58. Cease to wander wearily in the thicket of sense. Seek that better way which, in a moment, brings freedom from trouble. Unite thyself to the Supreme Spirit, and abandon thy own state as unsteady as the waves. Take no more pleasure in things perishable. Be calm, O my heart!

59. O my friend! live on fruits and nuts, lie on the bare ground; let us rise up and go into the forest clothed in new soft bark garments. In that retreat we shall not hear the voices of those rich men whose minds are blind through ignorance, and whose voices are troubled through the confusion of their minds.

60. O my mind! let the delusion which envelops thee be cleared away, pay devotion to the god of the mooncrest, who takes delusion away from man. Fix your thought on the stream of the heavenly river. For what certainty is there [in earthly things], in waves and bubbles, or in flashes of lightning, or in women, or in the tongues of flame, or in serpents, or in the rushing of a stream?

61. If there are songs before thee, if there are elegant poets from the southern regions on one side of thee, if behind damsels bearing the fans with tinkling anklets, taste, my friend, the pleasures of sense which thou mayest gain from these things. If thou hast them not, then plunge, O my mind! into devout contemplation, freeing thee from all thought.

62. Wise men! have nothing to do with women who are only pleasing from their beauty, in whose society is a transitory delight. Rather follow after women who are. compassionate, amiable, and intelligent: the beautiful forms of women adorned with tinkling jewels will not avail thee in Naraka.

63. Abstinence from destroying life, keeping one's hands off another's wealth, speaking the truth, seasonable liberality according to one's power, not conversing with the wives of other men, checking the stream of covetousness, reverence towards spiritual fathers, compassion towards

all creatures-this is the path of happiness, violating no ordinances, taught in all the Sastras.

64. O mother Lakshmî! grant me yet further that I may not be filled with desire. May I not be filled with the longing after pleasure! Now, purifying myself with a vessel of leaves joined together, may I gain my livelihood by means of the barley grain which I have begged.

65. You were to me even as myself; I was as yourself to you. Such were our feelings to one another. How has it come about that we have been changed, and that we no more feel the same sympathy one for another?

66. O woman! why dost thou shoot forth at me those beautiful glances from thy half-opened eyes? Cease! cease! Thy toil is in vain! I am as it were changed! My youth has departed from me; my dwelling is in a forest; my infatuation has left me. I look on the favours of this world only as so much grass.

67. This woman, with eyes that have stolen the beauty of the lotus, unceasingly casts her glances towards me. What does she wish? My infatuation has departed; the arrows of cruel love, producing immoderate heat and fever, have left me.

68. Is not a palace delightful to dwell in? are not songs charming to hear? is not the society of friends, whom we love as our own lives, alluring? Yet wise men retiré away from all these things into the forest, considering them like the light of a lamp which burns unsteadily through the wind of the wings of a wandering moth.

69. Are there no more roots growing in the caves; have the mountain torrents, ceased to flow; do the trees no longer bear fruit; has the bark with which you may gain your clothing withered on the trees, that you cast off your self-respect and fall down before haughty men, who have gained a little wealth with difficulty, and who regard you with supercilious contempt?

70. Surely the retreats of the Himalayas, the abode of

the Vidyadharas, where the rocks are cooled by the spray of the Ganges, surely these places must have ceased to exist, since men enjoy food which they gain from others to their own disgrace,

71. When Meru the magnificent mountain falls from its place, destroyed at the end of the age; when the ocean, the abode of multitudes of great monsters, is dried up; when the earth resting on her mountains comes to an end, how can there be any abiding-place for the body, which is as unstable as the ear of a young elephant ?

72. When shall I, O Śiva! whose drinking-cup is my hand, who have no garment but the sky, who live solitary, peaceful, free from desire, able to uproot action—when shall I attain to union with the Supreme Soul?

73. Thou mayest have gained glory and the accomplishment of all thy desires: what further? Thy foot may have been placed on the neck of thine enemies: what further? Thou mayest have bestowed thy riches on thy friends what further? Thou mayest live thousands of years what further?

