15. It is by one’s own exertion, that every body should try to raise himself above the sea of error, or else he must be continually whirling in the whirlpool of blunder, like all other ignorant men.
16. As the waters of wells, tanks, lakes and seas, differ from one another in their quality; so the persons of men and women, are different from each other in their respective dispositions.
17. Who can count the aquatic plants and lotuses, which grow in the lakes as plentifully, as the passions and desires spring in the fountain of the human heart; and which are carried away by the waves of accidents, or hurled into the whirlpool of perdition.
18. Oh, the wonderful effect of bad company, that the lotus growing in the company of aquatic plants, loses its fragrance in the current waters, and shows its thorny stalks to view.
19. The good qualities of a person like those of the lotus, are lost under the assemblage of vicious faults in the same; such as the pores, the hollowness and the too fine and fragile fibres of the lotus stalks, make them entirely useless to any body.
20. But the lotus which adorns its natal waters, and fills the air with its fragrance; is as a nobleman born with the noble qualities of a noble family, and whose virtues are impossible for the hundred hooded serpent—Vásuki also to relate. (Such a person is called the lotus of his family).
21. What other thing can equal the lotus in its praise, which in form of Laxmí, rests on the bosom of Hari, and graces his hand in the manner of a bouquet or nose gay.
22. The white and blue lotuses, are both esteemed for their quality of sweet scent, though they differ in their colour; and hence the one is sacred to the sun and the other to the moon.
23. The blooming beauty of the lotus-bed, is not comparable to that of the full blown flowers of the forest; nor does the lotus-lake bear comparison with the starry heaven also; but they are to be compared with the comely and smiling face of the dancing girl in her fete.
24. Blessed are bees, that have all along enjoyed their lives in revelling over the sweets of flowers, without having any other thing to care about.