37. It is incessant pain and pleasure that forms the fearful feature of this world, and there is no other way of evading all its pangs and pains, save by your apathetic behaviour, which must be your crowning glory in this life.
CHAPTER XXXV.
DESCRIPTION OF INSOUCIANCE.
Argument. On the Abandonment of worldly desires, as conducive to the composure of the Mind, and society of the good, accompanied with rationality and spiritual knowledge, constituting the Samádhi of the soul.
Vasishtha continued:—Blessed are the virtuous, who have cleansed their hearts from the dirt of ignorance; and victorious are those heroes, who have conquered their insatiable and ungovernable minds.
2. It is self-control or the government of one’s own mind, that is the only means of wading through all the troubles and distresses, and amidst all the dangers and difficulties of this world.
3. Hear the summary of all knowledge, and retain and cultivate constantly it in your mind; that the desire of enjoyment (avarice) is our bondage in the world, and its abandonment is our release from it.
4. What need is there of many precepts, learn this one truth as the sum substance of all, that all pleasures are poisonous and pernicious, and you must fly from them as from venomous snakes and a raging fire.
5. Consider well and repeatedly in yourself, that all sensible objects are as hydras and dragons; and their enjoyment is gall and poison. Avoid them at a distance and pursue after your lasting good.
6. The cupidinous mind is productive of pernicious evils, as the sterile ground is fertile only in thorns and brambles. (The vitiated mind brings forth but vice, as the vicious heart teems with guilt).
7. The mind devoid of desire, lacks its expansion, as the heart wanting its passions and affections, is curbed and contracted in itself.