3. It is the imperfect knowledge of the world that is the cause of its existence (or makes it appear as an entity); but full knowledge of it makes it vanish into nothing. (These are the two opposite systems of materialism and immaterialism).
4. The world is a dreadful ocean unbounded and unfordable; and there is no means of getting over it, save by the raft of right investigation and diligent scrutiny.
5. This ocean is full with the water of ignorance, and its vast basin is filled with fatal whirlpools and overwhelming waves of discord and dangers.
6. Here goodness and good actions float on the surface, as its froth and foams; but they hide the deadly latent heat of hellfire underneath. Here roll the incessant billows of avarice, and there snores the huge whale, and the great leviathan of the mind.
7. It is the reservoir of the endless channels and rivulets of life, running as its streams and currents; and it is the depository of innumerable treasures of brilliant gems hidden under its depth. It is infested by the serpents of diseases, and the horrid sharks of the senses.
8. See Ráma, the playful women, resembling the tremulous billows of this ocean; and are able to attract and pierce the hearts of the wise, with the hooks and horns of their looks.
9. Their lips are as red as rubies, and their eyes are as black as blue lotuses; their teeth are as the unblown blossoms of fruits and flowers, and their sweet smiles are as the hoary froth of the sea.
10. The curled locks of their hairs are as the crisped creepers of blue lotuses, and their twisted eyebrows are as the slanting of little billows; their backsides are as protruded islets, and their throats and necks are lined over like conchshells.
11. Their foreheads are as plates of gold, and their graces as the sharks of the sea; their loose glances are as the splashing waves, and their complexions are gold coloured like the sands on the sea shore.
12. Such is this ocean-like world, with its tremendous surges and rolling waves; and it is the part of manhood to buffet it over by manly exertions, in order to save one’s self from sinking under them.