33. So long also as one believes himself to be composed of a corporeal body, and incapable to mount in the higher atmosphere, it is no way possible to make him believe otherwise (that he has an incorporeal nature in his soul and mind).
34. But it is by virtue of one’s knowledge and discrimination, and by his own merit and divine blessing, that he acquires a saintly form (nature); wherewith he ascends to the higher region, as you have done with this body of yours.
35. As dry leaves of trees are burnt in no time by the burning fire, so this corporeal body is quickly lost by one’s assumption of his spiritual frame.
36. The effect of a blessing or curse, on any one is no other than his obtaining the state he desired or feared to have. (Hence the boon of Lílá has secured to her what she wished to get).
37. As the false appearance of a snake in a rope, is attended with no motion or action of the serpent in it; so the unreal views of Lílá’s husband and others, were but the motionless imageries of her own imagination.
38. Whoever views the false apparitions of the dead as present before the vision of his mind, he must know them as reflections of his past and constant remembrance of them.
39. So our notions of all these worlds are mere products of our reminiscence, and no creation of Brahmá or any other cause; but simple productions of our desire (which presents these figures to the imagination).
40. So they who are ignorant of the knowable spirit of God, have only the notions of the outer world in them; as they view the distant orb of the moon within themselves (in their minds).
CHAPTER LIV.
Reflections on Death.
Argument. The lot of living beings and the cause of their death. The duration of human life as determined by their acts and enjoyments, and the merit of their conduct in life time.