming to cry out no

sooner it comes to life after its birth).

125. The living soul or vital spirit (which is as free as air),

comes to be confined in the arterial chains of the prison houses

of the different bodies; by its entering into the lungs breathing

with the breath of life. (The spirit of God was breathed into

the nostrils of man).

126. The breath of life circulating through the body, and

touching its different parts or the organs of sense, raise their

sensations in the soul; and as the moisture of the ground grows

the trees and shrubs on earth, so doth our vitality produce the

sensations of the pleasure and pain in the soul.

127. The living soul being confined in the arteries of

different bodies, gives a degree of happiness and steadiness to

some, which the miserable can never enjoy. (The poor are

bereft to the comforts of high life).

128. Know that the living soul, is said to be liberated in the

same proportion as it manifests its tranquilized state; and know

also that it is bounden bondage in the same degree, as it appears

to be sorry in the face and choked in its breathing. (The

dejected and depressed spirit does not breathe out freely).

129. The alternate feeling of pain and pleasure, is likewise

the bondage of the soul and no other, but this and it is the want

of these alternations, that constitutes its liberation; and these are

the two states of the living soul.

130. As long as the deceptive senses, do not bring the false

sensations of pain and pleasure unto the soul; so long does it

rest in its state of sweet composure, and the calm tranquillity of

the positive rest.

131. The invisible soul coming in sight of some transient

pleasure or want of pain, becomes as joyous as the cheerful sea

passing the reflexion of the bright moon-beams in its bosom.

[Pg 489]

132. The soul equally exults at the sight of pleasure, as it

grieves at the knowledge of its unsteadiness; as a foolish cat

rejoices to see of fish, which it has not the power to catch or

hold fast in its clutches.

133. When the soul, has the pure knowledge of the intelligibles

and the cognition of itself; it comes to know, that there

is no such thing as positive pain or pleasure; and has thereby

its calm and quiet composure for ever, and under every circumstance.

134. When it comes to know that it has no concern with

any pain or pleasure, and that its living is to no purpose at all;

it is then said to be awakened in itself, and to rest in its quietude

of nirvána-extinction (unconsciousness of one's self or its

consciousness of itself as a cypher, is termed the state of its

nirvána-annihilation).

135. When the living soul comes to know by its internal

intuition, that pain and pleasure are unreal in their nature; it is

no longer concerned about them, but rests quietly within itself.

136. When the soul comes to the belief, that the visible

world is no other than the vacuity of Intellect or Brahma himself;

it gets its rest in its quietness, and becomes as cool as an

oilless and extinguished lamp. (Here is the vacuism of Vasishtha again).

137. The belief that all nature is vacuity, and all existence

is the one unity together with the thought of an infinite inanity;

is what leads the soul to its unconsciousness of pain and

pleasure. (All is but void and vacancy, and mere air-drawn

phantasy).

138. The thoughts of pleasure and pain therefore are as

false, as the false appearance of the world; and this error is

inherited by the living soul from Brahmá the first of living

beings in the world. (The error of taking the unreal for

real began with Brahmá himself).

139. Whatever was thought and ordained by the first

creative power in the beginning, the same has taken root in the

living soul; and is going on even to the present time as its

nature.

[Pg 490]

140. Sikhidhwaja asked:—It is only when one feels some

pleasure in his mind, that it runs in the blood through his

veins and arteries; but the holy Nárada could not be affected

by the sight, nor drop his semen from him.

141. Chúdálá replied:—The animal soul being exited (by

the existent sight of women), excites the living breath of prána

to motion; and the whole body obeys the dictate of the

mind, as the body of soldier obeys the command of their

commander.

142. The vital airs being put to motion, they move the

internal sap and serum from their seats; as the blowing winds

bear away the fragrance of flowers and the dust of leaves, and

drop down the fruits and flowers and leaves of trees.

143. The semen being put to motion falls downwards, as the

clouds being driven together burst into the rain water.

144. The semen then passes out of the body by the canals

of the veins and arteries, as the running waters pass through

the channels and canals of a river.

