The Yoga-Vasishtha Maharamayana of Valmiki, vol. 3 (of 4) part 2 (of 2)
The Yoga-Vasishtha Maharamayana of Valmiki, vol. 3 (of 4) part 2 (of 2)-31
26. It is by forsaking his desires, that a person is freed
from his bonds of his disease and death; and his internal soul
arriving to the perfection of the Deity, is exempted from future
birth.
27. But know the human mind to be fraught with desires,
from which the learned few are only exempt; it is by their
transcendental knowledge of the knowable one, that the Divinely
wise alone are exempted from their regeneration in this mortal
world.
28. Chúdálá replied—It is true, O princely sage! that
knowledge is said to be the chief good (summum bonum), by
the Gods Brahmá and others and also by all sapient sages; and
notwithstanding thy knowing of this, why is it that thou
remainest in this state of thy gross ignorance?
29. What mean these pots and staffs, these wooden stools
and those seats of kusa-grass; and why is it, O royal prince! that
you delight in these false playings of fools?
30. Why is it that you do not employ your mind to inquire
into the questions as to what thou art, and how has this world
came to existence, and how and when will cease to exist (in your
consciousness of reality). Instead of making inquiries in these
solemn truths, you are passing your time like the ignorant in
your fooleries only?
31. Why don't you discuss about the natures of bondage
and liberation in the company of the learned, and pay your
homage at their venerable feet?
32. Do you want, O prince to pass your life in the discharge
of your painful austerities, as some insects finish their days in
perforating the stones in which they live?
[Pg 500]
33. You can easily obtain the delight you seek, if you will
but betake yourself to the service of holy man; and keep
company with the tolerant and wise souls, arguing with them
on spiritual subjects.
34. Or you may continue to remain in your grotto, in this
forest living on the simple food of holy men; and by forsaking
the evil propensities of your mind, abide here as an insect in a
hole under the ground.
35. Vasishtha related:—Being thus awakened to sense by
his wife—the Divine boy—Sikhidhwaja, melted into tears; and
with his face bathed in water, spoke to the lad as follows:—
36. Sikhidhwaja said:—O Divine child! it is after a long
time, that I am awakened by thee to my senses; and I perceive
now that it was my weak-headedness, which drove me
from the society of respectable to this lonely forest.
37. Ah! I find now that my mind is purged to-day of its
endless sins, which has brought thee to my presence here, and
remonstrate with me on my past misconduct.
38. O beauteous boy! I deem thee henceforward as my
monitor and father and my best friend forever, and acknowledge
myself as thy pupil; wherefore I bow down at thy feet and
pray thee to take piety on me.
39. Please admonish me now on the subject of Divine knowledge,
as you are best acquainted with it; and whereby I may
be freed from all my sorrows, and be settled with perfect peace
and bliss of my mind.
40. You said at first, that knowledge is the supreme bliss or
summum bonum of mankind; now tell me, which is that knowledge
which saves us from misery; whether it is the knowledge
of particulars which lead us to the acquaintance of specials, or
that of the general which brings us to the transcendental. (The
former is the inductive knowledge of ascending from particulars
to the universal, and the latter is deductive knowledge of deducing
everything from the primitive one).
41. Chúdálá replied:—I will tell thee prince as far as I
know about it, and what may be best acceptable to thee; and[Pg 501]
not throw away my words in vain, like crowing ravens about a
headless trunk.
42. Because the words that are uttered to the impertinent
questions of a person and not heeded by him, are thrown in
vain; and become as useless to him, as her eye sight in the dark.
43. Sikhidhwaja said:—Sir, your words are as acceptable to
me as the ordinances of veda (gospel truth); and though you
utter them without previous meditation (extempore), yet I have
full faith in them.
44. Chúdálá replied:—As a boy obeys the words of his
father, knowing it to be pronounced for his certain good; so
must you receive my words (knowing them to tend to your
best welfare).
45. Think my advices to be all good for you, after you
hear them with proper attention; and hear unto my words, as
you hear music without inquiring into their reason or rhyme.
46. Hear me now relate to you an interesting story of a
certain person, whose conduct and character resembled in every
way to thine; and who was brought back to his sense after his
long aberration. This is a tale to dispel the worldly cares and
fears of the intelligent.
[Pg 502]
CHAPTER LXXXVIII.
The Tale of the crystal Gem.
Argument:—The slipping of a precious stone in ignorance, and picking
of a glossy glass in view of it.
