The Cardinal and Supremely Beneficent…

The celestial sage Narada says, “The seeker of Truth Absolute or the traveler on the path of Supreme Beatitude should control his body and senses. He should observe silence and restrain his mind. He should practice austerities everyday. He should strive to control his unrestrained senses and check the restlessness of the mind. He should refrain from attachment to anything. He should not rejoice in name and fame, being addressed as an enlightened one, great soul or respected personality. By remaining diligently engaged in constant self-enquiry to the exclusion of all else, one instantly attains to supreme bliss. Know him to be contented who moves as a sage unaffected by the Dwandwas (pairs of opposites) of sorrow and happiness amidst livings beings that experience the Dwandwas of pleasure and pain, gain and loss. The (only) hallmark of one satiated with knowledge is that he never grieves. By carrying out good and meritorious actions and by an abundance of such noble deeds, one is elevated to the plane of heavenly existence. Through an equilibrium of merits and sins one attains a human body, while and increase in sinful deeds relegates him to hellish planes of existence like birth in the species of animals, etc. Thus, affected by hundreds of vagaries like death, old-age and diseases, as a consequence of their good and bad deeds, the living beings are thrown into and boiled in the cauldron of samsara. Why don’t you, O Shukdeva, become alert observing the horrible state of the samsara? Why do you remain engrossed in this cosmic delusion even when you observe innumerable vertices of pleasures and misery closing in on you from all sides?

“O Shukdeva! You erroneously consider what is harmful as useful, the transient worldly objects as permanent, and harmful wealth as desirable. You are not on the alert. Why are you under such delusion? Just as a silkworm dies getting trapped in its own cocoon, so also man binds himself by his own actions and refuses to be on guard.

“There are many vices in accumulating and protecting wealth, not just one or two. Hence a seeker of the absolute truth must withdraw himself from the possession of wealth that requires hoarding and protection, because, just as a silkworm dies with its own possession, so also man is destroyed by avarice. Just as a wild old elephant which is caught in the deep swamp of a reservoir, and being unable to extricate himself from the quagmire of attachment and thus tread the path of pure knowledge and dispassion. Just as fish trapped in a net, when separated from water writhe and die, so also men bound by affection wail and writhe in the pain of separation from their desired objects and from undesirable events. Observing their pitiable state O Shuka, you ought not to be caught in the net of worldly passion and attachment.

“Wife, sons, relatives, our own body and all hoarded wealth and possessions do not belong to us. All that accompanies one is one’s own good and bad actions. Family and friends, etc. could be considered as ours only if they would accompany us after death, but when you have to depart alone one day leaving your wife, sons and relatives behind, then why do you get entangled in the bondage of lust and misfortune? Why don’t you take care of your supreme goal; the happiness that you desire? The path which you will have to follow after death has no resting place, nor will you get anything to eat on the way. One cannot perceive any direction on that path as there is total darkness all around. O Shukhdeva! How will you, after death, walk all alone on such a terrible path? When you depart from you dear body you will not be followed by your wife, sons, or any relatives at all. Only your sins and merits – your real compassion – will accompany you. Learning, actions, dharma, purity and comprehensive knowledge are often used by people for accumulating wealth. They do not know how to use them for their supreme good. If one were to employ their learning and good deeds towards attaining the supreme goal, then they would become blessed and free from all painful worldly bondages.

“The liking for settlement in a populated area is a binding rope. Virtuous people cut this rope and practice pittance in solitude, whereas sinners continue to bind themselves with this rope each passing day. For a pedestrian on the path of beatitude, it is good that they should cross by their own self-efforts this river which has forms as its banks, the mind as its current, the sense of touch as the islands, taste and objects of pleasure as the straws flowing in it, and smell and words as the quagmire and water respectively. This river falls on the way to heaven and flows in a swift torrent. Forgiveness is the navigator. Dharma is the rope for its embankment, and the boat of truth sailing on the path of renunciation takes one across the river.