145. Sikhidhwaja said:—O thou divine boy! that knowest

both the past and present states of things, as it appears from

thy instructive discourse; please to instruct me at present, what

you mean by the nature of things by the Brahmic power of

Brahma.

146. Chúdálá replied:—Nature is that intrinsic character,

which is implanted in the constitution of things at the beginning

of their creation; and the same which continues to

this day the essential part of the ghata, pata, and all other

things.

147. It comes on by a kákátálya or accidental course of

its own, as it is compared by the learned with the rise and fall of

waves and bubbles in the water; and the marks of the lacuna

in wood and iron. (The fortuitous combination of the atomic

principles, is the cause of the formation of concrete bodies;

according to the Atomic philosophy of Leucippus, Democritus

and the Epicureans of old).

[Pg 491]

148. It is under the power of this nature, that all things

move about in the world in the various forms; and with all

their properties of change and persistence. It is only the indifferent

and inappetent soul that is liberated from the subjection

of nature, while the apparent is fast bound to its chains

and wander with their prurient nature in repeated transmigrations.

[Pg 492]

CHAPTER LXXXVI.

The Production of the Pot (or the Embryonic cell).

Argument:—The birth of the Bráhman boy from the seed of Nárada,

preserved in a pot whereby he was called the pot-born, and his education.

CHUDALA continues:—It is the nature of everything in

the extensive world to be born in its own kind (i.e. the

similar only springs from the similar and nothing of a dissimilar

kind). All persons and things continue to go on in it by their

desires and tendencies, whether it be in the directions of virtue

or vice or good or evil. (Nature is the invariable quiddity of

a thing; but its desire or inclination is a variable property or

quality of it).

2. When this desire or want of the mind of a man is either

diminished or brought under his control, he is no longer subject

to the acts of goodness or vice but becomes exempt both

from merit and demerit; and their consequences of reiterated

births and deaths by the utter indifference. (Neutrality in

action is the way to one's inanity in both worlds. This is

not a right rule since the commission of a good action is as

commendable, as an omission in the discharge of duty is held

culpable in law and morality).

3. Sikhidhwaja rejoined:—O eloquent speaker! your words

are as full of sense as they are of great import to me, they bespeak

your great penetration into the depths of wisdom.

4. My audience of the sweet exultance of your speech has

given me a satisfaction, equal to that of my draught of a large

dose of the ambrosial water.

5. Now be pleased to give me a brief narration of the story

of your birth and pedigree, and I will hear with all my attention

your words of sound sense and wisdom.

6. Please sir to relate unto me, what the son of lotus-Brahmá—the

venerable sage Nárada, did with the seminal

strength, which unconsciously fell from him on the ground.

[Pg 493]

7. Chúdálá related:—The muni then curbed back the infuriate

elephant of his beastly mind by the strong bridle of prudence;

and bound it fast in the iron chain of the great intelligence.

8. His virile strength which was as hot as fire, resembled

the molten moon melted down by the flame of the final conflagration;

and as liquified as the fluid quick-silver or other

metallic solution.

9. The sage who had a water-pot of crystal stone fast by

his side, laid hold of the same and put the fluid semen in it, in

the manner of his depositing the liquid moon-beams in the disc

of the moon.

10. There was on one side of the mount of Meru, a projected

rock with a deep cavern in it; the passage of which was not

obstructed by the heaps of stones which lay before it.

11. The muni placed the pot inside that cave as the embryo

is situated in the belly, and he filled the pot with milk which

he produced by his will; as the lord of creation has filled the

milky ocean with its watery milk. (The sages are said to have

miraculous powers by force of their yoga).

12. The muni neglected his sacred offering and brooded

over the pot, as a bird hatches over its egg; and it was in a course

of a month that the foetus grew up in the pot of milk, as the

reflexion of the crescent moon increases in the bosom of the

milky ocean.

13. At the end of the month the pot bore a full formed

foetus, as the orb of the moon becomes full in the course of a

month; and as the season of spring produces the lotus bud with

its blushing petals.

