34. But if thou fail to lighten my heart of its doubts, and set it at ease; then know for certain, that thou shalt immediately be made a fuel to the fire of my bowels at this very moment.
35. I shall then fill this big belly of mine with all the people of thy realm; but shouldst thou answer rightly, thou shalt reign in peace; or else thou shalt meet thy end like the ignorant, who are surfeited with the enjoyments of life.
36. Saying so, the nocturnal fiend made the loud shout of a roaring cloud, expressive of her joy; and then sat silent with her fearful features, like a light hearted cloud in autumn (which is of gigantic shape, but empty of rain waters within).
CHAPTER LXXX.
Solution of the Questions.
Argument. First the Counsellor’s reply to the Questions.
Vasishtha continued:—After the giant-like progeny of the Rákshasa had proposed her occult questions, in the deep gloom of night in that thick forest, the good and great counsellor began to give his replies. (The repetition of the word great in the original, expresses the solemnity of the occasion; as the disquisitions concerning the Great God in the Áranyakas or forest lectures of the vedic Rishis, were conducted with great solemnity in their holy hermitage in forests. So was the Sermon on the Mount of Jesus).
2. The Counsellor said:—Hear, me! thou dark and cloud like form! to unravel thy riddling questions, with as great ease as the lion foils the fury of gigantic elephants.
3. All thy questions relate to the Supreme Spirit, and are framed in thy enigmatical language, to try the force of our penetration into their hidden meanings.
4. The soul which is Selfsame with the intellect which is minuter than a particle of air, is that atomic principle that thou dost inquire into, because it is a nameless minim imperceptible by the six organs of sense, and unintelligible to the mind. (Answer to the first question about the atom. अणु).
5. Underlying the atomic intellect, is the minute seed which contains this universe; but whether it is a substantial or unsubstantial reality, nobody can say. (This is the answer to the second question with regard to the mundane seed).