SECTION I.
On True Knowledge.
Bharadwája said, O Bráhman! relate to me first about Ráma, and then enlighten me by degrees with the conditions of attaining liberation in this life, that I may be happy for ever.
2. Válmíki replied:—Know, holy Saint! all worldly conceptions to be as erroneous as the various hues that taint the clear firmament. It is better therefore to efface them in oblivion, rather than revive their reminiscence (in repeated states of existence).
3. All visible objects are absolute negation; we have no idea of them save from sensation. Inquire into these apprehensions, and you will never find them as real.
4. It is possible here (on earth) to attain to this knowledge (of worldly vanities) which is fully expounded herein: if you will listen to it attentively, you shall get at the truth and not otherwise.
5. The conception of this world is a mistake, and though we actually see it, it is never in existence. It appears in the same light, O sinless saint, as the variegated colours in the sky.
6. The conviction of the non-existence of the objects of vision, leads to efface their impressions from the mind. Thus perfected, there springs in it the supreme and eternal bliss of self-extinction.
7. Otherwise there is no quietism to be had herein by men like you, rolling in the depths of science for thousands of years and unacquainted with the true knowledge.
8. Complete abandonment of desires, styled as the best state of liberation, is the only pure step towards beatitude.
9. The absence of desires leads to the extinction of mental actions, in the same manner as the absence of cold conduces to the dissolution of small particles of ice.