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PHILOSOPHY OF SOUL
Fourth factor mentioned in the stanza is the state of non-agitation. The state consequent upon passions and prejudice is the state of turmoil or agitation. When such turmoil is wiped out, state of equanimity arises and the soul can realise its intrinsic nature. Such souls have highly minimized their frequency of worldly existences and this fact is beyond doubt and surprise.
Gentlemen ! faith, devotion to religious rites, internal purity and equanimity (State of indifference) jointly minimise the Soul's worldly wanderings and these four qualities are achieved through one's devotion to religion.
In the preceding discourse we stated that religion bears no affinity with four kinds of persons : Wicked, Stupid, Obstinate and Partial. We narrated two tales to support two kinds of persons and the rest types will be narrated by us today.
OBSTINACY: PRINCE ANDHARAJ
A prince was blind since his birth but he was very generous hearted. He gave away in charity to the poor even his ornaments. The minister of the State was annoyed at such conduct of the prince as it proved very difficult to get daily new ornaments for the prince.
The minister one day said to the king : "Your Majesty, wealth is consumed in three ways; giving in charity, enjoyment and destruction. Now giving in charity is no doubt the best way of consuming the wealth as both the donor and the recipient are benefitted thereby. Still however, it has its own limitations. "Excess in anything should be avoided” declare the authors of the science of Social morality. If the prince continued this flow of charity our royal treasures will reveal bottom in no time.
The king replied: "Minister, you are no doubt true but I do not intend to offend the prince so you may seek out some sort of contrivance to maintain the treasures without offending the prince".
Walking on these lines, the minister invented a contrivance. He called the prince in seclusion and said : “Dear Prince, I know your fondness for ornaments and so I have taken out for you old ornaments worn by your fore-fathers. I would like to give you if you do not part with them in favour of the supplicants. When
