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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
SEPTEMBER, 1893.
form (and became incarnate as Rama),' and knowledge of the non-dual (advaita) Lord is never far from it (1, 2). The holy man alone understandeth the mystery of the sun and the water, and obtaineth nirvanalo (3). The Lord is like the sun which draweth water from the Earth in the hot season and again dischargeth it upon the Earth in the rainy season, never desisting in his course (4). He calleth the holy to union with himself as the magnet doth steel (5). Even as the sun's action in giving water is visible, but in taking water (by evaporation) is invisible, so is the action of the Lord, which can only be learnt by the grace of a spiritual guide (6); for every one knoweth what is before him, visible to the eye,-the gifts of the Lord, bat who knoweth what happeneth after death, when the Lord absorbeth (laya) a man to himself (7)11 ? Even as water is drawn from the earth to the sun, and is not lost in it but remaineth water, even so life goeth to the feet of the Lord, but is not absorbed (laya) in him 12 (8). Each according to his nature taketh his store of actions (karma) with him, and where'er he goeth he beareth its consequences (9). As a seed (or Earth-born material cause) changeth not its nature, but always produceth its own kind, so doth a man when absorbed (laya) in the Lord still retain his individuality (10). Thus, all things are in the Lord, yet is he not affected by them, as a mirror is not affected by that which it reflects (11); for karma (i. e. actions) cannot be wiped away, 13 it is like a series of waves; the actions of a man's present life (kriyamána) are the result of those of his former lives (sarachita) and cause those of his future lives! (12,13). Actions (karma) are of two kinds good and bad), 15 and the Lord alone is entirely free from them. Few there are who can understand this mystery (14).
But the holy man, who is absorbed in faith in the saving power of the Lord, doeth every action only out of adoration for his Lord, and never looketh back (15). He unchangingly looketh upon Sità (the energic power of the Lord) as the giver of happiness, and upon Rama (the Lord) as the taker away of his woes; the moon and the sun of the night and day16 of his faith (16). The holy man's one joy is in Sita, the tender, illuminating moon of his faith (17) and as gold gloweth in the fire, so gloweth the soul of a holy man in the cool rays of that moon, casting itself at their feet17 (18).
Mankind, in their own obstinacy, keep binding themselves in the net of actions (or works) (karma), and though they know and hear of the bliss of those who have faith in the Lord, they attempt not the only means of release (19) Works (karma) are a spider's thread up and down which he continually rundeth, and which is never broken; so works lead a soul downwards to the earth, and upwards to the Lord (20).
Thy nature is ever with thee, and where thou art, there is thy nature too, nor is it set aright till thou has learnt association with the holy (21). If, as the Vedântists do, we talk of an individual's subtile body (súkshma karira) and his grosser body (sthúla sarira) then there is
. This is not the interpretation of Baij' nath, and depends on a reading ye tanu instead of yatana (yatna) in the first line.
10 It will subsequently appear, of. Vss. 8 and ff. that this is very different from the nirvana of Buddhism. 11 Baij'nath's explanation differs bere. 13 For the Lord is devoid of karma (a-karma), and cannot become one with a sa-karma soul.
11 The argument is that a soul can never free itself from its karma, while the Lord is ever free from karma, hence the two never can become one. A-karma cannot unite with sa-karma.
14 Karma (actions) has thus three aspects, that which is being done now (kriyamana), which is the result of that which has been done in the past (samhchita), and which is the cause of that which has to be done in future (prérabdha).
18 Baijnath gives an alternative classification. He says that, with reference to the future, the present and the past of the present are the same. Therefore the two kinds may be, on the one hand sanchita (including kriyamana) and on the other prärabdha.
16 The night' of ignorance (Tvidya), and the day of knowledge (jaldna). The darkness of night is miha, illusion, and the heat of the day is 'works' (adhana), which Rama, unlike the real sun renders unnecessary, by the gift of knowledge.
11 As fire destroys the dross of gold, so Rama and Sita destroy the dross (sin) of human beings. She, however, does not burn, as fire burns the gold.
