Chapter LXIII - The conclusion of the above

Argument. The Best means of self-contented happiness.

Parigha said:—

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Prince, I find you to be truly wise and enlightened in your beatitude;and dost shine as the full moon with your inward coolness.

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I see in you the fulness of sweet delight, and the shadow of prosperity resting upon you; and you appear as graceful as the water lily, with your pleasing and cooling countenance.

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The clearness, extent, the fullness and depth of your understanding, give you the appearance of the deep, clear and extensive ocean, when it ceases to be perturbed by the loud winds and waves.

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The pure and full delight of your inward soul, which is free from the cloud of egotism, gives it the grace of the clear expanse of the autumnal sky.

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I see you composed in your mind in all places, and find you contented at all times; you are moreover devoid of passions, and all these combine to add to you an unutterable grace.

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You have got over the bounds, of knowing whatever is good and evil in this world; and your great understanding, has made you acquainted with every thing in its entirety.

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Your mind is cheered with the knowledge of all existence and non-existence, and your body is freed from the evil of repeated birth and death—the common lot of all beings.

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You have gleaned the truth from whatever is untrue, and are as satiate with your true knowledge, as the gods were satisfied with drinking the water of immortality which they churned out of the brackish water of the ocean.

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Suraghu replied: There is nothing in this world, O royal sage! which we may chose as inestimable to us; for all that shines and glitters here, are nothing in reality and have no intrinsic value.

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In this manner there being nothing desirable here to us, there is nothing disgusting to us neither;because the want of a thing intimates the want of its contrary also.

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The idea of the meanness of the most part of worldly things, and that of the greatness of others on particular occasions, are both weakened and obliterated from my mind (i.e. the best thing that is of service at some time, and the very best thing that is useless at others, are all indifferent to the wise).

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It is time and place that give importance to the object, and lower the best ones in our estimation; therefore it behoves the intelligent, neither to be lavish in the praise or dispraise of one or the other.

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It is according to our estimation of another, that we praise or dispraise the same; and we esteem whatever is desirable to us; but they are the most intelligent, that give their preference to what is the best, and of the greatest good is to us.

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But the world abounding in its woods and seas, and mountains and living animals, presents us nothing that is to be desired for our lasting and substantial good.

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What is there that we should desire, when there is nothing worth desiring in this world; save bodies composed of flesh and bones, and wood and stones, all of which are worthless and frail.

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As we cease to desire, so we get rid of our fawning and hatred also; as the setting of the sun is attended with the loss of both light and heat.

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It is useless verbiage to expatiate on the subject; it is enough to know this truth for our happiness here, i.e. to have our desires under subjection, and an evenness of our minds under all conditions, attended with inward placidity and universal regard for all.