14. The foetus came out in the fullness of its time, and with

the full possession of all the members of its body; as the full

moon rises from the milky ocean without diminution of any

of its digits.

15. The body became fully developed in time, and the limbs

were as beautiful as the horns of the moon shine brightly in

the lighted fortnight.

16. After performance of the initiatory ceremonies (of tonsure

and investiture of the sacred thread); and the sage instructed[Pg 494]

him in whatever he knew, as one pours out the contents

of one vessel into another.

17. In course of a short time the boy became acquainted

with all the oral instructions (Vangmaya) of his father, and

became an exact ectype of the venerable sage. (The best son

likens his father).

18. The old sage became as illustrious with his brilliant boy,

as the orb of the moon shines brightly with its train of resplendent

stars.

19. Once on a time the sage Nárada went to the empyrean

of his father Brahmá accompanied by his young progeny, and

there made his obeisance to the prime progenitor of mankind.

20. The boy also bowed down before his grandsire, who

knowing him to be versed in the vedas and sciences; took him

up and set him on his lap.

21. The lord Brahmá pronounced his blessings on the boy,

and knowing him to be born of the pot and acquainted with

the vedas; gave him the name of Kumbha or the pot.

22. Know me O hermit! to be the son of the sage Nárada,

and grand son of the great lotus-born Brahmá himself; and

know by the appellation of Kumbha from my birth into

the pot.

23. I have the four vedas for my companions and playmates,

and I always delighted with their company; in the heavenly

abode of my lotus-born grandsire—the Divine Brahmá.

24. Know the Goddess Sarasvatí to be my mother, and the

Gáyatrí hymn as my maternal aunt; my habitation is in the

heaven of Brahmá where I dwell as the grand-child of the lord

of creatures.

25. I wonder at my pleasure, throughout the wide extended

world; I rove about with a soul full of felicity, and not on any

errand or business whatever.

26. I walk over the earth without touching it with my feet,

and its flying dust do not approach my person; nor is my body

ever fatigued in all its rambles. (The spiritual body is intangible

and unwearied).

27. It happened this day, that I came to behold thy hermitage[Pg 495]

in the course of my etherial journey; and so directed my

course this way, to see thee in this place. (This is the substance

of my life, as I have now related unto thee).

28. Thus O forester! I have given you the whole account of

my life as you have heard just now; because it is a pleasure

to good people, to hold conversation with the good and wise.

29. Válmíki said:—As they were talking in this manner

the day past away to its evening service, and the sun set down

below the horizon; the court broke and every one repaired to

his evening ablution, and met again with the rising sun on the

next morning.

[Pg 496]

CHAPTER LXXXVII.

Continuation of the same and enlightenment of Sikhidhwaja.

Argument:—Sikhidhwaja's praise of Kumbha and expression of his

sorrow, he turns to be a disciple of the same and professes his faith in

the vedánta doctrines.

SIKHIDWAJA said:—Sir, it appears to me that the hoarded

merits of all my former lives, have brought you

today to my presence here; as an unforeseen hurricane drives

the waters of the sea on the dry mountain tops. (i.e. thy

speech is as cooling draught to my perished soul).

2. I reckon myself as highly blest among the blessed

today to be thus favoured by your presence, and cooled by

your speech distilling as ambrosial dews from your lips.

3. Never did a more sensible speech, touch and cool my

soul to such a degree as yours ere this; wherefore I deem

your holy presence as more precious to me, than the gaining

of a kingdom.

4. The unrestrained delight which is felt in general (from

the words of the wise), which are free from self-interest and

selfish motives; is far superior to the self-restricted pleasure of

sovereignty, which is delightful once in imagination only (and

not in its actual possession).

5. Vasishtha said:—As the prince was uttering these encomiums,

the Bráhman boy Kumbha passed over them in

silence; and interrupted him by saying:—

6. Chúdálá said:—Please put a stop, sir, to these words of

yours, and give me an account of yourself as I have given mine

to you; and tell me who you are, and what you do in this

lonely mountain.