CHUDALA related:—There lived once a rich man, combined
with opposite qualities (of charity and penury) in his
character; as the sea contains the water and the submarine fire
in its depth.
2. He was as skilled in arts, as he was practiced in arms;
and was trained up in all dealings, as he was expert in business.
But his great ambition in all his pursuits, kept him from
the knowledge of the most high. (His excess of worldliness,
was a preventive to spiritual knowledge).
3. He employed all his endeavours to obtain the imaginary
gem of the philosopher's stone chintámani (by means of his
pujas and prayers and other sacred rites); as the submarine
fire wants to devour the waters, and dries up the bed of the sea.
4. His great avidity and persevering patience, succeeded
after a lapse of a long time to obtain the precious gem at last;
because there is nothing which may not be effected by the
ardent zeal of man. (Omnia vincit labor).
5. He succeeded in his attempts by his unwearied labour,
joined with his firm resolution and well directed plan; as the
meanest man is favoured with a fortune, by his employment of
these means. (Fortune crowns all strenuous efforts with
success).
6. He saw the stone as lying before him, and ready to be
grasped in his hand; as a hermit sitting on the peak of a
mountain, thinks the rising moon as easy to be grasped by his
hand. (Too ardent desire presents the shadow of the object to
one's view).
7. He saw the brilliant gem before him, but became mistrustful
of his sight and the reality of the object before it;[Pg 503]
as a poor man hearing of his sudden elevation to royalty, mistrusts
the report and doubts its being meant for him.
8. He was then immerged in himself to think with amazement
for a long time, he overlooked and neglected to lay hold
on his great gain, and kept dubitating in his mind in the following
manner.
9. Whether this stone is gem or not, and if so, whether it be
the philosopher's stone or any other; shall I touch it or not,
for I fear lest it fly away from my touch or be soiled by it.
10. No one hath until this time obtained the long sought
philosopher's stone, and if ever it was obtained by any one, it
was, says the sastra, in his next life.
11. It is no doubt that my miserliness only, that makes me
view aslant this brilliant gem before me with my eyes; as a
purblind man sees a flashing fire-brand and deep-laid moon in
the sky.
12. How could the tide of my fortune run so high at once,
that I should succeed so soon to obtain the precious stone, that
is the pink and acme of perfection and productive of all
treasure.
13. There must be few and very few indeed of those fortunate
men, who can expect their good fortune to court and wait
on them; at a little pains in a short time.
14. I am but a poor and honest man, and one possest of
very little qualification nor of any worth and account among
mankind; and it is impossible that so miserable a wretch, could
ever be blessed with this masterpiece of perfection.
15. The incredulous man hung for a long time in a state of
suspense, between his certainty and uncertainty; and was
infatuated by his mental blindness, that he did not even
stretch out his hand to lay hold on the jewel lying open before
him.
16. Hence whatever is obtainable by anyone at any time,
is often missed and lost sight of by either his ignorance or
negligence of it; as the precious gem in the parable, which was
proffered and lay palpable in full view.
[Pg 504]
17. As the undetermined man hung in the balance of his
suspicion, the precious gem flew away and vanished from his
sight; as the merited man avoids his slighter, and as the shaft
flies from its string or the stone from its sling. (Fly from the
fool as the arrow flies from the bow-string).
18. When prosperity appears to one, she confers on him her
blessings of wisdom and prudence &c.; but as she forsakes her
foolish votary, she deprives him of all his discretion. (Such is
the case with this once wise and afterwards foolish devotee
of prosperity).
19. The man tried again to invoke and recall the precious
gem to his presence, because the persevering spirit is never tired
to try again and again for his expected success.
20. He came to behold before him a brittle piece of glass,
shining with its false glare as the former gem; and this was
placed in his presence by the invisible hands of the siddha that
had come to tempt him and deride his folly.
21. The fool thought this brittle thing to be the real gem
now lying before him, as the ignorant sot believes the sparkling
sands to be the dusts of the purest gold.
22. Such is the case with the deluded mind, that it mistakes
the eight for six and a foe for a friend; it sees the serpent in
the rope and views the desert land as the watery expanse, it
drinks the poison for the nectar and spies another moon in the
sky in the reflexion of the true one.
23. He took up that sham trumpery for a real gem, and
thought it as the philosopher's stone that would confer on him
whatever he desired; with this belief he gave up in charity all
he had, as they were no more of any use to him.
