17. Being thus reduced by decrepitude in his vitality, he bade adieu to his desires in this world, which was so frail and full of a hundred fearful accidents to human life (namely, the pains attending upon birth, old age and death, and the fears of future transmigration and falling into hell fire).
18. The old devotee Dirghatapas, quitted at last his mortal frame in the grotto of the mount; as a bird quits its old nest for ever, or as a water-bearer lays down the log of his burthen from his shoulders.
19. His spirit then fled like the fragrance of a flower to that vacuous space, which is ever tranquil, free from attributes and thought, and is of the nature of the pure intellect.
20. The wife of the sage finding his body lying lifeless on the ground, fell down upon it, and remained motionless like a lotus flower nipt from its stalk.
21. Having been long accustomed to the practice of yoga, according to the instruction of her husband; she quitted her undecayed body, as a bee flits from an unfaded flower to the empty air.
22. Her soul followed her husband’s, unseen by men, as the light of the stars disappears in the air at the dawn of the day.
23. Seeing the demise of both parents, the elder son Punya was busily employed in performing their funeral services; but the younger Pávana was deeply absorbed in grief at their loss.
24. Being overwhelmed by sorrow in his mind, he wandered about in the woods; and not having the firmness of his elder brother, he continued to wail in his mourning.
25. The magnanimous Punya performed the funeral ceremonies of his parents, and then went in search of his brother mourning in the woods.
26. Punya said:—Why my boy, is thy soul overcast by the cloud of thy grief; and why dost thou shed the tears from thy lotus-eyes, as profusely as the showers of the rain, only to render thee blind.