23. But the mind that remembers its own nature, and forgets that of the eternal spirit; has to return again to this world, and never attains its spiritual felicity.
24. An honest man dwells with thieves, so long as he knows them not as such; but no sooner he comes to know them as so, then he sure to shun their company and fly from the spot.
25. So the mind dwells with unreal dualities, as long as it is ignorant to the transcendent reality; but as it becomes acquainted with the true unity, he is sure to be united with it (by forsaking his dualistic creed).
26. When the ignorant mind, comes to know the supreme felicity, which attends on the state of its self-extinction or nirvána; it is ready to resort to it, as the inland stream runs to join the boundless sea.
27. So long doth the mind roam bewildered, in its repeated births in the tumultuous world; as it does not find its ultimate bliss in the Supreme; unto whom it may fly like a bee to its honeycomb.
28. Who is there that would forget his spiritual knowledge, having once known its bliss; and who is there that forsakes the sweet, having had once tasted its flavour. Say Ráma, who would not run to relish the delicious draughts, which pacifies all our woes and pains, and prevents our repeated births and deaths, and puts an end to all our delusions in this darksome world.
CHAPTER LXXXVI.
The Convertibility of the World to the
Supreme Spirit.
Argument:—The huge body of Rudra, that absorbs the world in it, is at last dissolved in empty air and vacuity.
Vasishtha added:—Hear now Ráma, how this whole world resides in the infinite void; and how the airy Rudra which rises from it, is freed from his deluded body, and finds his final rest in it.
2. As I stood looking on upon that block of stone, I beheld the aerial Rudra and the two upper and nether worlds, marked over it (as in a map), and remaining quite at rest.