38. The pious gifts made on behalf of the departed souls, accrue to them as their own acts; and the sense which they thus acquire of their worthiness, fills them with better hopes and desires of their future state. (Hence rises the hope of redemption by means of the redeeming son of man).
39. And as the stronger man gains the better of his adversary, so the later acts of piety drive away the former impiety from the spirit. Therefore the constant practice of pious acts is strictly enjoined in the Sástras.
40. Ráma said:—If the desire is raised at its proper time and place, how then could it rise in the beginning when there was no time nor place: (i.e., when all was void and yet Brahma had his desire and will).
41. You say that there are accessory causes, which give rise to the desires, but how could the will rise at first without any accessory cause whatever?
42. Vasishtha replied:—It is true, O long-armed Ráma, that there was neither time nor place in the beginning, when the Spirit of God was without its will.
43. And there being no accessory cause, there was not even the idea of the visible world, nor was it created or brought into existence; and it is so even now.
44. The phenomenal world has no existence, and all that is visible, is the manifestation of the Divine Intellect, which is ever lasting and imperishable.
45. This will I explain to you afterwards in a hundred different ways, and it is my main purpose to do so; but hear me now tell you what appertains to the matter under consideration.
46. They having got in that house, saw its inside beautifully decorated with chaplets of flowers as fresh as those of the spring season.
47. The inmates of the palace were quietly employed in their duties, and the corpse of the king was placed upon a bed of mandara and kunda flowers.