No. 62.— 1909.] JNANA VASISHTAM. 323 



That way will be thine, O Rama. The manner of the mind 

 which knoweth all that should be known, is never to think that 

 pleasures and pain are " mine." 



As the attachment to things which are not realities 

 become th established, the fetters are firmly ri vetted ; as that 

 attachment dwindles, the baleful fetters waste away. To 

 crush the influence of outward objects, Rama, is to be free ; 

 to sink in it is to be a slave. They who have overcome 

 its might and, rid of desire, turn away from the enjoyments 

 of the world, they alone have attained the high state of Jivan 

 Mukti, of freedom while still in the flesh. 



The purport of this story appears to be that a man may by 

 investigation and reflection understand what is real and what 

 is unreal, and may reject the unreal and be rid of all desire, 

 and yet not attain perfect peace , which is won only when by 

 the intense abstraction of samddhi he has realized in actual 

 experience the One Reality. So also Tiruvalluvar says : 



"Though the five senses are under control, still there is no 

 gain to them who know not the One Reality " (Icural xxxiv. 4). 



" Wisdom is freedom from the delusion which is the cause 

 of birth, and the vision of the One Reality, the supremely 

 beautiful " (ibid. , 8). The delusion here referred to is explained 

 (ibid., 1) as that which takes for real the unreal. 



Then turning to the assembly, Visvamitra says : What Rama 

 has grasped with the mind, that is the reality, and nothing else. 

 Who save Vasishta can teach great Rama this ? Vasishta who , 

 having learnt it from the lips of the wise, hath won peace of 

 mind and freedom from doubt, who knoweth time past, pre- 

 sent, and future, who is the world's teacher, who looketh on, 

 a witness to all things that have name and form. 1 (Address- 

 ing Vasishta:) Rememberest thou, O Vasishta, the words of 

 wisdom which the Lotus-God Brahma spake to us to heal our 

 enmity and to cure good men of their ancient karma, and help 

 them to be free. Declare it, I pray thee, to the learned Rama. 

 The precious words spoken to the heart of the pupil that is 

 free from desire, are indeed knowledge ; they are the substance 

 of the Scriptures, they alone are beautiful. The words spoken 



1 I.e., the manifested universe. 



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