40. I saw many such men coming one after the other to their unavoidable ruin, and though I addressed to all and every one of them, yet they softly glided away by me, like phantoms in a dream.
41. Some of them gave no heed to my saying, as a man pays no attention to a dead body; and some among the pit-fallen had the good fortune of rising again.
42. Some among these had no egress from the plantain grove for a long while, and some were lost forever, amidst the thorns and thistles of Karanja thickets.
43. There were some pious persons among them, that had no place for their abode; though that great desert was so very extensive as I have told you already (and capable of affording habitations for all and many more of them).
44. This vast desert is still in existence, together with these sorts of men therein; and that place is well known to you, Ráma, as the common range of mankind. Don’t you remember it now, with all the culture of your mind from your early youth?
45. O that dreadful desert is this world, filled with thorns and dangers on all sides. It is a dark desert amidst a thick spread darkness, and no body that comes herein, finds the peace and quiet of his heart, except such as have acquired the divine knowledge, which makes it a rose garden to them. (See the pit-falls in the bridge of Addison’s Vision of Mirza).
CHAPTER LXXXXIX.
History of the Heart Continued.
Argument. Explanation of the preceding Allegory.
Ráma said:—What is that great desert, Sir, and when was it seen by me, and how came it to be known to me? What were those men there, and what were they about?
2. Vasishtha replied:—Attend O great-armed Ráma! and I will tell you all:—