24. He thought his country to be devoid of all that was
delightsome to him and its people as debasing to his society;
he thought his lost house was of no use to him, and his relatives
and friends to be averse to his happiness.
25. Thus thinking in his mind, he determined to remove
himself to a distant country and enjoy his rest there; and then
taking his false gem with him, he went out and entered an
uninhabited forest.
[Pg 505]
26. There his deceptive gem proving of no use to him loaded
him all imaginable calamities, likening to the gloomy
shadow of the black mountain and the horrid gloom of deep
ignorance.
27. The affections which are brought to one by his own
ignorance, are by far greater than those which are caused by
his old age and the torments of death. The calamity of ignorance
supercedes all other earthly affections, as the black hairs
rise on the top of the body and cover the crown of the head.
[Pg 506]
CHAPTER LXXXIX.
The Parable of an elephant.
Argument:—Freedom of the Incarcerated Elephant; and his falling
again into the Pit.
CHUDALA said:—Hear O holy hermit! another very interesting
story of mine, which well applies to your case; as the
ruler of a land and to serve to awaken your understandings:
(from its present theory).
2. There lived a large elephant in the Vindhya mountains,
which was the head and leader of a great number of elephants;
and had as clear an understanding in its big and elevated head,
as the lofty summit of the mountain was humbled down at the
bidding of Agastya—the sage. (Agastya is recorded as the first
Aryan emigrant, who crossed the Vindhya and settled in southern
India, and civilized the wild mountainous and rude people of
Deccan by his wise law and instructions).
3. His two tusks were as strong as the thunderbolts of
heaven, and as long and stunning as the far reaching flashes of
lightning; they were as destructive as the flames of final desolation
(kalpánta), and as piercing as to bore and uproot a mountain.
4. He came to be caught by an iron trap laid by elephant
catchers in his way, and was fast held in it as the Vindhya by
the Muni's charm; and as the giant Bali was bound in the chains
of India. (Vindhya and its people were spell bound by the
Agastya sage).
5. The captive and patient elephant was tormented by the
iron goad in his proboscis, and suffered the excruciating pains of
his torture; like the Tripura giant under the burning fire of
Hara. (Siva is called Tripura-hara for his quelling that giant by
his fire arms).
6. The elephant lay in this sad plight in the net for three
days together, and was thus watched over by his hunter for a[Pg 507]
distance. (See the paper of elephant catching in the Asiatic
Researches).
7. The great suffering of the elephant made him open his
mouth widely, and utter a loud scream that growled about like
the loud noise of roaring clouds.
8. Then he exerted the force of both his tusks, and succeeded
thereby to break asunder the iron bar; as the Titan of old, broke
open the bolts at the gate of heaven.
9. The hunter saw the breaking of his hard fetters by the
infuriate beast from a distance, as Hara beheld the breaking
of the demon Bali (Belos) from his subterranean cell beneath the
mountain, in order to invade his heaven on high.
10. The elephant catcher then mounted a tall tála (palm)
tree, and leaped from its top in order to fall down on its head;
but haplessly he fell down on the ground, as the demon was
hurled down to hell by victorious Hara.
11. The hunter missed the head of the huge animal, and fell
headlong upon his legs on the ground; as a ripe fruit, is dropped
down by the hurrying winds.
12. The great elephant took pity in seeing him falling, and
lying prostrate before him; as the mind of the noble, is compassionate
on others even in their own piteous state.
13. The noble animal thought in his mind, that it was no
valour on his part to trample over the self-fallen; and had thus
the magnanimity of sparing the life of his own enemy.
14. He broke only the chains in two pieces, and took his
way before him; leaving away all obstacles and barriers, as the
rushing waters bear down the strongest bridge.
15. His strength broke the strong net, but his piety spared
the life of the weak man; he went off as the sun sets, after
dispelling the evening clouds.
16. The hunter rose up from the ground after he saw the
elephant had gone away; and he found himself to be as same
and sound after his fall as he had been before it; and as the
elephant was relieved from his pains, after his liberation from
the chains.
17. Notwithstanding with great shock which the man had[Pg 508]
felt by his fall from the tall palm tree, he felt no hurt with any
part of his body; whence I ween, the bodies of scoundrels
are fortified against every harm.
18. The wicked gain greater strength by execution of their
repeated crimes, as the rainy clouds gather the more by their
frequent showers. Thus the hunter went after his fresh excursion.
