13. Kárunya said:—The remembrance of the past, the sight of the present, and the talk of future events, together with the existence of the world; are all as false as the sights in our dreams or of water in mirage, or as the birth of a boy of a barren woman.
14. I gain nothing from my deeds, nor lose aught by what is left undone; I live to do as it happens, or at the impulse of the occasion and without any assiduity on my part.
15. Agasti said:—Kárunya—The worthy son of Agnibesya, said in the aforesaid manner, and continued to pass his time in the discharge of his duties, as they occured to him from time to time.
16. And you O Sutikshana! should never entertain any doubts regarding the acts, that you shall have to perform after your attainment of divine knowledge (Lest they entail their retribution on you afterwards). Because dubitation destroys the virtue of the deed, as selfishness takes away its merit.
17. Upon hearing this speech of the sage, which reconciles the duplicity of action and reflection, into the unity of their combination; he bowed to his preceptor and uttered as follows with due submission to him.
18. Sutíkshana said:—Any action done in ignorance of the actor, is reckoned as no act of his, unless it is done in his full knowledge to be taken into account. (So the brute activities of the giddy mob, bear no value or blame in them before the wise). But actions done with reason and reasonable men, are invaluable in their nature. All our acts are best seen by the light of the intellect as the actions of stage-players are seen only in the candle light. (So are all our mental and corporeal acts, actuated by the essence of the great soul in us).
19. It is the presence of the supreme soul in us, that the action of our hearts, directs the motions of our bodies; as it is the malleability of gold, that moulds it to the many forms of jewelleries. (Hence we should never reject the one for the other).
20. As it is the great body of waters, that gives rise to the boisterous waves, as well as the little playful billows, that heave and move in our sight; so it is the inbeing of the great soul, that fills all the great and small alike.
21. I submit to and bear with all that befalls to me, because there is no escape from destiny, nor slighting of the sound sayings of sages; and I acknowledge O Venerable sir, to owe my knowledge of the knowable One to thy good grace only.
22. I own myself to be quite felicitous to thy favour, and bow down prostrate to thee on the ground, for thy lifting me up from the doleful pit of the world; because there is no other way to repay my gratitude to my venerable preceptor.