7. How long is it that you have passed in this forester's

life of yours, and what is your main object in view. Tell me

the bare truth, because it is beyond the probity of an ascetic,[Pg 497]

to utter anything but the plain truth. (The ascetics are names

of satyavrata or vowed to truth).

8. Sikhidhwaja replied:—Lord as you are the offspring of a

God, everything must be well known to you; and as the

Gods are full well acquainted with the secrets and circumstances

of all people, I have very little to relate to you about me.

9. It is from my fear of the world (and its temptations),

that I have abandoned it and taken my abode amidst this

forest; and this though you well know, will I now briefly

state unto you.

10. I am Sikhidhwaja the ruler of a country, which I have

long relinquished for a seat in the forest; and know, O knower

of all truths, that it is my fear of the trap-doors of the world

and future transmigration in it, that has driven me to this

retired wilderness.

11. It is no more than the reiteration of pain and pleasure,

and of life and death in this accursed world; and it is to evade

all these, that I have betaken myself to my austerities in these

solitary woods.

12. I wander about on all sides, and perform my rigorous

austerities without any respite; and I give no rest to myself,

but keep my vigils like a miser over his little stock.

13. I am without any effort or attempt, and so without any

fruit and fruition also; I am lonely, and so helpless likewise;

I am poor and therefore friendless also, and know me Divine

personage! to be pining in this forest like a withered tree

perforated by worms.

14. I observe strictly all my sacred rites without any

fail or failure, and yet I fall from one sorrow into a sea of

sorrows; and have grown too pensive, that even the ambrosial

draught is unpleasant to me.

15. Chúdálá said:—It was once on a time that I had my

great progenitor (Brahmá) to tell me which of the two, the

observance of duties or their non-observance for the sake of

knowledge (i.e. whether practice or theoretical knowledge); is

the more useful to and preferable by mankind.

[Pg 498]

16. Brahmá replied:—Knowledge is no doubt the supreme

Good, as it leads to ones acquaintance with the unity of the

Deity and the oneness of himself; but action is inculcated to

man at the duty of his life, both for the pleasure and passing of

his life time.

17. Let them that have not acquired their intellectual light

and the sight of the soul, be employed in their duties by their

offsprings and fellow creatures; for who that is devoid of a silken

robe, will go about naked and not wrap himself with a blanket

or coarse cloth.

18. The ignorant that are actuated by their desires and

live upon their hopes, meet with their objects as the reward of

their action; but the knowing and speculative theorist, having

neither any desire in his mind nor action of his body, meets

with no reward of either.

19. An action without its object goes to naught and for

nothing, as the fruit bearing plants become fruitless and die

away without being properly watered in their time. (There it

is doubtful whether the comparison of watering refers to the

desire or action. The gloss refers it to the action without

which no desire is successful).

20. As the effect of a certain season on plants &c., is displaced

by that of the succeeding one; so the fruit of an action,

is frustrated by its want of its desire (of the object).

21. As it is the nature of kusa-grass never to fructify,

though they bear the flowers in time; so my son, no action can

produce any fruit without the desire of the main object (as its

final cause). (Here Chúdálá addresses her husband as her son).

22. As the boy possest the idea of a ghost in his mind, sees

the apparition of a devil before him; and as a sick man

having hypochondria of his malady, is soon attacked by it (so

everyone meets with what he has in his mind).

23. As the kusa-grass presents the fair flowers to view,

without ever bearing their fruits; so does the speculative theorist

meditate on the beauty of his theory, without producing its

results by its practice.

24. Sikhidhwaja said:—But it is said that all human desire[Pg 499]

is vain, and its accompanying egoism is a fallacy; and that

they are the creatures of our ignorance, like our error of a sea

in the burning sands of a desert.

25. So it is to the gnostic theist, whose ignorance is altogether

removed by his knowledge of all things as the Divine

spirit; such a man of course has no desire rising in his mind, as

there is no appearance of the sea in the sands before the eyes

of the wise.