4. The God who has the horn of the moon as a crown on his head, used to hold his residence of yore, on a northern peak of the north polar mountain, together with all his family and attendants.
5. It happened that the mighty, but little knowing lord of the Bhringis, asked him one day, with his folded palms, and his body lowly bending down in suppliant mood before the godlike lord of Umá. (Umá is the same in sound and sense with Ushá the dawn, appearing from the eastern ridge of the northmost mountain).
6. Bhringi said:—Deign to explain to me, my lord, what I ask thee to tell for my knowledge; for thou knowest all things, and art the God of Gods.
7. Lord! I am overwhelmed in sorrow, to see the boisterous waves of this deep and dark world in which we have been buffeting for ever, without finding the calm and quiet harbour of truth.
8. Tell me, my lord, what is that certain truth and inward assurance, whereon we may rely with confidence, and whereby we may find our rest and repose in this our shattered mansion of this world.
9. The lord replied:—Place always your reliance in your unshaken patience, and neither care nor fear for anything else, and ever strive to be foremost in your action and passion and in your relinquishment of everything (passion and relinquishment here are used in the senses of passivity and liberality).
10. Bhringi rejoined:—Explain to me fully, my lord, what is meant by being the greatest in action and passion; and what are we to understand from the greatest liberality or abandonment of every thing here.
11. The lord replied:—He is said to be the greatest actor, who does his deeds as they occur to him, whether of goodness or of evil, without any fear or desire of fruition. (i.e. Who expects no reward of his acts of goodness, nor fears for the retribution of some heinous deed, which he could not avoid to do).
12. He who does his acts of goodness or otherwise, who gives vent to his hatred and affection and feels both pleasure and pain, without reference to any person or thing, and without the expectation of their consequences, is said to be the greatest actor in the theatre of this world.
13. He is said to act his part well, who does his business without any ado or anxiety, and maintains his taciturnity and purity of heart without any taint of egoism or envy.