53. There never comes any thought of anything, whereof we had no previous idea in the mind; and though some of them seem to appear in a different shape, it is simply owing to our misapprehension of them, as the same sea water seems to show the various shapes of its waves.
54. Again there is a delusion, that presents us many appearances which never come to existence; and it is this which shows us an infinite train of things, coming in and passing and disappearing like magic shows (or máyá) in this illusive world.
55. The same things and others also of different kinds, appear and reappear unto us in this way (either by our reminiscence of them, or by illusion of our minds).
56. Know all creatures, as drops of water in the ocean of the world; and are composed of the period of their existence, their respective occupations, understanding and knowledge; and accompanied by their friends and properties and other surroundings.
57. All beings are born, with every one of these properties at their very birth; but some possess them in equal or more or less shares, in comparison with others. (That some are and must be greater (or less) than the rest. Pope).
58. But all beings differ in these respects, according to the different bodies in which they are born; and though some are equal to others, in many of these respects, yet they come to vary in them in course of time.
59. Being at last harassed in their different pursuits, all beings attain either to higher or lower states in their destined times; and then being shackled to the prison houses of their bodies, they have to pass through endless varieties of births in various forms. Thus the drops of living beings, have to roll about in the whirlpool of the vast ocean of worldly life, for an indefinite period of time, which no body can gainsay or count.
CHAPTER LXXXVII.
The Infinity of the World Shown in the
Material Body.
Argument:—In the preceding chapter the world was shewn to consist in thought or a grain of the brain; in this it is demonstrated to be contained in the body or an atom of dust.
Vasishtha continued:—Afterwards as I directed my attention to my own body for a while; I saw the undecaying and infinite spirit of God (lit.—the vacuous Intellect, surrounding every part of my material frame).