23. Afterwards the two devotees Bhrigu and Bhárgava, continued to dwell in that forest, like the two luminaries—the sun and moon, in the region of the sky.
24. They both continued as the living liberated guides of men, by their knowledge of all that was to be known; and preserving the equanimity of their minds, and the steadiness of their dispositions, amidst all the vicissitudes of time and place (and the changes of their fortune and circumstances).
25. In course of time Sukra obtained the preceptorship of the demons, and Bhrigu remained in his patriarchal rank and authority among the sons of men (mánavas).
26. Thus the son of Bhrigu, who was born as Sukra at first, was gradually led away from his holy state by his thought of the heavenly nymph, and subjected to various states of life to which he was prone (by the bent of his mind and inward proclivities).
CHAPTER XVII.
ATTAINMENT OF THE IDEAL REALM.
Argument. Mutual sympathy of pure hearted souls, the reciprocities of their affections, and their union with one another.
Ráma said:—Tell me sir, why the ideal reflexion of others, is not attended with equal result, with that of the son of Bhrigu (though one is given to the like reveries as the other).
2. Vasishtha replied:—The reason is, that the body of Sukra issued at first from the will of Brahmá, and was born of the pure family of Bhrigu, without being vitiated by any other birth (either prior to it or of a lower kind).
3. The purity of mind which follows upon subsidence of desires, is called its coolness, and the same is known as the unsullied state of the soul. (Nirmalátmá).
4. Whatever the man of a pure and contrite spirit, thinks in his mind, the same comes to take place immediately; as the turning of the sea water turns into the eddy. (Turning over in the mind, turns out into being).