74. One may have been clothed in rags: what then? One may have worn a magnificent silk garment: what then? One may have had only one wife: what then? Or a retinue of horses and elephants and attendants: what then? One may have enjoyed good fare: what then? Or eaten poor food at the end of the day: what then? What matters either state if you know not the glory of the Supreme One who destroys all evils?

75. Thou hast paid worship to Śiva; thou hast lived in fear of death and birth in a future state; thou hast detached thyself from love for thy own family; thou hast not been blinded by love; thou hast dwelt in a forest apart from men; thou hast been freed from the evil contact of the world. [If thou hast passed thy life thus], then thou hast vairagya-freedom from attachment to outward things.

76. Meditate on the Supreme Being, who is eternal, who grows not old, above all things, expanding by his

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own will. What profit is there in the delusions of the world? If a man be truly seeking unity with the Supreme Being, all earthly pleasures and powers seem worthy only of the notice of low-minded men.

77. O mind! thou canst enter Pâtâla, thou canst skim over the heaven and cross the breadth of this world in a moment of thought. How is it that thou dost not even by accident meditate on the Supreme Being, who is spotless, dwelling within himself? So thou mightest gain tranquillity.

78. We, as men devoid of intelligence, think within ourselves that day and night repeat themselves indefinitely; and so we run each to our tasks unswervingly, and we take up each separate work where we laid it down. Alas! how is it that we are not ashamed of our folly? We endure the torments of this world while we are wholly occupied in enjoying the same objects of sense over and over again.

79. The earth is his delightful couch, the arms of the creepers are his pillow, the heaven is his canopy, the winds his fan, the moon is his twinkling lamp. The sage, rejoicing because he has been freed from desire, lives in peace and happiness, as though he were the lord of the universe.

80. The man who has gained great power finds even the sovereignty of the universe tasteless. Do not seek pleasure in the enjoyment which comes from flattery, dress, or feasting; for the only delight which is supreme is everlasting, and continually grows. Seize upon it, for, compared to the sweetness of that, all the three worlds are devoid of pleasure.

81. What profit is there in the Vedas, or in the Smriti, or in the reading of Purânas and the tedious Sastras, or in the bewildering multitude of ceremonial acts which lead to an abode in the tabernacles of heaven? All else is as the mere haggling of merchants, in comparison with the final fire which will consume the creations of this wearisome burden of sorrow called existence, that fire which will make us enter into the sphere of joy and unite us with the Supreme Soul.

82. Life is as uncertain as the waves of the sea; the glory of youth remains but a short time; wealth passes away like a thought; all the pleasure in the world endures. but a lightning-flash through the heavens; the embraces of your beloved whom you clasp to your breast will not be for long. Direct your thoughts to the Supreme Being; for you must cross the sea of life with all its fears and alarms.

83. How should a wise man be anxious after a small portion of this world? Is the mighty ocean ever stirred up by the gambols of a little fish?

84. When the darkness of love had filled me with ignorance, women seemed the only objects for which to live. Now, since I have anointed my eyes with the ointment of discrimination, the sight of all things has become clear to me, and I behold the three worlds as the Creator.

85. Delightful are the rays of the moon; delightful the grassy places of the forest; delightful the society of beloved friends; delightful the tales of the poets; delightful the face of one's beloved sparkling with the tear-drops of rage. But who cares any more for these delights when his mind reflects on their uncertainty ?

86. An ascetic lives on alms, remote from men, self-controlled, walking in the path of indifference, giving or not giving, it matters not which. He is clothed in a torn cloak made from rags cast into the street; he has no pride, no self-consciousness; he is free from desire; his sole pleasure is rest and quietness.

87. O earth, my mother! O wind, my father! O fire, my friend! O water, my consort! O sky, my brother! I salute you with my hands joined. I am full of glory through the merit which I have gained through my union with you. O may I enter into the Supreme Being!

88. As long as the tabernacle of the body is well and strong; as long as old age is far off; as long as the senses are unimpaired; as long as there is no diminution of life; so long will the wise man make great efforts to gain