19. The elephant catcher felt very sorry, at the escape of
the elephant and unsuccessfulness of his attempt; as one in
dejected mind, is to lose a treasure that has fallen into his hand.
20. He sought about and beat the forest, to find out the
hiding elephant amidst the thickets; as the ascending node
of Rahu rises in the sky, to lay hold on the moon covered under
the clouds.
21. After a long search, he came in sight of the elephant
halting under a tree; as when a warrior returns from the battlefield,
and breathes the air under a shady arbour.
22. The cunning huntsman collected a great many tools,
capable to entrap the elephant at his resting place.
23. He dug a circular ditch round about that place in the
forest, as the great creator of the world had stretched the
ocean encircling this earth.
24. He then covered the great pit, with green branches and
soft leaves of trees; as the season of autumn covers the face of
the empty sky with fleecy and flimsy clouds.
25. The elephant roaming at large in the forest, happened
to fall down into the pit one day; as the fragment of a rock on
the coast, falls headlong on the dried bed of the sea.
26. The big elephant was thus caught in the circular pit,
which was as deep as the dreadful depth of the sea; and lay
confined in it, as some treasure is shut up in the hollow womb
of a chest.
27. Being thus confined at the bottom of that far extending
pit, still passes his time in endless trouble and anxiety; like the
demon Bali in his dark cave under the grounds.
28. This is the effect of the silly elephant, letting unhurt
his cruel hunter who had fallen ere long before him; or[Pg 509]
else he would not be thus pent up in the pit, if he made an end
of him in time.
29. Hence all foolish people that had not foresight to
prevent their future mishaps, and provide against their coming
mischances by their precautions at present, are surely to be
exposed like the calamity as the vindhyan elephant. (Hence
all unforeseeing men are designated as gaja murkha or elephantine
fools).
30. The elephant was glad with the thought of his freedom
from the hunter's chains, and thought no more of any future
mishap; which was the sole cause of his being by another mischance,
which lay at a long distance from him.
31. Know, O great soul! that there is no bondage of man except
his own ignorance; and the jail prisoners are not under such
thraldom, as the intellectual servitude of freemen under their
errors and prejudice. The enlightenment of the soul and the
knowledge of the cosmos as one universal soul, is the greatest
freedom of man; while the ignorance of this truth, is the root of
the slavery of mankind to the errors of this world.
[Pg 510]
CHAPTER LXXXX.
Way to obtain the Philosopher's stone.
Argument:—Chúdálá's Interpretation of the Parable of the Precious
stone and the Glassy Gewgaw.
SIKHIDWAJA said:—Please explain unto me, O Divine
boy! the purport of the parables of the true and false
gems; and the unfettered and pent up elephant, which you have
spoken before to me.
2. Chúdálá replied:—Hear me now expound to you the
meaning of my stories, and the purport of the words and their
senses; which I have stored in your heart and mind, for the enlightenment
of your understanding.
3. That searcher after the philosopher's stone, was undoubtedly
acquainted with science, but had no knowledge of the
truth (tatwajnána); he searched the gem but knew not what
it was, and the same man is thyself.
4. You are versed in the sciences as he, and shinest above
others as the shining sun on the mountain tops; but you have
not that rest and quiet, which is derived from the knowledge of
truth; and are immerged in your errors, as a block of stone in
the water.
5. Know O holy man! that it is relinquishing of errors,
which is said to be the philosopher's stone (because they are
the only men that have set themselves above the reach of error).
Try to get that O holy man! in your possession, and set yourself
thereby above the reach of misery.
6. It is the relinquishment of gross objects, that produces
the pure joy of holiness; it is the abandonment of the world, that
gives one the sovereignty over his soul, and which is reckoned
as the true philosopher's stone.
7. Abandonment of all is the highest perfection, which you
must practice betimes; because it is contemning of worldly
grandeur, that shows the greatest magnanimity of the soul.
[Pg 511]
8. You have O prince! forsaken your princedom together
with your princess, riches, relatives and friends, and have rested
in your resignation; as Brahmá the lord of creatures, rested at
the night of cessation of the act of his creation.
9. You have come out too far from your country, to this
distant hermitage of mine; as the bird of heaven the great
Garuda lighted with his prey of the tortoise, on the farthest
mount of the earth. (The legend of Gaja-kachchhapa borne
by Garuda, is narrated at length in the Purána).
10. You have relinquished your egotism, with your abandonment
of all worldly goods; and you purged your nature from
every stain, as autumnal winds disperse the clouds from the sky.
11. Know that it is only by driving away the egoism of
the mind as well as all desires from the heart, that one gets
his perfection and has the fulness of the world or perfect bliss
in himself. But you have been labouring under the ignorance
of what is to be abandoned and what is to be retained, as the
sky labours under the clouds. (It is not the abandonment of
the world, but the greedy desires of the mind, that is attended
with true felicity).
12. It is not your abandonment of the world, which can
give you that highest felicity the summum bonum that you
seek; it is something else that must be yet sought after by
you. (True happiness is a thing of heavenly growth, and is to
be obtained by the grace of God only).
13. When the mind is overflown by its thoughts, and the
heart is corroded by the canker of its desire; all its resignation
flies from it, as the stillness of a forest flies before the
tempest.
14. Of what avail is the abandonment of the world to one,
whose mind is ever infested by his troublesome thoughts; it is
impossible for a tree to be at rest, that is exposed to the tempests
of the sky. (Inward passions disturb the breast, as tempests
rend the sky).
15. The thoughts constitute the mind, which is but another
name for will or desire; and so long as these are found to be
raging in one, it is in vain to talk of the subjection of the mind.
[Pg 512]
16. The mind being occupied by its busy thoughts, finds
the three worlds to present themselves before it in an instant;
of what avail therefore is the abandonment of this world to
one, when the infinite worlds of the universe are present before
his mind.
17. Resignation flies on its swift pinions, soon as it sees a
desire to be entertained in it; as a bird puts on its wings, no
sooner it hears a noise below.
18. It is insouciance and want of care, which is the main
object of the abandonment of the world; but when you allow a
care to rankle in your breast, you bid a fair adieu to your resignation;
as one bid farewell to his honoured and invited guest.
19. After you have let slip the precious gem of resignation
from your hand, you have chosen the false glossy gewgaw of
austerity for some fond wish in your view. (All outward
observances of rites and austerities proceed from some favourite
object fostered in the mind, while the pure bliss of holiness
is obtained from the purity of the heart only, and without any
need of outward acts).
20. I see thy mind is fixed in wilful pains of thy austerities,
as the sight of a deluded man is settled on the reflexion
of the moon in the waters (from his error of its being the true
moon).
21. Forsaking the indifference of your mind, you have
become a follower of the prurience of your heart; and chosen
for yourself the mortification of an anchorite, which is full of
from its first to last.
22. He who forsakes the easy task of his devotion to
God, which is fraught with infinite bliss; and betakes himself
to the difficult duties of painful austerity, is said to make a
suicide of his own soul. (The sruti calls them self-suicides
(átmaghanojánah); who neglect the felicity of their souls).
23. You betook yourself to the vow of self-resignation, by
your relinquishment of all earthly possessions; but instead of
observing the forbearance of resignation, you are bound to the
painful austerities of your asceticism in this dreary wilderness.
[Pg 513]
24. You broke the bonds of your princedom, and decamped
from the bounds of your realm thinking them as too painful to
you; but say are you not constrained here to the faster and far
more irksome toils of your asceticism, and the unbearable
chains of its rigid incarceration.
25. I think you are involved in much more care to defend
yourself from heat and cold in the defenceless forest, and have
come to find yourself to be more fast bound to your rigours
than you had any idea of this before.
26. You thought in vain to have obtained the philosopher's
stone before, but must have come to find at last; that your gain
is not worth even a grain of glassy bauble.
27. Now sir, I have given you a full interpretation of the
avidity of a man to pocket the invaluable gem; you have
no doubt comprehended its right meaning in your mind, and
will now store its purport in the casket of your breast.
[Pg 514]
CHAPTER LXXXXI.
Interpretation of the Parable of the Elephant.
Argument:—Ignorance which is the cause of worldly desire, flies with
loss of wishes.
CHUDALA continued:—Hear me, O great prince! now
explain to you the meaning of the story of the Vindhyan
elephant, which will be as useful as it will appear wonderful to
you.
2. That elephant of the vindhyan range, is thy very self in
this forest; and his two strong tusks are no other than the two
virtues of reasoning and resignation, on which you lay your
strength. (Viveka and vairágya i.e. reason and resignation are
the most potent arms of men).
3. The hunter that was the enemy of the elephant and
waylaid him in his free rambles, is the personification of that
great ignorance, which hath laid hold of thee for thy misery
only.
4. Even the strong is foiled by weak, and lead from one
danger to another and from woe to woe; as the strong elephant
was led to by the weak huntsman, and as you O mighty prince!
are exposed by your imbecile ignorance in this forest.
5. As the mighty elephant was caught in the strong iron
chain, so are you held fast in the snare of your desire (of a
future reward); which has brought all this calamity on you.
6. The expectation of man is the iron chain, that is stronger
and harder and more durable than the other; the iron rusts and
wastes away in time, but our expectations rise high and hold
us faster.
7. As it was in the hostility of the huntsman, that he
marked the elephant by his remaining unseen in his hiding
place, so thy ignorance which lurks after thee, marks thee for
his prey from a distance.
[Pg 515]
8. As the elephant broke the bonds of the iron chains of his
enemy, so have you broken asunder the ties of your peaceful
reign and the bonds of your royalty and enjoyments.
9. It is sometimes possible, O pious prince! to break down
the bonds of iron fetters; but is impossible, O holy prince, to put
a stop to our growing desires and fond expectations.
10. As the huntsman that had caught the elephant in the
trap, fell down himself from on high to the ground; so was
thy ignorance also levelled to the ground, seeing thee deprived
of thy royalty and all thy former dignity. (The pride and
ignorance of a man sinks down with his misfortune).
11. When the man who is disgusted with the world, wants
to relinquish his desire of enjoyment, he makes his ignorance
tremble in himself, as the demon that dwells on a tree, quakes
with fear when the tree is felled.
12. When the self-resigned man, remains devoid of his desire
for temporal enjoyments; he bids farewell to his ignorance,
which quits him as the demon departs from the fallen tree.
13. A man getting rid of his animal gratifications, demolishes
the abode of his ignorance from the mind; as a woodcutter
destroys the bird-nests of the tree, which he has sawn
or cut down on the ground.
14. You have no doubt put down your ignorance, by your
resignation of royalty and resorting to this forest; your mind
is of course cast down by it, but it is not yet destroyed by the
sword of your resignation. (A cast down or sunken spirit
or mind is not really killed, but revives and lives again in
time).
15. It rises again and gains renewed strength and minding
its former defeat, it has at last over powered on you by confining
you in this wilderness; and restraining you in the painful
dungeon of your false asceticism.
16. If you can but now kill your fallen ignorance in any
way, it will not be able to destroy you at once in your rigorous
penance; though it has reduced you to this plight by your
abdication of royalty.
[Pg 516]
17. The ditch that the huntsman had dug to circumvent
the elephant, is verily this painful pit of austerity, which thy
ignorance has scooped to enthral you in.
18. The many provisions and supplies with which the
huntsman had filled the hollow, in order to entice the elephant;
are the very many expectations of future reward, which your
ignorance presents before you, as the recompense of your penitence.
19. O prince, though you are not the witless elephant (gaja-murkha);
yet you are not unlike the same, by your being cast
in this forest by your incorrigible ignorance.
20. The ditch of the elephant, was verily filled with the
tender plants and leaves for the fodder of the elephant; but
your cave is full of rigorous austerities, which no humanity can
bear or tolerate.
21. You are still encaged in this prison house of the ascetic's
cell, and doomed to undergo all the imaginative torments
of your penance and martyrdom. You verily resemble the
fallen Bali, that is confined in his subterranean cell.
22. You are no doubt the empty headed elephant, that art
fast bound in the chain of false rigours, and incarcerated in
this cave of your ignorance; thus I have given the full exposition
of the parable of the elephant of Vindhyan mountain, and
now glean the best lesson for thyself from this.
[Pg 517]
CHAPTER LXXXXII.
The Prince's abjuration of his asceticism.
Argument.—The prince coming to his sense, took all his relics of
asceticism and set them on fire.
CHUDALA continued:—Tell me prince, what made you decline
to accept the advice of the princess Chúdálá, who is
equally skilled in morality, as well as in Divine knowledge.
2. She is an adept among the knowers of truth, and actually
practices all what she preaches to others; her words are the
dictates of truth, and deserved to be received with due deference.
3. If you rejected her advice, by your over confidence in
your own judgment; yet let me know, why she prevented you
not, from parting with your all to others. (There is a proverb
that men should rely on their own judgment and that of their
elders; but never on those of other people and women).
